| As described in William Henry Beable's Russian Gazetteer and Guide (1919)

Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for

AF’GHANISTAN.

Af’ghanistan is an extensive and partially explored region of Central Asia; of fluctuating boundaries, but which may be generally described as lying between Persia on the W, and the Indus on the E; and between the great chain of the Hindukoosh and the Paropamisan range on the N, and the Indian ocean on the S. Before, however, assigning stricter limits to the region which we propose to designate throughout this work Afghanistan, it may be expedient to give a brief sketch of the political history of the Afghans.

History.] The names Afghan and Afghanistan are Persian, but of uncertain etymology. The natives of A. call their own nation Pushtu, and in the plural Pushtanch. Hence their language is called the Pushtu Mr. Elphinstone says the Afghans claim kindred with the Jews, and hold that they are descended from Afghan, a grandson of Saul, or of Japhet, according to others. It would indeed appear from this that if they acknowledge Afghan as the common ancestor of their nation, they must call themselves Afghans as well as Pushtun. But whatever be the origin of the name Afghan, we find no trace of it in ancient history or geography; none in the books of the Guebres, nor even in those legends of the earliest Mussulman historians of Persia which have been dignified with the name of history. Mr. Elphinstone-with whom Klaproth and Dorn concur— denies that the Pushtu language has any affinity with the Hebrew, as has been asserted by Sir W. Jones; while, on the other hand, it is affirmed by the Serampore translators of the Old Testament into that language, that it abounds more in Chaldaisms than any other language of Hindustan or Persia. Modern Armenian writers derive the Afghans from the Albanians of antiquity. This idea seems to have arisen thus. The Armenians do not pronounce the letter l, but substitute for it gh or kh. Thus, instead of Tiflis, they say or write Tefkhis; for Salomon, they write Sokhoman; and for Albania, Akhbania, or Akhvania. In addition to the evidence thus assumed from the corruption of a name, they affirm that Jenghis-khan, or his successors, having chased the Albanians from their own land, and constrained them to live in tents, they gradually approached Persia, and at last arrived on the confines of Candahar, where they established themselves. This fable was in circulation at the time that Mir-Veils and his son, Mir-Mahmud, made an incursion into Persia, at the head of the Afghans, when they first became known to the Armenians. Reineggs—who is not so well-informed as Sir W. Jones—seizes upon this Armenian story as a precious discovery, and affirms, in confirmation of it, that the Afghans resemble the Armenians in manners, customs, and appearance! He likewise adds, in further confirmation of the theory, that they are in the habit of making once a year unleavened bread which they mark with a cross! It appears, however, that at a very early period the Afghans inhabited the mountains of Ghore between Herat and Cabul; and they may have been, perhaps, the descendants of those Mardi who occasioned such trouble to Antiochus in his Bactrian war. They seem also to have early possessed the mountains of Soliman, or the southern mountains of Afghanistan. In the 9th cent. according to Ferishta, they had established themselves in the north-eastern mountains of this region, and were nominally subverts of the Sammanean dynasty. At the commencement of the Ghuznian dynasty under Mahmud, the son of the Tatar Sebuctaghi, they furnished a large part of his army, and that of his successors. The Suri tribe of Afghans inhabited the mountains of Ghore east of Furrah, and their principal cities were Ghore, Feruzi, and Ramian. This Afghan principality in the 12th century overthrew that of Ghuzni, and established a powerful empire from the Tigris to the Ganges, over all Eastern Persia, Balkh, Badakshan, and India. But of this, their Indian dominions excepted, they were soon stripped by the Kowarazmian princes; and while an Afghan dynasty held the throne of India, Jenghis Khan and his descendants ruled in Afghanistan itself. We hear little more of the Afghans till the time of Tameriane, when they are noticed by his flattering biographer, Sherifeddin, under the name of Ougaues: they were then independent, and they continued so till partially subdued by Baber and his successors. In 1306, Baber conquered Cabul and made it the seat of his empire: and when his successors had established themselves on the throne of Delhi, the plains of Afghanistan were divided between these sovereigns and those of Persia, but the mountaineers still retained their independence. In the beginning of the 18th century, when the Mogul empire began to crumble into pieces, the Ghiljie tribe of Afghans founded a short-lived empire which included all Persia, and reached westwards to the limits of the Russian and Turkish empires. Part only of Afghanistan, however, acknowledged the Ghiljie dominion. Nadír Shah, in 1737, overthrew this dynasty, and annexed all Afghanistan to Persia: and soon after his death, the Durani dynasty was founded by Ahmed Shah an Afghan. The tribe to which Ahmed belonged were originally called Abdalli; but Ahmed having assumed the title of Duri Duran, or 'Age of fortune,' styled his tribe Durani. Ahmed was crowned at Candahar; and his empire extended from Herat on the W, to Sirhind on the E; and from the Oxus and Cashmere on the N, to the Arabian