Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Afghanistan

This is the name applied, originally in Persian, to that mountainous region between N.W. India and Eastern Persia, of which the Afghâns are the most numerous and the predominant inhabitants. Afghans, under that and other names, have played no small part in Asiatic history. But the present extensive application of the name Afghânistân is scarcely older than the shortlived empire founded by Ahmed Khan in the middle of last century. The Afghans themselves are not in the habit of using the term.

In treating of this country we include a part of the Hazâra mountain region, but not that part of the Oxus basin which is now under Afghan rule, for which see Afghan Turkestan.

Afghanistan generally may be regarded as a great quadrilateral plateau,—using that term in the technical sense of a region whose lowest tracts even are considerably elevated above the sea-level,—extending from about 62° to 70° E. long., and from 30° to 35° N. lat. This territory corresponds fairly to the aggregate of the ancient provinces of Aria (Herât), Dragiana (Seistân), the region of the Paropamisadæ (Kâbul), and Arachosia (Kandahâr), with Gandaritis (Peshâwar and Yûzufzai). Though the last territory belongs ethnically to Afghanistan, an important part of it now forms the British district of Peshâwar, whilst the remainder acknowledges no master.

The boundaries of Afghanistan can be stated here only roughly; and, from the area thus broadly defined, many portions will have to be deducted as occupied by independent or semi-independent tribes. But, so understood, they may be this stated:—

On the north: beginning from east, the great range of Hindu Kush, a western offshoot of the Himâlya, parting the Oxus basin from the Afghan basins of the Kabul river and Helmand. From long. 68° this boundary continues westward in the prolongation of Hindu Kush called Koh-i-Bâbâ. This breaks into several almost parallel branches, enclosing the valleys of the river of Herat and the Murghâb or river of Merv. The half-independent Hazara tribes stretch across these branches and down into the Oxus basin, so that it is difficult here to assign a boundary. We assume it to continue along the range called Safed Koh or "White Mountain," which parts the Herat river valley from the Murghab.^[1]

On the east: the eastern base of the spurs of the Sulimâni and other mountains which limit the plains on the west bank of Indus, and the lower valleys opening into these, which plains (the "Derajât") and lower valleys belong to British India. North of Peshâwar district the boundary will be, for a space, the Indus, and then the limit, lying in unknown country, between the Afghan and Dard tribes.

On the south: the eastern part of the boundary, occupied by practically independent tribes, Afghan and Bilûch, is hard to define, having no marked natural indication. But from the Shâl territory (long. 67°), belonging to the Bilûch state of Kelat, westward, the southern limits of the valleys of the Lora river, and then of the Helmand, as far as the Lake of Seistan in lat. 30°, will complete the southern boundary. Thus the whole breadth of Bilûchistân, the ancient Gedrosia, a dry region occupying 5° of latitude, intervenes between Afghanistan and the sea.

The western boundary runs from the intersection of the Lake of Seistan with. lat. 30°, bending eastward, so as to exclude a part of the plain of Seistan on the eastern bank of the lake, and then crosses the lake to near the meridian of 61°. Thence it runs nearly due north, near this meridian, to a point on the Hari-Rûd, or river of Herat, about 70 miles below that city, where it encounters the spurs of the Safed Koh, which has been given as the northern boundary.

But if we take the limits of the entire Afghan dominions, as they present exist, the western boundary will continue north along the Hari-Rûd to lat. 36°, and the northern boundary will run from this point along the borders of the Turkman desert, so as to include Andkhoi, to Khoja Sâleh ferry on the Oxus. The Oxus, to its source in Great Pamîr, forms the rest of the northern boundary. These enlarged limits would embrace the remainder of the Hazara mountain tracts, and the whole of what is now called Afghan Turkestan, as well as Badakhshan with its dependencies, now tributary to the Afghan Amir.

The extreme dimensions of Afghanistan, as at first defined, will be about 600 miles from east to west, and 450 miles from north to south; and, if we take the whole Afghan dominion, the extent from north to south will be increased to 600 miles. Within both the areas so defined, however, we have included some territory over which the Afghan government has no control whatever, backed by a special exertion of force. Under the former head come the valleys of the Yusufzai clain north of Peshâwar, the Momands, Afrîdîs, Vazîrîs, &c., adjoining that district on the west and south-west, the high-lying valley of Chitrâl or Kâshkâr, and of the independent Pagans or Kâfirs, among the loftier spurs of Hindu Kush. Under the latter head come the eastern districts of Khost and (partially) of Kurram, the Kâkar country in the extreme south-east, much of the country of the tribes called Eimâk and Hazara in the north-west, and probably Badakhshân with its dependencies.

If we suppose the sea to rise 4000 feet above its existing level, no part of the quadrilateral plateau that we have defined would be covered, except portions of the lower valley of the Kabul river, small tracts towards the Indus, and a triangle, of which the apex should be at the Lake of Seistan in the extreme south-west, and the base should just include Herat and Kandahar, passing beyond those cities to intersect the western and southern boundaries respectively. Isolated points and ridges within this triangle would emerge.

Further, let us suppose the sea to rise 7000 feet above its existing level. We should still have a tract emerging so large that a straight line of 200 miles could be drawn, from the Kûshân Pass of Hindu Kush, passing about 35 miles west of Kabul, to Rangak on the road between Ghazni and Kandahar, which nowhere should touch the submerged portion. And we believe it is certain that a line under ​like conditions, but 250 miles in length, could be drawn at right angles to the former, passing about 25 miles south of Ghazni. The greater part of this latter line, however, would lie in the Hazara country, in which we have no observations.

In the triangular tract that would be submerged according to our first supposition, the lowest level is the Lake of Seistan, 1280 feet above the sea. Herat is 2650; Kandahar, 3490.

The Afghans themselves make a broad distinction between Kabul, meaning thereby the whole basin of the Kabul river, and the rest of their country, excluding the former from the large and vague term Khorasan, under which they consider the rest to be comprehended. There is reason for such a distinction in history as well as nature. For the Kabul basin was in old times much more intimately connected with India, and to the beginning of the 11th century was regarded as Indian territory.

Natural Divisions.—Of these, this Kabul basin (1) forms the first. As others we may discriminate—(2.) The lofty central part of the table-land on which stand Ghazni and Kala't-i-Ghilzai, embracing the upper valleys of ancient Arachosia; (3.) The upper Helmand basin; (4.) The lower Helmand basin, embracing Girishk, Kandahar, and the Afghan portion of Seistan; (5.) The basin of the Herat river; and (6.) The eastern part of the table-land, draining by streams, chiefly occasional torrents, towards the Indus.

Kabul Basin.—Its northern limit is the range of Hindu Kush, a name which properly applies to the lofty, snow-clad crest due north of Kabul, and perhaps especially to one pass and peak. But it has been conveniently extended to the whole line of alpine watershed, stretching westward from the southern end of Pamir, and represents the Caucasus of Alexander's historians. Its peaks throughout probably rise to the region of perpetual snow, and even on most of the passes beds of snow occur at all seasons, and, on some, glaciers. We find no precise height stated for any of its peaks, but the highest probably attain to at least 20,000 or 21,000 feet. The height of the Kushan Pass is estimated by Lord at 15,000 feet.

The Kabul river (the ancient Kophes) is the most important river of Afghanistan. It may be considered as fully formed about 30 miles east of Kabul, by the junction thereabouts (the confluence does not seem to have been fixed by any traveller) of the following streams:—(a.) The Kabul stream, rising in the Unai pass towards the Helmand, which, after passing through the city, has been joined by the Logar river flowing north from the skirts of the Ghilzai plateau; (b.) A river bringing down from the valleys Ghorband, Parwân, and Panjshîr, a large part of the drainage of Hindu Kush, and watering the fruitful plain of Dâman-i-Koh (the "Hill-skirt"), intersected by innumerable brooks, and studded with vineyards, gardens, and fortalices. This river was formerly called Bârân, a name apparently obsolete, but desirable to maintain; (c.) The river of Tagao, coming down from the spurs of Hindu Kush on the Kafir borders.

Some 30 miles further east, the Alishang enters on the left bank, from Laghmân, above which this river and its confluents drain western Kafiristan. Twenty miles further, and not far beyond Jalálábâd, the Kabul river receives from the same side a confluent entitled, as regards length, to count as main stream. In some older maps this bears the name of Kâma, from a place near the confluence, and in more recent ones Kûner, from a district on its lower course. Higher it is called the river of Kashkar, and the Beilam. It seems to be the Choaspes, and perhaps the Malamantus of the ancients. It rises in a small lake near the borders of Pamir, and flows in a south-west direction through the length of Kashkar or Chitral, an independent valley-state, whose soil lies at a height of 6000 to 11,000 feet. The whole length of the river to its confluence with the Kabul river cannot be less than 250 miles, i.e., about 80 miles longer than that regarded as the main stream, measured to its most remote source.

The basin of the Kabul river is enclosed at the head by the Paghman range, an offshot of Hindu Kush, which divides the Kabul valleys from the Helmand. Up the head-waters of the stream that passes Kabul, leads the chief road to Turkestan, crossing for a brief space into the Helmand basin by the easy pass of Unai (11,320 feet), and then over the Koh-i-Baba, or western extension of Hindu Kush, by the Hajjigak passes (12,190 and 12,480 feet), to Bâmiân.

The most conspicuous southern limit of the Kabul basin is the Safed Koh, Spin-gar of the Afghans ("White Mountain," not to be confounded with the western Safed Koh already named), an alpine chain, reaching, in its highest summit, Sîta Râm, to a height of 15,622 feet, and the eastern ramifications of which extend to the Indus at and below Attok. Among the spurs of this range are those formidable passes between Kabul and Kalalabad, in which the disasters of 1841–42 culminated, as well as the famous Khybar passes between Jalalabad and Peshâwar. This southern watershed formed by the Safed Koh is so much nearer the Kabul river than that on the north, that the tributaries from this side, though numerous, are individually insignificant.

