Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/170

140 rendered his further advance impossible. But the Emperor was inexorable. The Prince gathered what provisions he could during a fortnight's stay at Ghazni, and then resumed his march. From Qalat-i-Ghilzai Sadullah pushed on with five divisions of the army, and encamped before Qandahar on 14th May. Aurangzib brought up the rear two days later.

Two miles outside the modern city of Qandahar, a traveller proceeding towards Herat comes upon the ruins of

old Qandahar, which Alexander the Great is said to have built and which Nadir Shah destroyed in 1738. It stood on an exceedingly strong position, along the base and eastern slope of a high ridge of bare rock that rises abruptly from the plain. The site of the city is marked by the crumbling walls of houses and confused heaps of bricks and debris, which cover several acres of surface. The lines of defence are still traceable by portions of walls that extend with broken intervals along the crest of the ridge. The city consisted of three distinct