DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15173#0167
CHAP. VI.
FISH PRESERVES.
149
ported so many of these good books beyond Hindoo
Koosh, that the " Faithful" in Afghanistan were
likely to be robbed of the whole of them. The
suppression of the trade was a highly popular act
on the part of the chief of Cabool; since they are
very expensive works, written with great pains and
labour, and most valuable.
We left the road which leads to Candahar on our
left, and proceeded up the valley of the Cabool
river to its source at Sirchushma. Our first halting-
place was Julraiz, which is so called from two Per-
sian words that signify running water; and near
the village there were two beautifully clear brooks,
the banks of which were shaded by trees. It is
these running rivulets that make this country so
enchanting, in spite of its bleak rocks. The valley
was not above a mile in breadth, and most indus-
triously cultivated ; the water being in some places
conducted for a hundred feet up hill. In the lower
lands, the rice fields rose most picturesquely in gra-
dation above each other, and the hills on either side
were topped with snow. The thermometer stood
at 60°.
At Sirchushma, which literally means the foun-
tain-head, we visited two natural ponds, the sources
°f the river of Cabool, replenished by springs, and
formed into preserves for fish, which are kept with
great care. It is a place of pilgrimage sacred to
■Ali, who is said to have visited it,—a " pious lie,"
which is not supported by any authority, since the
son-in-law of Mahommed never saw Cabool, though
his reputed deeds in this neighbourhood be both
i 3
FISH PRESERVES.
149
ported so many of these good books beyond Hindoo
Koosh, that the " Faithful" in Afghanistan were
likely to be robbed of the whole of them. The
suppression of the trade was a highly popular act
on the part of the chief of Cabool; since they are
very expensive works, written with great pains and
labour, and most valuable.
We left the road which leads to Candahar on our
left, and proceeded up the valley of the Cabool
river to its source at Sirchushma. Our first halting-
place was Julraiz, which is so called from two Per-
sian words that signify running water; and near
the village there were two beautifully clear brooks,
the banks of which were shaded by trees. It is
these running rivulets that make this country so
enchanting, in spite of its bleak rocks. The valley
was not above a mile in breadth, and most indus-
triously cultivated ; the water being in some places
conducted for a hundred feet up hill. In the lower
lands, the rice fields rose most picturesquely in gra-
dation above each other, and the hills on either side
were topped with snow. The thermometer stood
at 60°.
At Sirchushma, which literally means the foun-
tain-head, we visited two natural ponds, the sources
°f the river of Cabool, replenished by springs, and
formed into preserves for fish, which are kept with
great care. It is a place of pilgrimage sacred to
■Ali, who is said to have visited it,—a " pious lie,"
which is not supported by any authority, since the
son-in-law of Mahommed never saw Cabool, though
his reputed deeds in this neighbourhood be both
i 3