After flowing 60 miles (in direct measurement) eastward from the Kuner confluence, the Kabul river issues from the mountains which have hemmed it in, and enters the plain of Peshâwar, receiving, soon after, the combined rivers of Swât (Soastus) and Panjkora (Guræus), two of the great valleys of the Yusufzai. This combined river is called by the Afghans Landai Sîn or Little river, in distinction from the Abba Sîn or Indus, and the name seems often to adhere to the lower course of the Kabul river. Both rivers on entering the plain ramify, in delta fashion, into many natural channels, increased in number by artificial cuts for irrigation. Finally the river enters the Indus immediately above the gorge at Attok.

The lowest ford on the Kabul river is a bad one, near Jalalabad, only passable in the dry season. Below the Kuner confluence the river is deep and copious, crossed by ferries only, except at Naoshera, below Peshâwar, where there is usually a bridge of boats. The rapid current is unfavourable to navigation, but from Jalalabad downwards the river can float boats of 50 tons, and is often descended by rafts on blown skins. The whole course of the river, measured by a five-miles opening of the compasses, is as follows:—From source of Kabul stream in Unai pass to Attok, 250 miles; from source either of Logar or of Panjshir to the same, 290 miles; from source of Kashkar river to the same, 370 miles.

A marked natural division of the Kabul basin occurs near Gandâmak, above Jalalabad, where a sudden descent takes effect from a minimum elevation of 5000 feet to one of only 2000. The Emperor Baber says of this:—"The moment you descend, you see quite another world. The timber is different; its grains are of another sort; its animals are of a different species; and the manners and customs of its inhabitants are of a different kind." Burnes, on his first journey, left the wheat harvest in progress at Jalalabad, and found the crop at Gandamak, only 25 miles distant, but 3 inches above ground. Here, in truth, nature has planted the gates of India. The valleys of the upper basin, though still in the height of summer affected by a sun of fierce power, recall the climate and products of the finest part of temperate Europe; the region below is a chain of narrow, low, and hot plains, with climate and vegetation of an Indian character.

​Accounts of Kabul strike us by apparent contradiction. Some give scarcely any impression but that of extreme ruggeddness and desolation, awful defiles, and bare black crags; other dwell on the abounding orchards, green sward, charming dells, and purling streams. But both aspects are characteristic. The higher spurs, both of Hindu Kush and Safed Koh, are often clad with grand forests of pine, oak, and other alpine trees, and resemble the wooded ranges of Himalaya. But the lower hills generally are utterly woodless, and almost entirely naked. In the bottoms, often watered by clear and copious streams, we have those beauties of verdure and fertility on which some writers dwell, and which derive new charms from contrast with the excessive sterility of the hills that frame them.

We cannot speak at equal length of the other natural divisions of Afghanistan, but some chief points will be noticed with the rivers. In general the remainder of the country, regarded by the Afghans as included in Khorasan, exhibits neither the savage sublimity of the defiles of the Kabul region, the alpine forests of its higher ranges, nor its nests of rich vegetation in the valleys, save in the north-east part adjoining Safed Koh, where these characters still adhere, and in some exceptional localities, such as the valley of Herat, which is matchless in richness of cultivation. Generally the characteristics of this country are elevated plateaux of sandy or gravelly surface, broken by ranges of rocky hills, and often expanding in wide spaces of arid waste, which terminate to the south-west in a regular desert of shifting sand. Even in cultivated parts there is a singular absence of trees, and when the crops are not visible this imparts an aspect of great desolation and emptiness to the landscape. Natural wood, however, is found in some parts of West Afghanistan, as in the almost tropical delta of the Helmand, in the Ghûr territory, and on the Herat river below Herat. Generally, indeed, in such cases the trees appear to be mimosas, tamarisks, and the like, with little body of foliage.

Rivers.—Next to the Kabul river in importance, and probably much exceeding it in volume as it certainly does in length, is the Helmand (Etymander), the only considerable river in its latitude from the Tigris to the Indus. The Helmand has its highest sources in the Koh-i-Baba and Paghman hills, between Kabul and Bamian, Its succeeding course is through the least known tract of Afghanistan, chiefly occupied by Hazaras; indeed, for a length of nearly 300 miles no European has seen the river. This unvisited space terminates at Girishk, where the river is crossed by the principal route from Herat to Kandahar. Till about 40 miles above Girishk the character of the Helmand is said to be that of a mountain river, flowing between scarped rocks, and obstructed by enormous boulders. At that point it enters on a flat country, and extends over a gravelly bed. Here, also, it begins to be used in irrigation. Forty-five miles below Girishk the Helmand receives its greatest tributary, the Arghand-âb, coming past Kandahar from the high Ghilzai country. It here becomes a very considerable river, said to have a width of 300 or 400 yards, and a depth of 9 to 12 feet. But this cannot be at all seasons, as there are fords at long intervals as far down as Pûlalik, 100 miles from the mouth. The desert draws near the left bank in the lower course, and for the last 150 miles the moving sands approach within 1¼ mile. The vegetation on the banks is here of luxuriant tropical character. The whole of the lower valley seems to have been once the seat of a prosperous population, and there is still a good deal of cultivation for 100 miles below Girishk. Even this, however, is much fallen off, and lower down still more so, owing to disorders and excessive insecurity.

The course of the river is more or less south-west from its source till in Seistan it approaches meridian 62°, when it turns nearly north, and so flows on for 70 or 80 miles, till it falls into the lake of Seistan by various mouths. The whole length of the river, measured as before, is about 615 miles. Ferrier considers that it has water enough for navigation at all seasons, from Girishk downwards. At present boats are rarely seen, and those in use are most clumsy; rafts are employed for crossing.

Lakes.—As we know nothing of the lake in which the Lora is said to end, and the greater part of the lake of Seistan (see that article) is excluded from Afghanistan, there remains only the Ab-i-Istada, on the Ghilzai plateau. This is about 65 miles S.S.W. of Ghazni, and stands at a height of about 7000 feet, in a site of most barren and dreary aspect, with no tree or blade of grass, and hardly a habitation in sight. It is about 44 miles in circuit, and very shallow; not more than 12 feet deep in the middle. The chief feeder is the Ghazni river. The Afghans speak of a stream draining the lake, but this seems to be unfounded, and the saltness and bitterness of the lake is against it. Fish entering the salt water from the Ghazni river sicken and die.

Provinces and Towns.—The chief political divisions of Afghanistan in recent times are stated to be Kabul, Jalalabad, Ghazni, Kandahar, Herat, and Afghan Turkestan (q.v.), to which are sometimes added the command of the Ghilzais and of the Hazaras. This list seems to omit the unruly districts of the eastern table-land, such as Kurram, Khost, &c. But we must not look for the precision of European administration in such a case.

In addition to Kabul, Ghazni, Kandahar, Herat, described under those articles, there are not many places in Afghanistan to be called towns. We notice the following:—

Jalâlâbâd lies, at a height of 1946 feet, in a plain on the south of the Kabul river. It is by road 100 miles from Kabul, and 91 from Peshawar. Between it and Peshawar intervene the Khybar and other adjoining passes; between it and Kabul the passes of Jagdalak, Khurd-Kabul, &c. The place has been visited by no known European since Sir G. Pollock's expedition in 1842. As it then existed, the town, though its walls had an extent of 2100 yards, contained only 300 houses, and a permanent population of 2000. The walls formed an irregular quadrilateral in a ruinous state, surrounded on all sides by buildings, gardens, the remains of the ancient walls, &c., affording cover to an assailant. The town walls were destroyed by Pollock, but have probably been restored.

The highly-cultivated plain is, according to Wood, 25 miles in length by 3 or 4 miles in breadth; the central part covered with villages, castles, and gardens. It is abundantly watered.

The province under Jalalabad is about 80 miles in length by 35 in width, and includes the large district of Laghman, north of the Kabul river, as well as that on the south, which is called Nangnihâr. The former name, properly Lamghân, the seat of the ancient Lampagæ, is absurdly derived by the Mahommedans from the patriarch Lamech, whose tomb they profess to show; the latter name is interpreted (in mixed Pushtu and Arabic) to mean "nine rivers," an etymology supported by the numerous streams. The word is, however, really a distortion of the ancient Indian name Nagarahâra, borne by a city in this plain long before Islam, and believed to have been the Nagara or Dionysopolis of Ptolemy. Many topes and other Buddhist traces exist in the valley, but there are no unruined buildings of any moment. Baber laid out fine gardens here; and his grandson (Jalâluddîn) Akbar built Jalalabad. Hindus form a considerable part of the town population, and have a large temple. The most notable point in the history of Jalalbad is the stout and famous defence made there, from November 1841 till April 1842, by Sir Robert Sale.

Istâlif is a town in the Koh Daman, 20 miles N.N.W. of Kabul, which was stormed and destroyed, 29th September 1842, by a force under General M'Caskill, to punish the towns-people for the massacre of the garrison at Charikar, and for harbouring the murderers of Burnes. The place is singularly picturesque and beautiful. The rude houses rise in terrace over terrace on the mountain-side, forming a pyramid, crowned by a shrine embosomed in a fine clump of planes. The dell below, traversed by a clear rapid stream, both sides of which are clothed with vineyards and orchards, opens out to the great plain of the Daman-i-Koh, rich with trees and cultivation, and dotted with turreted castles; beyond these are rocky ridges, and over all the eternal snows of Hindu Kush. Nearly every householder has his garden with a tower, to which the families repair in the fruit season, closing their houses in the town. The town is estimated, with seven villages depending on it, to contain about 18,000 souls.