sea and the mouths of the Indus on the S. In 1773 he was succeeded by his son Timur Shah, who removed the seat of government to Cabul, and died in 1793, when a civil war broke out between his sons. Zeman Shah, his second son, first obtained the throne by intrigue; but his government, though vigorous, was weakened from the first by the Sikhs who had got possession of the Punjab, and by the disaffection of his brother Mahmud, who sought to convert his government of Herat into an independent sovereignty, and who ultimately succeeded, with the assistance of Futeh Khan, a Durani chief, in getting possession of Candahar, and dethroning his brother, in 1800. The reign of Mahmud was brief. Shuja-ul-Mulk, the brother of Zeman Shah, taking advantage of an insurrection in Cabul, defeated Futeh Khan, and occupied Candahar. In 1809 Shah Mahmud regained his throne; and in 1811, with the assistance of a Sikh force, he subdued Cashmere which had been for some years in a state of revolt; but at the same time he allowed Runjeet Singh, his Sikh ally, to retain possession of the fortress of Attock. In 1815, a Persian army advanced against Herat, but was defeated by Futeh Khan, the able vizier of Mahmud. In 1816 Futeh Khan was assassinated by a son of Mahmud, and a civil war ensued, in the course of which the royal family was deprived of all its territories except Herat. Shah Mahmud died in 1829, and was succeeded on the throne of Herat by his son Kamran. Meanwhile Dost Mahommed Khan, one of the brothers of Futeh Khan, had seized on the valley of the Cabul river; and the Sikh chief Runjeet Singh had made himself master of Cashmere and of Peshawur, in addition to the Punjab. Dost Mahommed appears to have been desirous of securing the friendship of the British government; but the honourable reception of a Russian agent at Cabul, in December 1837, rendered him an object of distrust to the British agents, who succeeded in communicating their suspicions to the governor-general, Lord Auckland. With the view of frustrating the presumed designs of Russia, and of securing as far as practicable the integrity of the Afghanistan territory as a barrier against any aggressive attempts from that quarter, the government of India became parties to a treaty between Shah Shuja and Runjeet Singh, which had for its chief object the re-establishment of the former on the throne of his ancestors. On the 1st of October, 1838, a proclamation of war was issued against Dost Mahommed; but Runjeet Singh, notwithstanding his previous engagements, refused to allow the British troops to cross the Punjab. On the 20th of February 1839, the Bengal division, under Sir Willoughby Cotton, began its march from Firozepur across the desert towards the Bolan pass. No opposition was encountered in the pass itself; and on the 26th of April, the division had reached Candahar, where, being joined by the Bombay division, on the 4th of May, the united force amounted to 10,400 men, with about 30,000 camp-followers. The commissariat department appears to have been ill-sustained during this rash expedition; but on the 3d of June, the last division of the troops marched from Candahar: and on the 20th the whole force was before Ghuzni, 220 m. from Candahar, and the most formidable fort in Asia, which was carried by storm next day. After the capture of Ghuzni, the British force advanced and took possession of Cabul on the 7th of August; and Shah Shuja having been replaced on his throne, the principal part of the British forces returned to India. Shah Shuja soon excited great discontent by different acts of violence, and particularly by retaining a corps of Sikhs, the enemies by blood and religion of the Afghans, as a body-guard. Such was the determined hostility of the natives that the situation of the small British force in Cabul daily became more perilous. A part of the garrison having been detached, under General Sale, to Jellalabad, the division had scarcely entered the passes before it was attacked from all points and obliged to fight its way inch by inch; and on the 2d of November, the city of Cabul, with its 60,000 inhabitants, and all the country around, was in open insurrection. The British envoy, Sir W. MacNaghten, acting with indecision, was betrayed into a pretended conference and murdered; while the ill-health of Major-general Elphinstone, the commander of the forces, unhappily was such as to render him incapable of acting with the energy adequate to the crisis. On the 6th of January, 1842, the British force, consisting of about 4,500 men bearing arms, and 12,000 camp-followers, besides women and children, commenced a disastrous retreat from Cabul, while its best officers were given as hostages for the evacuation of Jellalabad by General Sale. The cold was intense; and during the whole retreat, through long and difficult passes, the Afghans poured an incessant fire upon the disorganized force, which literally annihilated it. General Sale, however, held Jellalabad, and General Nott maintained himself in Candahar. On receiving intelligence of these disasters, General Pollock crossing the Punjab, dispersed the Afghans before Jellalabad, and relieved Sale: while General Nott marched upon Cabul. Victory now attended upon the British arms; and after destroying the Balahissar or citadel of Cabul, avenging the disasters of their countrymen, and restoring the prestige of English superiority, the army re-crossed the Sutleje in December 1842, which river still remains the northern limit of the English possessions proper and subsidized.

