the east. The Kaofu of the Chinese would, therefore, have embraced the whole of modern Afghanistan. Etymologically, however, it seems quite possible that the two names may be the same, as Kaofu was the appellation of one of the five tribes of the Yuchi or Tochari, who are said to have given their own name to the town which they occupied, towards the end of the second century before Christ. This statement of the Chinese writers is confirmed by the historians of Alexander, who notice the city of Ortospana, without making any mention of Kabul. The latter name is first given by Ptolemy, who describes Kabura or Ortospana as the capital of the Paropamisada. I conclude, therefore, that Ortospana was most probably the original metropolis of the country, which was supplanted by Alexandria during the Greek domination, and restored by the earlier Indo-Scythian princes. But it would appear to have been again abandoned before the seventh century, when the capital of Kapisene was at Opiân.

1. KAPISENE, OR OPIAN.

According to the Chinese pilgrim Kiapishe, or Kapisene, was 4000 li, or about 666 miles in circuit. If this measurement be even approximately correct, the district must have included the whole of Kafiristan, as well as the two large valleys of Ghorband and Panjshir, as these last are together not more than 300 miles in circuit. Kiapishe is further described as being entirely surrounded by mountains; to the north having been removed from Gândhâra to Persia, still exists at Kandahar, where it was seen by Sir H. Rawlinson. The removal must have taken place during the sixth century, after the conquest of Gândhâra by the king of Kipin.

by snowy mountains, named Po-lo-si-na, and by black hills on the other three sides. The name of Polosina corresponds exactly with that of Mount Paresh or Aparasin of the 'Zend Avesta,'* and with the Paropamisus of the Greeks, which included the Indian Caucasus, or Hindu Kush. Hwen Thsang further states, that to the north-west of the capital there was a great snowy mountain, with a lake on its summit, distant only 200 li, or about 33 miles. This is the Hindu Kush itself, which is about 35 miles to the north-west of Charikâr and Opiân; but I have not been able to trace any mention of the lake in the few imperfect notices that exist of this part of Afghanistan.

The district of Capisene is first mentioned by Pliny, who states that its ancient capital, named Capisa, was destroyed by Cyrus. His copyist, Solinus, mentions the same story, but calls the city Caphusa, which the Delphine editors have altered to Capissa. Somewhat later, Ptolemy places the town of Kapisa amongst the Paropamisadæ, 24 degrees to the north of Kabura or Kabul, which is nearly 2 degrees in excess of the truth. On leaving Bamian, in A.D. 630, the Chinese pilgrim travelled 600 li, or about 100 miles, in an easterly direction over snowy mountains and black hills (or the Koh-i-Bâbâ and Paghmân ranges) to the capital of Kiapishe or Kapisene. On his return from India, fourteen years later, he reached Kiapishe through Ghazni and Kabul, and left it in a north-east direction by the Panjshir valley towards Anderâb. These statements fix the position of the capital at or near Opiún, which is just 100 miles to the east of Bamian *Zend Avesta,' iii. 365, Boundehesh. "It is said that Aparasin is a great mountain, distinct from Elburj. It is called Mount Paresh."

by the route of the Hajiyak Pass and Ghorband Valley, and on the direct route from Ghazni and Kabul to Anderâb. The same locality is, perhaps, even more decidedly indicated by the fact, that the Chinese pilgrim, on finally leaving the capital of Kapisene, was accompanied by the king as far as the town of Kiu-lusa-pang, a distance of one yojana, or about 7 miles to the north-east, from whence the road turned towards the north. This description agrees exactly with the direction of the route from Opiân to the northern edge of the plain of Begrâm, which lies about 6 or 7 miles to the E.N.E. of Charikâr and Opiân. Begrâm itself I would identify with the Kiu-lu-sa-pang or Karsawana of the Chinese pilgrim, the Karsana of Ptolemy, and the Cartana of Pliny. If the capital had then been at Begrâm itself, the king's journey of seven miles to the north-east would have taken him over the united stream of the Panjshir and Ghorband rivers, and as this stream is difficult to cross, on account of its depth and rapidity, it is not likely that the king would have undertaken such a journey for the mere purpose of leave-taking. But by fixing the capital at Opiân, and by identifying Begrâm with the Kiu-lu-sa-pang of the Chinese pilgrim, all difficulties disappear. The king accompanied his honoured guest to the bank of the Panjshir river, where he took leave of him, and the pilgrim then crossed the stream, and proceeded on his journey to the north, as described in the account of his life.

