LAGHMAN

laghman, a district of afghanistan, in the province of jalalabad, between jalalabad and kabul, on the northern side of the peshawar road, one of the richest and most fertile tracts in afghanistan. it is the valley of the kabul river between the tagao and the kunar and merges on the north into kafiristan. the inhabitants, ghilzais and tajiks, are supposed to be the cleverest business people in the country. sugar, cotton and rice are exported to kabul. the laghman route between kabul and india crossing the kunar river into the mohmand country is the route followed by alexander the great and baber; but it has now been supplanted by the khyber. lagoon (fr. _lagune_, lat. _lacuna_, a pool), a term applied to (1) a sheet of salt or brackish water near the sea, (2) a sheet of fresh water of no great depth or extent, (3) the expanse of smooth water enclosed by an atoll. sea lagoons are formed only where the shores are low and protected from wave action. under these conditions a bar may be raised above sea-level or a spit may grow until its end touches the land. the enclosed shallow water is then isolated in a wide stretch, the seaward banks broaden, and the lagoon becomes a permanent area of still shallow water with peculiar faunal features. in the old lake plains of australia there are occasional wide and shallow depressions where water collects permanently. large numbers of aquatic birds, black swans, wild duck, teal, migrant spoon-bills or pelicans, resort to these fresh-water lagoons.