[Sidenote: Ride to an old gold mine--now deserted.] MAY 14th to 19th.--Nothing of any interest occurred, except that I daily take long rides and increase my knowledge of the country, nearly every yard of which, for 10 or 12 miles round, I have now ridden over. To the north and east of Kandahar there are very pleasant rides indeed, through green fields and shady lanes, along watercourses, but on the other two sides it is all sandy and stony deserts, with high rocky hills, which only a sense of duty has induced me to visit at all. Among other places I have been to is a gold mine which has been worked for centuries, and is situated about 5 miles from Kandahar. It is now, however, deserted, as the upper earth fell in two or three years ago, and has choked up the place where they say the vein of gold was. The new Governor of Kandahar is most anxious to re-open the works, but despite the wonderful stories of the richness of the mine which the natives tell, he has not been able to get much encouragement out of our professional Geologist, who, after a careful examination, has come to the conclusion that the mine will never again pay its working expenses. The morning I rode over to see the place I found the Wāli (governor) down in the bottom of the mine, with half a dozen natives, carefully examining the place and collecting specimens, &c. He had evidently come out to have a quiet look at his new property, and did not seem particularly pleased at being caught, although he was very friendly and civil, of course. In my wanderings through the country I never fail to investigate the quality of the fruit, and have made a discovery, in two places, of a very superior kind of mulberry, of which there appears to be only half a dozen trees in the whole valley. They are so different from the common kinds that the natives call them Shah-toot, which means, the King mulberry, and the trees they grow on are considered quite curiosities. It certainly is a very delicious fruit, and I have only revealed my discoveries to a chosen few. I am a much earlier riser than most of my friends, and therefore seldom or never have any companion in my morning rides, except the two native cavalry soldiers who are my escort. I generally start when I have no parades or inspections, about half-past five in the morning, when the air is deliciously cool, and seldom get home till 9 o'clock, by which time the sun is very hot. The country is intersected with water channels for irrigation purposes, and mud walls divide the fields of corn and wheat, so there is lots of jumping, and some of the obstacles are very awkward. The orchards and vineyards are surrounded with very high walls, but there is also lots of fruit of all kinds growing along the paths which anyone may eat. In this country, from one end of it to another, there is no such thing as what we would call a road, as there being not a single wheeled vehicle in the whole length and breadth of the land, roads are not at all necessary.