From all the evidence above noted it would appear certain that the capital of Kiapishe, or Kapisene, in the seventh century, must have been situated either at or near Opián. This place was visited by Masson,* *Travels,' iii. 126.

*

who describes it as "distinguished by its huge artificial mounds, from which, at various times, copious antique treasures have been extracted." In another place he notes that "it possesses many vestiges of antiquity; yet, as they are exclusively of a sepulchral or religious character, the site of the city, to which they refer, may rather be looked for at the actual village of Malik Hupiân on the plain below, and near Charikâr." Masson writes the name Hupiân, following the emperor Baber; but as it is entered in Walker's large map as Opiyán, after Lieutenant Leach, and is spelt Opián by Lieutenant Sturt, both of whom made regular surveys of the Koh-dâman, I adopt the unaspirated reading, as it agrees better with the Greek forms of Opiai and Opiane of Hekatæus and Stephanus, and with the Latin form of Opianum of Pliny. As these names are intimately connected with that of the Paropamisan Alexandria, it will clear the way to further investigation, if we first determine the most probable site of this famous city.

The position of the city founded by Alexander at the foot of the Indian Caucasus has long engaged the attention of scholars; but the want of a good map of the Kabul valley has been a serious obstacle to their success, which was rendered almost insurmountable by their injudicious alterations of the only ancient texts that preserved the distinctive name of the Caucasian Alexandria. Thus Stephanus† describes it as being ἐν τῇ Οπιανῇ κατὰ τὴν Ινδικήν, " in Opiane, near India," for which Salmasius proposed to read 'Apiavy. Again, Pliny describes it as Alexandriam Opianes,

* Travels,' iii. 161.

In voce Alexandria. Hist. Nat., vi. c. 17. Philemon Holland calls it "the city of Alexandria, in Opianum."

which in the Leipsic and other editions is altered to Alexandri oppidum. I believe, also, that the same distinctive name may be restored to a corrupt passage of Pliny, where he is speaking of this very part of the country. His words, as given by the Leipsic editor, and as quoted by Cellarius,* are "Cartana oppidum sub Caucaso, quod postea Tetragonis dictum. Hæc regio est ex adverso. Bactrianorum deinde cujus oppidum Alexandria, a conditore dictum." Both of the translators whose works I possess, namely Philemon Holland, A.D. 1601, and W. T. Riley, A.D. 1855, agree in reading ex adverso Bactrianorum. This makes sense of the words as they stand, but it makes nonsense of the passage, as it refers the city of Alexandria to Bactria, a district which Pliny had fully described in a previous chapter. He is speaking of the country at the foot of the Caucasus or Paropamisus; and as he had already described the Bactrians as being "aversa montis Paropamisi," he now uses almost the same terms to describe the position of the district in which Cartana was situated; I would, therefore, propose to read "hæc regio est ex adverso Bactria;" and as cujus cannot possibly refer to the Bactrians, I would begin the next sentence by changing the latter half of Bactrianorum in the text to Opiorum; the passage would then stand thus, "Opiorum (regio) deinde, cujus oppidum Alexandria a conditore dictum,”. "Next the Opii, whose city, Alexandria, was named after its founder." But whether this emendation be accepted or not, it is quite clear from the other two passages, above quoted, that the city founded by Alexander at the foot of the Indian Caucasus was also

*Hist. Nat., vi. 23.