The Balla Hissar comprehends nearly a fourth part of the city if Cabul, and is surrounded by a wall, the height being regulated according to the rise and fall of the mountains, with numerous bastions, but only two gates now open, that to west leading to the town, and the other on the east called the Peshawer gate, both being closed at night. The upper part of the Balla Hissar, is about four hundred and twenty yards by two hundred and fifty; the lower part about one thousand by five hundred yards. The garden on the right is occupied by the British Envoy, formerly the residence of Dost Mahommed Khan; the building beyond is the Harem Serai, in which the Shah resides, although in a falling state. On the left of it is Musjid Shahee, or Royal Mosque, in ruins, founded in the time of Alumgeer. The roofs of the houses are flat, and but ill-suited to a climate to a climate in which so much snow falls. It was from Balla Hissar, the British troops were recalled to the cantonment, dispirited and illy clad, and suffering most acutely under the deprivation of food, which scanty allowance they could only obtain by bribery and plunder during the night. Sketches in Afghanistan, Henry Graves & Co. and W.H. Allen & Co., London, 1842. Letterpress title printed in blue incorporating list of plates, tinted lithographic title, dedication leaf, 25 tinted plates by Louis and Charles Haghe. This is one of the earliest collections of views of Afghanistan. James Atkinson, the celebrated translator of Firdausi’s Shah Nameh and one of the first Europeans to explore Afghanistan, was on of the pioneers of oriental studies. The lithographers Louis and Charles Haghe were involved in a number of important publications in the 1840’s and 1850’s and are celebrated for the particular high quality of their work.