Boundaries.] From the brief sketch of Afghan history now given, it will be readily comprehended how extremely difficult it is to fix with precision the boundaries of Afghanistan, with its varied population, its ever-fluctuating political divisions, and its unexplored tracts of wild mountainous regions, or uninhabited deserts. Taken in its largest acceptation, as including Balkh—which, though nominally an Afghan province, was recently held by the khan of Kunduz, an Usbec chief— Herat, Cashmere, Lahore, the Punjab, Seistan, and Beluchistan, it extends from the 25th to the 37th parallels of N. lat.; and from the 60th to the 78th meridians of E long., and may comprise a mixed population of Afghans, Tatars, Persians, and Indians, approaching to 20,000,000. But these boundaries can no longer be assigned to this once powerful state. The Indus must now be regarded as forming the extreme limit of its eastern frontier; while there seems little probability of Afghan power becoming again predominant in Sind or in Beluchistan. On the west, the deserts of Kirman and of Khorasan are little likely to tempt the cupidity of the Afghans; but Seistan is "classic land to the Persian," and may continue to afford debatable ground to the two rival nations. The political limits of the northern frontier will also fluctuate on the NW with the fortunes of the Tartar Hazarahs and Eimaks; and numerous and extensive rugged mountain-tracts lying along the southern descent of the Paropamisan and Hindukush ranges will be held by independent rajahs, unless the reigning monarch of A. shall be active and powerful enough to control them; while Balkh, or Bactria, on the northern side of the Hindu-kush, though claimed as a tributary province of A., is in reality an independent state; and Cafiristan, a mountainous region extending on both sides of the Hindukoosh, is inhabited by a race who are quite distinct from the Afghans on the one hand, and the Tatars on the other. For these reasons we shall devote separate articles to Balkh, Badakshan, Beluchistan, Cafiristan, Cutch-Gundava, Herat, and Seistan; while the present article will be devoted as exclusively as possible to a general description of the region lying between the parallels of 28° and 36° 30’ N. lat., and between 62° and 73° E long.; and bounded by the Paropamisan mountains, the Koh-i-Baba, the Pughman or Pamghan range, and the Hindu-kush on the N; by the Punjab on the E; by Cutch-Gundava and Beluchistan on the S; and by Seistan and Persia on the W. Its greatest extent within these limits is about 680 m. from E to W; and 500 m. from S to N; but its figure is irregular; and its superficial area probably does not exceed 225,000 sq. m.

Physical features.] A. is an elevated table-land. Its predominant characteristic is irregularity of surface, presenting a grand combination of lofty mountains, elevated uplands, rugged, deep, and narrow valleys, and extensive plains. Hence it is full of defiles, passes, and mountain-fastnesses, and is a naturally impregnable country. Rich and fertile plains occur on the banks of the Cabul river, in the vicinity of Candahar, and on the banks of the Helmund; but the great body of A. is mountainous; and Nature, here as in Switzerland, presents the most striking contrasts,—the icy climate of the poles alternating with the heat of the equator. "The warm and cold districts," says Baber, describing Cabul, "are close upon each other. You may, in a single day, go to a place where snow never falls, and, in the space of two astronomical hours, reach a place where it always lies." Southern A. is not nearly so pleasing and fertile a country as the Northern. Immense tracts here are uncultivated; the hills are without trees, and the plains covered with coarse herbage. A great portion of Beluchistan is mere desert. The general elevation of the table-land diminishes as we proceed westwards; but little is known of the regions bordering on the Persian desert.