Chârîkâr (population 5000) lies about 20 miles north of Istalif, at the north end Koh Daman, and watered by a canal from the Ghorband branch of the Baran river. Hereabouts must have been the Triodon, or meeting of the three roads from Bactria, spoken of by Strabo and Pliny. It is still the seat of the customs levied on trade with Turkestan, and also of the governor of the Kohistân or hill country of Kabul, and is a place of considerable trade with the regions to the north. During the British occupation a political agent (Major Eldred Pottinger, famous in the defence of Herat) was posted here with a Gûrkha corps under Captain Codrington and Lieutenant Haughton. In the revolt of 1841, after severe fighting, they attempted to make their way to Kabul, and a great part was cut off. Pottinger, Haughton (with the loss of an arm), and one sepoy only, reached the city then; though many were afterwards recovered.

Kala't-i-Ghilzai has no town, but is a fortress of some importance on the right bank of the Tarnak, on the road between Ghazni and Kandahar, 89 miles from the latter, and at a height of 5773 feet. The repulse of the Afghans in 1842 by a sepoy garrison under Captain Craigie, was one of the most brilliant feats of that war.

Girishk is also a fort rather than a town, the latter being insignificant. It is important for its position on the high road between Kandahar and Herat, commanding the ordinary passage and summer ford of the Helmand. It was held by the British from 1839 till August 1842, but during the latter nine months, amid great difficulties, by a native garrison only, under a gallant Indian soldier, Balwant Singh.

Farrah belongs to the Seistan basin, and stands on the river that bears its name, and on one of the main routes from Herat to Kandahar, 164 miles from the former, 236 miles from the latter. The place is enclosed by a huge earthen rampart, crowned with towers, and surrounded by a wide and deep ditch, which can be flooded, and with a covered way. It has the form of a parallelogram, running north ​and south, and only two gates. As a military position it is of great importance, but it is excessively unhealthy. Though the place would easily contain 4500 houses, there were but 60 habitable when Ferrier was there in 1845, nor was there much change for the better when Colonel Pelly passed in 1858. Farrah is a place of great antiquity; certainly, it would seem, the Phra of Isidore of Charax (1st century), and possibly Prophthasia, though this is more probably to be sought in the great ruins of Peshâwarân, farther south, near Lâsh. According to Ferrier, who alludes to "ancient chronicles and traditions," the city on the present site within the great rampart was sacked by the armies of Chinghiz, and the survivors transported to another position, one hour further north, where there are now many ruins and bricks of immerse size (a yard square), with cuneiform letters, showing that site again to be vastly older than Chinghiz The population came back to the southern site after the destruction of the mediæval city by Shah Abbas, and the city prospered again till its bloody siege by Nadir Shah. Since then, under constant attacks, it has declined, and in 1837 the remaining population, amounting to 6000, was carried off to Kandahar. Such are the vicissitudes of a city on this unhappy frontier.

Sabzvâr, the name of which is a corruption of old Persian, Isphizar, "horse-pastures," is another important strategic point, 93 miles from Herat and 71 miles north of Farrah, in similar decay to the latter. The present fort, which in 1845 contained a small bazar and 100 houses, must once have been the citadel of a large city, now represented by extensive suburbs, partly in ruins. Water is conducted from the Harut by numerous canals, which also protect the approaches.

Zarni is a town in the famous but little known country of Ghur, to the east of Herat, the cradle of a monarchy (the Ghurid dynasty) which supplanted the Ghaznevides, and ruled over an extensive dominion, including all Afghanistan, for several generations. Zarni, according to Ferrier, was the old capital of Ghur. Ruins abound; the town itself is small, and enclosed by a wall in decay. It lies in a pleasant valley, through which fine streams wind, said to abound with trout. The hills around are covered with trees, luxuriantly festooned with vines. The population in 1845 was about 1200, among whom Ferrier noticed (a remarkable circumstance) some Gheber families. The bulk of the people are Sûris and Taimûnis, apparently both very old Persian tribes.

Climate.—The variety of climate is immense, as might be expected. At Kabul, and over all the northern part of the country to the descent at Gandamark, winter is rigorous, but especially so on the high Arachosian plateau. In Kabul the snow lies for two or three months; the people seldom leave their houses, and sleep close to stoves. At Ghazni the snow has been known to lie long beyond the vernal equinox; the thermometer sinks to 10° and 15° below zero (Fahr.); and tradition relates the entire destruction of the population of Ghazni by snow-storms more than once.

At Jalalabad the winter and the climate generally assume an Indian character, and the hot weather sometimes brings the fatal simûm. The summer heat is great everywhere in Afghanistan, but most of all in the districts bordering on the Indus, especially Sewi, on the lower Helmand, and in Seistan. All over Kandahar province the summer heat is intense, and the simum is not unknown. The hot season throughout the "Khorasan" part of the country is rendered more trying by frequent dust-storms and fiery winds; whilst the bare rocky ridges that traverse the country, absorbing heat by day and radiating it by night, render the summer night most oppressive. At Girishk, Ferrier records the thermometer in August to have reached 118° to 120° (Fahr.) in the shade. At Kabul the summer sun has much of its Indian power, though the heat is tempered occasionally by breezes from Hindu Kush, and in nights are usually cool. Baber says that, even in summer, one could not sleep at Kabul without a sheepskin, but this seems exaggerated. At Kandahar snow seldom falls on the plains or lower hills; when it does, it melts at once.

At Herat, though 800 feet lower than Kandahar, the summer climate appears to be more temperate; and, in fact, the climate altogether is one of the most agreeable in Asia. In July, Ferrier says he found the heat never to pass 98°, and rarely 91° to 93° (Fahr.) These are not low figures, but must be compared with his register at Girishk, just given. From May to September the wind blows from the N.W. with great violence, and this extends across the country to Kandahar. The winter is tolerably mild; snow melts as it falls, and even on the mountains does not lie long. Three years out of four at Herat it does not freeze hard enough for the people to store ice; yet it was not very far from Herat, and could not have been at a greatly higher level (at Kafir Kala', near Kassan) that, in 1750, Ahmed Shah's army, retreating from Persia, is said to have lost 18,000 men from cold in a single night.

The summer rains that accompany the S.W. monsoon in India, beating along the southern slopes of the Himalya, travel up the Kabul valley, at least to Laghman, though they are more clearly felt in Bajaur and Panjkora, under the high spurs of the Hindu Kush, and in the eastern branches of Safed Koh. Rain also falls at this season at the head of Kurram valley. South of this the Sulimani mountains may be taken as the western limit of the monsoon's action. It is quite unfelt in the rest of Afghanistan, in which, as in all the west of Asia, the winter rains are most considerable. The spring rain, though less copious, is more important to agriculture than the winter rain, unless where the latter falls in the form of snow. Speaking generally, the Afghanistan climate is a dry one. The sun shines with splendour for three-fourths of the year, and the nights are even more beautiful than the days. Marked characteristics are the great differences of summer and winter temperature and of day and night temperature, as well as the extent to which change of climate can be attained by slight change of place. As Baber again says of Kabul, at one day's journey from it you may find a place where snow never falls, and at two hours' journey, a place where snow almost never melts!

The Afghans vaunt the salubrity and charm of some local climates, as of the Tobah hills above the Kakar country, and of some of the high valleys of the Safed Koh.

The people have by no means that immunity from disease which the bright dry character of the climate and the fine physical aspect of a large proportion of them might lead us to expect. Intermittent and remittent fevers are very prevalent: bowel complaints are common, and often fatal in the autumn. The universal custom of sleeping on the house-top in summer promotes rheumatic and neuralgic affections; and in the Koh Daman of Kabul, which the natives regard as having the finest of climates, the mortality from fever and bowel complaint, between July and October, is great; the immoderate use of fruit predisposing to such ailments. Stone is frequent; eye disease is very common, as are hæmorrhoidal affections and syphilitic diseases in repulsive forms. A peculiar skin disease of syphilitic origin prevails at Kandahar, and native physicians there are said by Bellew to admit that hardly one person in twenty is free from the taint in some form.

Natural Productions—Minerals.—Afghanistan is believed to be rich in minerals, but few are wrought. Some small quantity of gold is taken from the streams in Laghman and the adjoining districts. Famous silver mines were formerly wrought near the head of the Panjshir valley, in Hindu Kush. Iron of excellent quality is pro​duced in the (independent) territory of Bajaur, north-west of Peshawar, from magnetic iron sand, and is exported. Kabul is chiefly supplied from the Permûli (or Farmûli) district, between the Upper Kurram and Gomal, where it is said to be abundant. Iron ore is most abundant near the passes leading to Bamian, and in other parts of Hindu Kush. Copper ore from various parts of Afghanistan has been seen, but it is nowhere worked.

Lead is found, e.g., in Upper Bangash (Kurram district), and in the Shinwari country (also among the branches of Safed Koh), and in the Kakar country. There are reported to be rich lead mines near Herat scarcely worked. Lead, with antimony, is found near the Arghand-ab, 32 miles north-west of Kala't-i-Ghilzai; in the Wardak hills, 24 miles north of Ghazni; in the Ghorband valley, north of Kabul; and in the Afridi country, near our frontier. Most of the lead used, however, comes from the Hazara country, where the ore is described as being gathered on the surface. An ancient mine of great extent and elaborate character exists at Feringal, in the Ghorband valley. Antimony is obtained in considerable quantities at Shah-Maksud, about 30 miles north of Kandahar.

Silicate of zinc in nodular fragments comes from the Zhob district of the Kakar country. It is chiefly used by cutlers for polishing.

Sulphur is said to be found at Herat, dug from the soil in small fragments, but the chief supply comes from the Hazara country, and from Pirkisri, on the confines of Seistan, where there would seem to be a crater, or fumarole. Sal-ammoniac is brought from the same place. Gypsum is found in large quantities in the plain of Kandahar, being dug out in fragile coralline masses from near the surface.

Coal (perhaps lignite) is said to be found in Zurmat (between the Upper Kurram and the Gomal) and near Ghazni.

