The mountains (south-east of Kābul) of Khwāja Ismā`īl, Dasht, Dūgī (Dūkī)[846] and Afghānistān are all alike; all low, scant of vegetation, short of water, treeless, ugly and good-for-nothing. Their people take after them, just as has been said, _Tīng būlmā-ghūncha_ [Sidenote: Fol 141b.] _tūsh būlmās_.[847] Likely enough the world has few mountains so useless and disgusting. (_h. Fire-wood of Kabul._) The snow-fall being so heavy in Kābul, it is fortunate that excellent fire-wood is had near by. Given one day to fetch it, wood can be had of the _khanjak_ (mastic), _bīlūt_ (holm-oak), _bādāmcha_ (small-almond) and _qarqand_.[848] Of these _khanjak_ wood is the best; it burns with flame and nice smell, makes plenty of hot ashes and does well even if sappy. Holm-oak is also first-rate fire-wood, blazing less than mastic but, like it, making a hot fire with plenty of hot ashes, and nice smell. It has the peculiarity in burning that when its leafy branches are set alight, they fire up with amazing sound, blazing and crackling from bottom to top. It is good fun to burn it. The wood of the small-almond is the most plentiful and commonly-used, but it does not make a lasting fire. The _qarqand_ is quite a low shrub, thorny, and burning sappy or dry; it is the fuel of the Ghaznī people. (_i. Fauna of Kābul._) The cultivated lands of Kābul lie between mountains which are like great dams[849] to the flat valley-bottoms in which most villages and peopled places are. On these mountains _kīyik_ and _āhū_[850] are scarce. Across them, between its summer and winter quarters, the dun sheep,[851] the _arqārghalcha_, have their regular track,[852] to which braves go out with dogs and birds[853] to take them. [Sidenote: Fol. 142.] Towards Khūrd-kābul and the Sūrkh-rūd there is wild-ass, but there are no white _kīyik_ at all; Ghaznī has both and in few other places are white _kīyik_ found in such good condition.[854] In the heats the fowling-grounds of Kābul are crowded. The birds take their way along the Bārān-water. For why? It is because the river has mountains along it, east and west, and a great Hindū-kush pass in a line with it, by which the birds must cross since there is no other near.[855] They cannot cross when the north wind blows, or if there is even a little cloud on Hindū-kush; at such times they alight on the level lands of the Bārān-water and are taken in great numbers by the local people. Towards the end of winter, dense flocks of mallards (_aūrdūq_) reach the banks of the Bārān in very good condition. Follow these the cranes and herons,[856] great birds, in large flocks and countless numbers. (_j. Bird-catching._)