DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15173#0151
CHAT. V.
THE BALA HISSAR.
133
plentiful than bread, and is considered one of the
necessaries of human life. There are no less than
fourteen different ways of preserving the apricot of
Cabool: it is dried with and without the stone ; the
kernel is sometimes left, or an almond is substituted
in its stead ; it is also formed into cakes, and folded
up like paper. It is the most delicious of the dried
fruits.
Among the public buildings in Cabool, the Bala
Hissar, or citadel, claims the first importance ; but
not from its strength. Cabool is enclosed to the
south and west by high rocky hills; and at the
eastern extremity of these the Bala Hissar is
situated, which commands the city. It stands on a
neck of land, and may have an elevation of about
150 feet from the meadows of the surrounding
country. There is another fort under it, also called
the Bala Hissar, which is occupied by the governor
and his guards. The citadel is uninhabited by the
present chief; but his brother built a palace in it
called the " Koollah i Firingee," or the Europeans' *
Hat, which is the highest building. Dost Mahom-
med Khan captured the Bala Hissar, by blowing up
one of its towers: it is a poor, irregular, and dila-
pidated fortification, and could never withstand a
siege. The upper fort is small, but that below will
contain about five thousand people. The king's
palace stands in it. The Bala Hissar was built by
different princes of the house of Timour, from Baber
downwards. Aurungzebe prepared extensive vaults
under it, to deposit his treasure, which may yet be
seen. While it formed the palace of the kings of
K 3
THE BALA HISSAR.
133
plentiful than bread, and is considered one of the
necessaries of human life. There are no less than
fourteen different ways of preserving the apricot of
Cabool: it is dried with and without the stone ; the
kernel is sometimes left, or an almond is substituted
in its stead ; it is also formed into cakes, and folded
up like paper. It is the most delicious of the dried
fruits.
Among the public buildings in Cabool, the Bala
Hissar, or citadel, claims the first importance ; but
not from its strength. Cabool is enclosed to the
south and west by high rocky hills; and at the
eastern extremity of these the Bala Hissar is
situated, which commands the city. It stands on a
neck of land, and may have an elevation of about
150 feet from the meadows of the surrounding
country. There is another fort under it, also called
the Bala Hissar, which is occupied by the governor
and his guards. The citadel is uninhabited by the
present chief; but his brother built a palace in it
called the " Koollah i Firingee," or the Europeans' *
Hat, which is the highest building. Dost Mahom-
med Khan captured the Bala Hissar, by blowing up
one of its towers: it is a poor, irregular, and dila-
pidated fortification, and could never withstand a
siege. The upper fort is small, but that below will
contain about five thousand people. The king's
palace stands in it. The Bala Hissar was built by
different princes of the house of Timour, from Baber
downwards. Aurungzebe prepared extensive vaults
under it, to deposit his treasure, which may yet be
seen. While it formed the palace of the kings of
K 3