Nitre abounds in the soil over all the south west of Afghanistan, and often affects the water of the kârez, or subterranean canals.

Vegetable Kingdom.^[2]—The characteristic distribution of vegetation on the mountains of Afghanistan is worthy of attention. The great mass of it is confined to the main ranges and their immediate offshoots, whilst on the more distant and terminal prolongations it is almost entirely absent; in fact, these are naked rock and stone.

Agriculture.—In most pars of the country there are two harvests, as generally in India. One of these, called by the Afghans bahârak, or the spring crop, is sown in the end of autumn, and reaped in summer. It consists of wheat, barley, and a variety of lentils. The other, called pâizah or tîrmái, the autumnal, is sown in the end of spring, and reaped in autumn. It consists of rice, varieties of millet and sorghum, of maize, Phaseolus Mungo, tobacco, beet, turnips, &c. The loftier regions have but one harvest.

Wheat is the staple food over the greater part of the country. Rice is largely distributed, but is most abundant in Swat (independent), and best in Peshawar (British). It is also the chief crop in Kurram. In much of the eastern mountainous country bâjra (Holeus spicatus) is the chief grain. Most English and Indian garden-stuffs are cultivated; turnips in some places very largely, as cattle food.

The growth of melons, water-melons, and other cucurbitaceous plants is reckoned very important, especially near towns; and this crop counts for a distinct harvest.

Sugar-cane is grown only in the rich plains; and though cotton is grown in the warmer tracts, most of the cotton cloth is imported.

Madder is an important item of the spring crop in Ghazni and Kandahar districts, and generally over the west, and supplies the Indian demand. It is said to be very profitable, though it takes three years to mature. ​Saffron is grown and exported. The castor-oil plant is everywhere common, and furnishes most of the oil of the country. Tobacco is grown very generally; that of Kandahar has much repute, and is exported to India and Bokhara. Two crops of leaves are taken.

Lucerne and a trefoil called shaftal form important fodder crops in the western parts of the country, and, when irrigated, are said to afford ten or eleven cuttings in the season. The komal (Prangos pabularia) is abundant in the hill country of Ghazni, and is said to extend through the Hazara country to Herat. It is stored for winter use, and forms an excellent fodder. Others are derived from the Holcus sorghum, and from two kinds of panick. It is common to cut down the green wheat and barely before the ear forms, for fodder, and the repetition of this, with barley at least, is said not to injure the grain crop. Bellew gives the following statement of the manner in which the soil is sometimes worked in the Kandahar district:—Barley is sown in November; in March and April it is twice cut for fodder; in June the grain is reaped, the ground is ploughed and manured, and sown with tobacco, which yields two cuttings. The ground is then prepared for carrots and turnips, which are gathered in November or December.

Of great moment are the fruit crops. All European fruits are produced profusely, in many varieties, and of excellent quality. Fresh or preserved, they form a principal food of a large class of the people, and the dry fruit is largely exported. In the valleys of Kabul, mulberries are dried, and packed in skins for winter use. This mulberry cake is often reduced to flour, and used as such, forming in some valleys the main food of the people.

Grapes are grown very extensively, and the varieties are very numerous. The vines are sometimes trained on trellises, but most frequently over ridges of earth 8 or 10 feet high. The principal part of the garden lands in villages round Kandahar is vineyard, and the produce must be enormous.

Open canals are used in the Kabul valley, and in eastern Afghanistan generally; but over all the western parts of the country much use is made of the karez, which is a subterranean aqueduct uniting the waters of several springs, and conducting their combined volume to the surface at a lower level. Elphinstone had heard of such conduits 36 miles in length.

Animal Kingdom.—As regards vertebrate zoology, Afghanistan lies on the frontier of three regions, viz., the Eurasian, the Ethiopian (to which region Biluchestan seems to belong), and the Indo-Malayan. Hence it naturally partakes somewhat of the forms of each, but is in the main Eurasian.

Domestic Animals.—The camel is of a more robust and compact breed than the tall beast used in India, and is more carefully tended. The two-humped Bactrian camel is sometimes seen, but is not a native.

Horses form a staple export to India. The best of these, however, are brought from Maimana and other places on the Khorasan and Turkman frontier. The indigenous horse is the yâbû, a stout, heavy-shouldered animal, of about 14 hands high, used chiefly for burden, but also for riding. It gets over incredible distances at an ambling shuffle; but is unfit for fast work, and cannot stand excessive heat. The breed of horses was improving much under the Amir Dost Mahommed, who took much interest in it. Generally, colts are sold and worked too young.

The cows of Kandahar and Seistan give very large quantities of milk. They seem to be of the humped variety, but with the hump evanescent. Dairy produce is important in Afghan diet, especially the pressed and dried curd called krút (an article and name perhaps introduced by the Mongols).

There are two varieties of sheep, both having the fat tail. One bears a white fleece, the other a russet or black one. Much of the white wool is exported to Persia, and now largely to Europe by Bombay. Flocks of sheep are the main wealth of the nomad population, and mutton is the chief animal food of the nation. In autumn large numbers are slaughtered, their carcases cut up, rubbed with salt, and dried in the sun. The same is done with beef and camel's flesh.

The goats, generally black or parti-coloured, seem to be a degenerate variety of the shawl-goat.

The climate is found to be favourable to dog-breeding. Pointers are bred in the Kohistan of Kabul and above Jalalabad—large, heavy, slow-hunting, but find-nosed and staunch; very like the old double-nosed Spanish pointer. There are greyhounds also, but inferior in speed ​to second-rate English dogs. The khandi is another sporting dog, most useful, but of complex breed. he is often used for turning up quail and partridge to the hawk.

Industrial Products.—These are not important. Silk is produced in Kabul, Jalalabad, Kandahar, and Herat, and chiefly consumed in domestic manufactures, though the best qualities are carried to the Panjab and Bombay.

Excellent carpets—soft, brilliant, and durable in colour—are made at Herat. They are usually sold in India as Persian. Excellent felts and a variety of woven goods are made from the wool of the sheep, goat, and Bactrian camel. A manufacture, of which there is now a considerable export to the Panjab for the winter clothing of our irregular troops, besides a large domestic use, is that of the postîn, or sheepskin pelisse. The long wool remains on, and the skin is tanned yellow, with admirable softness and suppleness. Pomegranate rind is a chief material in the preparation.

Rosaries are extensively made at Kandahar from a soft crystallised silicate of magnesia (chrysolite). The best are of a semi-transparent straw colour, like amber. They are largely exported, especially to Mecca.

Trade.—Practically, there are no navigable rivers in Afghanistan, nor does there exist any wheeled carriage. Hence goods are carried on beasts of burden, chiefly camels, along roads which often lie through close and craggy defiles, and narrow stony valleys among bare mountains, or over waste plains. Though from time immemorial the larger part of the products of India destined for western Asia and Europe has been exported by sea, yet at one time valuable caravans of these products, with the same destination, used to traverse these rugged Afghan roads.

The great trade routes are the following:—

Towards Sind the chief exports from or through Afghanistan are wool, horses, silk, fruit, madder, and assafœtida. The staple of local production exported from Kandahar is dried fruit. The horse trade in this direction is chiefly carried on by the Syads of Pishin, Kakars, Bakhtiyaris, and Biluchis. The Syads also do, or did, dabble largely in slave-dealing. The Hazaras furnished the largest part of the victims.

Burnes's early anticipation of a large traffic in wool from the regions west of the Indus has been amply verified, for the trade has for many years been of growing importance; and in 1871–72 2,000,000 ℔ were shipped from Karâchi. The importation to Sind is chiefly in the hands of Shikarpûr merchants. Indeed, nearly all the trade from southern Afghanistan is managed by Hindus. That between Mesh-hed, Herat, and Kandahar is carried on by Persians, who bring down silk, arms, turquoises, horses, carpets, &c., and take back wool, skins, and woollen fabrics.

The chief imports by Peshawar from India into Afghanistan are cotton, woollen, and silk goods; from England, coarse country cloths, sugar and indigo, Benares brocades, gold thread and lace, scarves, leather, groceries, and drugs. The exports are raw silk and silk fabrics of Bokhara, gold and silver wire (Russian), horses, almonds and raisins, and fruits generally, furs (including dressed fox skins and sheep skins), and bullion.

The trade with India was thus estimated in 1862:—

But this omits some passes, and the Bolan exports do not include the large item of wool which enters Sind further south.

A relic of the old times of Asiatic trade has come down to our day in the habits of the class of Lohâni Afghan traders, commonly called Povindahs, who spend their lives in carrying on traffic between India, Khorasan, and Bokhara, by means of their strings of camels and ponies, banded in large armed caravans, in order to restrict those recurring exactions that would render trade impossible. Bullying, fighting, evading, or bribing, they battle their way twice a year between Bokhara and the Indus. Their summer pastures are in the highlands of Ghazni and Kala't-i-Ghilzai. In the autumn they descend the Sulimani passes. At the Indus, in these days, they have to deposit all weapons; but once across that, they are in security. They leave their families and their camels in the Panjab plains, and take their goods by rail to all the Gangetic cities, or by boat and steamer to Karachi and Bombay. Even in Asam or in distant Rangoon the Povindah is to be seen, pre-eminent by stature and by lofty air, not less than by rough locks and filthy clothes. In March they rejoin their families, and move up again to the Ghilzai highlands, sending on caravans anew to Kabul, Bokhara, Kandahar, and Herat, the whole returning in time to accompany the tribe down the passes in the autumn. The Povindah trade by all the passes is now estimated to reach £1,500,000 in value annually.

Inhabitants of Afghanistan.—These may first be divided into Afghan and non-Afghan, of whom the Afghan people are predominant in numbers, power, and character.

