On one of my journeys down to Peshawar the governor of Jelalabad, by order of the Amir, sent me several large melons which are grown in the district. The size of the melons was so great, about two feet long and one and a half feet in diameter, that I had no means of carrying them with me, and on this being represented to the governor, he gave instructions for them to be carried by raft into Peshawar and handed over to me there. The raftsmen told me that they would be in Peshawar twelve hours after leaving Jelalabad, and as the distance between the two points is about a hundred miles, some idea of the speed of the current may be gained. The water of the river is fed by the melted snow from the mountains, and is intensely cold, and I was told that any one who attempted to swim across the river would be carried so far down by the current before reaching the other side that the coldness of the water would make him numbed and powerless, and he would drown. The people of the district, when they have to cross the river, do so on musaks distended with air, which keep the body clear of the water, while allowing the use of the legs and arms as a means of propulsion; but even then the limbs get so numbed and paralyzed that only strong men can make use of the musak as a means of crossing the river, or floating down to another village some miles lower on the same side; and I was told that the frequent use of it brings on rheumatism in the legs and arms—and one can quite understand that it would do so. The musak is the same as that used by watermen all over the East for carrying water. It is made of a goat or sheepskin, which is treated to make the skin soft and flexible, and afterwards sown up, so that it has the original form of the animal, minus head and legs; the joints are made watertight, and the whole skin when distended by air being blown into it forms a very buoyant vessel. The villager lies face downwards on it, and pushing off into deep water, strikes out with arms and legs, much as if he was swimming, and those I have seen travelling down the river in this way were going at a speed which I estimated at a good ten miles an hour.