KOH. PERS. In Pukhtu, Rob. A mountain, a prefix to many solitary mountains and hill ranges from west of the Himalaya and the Indus even to the Caspian Sea. The Koh-i-Kush or Caucasus, one of these, is the great stony belt that separates Northern from Southern Asia. In traversing the kingdoms of Hindustan and Kabul, from the east of Bengal to Herat, we find them everywhere bounded on the.north by a chain of mountains which is covered with perpetual snow for almost the whole of that extent, and from which all the great rivers of both countries appear to issue. This chain commences near the Brahmaputra, and runs nearly north-west as far as Kashmir ; during this part of its course it is called the Himalaya (11ima, snow, Alaya, abode). From Kashmir, its general direction is a little to the south-west as far as the high snowy peak of Hindu Kush, nearly north of Kabul. From this peak its height diminishes, it no longer bears perpetual snow, and is soon after lost in a group of mountains, which stretch in length from Kabul almost to Herat, and occupy more than two degrees of latitude in their breadth. Some ranges issue from this mass on the west, and extend so far into Persia as to justify, if not completely to establish, the opinion of the ancients, which connected this range with Mount Caucasus on the west of the Caspian Sea. From Kashmir to Hindu Kush, the whole range is known by the name of that peak. From thence to the meridian of Herat, the mountains have no general name among the natives, but that of l'aropamisus was long applied to them by Euro pean geographers. As seen from the plains of
Peshawur, the fourth is the principal range of the Indian Caucasus, and is always covered with snow. It is conspicuous from Bactria and the borders of India, and is seen from places far off in Tartary. Elphinstone says that the ridge of Imaus or Him alaya is seen for a distance of 150 and even 250 miles. The Paropamisan chain, which bounds the Kohistan on the west, extends 350 miles from E. to W., and 200 miles from N. to S. The whole of this space is a maze of mountains. The eastern half of this elevated region is inhabited by the Hazara, and is cold, rugged, and barren ; the level spots are little cultivated, and the hills are naked and abrupt. The western part, which belongs to the Aimak, though it has wider valleys and is better cultivated, is still a wild and poor country. The northern face of these mountains has a sudden descent into the province of Balkh ; their acclivity is less on their other extremities, except perhaps on the west or south-west. On the north-west they seem to sink gradually into the plain which borders on the desert. The slope of the whole tract is toward the west.—Elphin. Caubul ; Rennell, Memoir; Vigne's Narrative ; Markham's Embassy ; Masson's Journeys.