The Afghans themselves do not recognise as entitled to that name all to whom we give it. According to Bellew they exclude certain large tribes, who seem, nevertheless, to be essentially of the same stock, speaking the same language, observing the same customs, and possessing the same moral and physical characteristics. These are recognised as Pathâns, but not as Afghans, and are all located in the vicinity of the Sulimani mountains and their offshoots towards the east. We do not attempt to name them, because the information on the subject seems contradictory. There are tribes of somewhat similar character elsewhere, such as the Wardaks, to the south of Kabul; and there are again some tribes, in contact with these and with Afghan tribes, who speak the Afghan language, and have many Afghan customs, but are different in aspect, and seem not to be regarded as Pathan at all. Such are the Tûris and Jâjis of Kurram.

Of the Afghans proper there are about a dozen great clans, with numerous subdivisions. Of the great clans the following are the most important:—

The Durrânis, originally called Abdalis, received the former name from a famous clansman, Ahmed Shah. Their country may be regarded as the whole of the south and south-west of the Afghan plateau.

The Ghilzais are the strongest of the Afghan clans, and perhaps the bravest. They were supreme in Afghanistan in the beginning of last century, and for a time possessed the throne of Ispahan. They occupy the high plateau north of Kandahar, and extend, roughly speaking, eastward to the Sulimani mountains, and north to the Kabul river (though in places passing these limits), and they extend down the Kabul river to Jalalabad. On the British ​invasion the Ghilzais showed a rooted hostility to the foreigner, and great fidelity to Dost Mahommed, though of a rival clan. It is remarkable that the old Arab geographers of the 10th and 11th centuries place in the Ghilzai country a people called Khilijis, whom they call a tribe of Turks, to which belonged a famous family of Dehli kings. The probability of the identity of Khilijis and Ghilzais is obvious, and the question touches others regarding the origin of the Afghans, but it does not seem to have been gone into.

The Yusufzais occupy an extensive tract of hills and valleys north of Peshawar, including part of the Peshawar plain. Except those within our Peshawar district, they are independent; they are noted even among Afghans for their turbulence.

The Kakars, still retaining in great measure their independence, occupy a wide extent of elevated country in the south-east of Afghanistan, among the spurs of the Toba and Sulimani mountains, bordering on the Biluch tribes. But the region is still very imperfectly known.

Of the non-Afghan population associated with the Afghans, the Tâjiks come first in importance and numbers. They are intermingled with the Afghans over the country, though their chief localities are in the west. They are regarded as descendants of the original occupants of that part of the country, of the old Iranian race; they call themselves Parsiwân, and speak a dialect of Persian. They are a fine athletic people, generally fair in complexion, and assimilate in aspect, in dress, and much in manners to the Afghans. But they are never nomadic. They are mostly agriculturists, whilst those in towns follow mechanical trades and the like, a thing which the Afghan never does. They are generally devoid of the turbulence of the Afghans, whom they are content to regard as masters or superiors, and lead a frugal, industrious life, without aspiring to a share in the government of the country. Many, however, become soldiers in the Amir's army, and many enlist in our local Panjab regiments. They are zealous Sunnis. The Tajiks of the Daman-i-Koh of Kabul are said to be exceptional in turbulent and vindictive character.

The Kizilbâshes may be regarded as modern Persians, but more strictly they are Persianised Turks, like the present royal race and predominant class in Persia. They speak pure Persian. Their immigration dates only from the time of Nadir Shah (1737). They are chiefly to be found in towns as merchants, physicians, scribes, petty traders, &c., and are justly looked on as the more educated and superior class of the population. At Kabul they constitute the bulk of the Amir's cavalry and artillery. Many serve in our Indian regiments of irregular cavalry, and bear a character for smartness and intelligence, as well as good riding. They are Shîahs, and heretics in Afghan eyes.

It is to the industry of the Parsiwans and Kizilbashes that the country is indebted for whatever wealth it possesses, but few of them ever attain a position which is not in some degree subservient to the Afghan.

The Hazâras have their stronghold and proper home in the wild mountainous country on the north-west of Afghanistan proper, including those western extensions of Hindu Kush, to which modern geographers have often applied the ancient name of Paropamisus. In these their habitations range generally from a height of 5000 feet to 10,000 feet above the sea.

The Hazaras generally have features of Mongol type, often to a degree that we might call exaggerated, and there can be no doubt that they are mainly descended from fragments of Mongol tribes who came from the east with the armies of Chinghiz Khan and his family, though other races may be represented among the tribes called Hazaras. The Hazaras generally are said by Major Leech to be called Moghals by the Ghilzais; and one tribe, still bearing the specific name of Mongol, and speaking a Mongol dialect, is found near the head waters of the Murghab, and also further south on the skirts of the Ghur mountains. But it is remarkable that the Hazaras generally speak a purely Persian dialect. The Mongols of the host of Chinghiz were divided into tomas (ten thousands) and hazaras (thousands), and it is probably in this use of the word that the origin of its present application that M. de Khanikoff has met with is in a rescript of Ghazan Khan of Persia, regarding the security of roads in Khorasan, dated A.H. 694 (A.D. 1294–95).

Though the Hazaras pay tribute to the Afghan chiefs, they never do so unless payment is enforced by arms. The country which they occupy is very extensive, embracing the upper valleys of the Arghand-ab and the Helmand, both sides of the main range of Hindu Kush, nearly as far east as the longitude of Andarâb, the hill country of Bamian, and that at the head waters of the Balkh river, the Murghab, and the Hari-Rud; altogether an area of something like 30,000 square miles. The Hazaras are accused of very loose domestic morals, like the ancient Massagetæ, and the charge seems to be credited, at least of certain tribes. They make good powder, are good shots, and, in spite of the nature of their country, are good riders, riding at speed down very steep declivities. They are said to have a yodel like the Swiss. They are often sold as slaves, and as such are prized. During the winter many spread over Afghanistan, and even into the Panjab, in search of work. Excepting near Ghazni, where they hold some lands and villages, the position of the Hazaras found in the proper Afghan country is a menial one. They are Shiahs in religion, with the exception of one fine tribe called the Zeidnat Hazaras, occupying the old territory of Badghîs, north of Herat.

Eimâk is a term for a sept or section of a tribe. It has come to be applied, much as hazara, to certain nomadic or semi-nomadic tribes west of the Hazaras of whom we have been speaking, and immediately north of Herat. These tribes, it is said, were originally termed "the four Eimaks." It is difficult in the present state of information regarding them, sometimes contradictory, to discern what is the broad distinction between the Eimaks and the Hazaras, unless it be that the Eimaks are predominantly of Iranian or quasi-Iranian blood, the Hazaras Turanian. The Eimaks are also Sunnis. Part of them are subject to Persia.

Hindkis.—This is the name given to people of Hindu descent scattered over Afghanistan. They are said to be of the Kshatri or military caste. They are occupied in trade; they are found in most of the large villages, and in the towns form an important part of the population, doing all the banking business of the country, and holding its chief trade in their hands. They pay a high poll-tax, and are denied many privileges, but thrive notwithstanding. The Jats of Afghanistan doubtless belong to the same vast race as the Jats and Jâts who form so large a part of the population of the territories now governed from Lahore and Karachi, and whose origin is so obscure. They are a fine athletic, dark, handsome race, considerable in numbers, but poor, and usually gaining a livelihood as farm-servants, barbers, sweepers, musicians, &c.

Bilûchis.—Many of these squat among the abandoned tracts on the lower Helmand; a fierce and savage people, professing Islam, but not observing its precepts, and holding the grossest superstitions; vendetta their most stringent law; insensible to privation, and singularly tolerant of heat; camel-like in capacity to do without drink; superior to the Afghans in daring and address, which are displayed in robber raids carried into the very heart of Persia.

​There remain a variety of tribes in the hill country north of the Kabul river, speaking various languages, seemingly of Prakritic character, and known as Kohistanis, Laghmanis, Pashais, &c.; apparently converted remnants of the aboriginal tribes of the Kabul basin, and more or less kindred to the still unconverted tribes of Kafiristan, to the Chitral people, and perhaps to the Dard tribes who lie to the north of the Afghan country on the Indus.

An able officer of the staff in India (Col. Macgregor) has lately made a diligent attempt to estimate the population of Afghanistan, which he bring to 4,901,000 souls. This includes the estimated population of Afghan Turkestan, the people of Chitral, the Kafirs, and the independent Yusufzais. We shall deduct the three first:—

which may be thus roughly divided—

The Afghans, in government and general manners, have a likeness to other Mahommedan nations; but they have also many peculiarities.

Besides their division into clans and tribes, the whole Afghan people may be divided into dwellers in tents and dwellers in houses; and this division is apparently not coincident with tribal divisions, for of several of the great clans, at least a part is nomad and a part settled. Such, e.g., is the case with the Durrani and with the Ghilzai.

Nomad Afghans exist in the Kabul basin, but their proper field is that part of their territory which the Afghans include in Khorasan, with its wide plains. These people subsist on the produce of their flocks, and rarely cultivate. They may, perhaps, pay something to the Kabul government through their chief, and they contribute soldiers to the regular army, besides forming the bulk of the militia; but they have little relation to the government, and seldom enter towns unless to sell their produce. They are under some indefinite control by their chiefs, to whom serious disputes are referred. Petty matters are settled by the "greybeards" of the community, guided by the Afghan traditional code. Many of the nomad tribes are professed and incorrigible thieves. Among certain tribes the ceremony of naming a male child is accompanied by the symbolical act of passing him through a hole made in the wall of a house, whilst a volley of musketry is fired overhead.^[3]

The settled Afghans form the village communities, and in part the population of the few towns. Their chief occupation is with the soil. They form the core of the nation and the main part of the army. Nearly all own the land on which they live, and which they cultivate with their own hands or by hired labour. Roundly speaking, agriculture and soldiering are their sole occupations. No Afghan will pursue a handicraft or keep a shop, though, as we have seen, certain pastoral tribes engage largely in travelling trade and transport of goods.