Mountains.] The great range of the Elburz, separating Persia from Khorasan and the basin of the Oxus, passes to the N of Herat, and is prolonged eastwards till it joins the Hindu-kush, or Indian Caucasus. We can say but little concerning the elevation or breadth of this range, as it has not been explored in this part of its course by any European traveller. On the road from Meshed to Herat, the range runs generally to the left of the route, at no great distance, and is denominated by the natives the Kohistan, or 'Mountain country.' All we know of it is that the range increases in height as it proceeds eastward, and is of considerable elevation to the NW of Herat. E of Herat it expands to the great breadth of 200 m., according to Elphinstone's information,—presenting a confused mass of mountains such as the most intimate knowledge could scarcely enable the traveller to trace, and which, though affording a habitation for wandering tribes of Hazarahs and Eimaks, is so difficult of access and so little frequented that no precise account of its geography has yet been obtained. The western half of this region is less rugged than the eastern; but even in it the hills present a steep and lofty face towards Herat, the roads wind through rough valleys and over high ridges, and some of the forts are so inaccessible that visitors must be drawn up with ropes by the garrison; but some of the valleys are cultivated, and produce wheat, barley, millet, and almonds. The NW part, inhabited by the Jumshedis, is more level and fertile; the hills are sloping and well-wooded, and the valleys rich, and watered by the Morgab. The whole of these mountains abound in springs—hence the name Paropamisus, which is just the Greek form of the Sanscrit name Parapanis, or 'Mountain of springs.' From the northern face of the Paropamisan range, the descent is sudden and great to the plains of Bokhara watered by the Oxus, which come, without a single break or undulation, to the very foot of these mountains as to a wall, so distinct is the boundary. Several passes lead through this tract, from the Durani country, or Western Afghanistan, to Bokhara. The eastern termination of this mountain-plateau is exceedingly lofty, and is connected by the high land of Bamian, the Koh-i-Baba, and the Pughman range, with the western termination of the Hindu-kush.

The Pughman mountains consist of a double range, with a valley of about 10 m. in width betwixt them, which affords excellent pasture to the nomadic tribes in summer. The altitude of this valley above sea-level may be 10,000 ft.; while the bounding ranges rise to 2,500 ft. or 3,000 ft. above it. Two passes, known as the Ghorbund pass, and the Kallu pass, lead from this valley into that of Bamian on the W. The Koh-i-Baba joins the Pughman mountains in about 84° 30' N lat. On the E they are separated from the mountains forming the southern boundary of the Cabul valley by the narrow valley of Mydan.

