Though intersected by some very low and unimportant hills
and ridges, the Pishin plains and those of Shallkot may be looked
upon as one feature. We may imagine the Shall Valley the vestibule,
the Kujlak-Kakur Vale the passage, the Gayud Yara Plain an
antechamber, and Pishin proper the great _salle_. Surrounded by
mountains which give forth an abundant supply of water, the lands
bordering on the hills are studded with villages, and there is much
cultivation; there is a total absence of timber, and the cultivation
of fruit-trees has been neglected. The Lora rivers cutting into the
plain interferes somewhat with the construction of roads.
[Illustration: Entrance to the Khojak Pass, from Pishin, on the Road
to Kandahar.]
The Plain of Pishin possesses exceptional advantages for the
concentration and rendezvous of large bodies of troops, and has
already been utilized for that purpose by the British.
From the Khoja Amran, looking toward Kandahar, the plains, several
thousand feet below, are laid out like a sea, and the mountains run
out into isolated promontories; to the left the desert is seen like
a turbulent tide about to overflow the plains.
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