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.

If

According to the Chinese pilgrim Kiapishe, or Kapisene, was 4000 li, or about 666 miles in circuit. 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.

sana to have gradually approached each other as they increased in size, until at last they virtually became one large city. On the coins of the earlier Greek kings of Ariana,-Euthydemus, Demetrius, and Eukratides, we find the monograms of both cities; but after the time of Eukratides, that of Opiana disappears altogether, while that of Karsana is common to most of the later princes. The contemporary occurrence of these mint monograms proves that the two cities were existing at the same time; while the sudden disuse of the name of Opian may serve to show that, during the latter period of Greek occupation, the city of Alexandria had been temporarily supplanted by Karsana.

The appellation of Begrâm means, I believe, nothing more than "the city" par excellence, as it is also applied to three other ancient sites in the immediate vicinity of great capitals, namely, Kabul, Jalâlâbâd, and Peshawar. Masson derives the appellation from the Turki be or bi, "chief," and the Hindi grám, or city,—that is, the capital. But a more simple derivation would be from the Sanskrit vi, implying "certainty," ," "ascertainment," as in vijaya, victory, which is only an emphatic form of jaya with the prefix vi. Vigráma would therefore mean emphatically "the city"—that is, the capital; and Bigram would be the Hindi form of the name, just as Bijay is the spoken form of Vijaya.

The plain of Begrâm is bounded by the Panjshir and the Koh-dâman rivers on the north and south; by the Mahighir canal on the west; and on the east by the lands of Julgha, in the fork of the two rivers. * Travels,' iii. 165.

Its length, from Bayân, on the Mahighir canal, to Julgha, is about 8 miles; and its breadth, from Kilah Buland to Yuz Bashi, is 4 miles. Over the whole of this space vast numbers of relics have been discovered, consisting of small images, coins, seals, beads, rings, arrow-heads, fragments of pottery, and other remains, which prove that this plain was once the site of a great city. According to the traditions of the people, Begrâm was a Greek city, which was overwhelmed by some natural catastrophe.* Masson doubts the tradition, and infers from the vast number of Kufic coins found there, that the city must have existed for some centuries after the Muhammadan invasion. am inclined to think that Masson is right, and that the decline of the city was caused by the gradual desertion of the people, consequent on the transfer of the seat of government to Ghazni, after the conquest of the country by the Muhammadans. Coins of the last

I

Hindu Rajas of Kabul and of the first Muhammadan kings of Ghazni are found in great numbers; but the money of the later Ghaznavi princes is less plentiful, whilst of the succeeding Ghori dynasty only a few specimens of some of the earlier sovereigns have yet been discovered. From these plain facts, I infer that the city began gradually to decay after the Muhammadan conquest of Kabul by Sabuktugîn, towards the end of the tenth century, and that it was finally deserted about the beginning of the thirteenth century. As the latter period corresponds with the date of Janghez Khan's invasion of these provinces, it is very possible, as Masson has already supposed, that Begrâm may have been finally destroyed by that merciless barbarian.

* Masson, Travels,'. 159.

Other Cities of Kapisene.

I will close this account of Kapisene with some remarks on the few other cities of the same district that are mentioned by ancient authors. Pliny describes one city as "ad Caucasum Cadrusi, oppidum ab Alexandro conditum," which is slightly altered by Solinus. to "Cadrusia oppidum ab Alexandro Magno ad Caucasum constitutum est, ubi et Alexandria."* Botn authors place the city close to the Caucasus, to which Solinus adds, that it was also near Alexandria. Following these two distinct indications, I am disposed to identify the city of Cadrusi with the old site of Koratás, which Masson discovered under the hills of Kohistan, 6 miles to the north-east of Begrâm, and on the north bank of the Panjshir river.† There are the usual remains of an old city, consisting of mounds covered with fragments of pottery, amongst which old coins are frequently found. There are also remains of masonry works about the hills, which the people cail Kâfir-kot, or the Kâfir's fort. The commentators have accused Solinus of misunderstanding Pliny, whose Cadrusi, they say, was the name of a people, and whose "oppidum ab Alexandro conditum " was the city of Alexandria. But the passage was differently understood by Philemon Holland, who renders it thus:-" Upon the hill Caucasus standeth the town Cadrusi, built likewise by the said Alexander." As a general rule, the Greeks would seem to have designated the various peoples whom they encountered by the names of their principal towns. Travels,' iii. 166.

* Plin. Hist. Nat., vi. 25. Solin. Ivii.

Cellarius, iii. 22, p. 514, "quod Solinus pervertit."

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 Bactriæ;" 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.