So far as the Hindu-kush forms the northern limit of Afghanistan, its longitudinal extent is from 68° to 73° E long.; or from the snowy peak so called, NW of Cabul, to the source of the Abba-seen, an extent of 280 miles and upwards in a direct line. This range, soaring far beyond the inferior limit of constant congelation, is conspicuous from Bactria and the borders of India, and even from some places in Tartary. Humboldt regards it as part of the vast range of Kuer-lur, extending to the frontier of China Proper, and altogether distinct from that of the Himalaya, farther S; and this is a substantial distinction, having reference to the origin of the two ranges. The highest peak yet measured after Hindu-kush is that N of Pesháwur, in lat. 34° 30' N, long. 71° 40’ E, which Macartney measured trigonometrically, and makes 20,493 ft. above the plain, to which if we add 1,068 ft., the height of Pesháwur according to Hough, we get a total elevation of 21,561 ft., or in round numbers 21,500 ft., being about equal to that of Chimborazo.—Several passes to the E of Ghorbund lead into Afghanistan, over the Hindu-kush, from the district of Inderab in Eastern Bactria or Kunduz. The first is the pass of Parwan, which leads to Charmaghzar. Between Parwan and the Hindu-kush pass are seven minor passes, called the Seven younglings, which gradually resolve into two, which in their turn unite at the foot of the main pass to Inderab. To the E of this is the pass of Bazarak, leading from Seifabad to Charmaghzar. E of this again is the pass of Tul, or the Long pass, so named because it is a circuitous road. The most eastern of all is the pass of Kerindah, or Khawack, at the head of the valley of Punchshir, leading into Kunduz. All these three passes are in the valley of Punchshir, and that of Tul is the best. The pass of Parwan is very difficult. The pass of Khawack is the Kawuck, or Caouc, of Sherifeddin, in Kafiristan. It has an elevation of 13,200 ft. Timur, after his expedition against the Siapushes, or Black vests, did not enter the head of the Punchshir valley by Khawack, but marched from it to Tul. Baber entered Afghanistan or Cabul by the Ghorbund valley, through the pass of Kipchak, from the NW. There is another pass mentioned by Elphinstone leading up the valley of Punjcorah, and over the range at the head of the river of that name into Kashkur. By this pass, a chief of the Eusufzies crossed the snowy mountains with difficulty, conquered one of the Kashkur khans, and took his capital; but was unable to retain his conquest on account of the difficulty of communication with his own tribe across the range. The great summit of Hindu-kush Proper, remarkable for its vast mass and elevation, as well as for giving name to the whole range, is situated in lat 35° 40' N, long. 68° 50' E, 80 m. N of Kabul, whence it is distinctly visible, overtopping the lofty eminences which intervene; to the N it is visible a much greater distance, viz., from Kunduz, 180 m. Its height, as far as we are aware, has never yet been measured, although British engineers at Kabul must have been for two years in sight of it. The Kushan pass, traversing its E shoulder, has been estimated by Lord and Leech at 15,000 ft.; and as the highest peaks towered far above them, it may be conjectured to exceed 20,000 ft. From this range many inferior ridges descend towards the centre of the Cabul valley, decreasing in altitude as they approach it. The tops of the highest are bare, but their sides and the whole of the inferior ridges are well wooded. Though three lower ranges only are distinguishable from the plain of Peshawur, many more are probably passed before reaching the snowy range. The highest strata of the Hindu-kush are of primary formation, presenting granite, gneiss, and quartz; and having a general direction from E to W.

Whilst the range of the Hindu-kush may be said to belong as much to Turkistan and Tartary as to Afghanistan, the range now to be described, and those connected with it, belong wholly to it. To the S of the Cabul river, the country is equally mountainous as on the N; and here the Sufaid-Koh i.e. 'White Mountain' — sometimes called Speenghur, and the Rajgul of the natives—stands pre-eminent, having an altitude of probably 14,000 ft. [Wood.] It is separated from the snowy peak of Kund, the south point of the angle formed by the deep bend of the Hindu-kush, by the Cabul river only, from which it rises with a steep acclivity. It is here that the great mass of mountainous country to the S may be said to commence; and the whole may be considered as an enormous lateral range thrown off from the Hindu-kush, in 71° E long, and 34° 30’ N lat., and extending S and SW full 700 m., in a direct line, to Capes Urbu and Monze, in N lat. 25° and E long. 67°, 55 m. NW of the mouth of the Indus. The Afghanistan division of this mass extends to 30° N lat.; and the Brahuick, or Beluchistan division, from thence to the coast. Its breadth is great in proportion to its length: far exceeding that of the Alps, Pyrenees, Alleghanies, or Andes, being from 200 to 240 m. direct, and in one place only 180 m. Of this mass, the Suliman range seems to be the eastern crest. Between Peshawur and the Sufaid-Koh, a distance of 75 m. SSW, four ranges of mountains are seen to rise in successive elevation westward till they reach this point. From the Sufaid-Koh the range runs SW to the source of the Kuram, where it branches off into two ranges running SSW and SSE; the former passing alongst the E side of the elevated upland of Ghuzni to 30° N lat., separating all the sources of those streams that descend to the Helmund and to the sandy desert, from those that flow E to the Indus, as the Zhobe, the Gomul, the Kuram, and others,—whilst the other, called the Suliman range, passing to the SSE to 31° N lat. forms in its progress the mountainous region of the Jadrans. From this it runs still S to the Gomul, forming a mountain-mass covered with pine forests, and inhabited by the wild hill-tribe of Vizeris. Running farther S through the countries of the Sheranis and Zmurris, as far as 29° N lat., it joins the Brahuick mountains. The highest part of the Suliman range is near its commencement, as the Sufaid-Koh has snow all the year; while no other part of the range, Elphinstone says, has snow in summer. In the Sherani country, in about 31° 30’ N lat., is the lofty peak of Takt-i-Suliman, or 'the Throne of Solomon,' called in the Pushtu, Khaisa Ghur, or 'the Mountain of the Chasas.' At the distance of 60 m. from Dera Ismael Khan, it had its angle of altitude at 1° 30’, which gives a perpendicular elevation of 12,830 feet above that point, or 13,000 feet above the sea. Beyond this the range curves deeply to the SW from the Indus, and is not visible from Shikarpur; but in Lower Sinde it again bends towards the river, and is visible all the way to Tatta. On both sides of the Suliman range the slope is deep and sudden, from the southern limit of Afghanistan, as far N as the Gomul; but it is more so on the eastern side. To the N of that stream both sides of the range become intricate by the numerous minor hills projected to the E and the W; but the descent is more gradual on both sides.

