About a mile from the city of Kabul is the tomb of the emperor Baber (obiit 1530), in the sweetest spot in the neighbourhood ; he had him self directed to be interred there. It is a brick building 50 feet high. From the hill which over looks Baber's tomb is a noble prospect over a plain twenty miles iu circumference, studded with gardens and intersected by three rivulets.
Its recent history requires to be noticed.
At the beginning of the 19th century the Daurani empire, extending from Herat to Kashmir, and from Balkh to Sind, had been built up by Ahmad Shalt Abdallah, and remained undivided in the bands of his grandson Zatnan Shah. Hav ing incurred the enmity of the powerful Barakzai clan; Zaman Shah was deposed and blinded by his brother Mahmud, who was supported by Futteh Khan and the Barakzai. He eventually died a pensioner of the British Govermnent at Ludhiana. In 1803, Shah Mahmud was driven out by Shuja-ul-Mulk, the younger brother of Zaman Shah, and Shah Shuja was in possession of the undivided empire of Ahmad Shah at the time of Mr. Elphinstone's mission in 1808. This mission was sent for the purpose of concerting with Shah Shuja the means of mutual defence against the threatened invasion of Afghanistan and India by the Persians in confederacy with the French. Mr. Elphinstone had scarcely left Kabul ere Shah Shuja was driven out by Shah Mahmud, with the aid of Futteh Khan. Wander ing about for some years, the sport of fortune, now a captive in Kashmir, now the prisoner of Raujit Singh at Lahore, in September 1816 Shah Shuja, found an asylum in the British territories at Ludhiana. In the meantime, Futteh Khan Barakzai, who was the chief support of Shah Mahmud's power, having incurred the jealousy of that monarch, was blinded and slain. The death of Futteh Khan roused the vengeance of the Barakzai clan. Of the twenty brothers of Futteh ' Khan, one of the youngest, Dost Muhammad Khan, was foremost in avenging his murder. Shah Mahmud was driven from all his dominions, except Herat, the whole of Afghanistan was parcelled out among the Barakzai brothers, and in'the confusion consequent on this revolution, Balkh was seized by the chief of Bokhara, the Dehrajat byRanjit Singh,and the outlying province of Sind assumed independence. In the partition of Afghanistan, Ghazni fell to the share of Dost Muhammad, but he soon established his supremacy at Kabul also, and thus became the most power ful of the Barakzai sirdars. His kingdom con !fisted of four subdivisions, Kabul, the Hamra country, Kandahar, mid Ilerat, but he was driven from it by the British in the war 1838 to 1813.
Since the early years of the 19th century, Kabul has been three times occupied by the British. The first occasion was on the 7th August 1839, when Shah Shnja re-entered Kabul as Amir, escorted by a British army ; but on the 2d November 1841 the citizens and soldiery rose in rebellion against Shah Shuja, whom they killed. On the 21st December, the British Resident, Sir William MacNaghten, was shot by Akbar Khan, at an interview held to arrange terms for the British troops withdrawing from the city. On the Gth January 1841, the British forces marched out under solemn guarantee of protec tion,-4500 fighting men, with 12,000 followers, —hut of all that number, one only, Assistant Surgeon Brydon, reached Jalalabad, and 95 prisoners were subsequently recovered from the Afghans. On the 15th September 1842, General
Pollock returned to Kabul, took possession of the citadel (Bala Ilissar), and remained till 12th October. Previous to the departure of the British Indian army, the great bazar, the Charchata, was destroyed by gunpowder. On the 3d September 1879, the British Residency was attacked by a rabble of townspeople and troops, and the British Resident and his escort killed. In October 1879, a British Indian force marched under General (now Sir Frederick) Roberts up the Kuram, and for the third time occupied Kabul, and shortly after again withdrew.
The Kabul river, a tributary to the Indus, rises in lat. 34° 21' N., long. 68° 20' E., near Sir-i-Chashma in Afghanistan, at an elevation of 8400 feet. Its course generally is east through the valley of Kabul and plains of Jalalabad and Peshawur, into the Indus. Its length, about 320 miles. It receives the Punchshir, 120 miles ; Tazao, 80 miles ; Alishang, 120 miles ; Surkh ltud, 70 miles ; Kooner, 230 miles ; Suwat, 150 miles ; and about 42,000 square miles are drained. It is not navigable along the north base of Khaibar mountains, except on rafts and hides, but is navigable for boats of 40 or 50 tons to Dobundi.
At Kabul the river passes a gorge by two bill ranges, and flows through the centre of the town. At this gorge the walls and towers of defence come down on each side and join to a fortified bridge, with which is attached the name of Sirdar Jahan Khan, by whom the lines of walls over the hills were constructed. The principal bridge is about the centre of the town ; it is called the l'ool Khisti, the Brick Bridge. It connects with all the busy parts of the town, such as the bazars, the corn market, and the custom house, etc. Not far from this, to the cast, but within the town, is the Pool-i-Nao, the Boat Bridge. It is formed of hollowed trunks of trees fastened together. Outside the walls of the town, and still more to the east, is another bridge, near to which stood Muhammad Khan's fort, which played an important part towards the end of the British occupation of the Residency in the last days of 1841 and the few first days of 1842. Opposite the Residency there was another bridge, and it was at a spot on the left bank of the river, between these two last-named bridges, that Sir William MacNaghten met Akbar Khan by appoint ment, and was murdered. Immediately after the river passes out from the eastern wall of the city, the canal of Morad Khani begins. This runs parallel to the river, and passes along on the level ground between it and the site of the old cantonments. Close to this, but slightly westward, are the Bemaru heights, and on the eastern side of the river are the Siali Sang heights.
A few miles below Jalalabad, the Kabul river is joined by a broad stream of considerable volume, which drains the Kuner valley, and is likewise practicable for rafts.