PAROPAMISUS, a name applied by the ancient Greeks and Romans to the mountainous region between Herat and Balkh on the NAY. and Ghazni and Kandahar on the S.E. In this extent it comprises what are now known to be several distinct ranges, and the old name loss ceased to be used. This mountainous region extends miles from east to west,and 200 from north to "tout h. It is so difficult of access, and so little frequented, that no precise accounts of its geography are to be obtained. The eastern half is inhabited by Ow Hamra, 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 Annak, 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 seetn to sink gradually into the plain which borders on the desert. The slope of the whole tract is towards the west. To the north of this, ex tending eastward ly and to the west, are the elevated plains of Tartary, the Asiatic dominions of liussia, Chinese Tartary, and China, and the regions occupied by several Turkoman nations. Part of
the mountains N.W. from India was also called the Paropamisus or Hindu Kush ; and 'mans and Hindu Kush seems to have been identical terms. The true Imams, however, is the ridge which separates Kashmir from Little Tibet. It appears to incline, in its northern course, towards the continuation of the Hindu Koh, and even to join it. The term Hindu Koh or Hindu Kush is not applied to this ridge in its whole extent, but seems to be confined to that part of it which forms the N.W. boundary of Kabul, and this is the Indian Caucasus of Alexander. There is, however, much confusion, owing to the use of Tibetan, Chinese, and Persian names for that great mountain IllaFR. —Lassen on the Kings ofBactria; Ecnasll, Memoir, p. 190; Elphinstone's Cauhul, p. 430; rigne's Nar rative, p. 193 ; ll'h. (list. of L p. 419 ; Porter's Trarels, i. p. 152.