As a race, the Afghans are very handsome and athletic, often with fair complexion and flowing beard, generally black or brown, sometimes, though rarely, red; the features highly aquiline. The hair is shaved off from the forehead to the top of the head, the remainder at the sides being allowed to fall in large curls over the shoulders. Their step is full of resolution; their bearing proud and apt to be rough.

The women have handsome features of Jewish cast (the last trait often true also of the men); fair complexions, sometimes rosy, though usually a pale sallow; hair braided and plaited behind in two long tresses terminating in silken tassels. They are rigidly secluded, but intrigue is frequent. In some parts of the country the engaged lover is admitted to visits of courtship, analogous to old Welsh customs.

The Afghans, inured to bloodshed from childhood, are familiar with death, and are audacious in attack, but easily discouraged by failure; excessively turbulent and unsubmissive to law or discipline; apparently frank and affable in manner, especially when they hope to gain some object, but capable of the grossest brutality when that hope ceases. They are unscrupulous in perjury, treacherous, vain, and insatiable, passionate in vindictiveness, which they will satisfy at the cost of their own lives and in the most cruel manner. Nowhere is the crime committed on such trifling grounds, or with such general impunity, though when it is punished the punishment is atrocious. Among themselves the Afghans are quarrelsome, intriguing, and distrustful; estrangements and affrays are of constant occurrence; the traveller conceals and misrepresents the time and direction of his journey. The Afghan is by breed and nature a bird of prey. If from habit and tradition he respects a stranger within his threshold, he yet considers it legitimate to warn a neighbour of the prey that is afoot, or even to overtake and plunder his guest after he has quitted his roof. The repression of crime and the demand of taxation he regards alike as tyranny. The Afghans are eternally boasting of their lineage, their independence, and their prowess. They look on the Afghans as the first of nations, and each man looks on himself as the equal of any Afghan, if not as the superior of all others. Yet when they hear of some atrocious deed they will exclaim—"An Afghan job that!" They are capable of enduring great privation, but when abundance comes their powers of eating astonish a European. Still, sobriety and hardiness characterise the bulk of the people, though the higher classes are too often stained with deep and degrading debauchery.

The first impression made by the Afghans is favourable. The European, especially if he come from India, is charmed by their apparently frank, open-hearted, hospitable, and manly manners; but the charm is not of long duration, and he finds that under this frank demeanour there is craft as inveterate, if not as accomplished, as in any Hindu.

Such is the character of the Afghans as drawn by Ferrier and other recent writers, and undoubtedly founded on their experience, though perhaps the dark colour is laid on too universally. The impression is very different from that left by the accounts of Elphinstone and Burnes. Yet most of the individual features can be traced in Elphinstone, though drawn certainly under less temptation to look on the darker side, owing to the favourable circumstances of his intercourse with the Afghans, and touched with a more delicate and friendly hand, perhaps lightened by wider sympathies. Sir H. Edwardes, who had intimate dealings with the Afghans for many years, takes special exception to Elphinstone's high estimate of their character, and appeals to the experience of every officer who had served in their country. "Nothing," he sums up, "in finer than their physique, or worse than their morale."

Many things in Afghan character point to a nation in decadence—the frank manners and joyous temper, the hospitable traditions, the martial and independent spirit, the love of field sports, the nobility of aspect, suggest a ​time when these were more than superficial and deceptive indications of character, and were not marred by greed and treacherous cruelty.

Political Institutions.—The political institutions of the Afghans present the rude and disjointed materials of a free constitution. The nation is theoretically divided into four great stocks, supposed to spring from four brothers. But these four divisions are practically obsolete, and only come up in genealogies. Each tribe has split into several branches, and in the more numerous and scattered tribes these branches have separated, and each has its own chief. They retain, however, the common name, and an idea of community in blood and interests.

The type of the Afghan institutions is perhaps best seen in some of the independent tribes near the British frontier. These cling most closely to the democratic traditions. Their rude state of society is held together by a code as rude, which is acknowledged, however, and understood by every one, and enforced by the community, every member of which considers its infringement as an act committed against his own privileges. The Maliks or chiefs are the representatives of that tribe, division, or family to which they each belong, but they possess no independent power of action, and before they can speak in council, they must have collected the wishes of the bodies which they represent.

The men of the section (kandi) of a village, having come to a decision, send their representative to a council of the whole village, and these again to that of the sept (khail), and the appointed chiefs of the septs finally assemble as the council of the ûlûs or tribe. These meetings, in all their stages, are apt to be stormy. If persuiasion and argument fail to produce unanimity, no further steps can be taken, unless one party be much the weaker, when sometimes the stronger side will forcibly extort assent. When once a council has decided, implicit compliance is incumbent on the tribe under heavy penalties, and the maliks have the power of enforcing these.

Justice is administered in the towns, more or less defectively, according to Mahommedan law, by a kâzi and muftis. But the unwritten code by which Afghan communities in their typical state are guided, and the maxims of which penetrate the whole nation, is the Pukhtûnwali, or usage of the Pathans, a rude system of customary law, founded on principles such as one might suppose to have prevails before the institution of civil government.^[4]

A prominent law in this code is that called Nanawatai, or "entering in." By this law the Pathan is bound to grant any boon claimed by the person who passes his threshold and invokes its sanctions, even at the sacrifice of his own life and property. So also the Pathan is bound to feed and shelter any traveller claiming hospitality. Retaliation must be exacted by the Pathan for every injury or insult, and for the life of a kinsman. If immediate opportunity fail, a man will dodge his foe for years, with the cruel purpose ever uppermost, using every treacherous artifice to entrap him. To omit such obligations, above all the vendetta, exposes the Pathan to scorn. The injuries of one generation may be avenged in the next, or even by remoter posterity. The relatives of a murdered man may, however, before the tribal council, accept a blood-price.

Crimes punished by the Pathan code are such as murder without cause, refusal to go to battle, contravention of the decision of a tribal council, adultery.

The Afghans are Mahommedans of the Sunni or orthodox body, with the exception of a few tribes, perhaps not truly Pathan, who are Shiahs. They are much under the influence of their Mullahs, especially for evil; and have a stronger feeling against the Shiah heretic than against the unbeliever; their aversion to the Persians being aggravated thereby. But to those of another faith they are more tolerant than most Mahommedans, unless when creed becomes a war-cry. They are very superstitious in regard to charms, omens, astrology, and so forth; and greatly addicted to the worship of local saints, whose shrines (ziyârat) are found on every hill-top. The shrine, a domed tomb, or mayhap a heap of stones within a wall, sometimes marks the saint's grave, but is often a cenotaph. The saint may have been unknown in life for his virtues, but becomes after death an object of veneration, for reasons often hard to discern. In the immediate environs of Ghazni there are no less than 197 of these shrines.

A very marked feature in Afghan character is the passionate love of field sports, especially hawking. Deer-stalking in the open plains, the driving of game to well-known points by a host of beaters, and wild-fowl shooting with decoys, are others of their sports. They are capital horsemen, and unerring marksmen with the native rifle (jezail).

Among themselves the people are convivial and humorous. Festive gatherings are frequent, where they come together, not to buy or sell, or even to quarrel, but to make a noise and be happy. Tilting, shooting, racing, and wild music vary the amusements.

They have a wild dance called the âtan, in which the men work themselves into great excitement. Among some Kakar tribes it is said the atam is sometimes danced by both sexes together.

Government.—Afghanistan is now, and has been before, under one prince, but it is hardly a monarchy as we are used to understand the term. It is rather the government of a dictator for life over a military aristocracy, and within this a congeries of small democracies. Elphinstone compares it with Scotland in the middle ages; some things suggest a comparison with Poland, in spite of difference of physicacl geography; but in neither was there the democratic constitution of the Afghan ulus. The sirdars govern in their respective districts, each after his own fashion; jealous, ambitious, turbulent, the sovereign can restrain them only by their divisions. There is no unity nor permanence; everything depends on the pleasure of a number of chiefs bound by no law, always at variance, and always ready to revolt when they have the slightest interest in doing so—almost always ready to plunge into strife with a wild delight in it for its own sake. In war, as in peace, chiefs and soldiers are ready to pass from one service to another without scruple. It is a matter of speculation, and no disgrace.

The spirit of Afghan character and institutions was tersely expressed by an old man to Elphinstone, who had urged the advantages of quiet and security under a strong king: "We are content with discord, we are content with alarms, we are content with blood; but we will never be content with a master."

Revenues.—The revenues of Dost Mahommed Khan were estimated in 1857 at 4,000,000 rupees, or about £400,000. This included Afghan Turkestan, but not Herat, which he did not hold. The Herat revenue was estimated some years before (probably too low) at £80,000. In the later years of Dost Mahommed the net revenue is stated to have amounted to £710,000, of which the army cost £430,000.^[5] Information on this subject is very imperfect, and not always consistent. There seems to be a tax on the produce of the soil, both in kind and in money, and a special tax on garden ground. A house-tax of about 5 rupees is paid by all who are not Pathans. The latter pay a much lighter tax under another name; and ​the Hindus pay the separate poll-tax (jazeya). Taxes are paid on horses, &c., kept, and on the sale of animals in the public market.

The aggregate of taxation is not great, but the smallest exaction seems a tyrannical violence to an Afghan. Nor does payment guarantee the cultivator from further squeezing. In many parts of the country collections are only made spasmodically by military force. The people are let alone for years, till need and opportunity arise, when a force is marched in, and arrears extorted.

Customs dues at Kabul and Kandahar are only 2½ per cent. nominally, but this is increased a good deal by exactions. There is a considerable tax on horses exported for sale, and a toll on beasts of burden exporting merchandise, from 6 rupees on a loaded camel to 1 rupee on a donkey.

