When the valley of Kabul has been left behind the country appears very desolate, for there is nothing but mountains, rocks, and sand to be seen. The second day’s journey takes one over the Latabund Pass which lies at a considerable altitude above Kabul, which is itself seven thousand feet above sea-level, and the rest of the journey until Jelalabad is reached is all over mountains. Camp for the night is pitched near small villages set in valleys where a little water makes the cultivation of a few patches of sandy soil possible. It is the very small amount of rainfall which makes the country so barren generally for the disintegrated rock which collects in the valleys, and the foot of the mountains forms a prolific soil when it can be irrigated, and it is also the want of verdure and trees on the mountains, and absence of clouds with their accompanying haze of moisture, which is the cause of the monotonous colouring of the landscape, for there are many fine mountain scenes which would be magnificent, but for the dryness of the atmosphere which makes the hills and mountains, far and near, shades of one dirty looking colour. At the beginning of a day’s march, the sameness of the prospect makes one almost sigh at the dreary stretch of country to be ridden over, for it offers nothing of interest to lessen the sense of fatigue, and the only desire while riding is to get it done with, and look forward to the camping-place. The usual stopping-places between Kabul and Jelalabad, which is about halfway to Peshawar, are Budkhark, twelve miles; Barikab, thirty-two miles; Jagdalak, sixteen miles; Gandamak, twenty-eight miles; Fatehabad, eighteen miles; and Jelalabad, nineteen miles. These distances are only approximate, for they are estimated from the time occupied in riding from one to the other. There are other places at which one may camp for the night if necessary, according to the number of days in which it is desired to make the journey; but the above are best if one wishes to make each day’s journey equal in fatigue for the horses and pack-animals. The shorter marches are over bad mountain tracts, which tire the horses quite as much as a longer journey over fairly level country. The sixth day’s journey to Jelalabad is over ground which slopes down gradually from the foot hills, but almost the whole of it is through sand mixed with small stones in which the horses’ feet sink deeply, and makes the going hard and tiring. Those who have walked any distance in dry sand by the seashore will appreciate the fatigue of the horses in getting over such country.