Two ranges of minor height run parallel with the Suliman range, from the southern borders of Afghanistan, on its eastern side, as far as 32° 20' N lat. The first of these is higher than the second or more eastern; and between them is a rugged but cultivated country possessed by the Sheranis. All these ranges are pierced by valleys running eastward, and sending streams to the Daman or plain on the bank of the Indus. The Suliman range is stated to be composed of hard black rock; the next consists of red stone, equally hard;—but the third is of friable sandstone. The sides of the highest range are covered with pines, but their summits are all bare. Those of the second range are covered with olives and other trees; but the third or lowest range is entirely bare, except in the hollows, which contain some brushwood.

Another range, called the Salt range, from the extensive deposits of rock-salt which it contains, runs SE from the Sufaid-Koh, as far as Kallabagh on the Indus, passing to the S of Tira. At Kallabagh it crosses the Indus,—or, to speak more correctly, the Indus passes through a gap in the ridge, 350 yards wide, — stretches across part of the Panjab, and ends at Jellalpur, on the western bank of the Hydaspes. It diminishes in height as it runs farther SE from the Sufaid-Koh. The formation of this range is sandstone on vertical strata, with pebbles embedded in it. Hot springs occur on it in various places.— [Burnes.]

N of this is a third range running from the eastern side of the Sufaid-Koh, to the Indus, and beyond it, but not far, as that river pierces it at Nilab. It is called the Tira range, and also the range of Khyber, because inhabited by an Afghan tribe of that name. It is a very lofty range, increasing in elevation as it proceeds westwards. In Rennel's memoir this range is called the heights of Sindia Busteh; and it is described as craggy, steep, and tremendous. At Kohat, near its eastern extremity, the snow lies till spring is far advanced; and even on the parts adjacent to the Indus snow falls at times. From the Indus to the Sufaid-Koh, this range runs 120 m. W, and then, piercing the Suliman, runs S and SW, passing to the E of Ghuzni, as far as 30° N lat. and 67° E long., where it joins the Beluchistan mountains. This range may be justly considered as the Montes Parveti of Ptolemy, which separated the Indians from Arachosia and Paropamisus. From this great dividing range other ranges are projected to the W, amongst which is the range separating Pishin from Shawl on the S. The central elevation of this lateral range is called Tukkatu, from its highest point, in N lat. 30° 20' and E long. 66° 50'; alt. 11,500 ft.

Another range, leaving to the S the table-land of Kelat, runs N and NE under the names of Speen-Taizeh, Khozuk, Khojeh-Amran, and Toba its NE extremity, where it joins the main range near the source of the Lora. It is stated to be a broad range, but neither high nor steep; but it rises in elevation as it proceeds NE, where snow lies on it for three months annually.

The other mountain-ranges which ramify from the main ranges of A. are so numerous and so interwoven, that it is impossible to convey any thing like a clear description in words; and for further satisfaction, the reader is referred to the maps of Pottinger and Elphinstone, and the large map of the North-west frontier of India by Mr. John Walker, from which more will be gleaned by a single glance than by any verbal description.

