'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎89] (108/622)

HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
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After passing through the Khyber Pass, the mission skirted
Sufeid Koh, the "Snow-clad Chain/' through the province called
Naujnahar, or u Nine Rivers," to Cabul, which they entered on
the 20th of September, escorted by Akbar Khan. On their
arrival, Captain Burnes and his coadjutors were cordially
received by the famous Ameer, Dost Mahomed Khan, whom
Wood describes " as about forty-five, and looks worn-out and
aged ; his frame is large and bony, and all his features strongly
marked with a general expression of sternness, but lighted by
eyes of peculiar brilliancy and intelligence."
From Cabul, the party made an excursion into the valley of
Koh Daman, which Lieutenant Wood commenced to map. An
embassy having been sent from Koondooz by Murad Ali Beg,
to solicit the aid of an English doctor to relieve the chief's
brother, Mahomed Beg, who was suffering from ophthalmia,
that able officer. Dr. Lord—who, later, met a tragic end on
the 2nd of November, 1840, at Purwandurrah, in Afghanistan—
was despatched, as well as Lieutenant Wood, with the Uzbeck
ambassador. In their journey across the Hindu Koosh, they
suffered severely from the cold and snow. The mountaineers,
armed to the teeth, were restrained from plundering them only
by the knowledge that they were guests of the rulers of Cabul
and Koondooz. Being foiled in an attempt to proceed by the
Purwan Pass, the party returned to Cabul, and, on the 15th of
November, set out by the Bamian route for Koondooz, where
they arrived on the 4th of December. Murad Beg received his
guests graciously in durbar A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family). , in an apartment thirty feet by
fifteen ; the Begs were seated in rows on one side, and on the
other was Murad Ali Beg, leaning on a large silken pillow.
From Koondooz, Lieutenant Wood, leaving Dr. Lord behind,
started for Badakshan, and to trace to its source the Jihoon, or
Oxus. In this journey he came upon the track of Marco Polo,
and he furnishes strong testimony to the authenticity and truth
of the narrative of that much decried Venetian, who has recently
found so able a commentator in Colonel H. Yule. Leaving
Koondooz, on the 11th of December, Lieutenant Wood crossed
an open plain, encircled on all sides by mountains, except on
the north, where the Oxus flows. Crossing the pass of Latta-
band, they proceeded along the valley of the Kokcha, where the
population was scanty, and the dreary appearance of winter
was seldom enlivened by the sight of man or beast, From
Fyzabad, the ancient capital of Badakshan, he proceeded to
Jerm, the modern capital and largest place in that State, and
thence, with the permission of the Governor, he started for
" Never," observes Mr. Elpbinstone, " was a spot of the same extent better
peopled; the uncultivated parts of the land were covered with a thick elastic
sod that, perhaps, never was equalled but in England ; the greater part was
highly cultivated."
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