Military Force.—According to the old system the Afghan forces were entirely composed of the ulus, or tribesmen of the chiefs, who were supposed to hold their lands on a condition of service, but who, as frequently as not, went over to the enemy in the day of need. As a counterpoise, the late Amir Dost Mahommed began to form a regular army. In 1858 this contained 16 infantry regiments of (nominally) 800 men, 3 of cavalry of 300 men, and about 80 field-pieces, besides a few heavy guns. The pay was bad, and extremely irregular, and punishments were severe. The men were fine, but recruited in the worst manner, viz., the arbitrary and forcible seizure of able-bodied men. There were also Jezailchi (riflemen), irregulars, some in the Amir's pay, others levies of the local chiefs; and a considerable number of irregular cavalry. We have failed to obtain recent data on this subject.

Language and Literature.—Persian is the vernacular of a large part of the non-Afghan population, and is familiar to all educated Afghans. But the proper language of the Afghans is Pushtû, or Pukhtû (these are dialectic variations). Currency has been given to the notion that this language has a Semitic character, but this appears to be quite erroneous, and is entirely rejected by competent authorities, the majority of whom class Pushtu positively as an Aryan or Indo-Persian language. The Pushtu vocabulary preserves a number of ancient forms and connections with words that remain isolated in other Aryan languages. Interesting illustrations of this and other points connected with Pushtu will be found in a paper by Isidor Löwenthal in the J. of the As. Soc. of Bengal, vol. xxix.

Pushtu does not seem to be spoken in Herat, or (roughly speaking) west of the Helmand.

There is a respectable amount of Afghan literature. The oldest work in Pushtu as yet mentioned is a history of the conquest of Swat by Shaikh Mâli, a chief of the Yusufzais, and leader in the conquest (A.D. 1413–24). In 1494 Kâjû Khan became chief of the same clan; during his rule Buner and Panjkora were completely conquered, and he wrote a history of the events. But these works have not been met with. In the reign of Akbar, Bayazîd Ansâri, called Pîr-i-Roshan, "The Saint of Light," the founder of an heretical sect, wrote in Pushtu; as did his chief antagonist, a famous Afghan saint called Akhund Darweza.

The literature is richest in poetry. Abdarrahmân (17th century) is the best known poet. Another very popular poet is Khushâl Khan, the warlike chief of the Khattaks in the time of Aurangzîb. Many other members of his family were poets also. Ahmed Shah, the founder of the monarchy, likewise wrote poetry. Ballads are numerous.

History.–The Afghan chroniclers call their people Bani-Israil (Arab. for Children of Israel), and claim descent from King Saul (whom they call by the Mahommedan corruption Tâlût) through a son whom they ascribe to him, called Jeremiah, who again had a son called Afghâna. The numerous stock of Afghana were removed by Nebuchadnezzar, and found their way to the mountains of Ghur and Feroza (east and north of Herat). Only nine years after Mahommed's announcement of his mission they heard of the new prophet, and sent to Medina a deputation headed by a wise and holy man called Kais, to make inquiry. The deputation became zealous converts, and on their return converted their countrymen. From Kais and his three sons the whole of the genuine Afghans claim descent.

This story is repeated in great and varying detail in sundry books by Afghans, the oldest of which appears to be of the 16th century; nor do we know that any trace of the legend is found of older date. In the version given by Major Raverty (Introd. to Afghan Grammar), Afghanah is settled by King Solomon himself in the Sulimani mountains; there is nothing about Nebuchadnezzar or Ghur. The historian Firishta says he had read that the Afghans were descended from Copts of the race of Pharaoh. And one of the Afghan histories, quoted by Mr Bellew, relates "a current tradition" that previous to the time of Kais, Bilo the father of the Biluchis, Uzbak (evidently the father of the Uzbegs), and Afghana were considered as brethren. As Mahommed Uzberg Khan, the eponymus of the medley of Tartar tribes called Uzbegs, reigned in the 14th century A.D., this gives some possible light on the value of these so-called traditions.

We have analogous stories in the literature of almost all nations that derive their religion or their civilisation from a foreign source. To say nothing of the farce of the Book of Mormon, there is in our own age an in our own country a considerable numer of persons who seriously hold and propagate the doctrine that the English people are descended from the tribes of Israel, and the literature of this whimsical theory would fill a much larger shelf than the Afghan histories. But the Hebrew ancestry of the Afghans is more worthy at least of consideration, for a respectable number of intelligent officers, well acquainted with the Afghans, have been strong in their belief of it; and though the customs alleged in proof will not bear the stress laid on them, undoubtedly a prevailing type of the Afghan physiognomy has a character strongly Jewish. This characteristic is certainly a remarkable one; but it is shared, to a considerable extent, by the Kashmîris (a circumstance which led Bernier to speculate on the Kashmiris representing the lost tribes of Israel), and, we believe, by the Tajik people of Badakhshan.

All these countries were included in Timur's conquests, and Kabul at least had remained in the possession of one of his descendants till 1501, only three years before it fell into the hands of another and more illustrious one, Sultan Baber. It was not till 1522 that Baber succeeded in permanently wresting Kandahar from the Arghuns, a family of Mongol descent, who had long held it. From the time of his conquest of Hindustan (victory at Panipat, April 21, 1526), Kabul and Kandahar may be regarded as part of the empire of Dehli under the (so-called) Moghul dynasty which Baber founded. Kabul so continued till the invasion of Nadir (1738). Kandahar often changed hands between the Moghuls and the rising Safavis (or Sofis) of Persia. Under the latter it had remained from 1642 till 1708, when in the reign of Husain, the last of them, the Ghilzais, provoked by the oppressive Persian governor Shahnawâz Khan (a Georgian prince of the Bagratid house) revolted under Mir Wais, and expelled by the Persians. Mir Wais was acknowledged sovereign of Kandahar, and eventually defeated the Persian armies sent against him, but did not long survive (d. 1715).

Mahmud, the son of Mir Wais, a man of great courage and energy, carried out a project of his father's, the conquest of Persia itself. After a long siege, Shah Husain came forth from Ispahan with all his court, and surrendered the sword and diadem of the Sofis into the hands of the Ghilzai (Oct. 1722). Two years later Mahmud died mad, and a few years saw the end of Ghilzai rule in Persia.

Nadir Shah (1737–38) both recovered Kandahar and took Kabul. But he gained the goodwill of the Afghans, and enrolled many in his army. Among these was a noble young soldier, Ahmed Khan, of the Saddozai family of the Abdali clan, who after the assassination of Nadir (1747) was chosen by the Afghan chiefs at Kandahar to be their leader, and assumed kingly authority over the eastern part of Nadir's empire, with the style of Dur-i-Durrân, "Pearl of the Age," bestowing that of Durrani upon his clan, the Abdalis. With Ahmed Shah, Afghanistan, as such, first took a place among the kingdoms of the earth. During the twenty-six years of his reign he carried his warlike expeditions far and wide. Westward they extended nearly to the shores of the Caspian; eastward he repeatedly entered India as a conqueror. At his great battle of Panipat (Jan. 6, 1761), with vastly inferior numbers, he gave the Mahrattas, then at the zenith of power, a tremendous defeat, almost annihilating their vast army; but the success had for him no important result. Having long suffered from a terrible disease, he died in 1773, bequeathing to his son Timûr a dominion which embraced not only Afghanistan to its utmost limits, but the Panjab, Kashmir, and Turkestan to the Oxus, with Sind, Biluchistan, and Khorasan as tributary governments.

Timur transferred his residence from Kandahar to Kabul, and continued during a reign of twenty years to stave off the anarchy which followed close on his death. He left twenty-three sons, of whom the fifth, Zamân Mirza, by help of Payindah Khan, head of the Bârakzai family of the Abdalis, succeeded in grasping the royal power. For many years barbarous wars raged between the brothers, during which Zamân Shah, Shujâ-ul-Mulk, and Mahmûd, successively held the throne. The last owed success to Fatteh Khan, son of Payindah, a man of masterly ability in war and politics, the eldest of twenty-one brothers, a family of notable intelligence and force of character, and many of these he placed over the provinces. The malignity of Kamrân, the worthless son of Mahmud, succeeded ​in making the king jealous of his minister; and with matchless treachery, ingratitude, and cruelty, the latter was first blinded, and afterwards murdered with prolonged torture, the brutal Kamran striking the first blow.

The Barakzai brothers united to avenge Fatteh Khan. The Saddozais were driven from Kabul, Ghazni, and Kandahar, and with difficulty reached Herat (1818). Herat remained thus till Kamaran's death (1842), and after that was held by his able and wicked minister Yar Mahommed. The rest of the country was divided among the Barakzais—Dost Mahommed, the ablest, getting Kabul. Peshawar and the right bank of the Indus fell to the Sikhs after their victory at Naoshera in 1823. The last Afghan hold of the Panjab had been lost long before—Kashmir in 1819; Sind has cast off all allegiance since 1808; the Turkestan provinces had been practically independent since the death of Timur Shah.

In 1809, in consequence of the intrigues of Napoleon in Persia, the Hon. Mountstewart Elphinstone had been sent as envoy to Shah Shuja, then in power, and had been well received by him at Peshawar. This was the first time the Afghans made any acquaintance with Englishmen. Lieut. Alex. Burnes visited Kabul on his way to Bokhara in 1832. In 1837 the Persian siege of Herat and the proceedings of Russia created uneasiness, and Burnes was sent by the Governor-General as resident to the Amir's court at Kabul. But the terms which the Dost sought were not conceded by the government, and the rash resolution was taken of re-establishing Shah Shuja, long a refugee in British territory. Ranjit Singh, king of the Panjab, bound himself to co-operate, but eventually declined to let the expedition cross his territories. The "Army of the Indus," amounting to 21,000 men, therefore assembled in Upper Sind (March 1838), and advanced through the Bolan Pass under the command of Sir John Keane. There was hardship, but scarcely any opposition. Kohandil Khan of Kandahar fled to Persia. That city was occupied in April 1839, and Shah Shuja was crowned in his grandfather's mosque. Ghazni was reached 21st July; a gate of the city was blown open by the engineers (the match was fired by Lieut. afterwards Sir Henry Durand); and the place was taken by storm. Dost Mahommed, finding his troops deserting, passed the Hindu Kush, and Shah Shuja entered the capital (7th August). The war was thought at an end, and Sir John Keane (made a peer) returned to India with a considerable part of the force, leaving behind 8000 men, besides the Shah's force, with Sir W. Macnaghten as envoy, and Sir A. Burnes as his colleague.

During the two following years Shah Shuja and his allies remained in possession of Kabul and Kandahar. The British outposts extended to Saighân, in the Oxus basin, and to Mullah Khan, in the plain of Seistan. Dost Mahommed surrendered (Nov. 3, 1840), and was sent to India, where he was honourably treated. From the beginning, insurrection against the new government had been rife. The political authorities were over-confident, and neglected warnings. On the 2d November 1841 the revolt broke out violently at Kabul, with the massacre of Burnes and other officers. The position of the British camp, its communications with the citadel, and the location of the stores were the worst possible; and the general (Elphinstone) was shattered in constitution. Disaster after disaster occurred, not without misconduct. At a conference (23d December) with the Dost's son, Akbar Khan, who had taken the lead of the Afghans, Sir W. Macnaghten was murdered by that chief's own hand. On 6th January 1842, after a convention to evacuate the country had been signed, the British garrison, still numbering 4500 soldiers (of whom 690 were Europeans), with some 12,000 followers, marched out of the camp. The winter was severe, the troops demoralised, the march a mass of confusion and massacre; for there was hardly a pretence of keeping the terms. On the 13th the last survivors mustered at Gandamak only twenty muskets. Of those who left Kabul, Dr Brydone only reached Jalalabad, wounded and half dead. Ninety-five prisoners were afterwards recovered. The garrison of Ghazni had already been forced to surrender (10th December). But General Nott held Kandahar with a stern hand, and General Sale, who had reached Jalalabad from Kabul at the beginning of the out break, maintained that important point gallantly.

To avenge these disasters and recover the prisoners preparations were made in India on a fitting scale; but it was the 16th April 1842 before General Pollock could relieve Jalalabad, after forcing the Khybar Pass. After a long halt there, he advanced (20th August), and gaining rapid successes, occupied Kabul (15th September), where Nott, after retaking and dismantling Ghazni, joined him two days later. The prisoners were happily recovered from Bamian. The citadel and central bazaar of Kabul were destroyed, and the army finally evacuated Afghanistan December 1842.

Shah Shuja had been assassinated soon after the departure of the ill-fated garrison. Dost Mahommed, released, was able to resume his position at Kabul, which he retained till his death in 1863. Akbar Khan was made vazir, but died in 1848.

The most notable facts in later history must be briefly stated. In 1848, when the Sikh revolt broke out, Dost Mahommed, stimulated by popular outcry and by the Sikh offer to restore Peshawar, crossed the frontier and took Attok. A cavalry force of Afghans was sent to join Sher Singh against the British, and was present at the battle of Gujerat (21st Feb. 1849). The pursuit of the Afghans by Sir Walter Raleigh Gilbert, right up to the passes, was so hot that the Dost owed his escape to a fleet horse.

In 1850 the Afghans re-conquered Balkh.

In January 1855, friendly intercourse, which had been renewed between the Dost and the British government, led to the conclusion of a treaty at Peshawar.

In November 1855, after the death of his half-brother, Kohandil Khan of Kandahar, the Dost made himself master of that province. In 1856 came the new Persian advance to Herat, ending in its capture, and the English expedition to the Persian Gulf. In January 1857 the Dost had an interview at Peshawar with Sir J. Lawrence, at which the former was promised arms and a subsidy for protection against Persia. In consequence of this treaty a British mission under Major Lumsden proceeded to Kandahar. The Indian mutiny followed, and the Afghan excitement strongly tried the Dost's fidelity, but he maintained it. Lumsden's party held their ground, and returned in May 1858.

In 1863, Dost Mahommed, after a ten months siege, captured Herat; but he died there thirteen days later (9th June), and was succeeded by his son Sher Ali Khan. Since then the latter has passed through many vicissitudes in rivalry with his brothers and nephews, and at one time (1867) his fortunes were so low that he held only Balkh and Herat. By the autumn of 1868, however, ho was again established on the throne of Kabul, and his competitors were beaten and dispersed. In April 1869 Sher Ali Khan was honourably and splendidly received at Amballa by the Earl of Mayo, who had shortly before replaced Sir J. Lawrence. Friendly relations were con firmed, though the Amir's expectations were not fulfilled. He received the balance of a donation of £120,000 which had been promised and partly paid by Sir John Lawrence. A considerable present of artillery and arms was made to ​him; since then some small additional aid in money and arms has been sent, but no periodical subsidy.

Sher Ali Khan now reigns over all Afghanistan and Afghan Turkestan, whilst Badakhshan is tributary to him. In the latter part of 1872 a correspondence which had gone on between the Governments of Russia and England resulted in a declaration by the former that Afghanistan was beyond the field of Russian influence; whilst the Oxus, from its source in Lake Sirikol to the western limit of Balkh, was recognised as the frontier of Afghan dominion.

Antiquities.—We can afford space for only the briefest indication on this subject. The basin of the Kabul river especially abounds in remains of the period when Buddhism flourished, beginning with the Inscribed Rock of Shah-bâzgarhi, or Kapur-di-giri, in the Peshawar plain, which bears one of the repliche of the famous edicts of Asoka (not later than B.C. 250). In the Koh-Daman, north of Kabul, are the sites of several ancient cities, the greatest of which, called Beghram, has furnished coins in scores of thousands, and has been supposed to represent Alexander's Nicæa. Nearer Kabul, and especially on the hills some miles south of the city, are numerous topes. In the valley of Jalalabad are many remains of the same character. In the Peshawar plain and on the adjoining heights are numerous ancient cities and walled villages, in many cases presenting ruins of much interest, besides the remains of topes, monasteries, cave temples, &c.; and frequently sculptures have been found on those sites, exhibiting evident traces of the influence of Greek art. The Mahâban mountain, near the Indus, which has been plausibly identified with the Aornos of the Greeks, and the hills more immediately compassing the Peshawar valley, abound in the ruins of very ancient fortresses. At Talash, on the Panjkora river, are extensive ruins of massive fortifications; and in Swat there are said to be remains of several ancient cities.

In the valley of the Tarnak are the ruins of a great city (Ulan Robat), supposed to be ancient Arachosia. About Girishk, on the Helmand, are extensive mounds and other traces of buildings; and the remains of several great cities exist in the plain of Seistan, as at Pulki, Peshawaran, and Lakh, relics of ancient Drangiana, as yet unexamined. An ancient stone vessel, preserved in a mosque at Kandahar, is almost certainly the same that was treasured at Peshawar in the 5th century as the begging-pot of Sakya-Muni. Of the city of Ghazni, the vast capital of Mahmud and his race, no substantial relics survive, except the tomb of Mahmud and two remarkable brick minarets.

To the vast and fruitful harvest of coins that has been gathered in Afghanistan and the adjoining regions, we can here but make an allusion.

(Elphinstone's Caubool; various papers in J. As. Soc. Bengal; Ferrier's Journeys, and Hist. of the Afghans; Bellew's Journal, Report on the Yusufzais, and Notes on Flora of Afgh.; James's Report on Peshawar District; Raverty's Afghan Grammar; Panjab Trade Report; Baber's Memoirs; Kaye's History; papers by Major Lumsden, and by Lieut.-Col. C. M. Macgregor, &c. The paragraph on the Animal Kingdom has been revised by Prof Henry Giglioli of Florence.)(H. Y.)

Afghan Turkestan is a convenient name applied of late years to those provinces in the basin of the Oxus which are subject to the Amir of Kabul. Badakhshan and its dependencies, now tributary to the Amir, are some times included under the name, but will not be so included here. The whole of the Afghan dominions consist of Afghanistan as defined under that heading, Afghan Turkestan, and Badakhshan with its dependencies.

The territories included here will be, beginning from the east, the khanates or principalities of Kunduz, Khulm, Balkh with Akcha; and the western khanates of Sir-i-pul, Shibrghân, Andkhûi, and Maimana, sometimes classed together as the Chihâr Vilâyat, or "Four Domains;" and besides these, such part of the Hazara tribes as lie north of the Hindu Kush and its prolongation, defined in the article Afghanistan. The tract thus includes the whole southern moiety of the Oxus basin, from the frontier of Badakhshan on the east to the upper Murghâb river on the west. The Oxus itself forms the northern boundary, from the confluence of the Kokcha or river of Badakhshan, in 69½° E. long., to Khoja Salih ferry, in 65° E. long. nearly. Here the boundary quits the river and skirts the Turkman desert to the point where the Murghâb issues upon it. Along the whole southern boundary we have a tract of lofty mountain country. Thus, in the east, above Kunduz, we have the Hindu Kush rising far into the region of perpetual snow, and with passes ranging from 12,000 to 13,000 feet and upwards. Above Khulm and Balkh is the prolongation of Hindu Kush, called Koh-i-baba, in which the elevation of the cols or passes seems to be nearly as high, though the general height of the crest is lower. The mountains then fork in three branches westward, viz., Koh-i-Sidh, "The Black Mountain," to the south of the Herat river; Koh-i-Safed, "The White Mountain," between the Herat river and the Murghab, and a third ridge north of the latter river. The second branch (Safed-Koh) has been assumed in the article Afghanistan as the boundary of that region. We know almost nothing of these mountains, except from the journey of Ferrier, who crossed all three watersheds in four days of July 1845. He describes the middle range as very lofty, with a good deal of snow on the pass; the southern range not so high, the northern one not nearly so high.

Rivers.—We shall first describe the rivers of this region in succession.