Rivers.] A. has few large rivers. With the exception of the Indus, its eastern boundary, they are all fordable during some part of the year: even the largest partake of the character of torrents, which, though they often come down with great force, yet soon run off. Their importance is also diminished by the numerous cuts which are made from them for the purposes of irrigation. The rivers in Western Afghanistan are the Herat, the Morghab, the Furrahrud, the Etymandrus, the Kashrud, the Urghundab, the Turnuk, the Urghessan, and the Lora. The first of these rises in the territory of the Eimaks, and runs W through the beautiful valley of Herat, and then NW, but whether it falls into the Oxus or into the Caspian sea is yet undetermined.—The Morghab descends from the Hazarah mountains into the plains of Turkman, but its course likewise is undetermined. The Furrahrud rises about 75 m. SE of Herat. In the cold season it is from 50 to 60 yards broad, but in the hot season it is unfordable and very rapid. It falls into the Deryai Hamún at the NW angle.— The Etymandrus or Helmund rises 40 m. W of Cabul, at the eastern extremity of the Kho-i-Baba, at an elevation of 11,500 ft., and flows in a SW and W course 650 m. to the lake Hamún. Pottinger supposes that it formerly flowed to the Indian ocean.—The Urghundab rises in the Hazarah hills, 80 m. NE by N of Candahar, passes within 5 m. of it to the N and W, and joins the Helmund 20 m. below Girishk on its left bank, after a course of 200 m. Its principal branch is the Turnuk. The Kashrud rises at Sakkir, about 90 m. SE of Herat, and, after a course of 150 m., joins the Helmund at Koneshin on its right bank. It is larger than the Urghundab.—In Eastern A. the most noted streams are the river of Kashkhar, the river of Cabul, the Abba-Sín, the Kuram, the Gomul, and the minor streams watering the valleys projecting S from the Hindu-kush. The Kashkhar river—known also as the Kooner [Walker's map], and the Kama [Ainsworth's map]—is a large stream which rises in the snowy peak of Pushtikur, being separated merely by an intervening ridge from the source of the Oxus to the N. From this point it runs SW; having passed the snowy peak of Kund, it pierces the subalpine ranges to the S, and rushes with great violence into the valley of the Cabul river, which it joins at the village of Kamma, after a nearly direct course of 200 m. The combined stream of the Kashkhar and river of Cabul runs 100 m. eastward till it joins the Indus 3 m. above the fortress of Attock on the opposite bank. The river of Cabul is formed by the junction of the Ghorbund and Panjshir rivers below Chiarakar. Both these streams are very considerable, the former coming from the Hindu-kush peak, N of Bamian; and the latter 100 m. E of it from the same range. Below the gorge of the valley where the Cabul river enters the great plain of the Indus, near the village of Muchni, it divides into three great branches, which re-unite 12 m. below at Dobundi. A great accession is made to the Indus by the junction of the Cabul river; for, though it be sometimes fordable above the junction, it is never so below it.—The Abba-Sín is a small stream entering the Indus at Mullai, on the right bank, about 100 m. above Attock. The neighbouring Afghans regard it as the principal stream of the Indus. — The Kuram is a large stream, rising ENE of Ghuzni, and after a course of 115 m. joining the Indus 3 m. ESE of Kagalwalla.— The next stream to the S is the Gomul, a river of much longer course than the Kuram; but its waters notwithstanding never reach the Indus, except when swelled by the rains. This river is the Cowmall of D'Anville, Kirkpatrick, and Renell, and has been confounded by them with the Kuram, or the river of Bughzan and Bunnu.—Numerous other streams to the S of the Gomul, issue from the mountains at Zirkuni, Derabund, Chudwa, and Wukwa; they all run through valleys, and the two latter pierce the mountains of Suliman, and reach the Indus when swelled with the rain.

There is only one small lake in all A. It is called Aubistaudeh or Abistada—which in Persian means 'Standing water'—and lies to the S of Ghuzni. The tract surrounding this lake forms a basin, of which it is the centre, being the highest part of the elevated upland of Ghuzni. All the streams to the W of the Mummye range, N of Gushteh, S of Ghuzni, and E of Muklur, run into this lake, as the Puttsi, the Jilga, the Gushteh, and others. In dry weather this lake is from three to four m. in diameter; but it is twice as much after floods. Its water is salt.—Lake Zarrah or Dharrah—the Zerreh of most maps—belongs to Seistan. It is called by the Persians Deryai Hamún, i. e. 'the Sea of the Desert.'

General physical divisions.] Beginning at the NW of A. we have what is called the table-land of Herat, across which run low ridges from the Paropamisan mountains on the N and NE; and the principal feature of which is the fertile plain of Herat about 30 m. in length, and 18 m. in width.—To the N and NE of Herat, lies the Paropamisan mountain-district, sometimes known under the general appellation of the Hazarah country, and inhabited in its more northern regions by the Tartar race of the Hazarah; in the southern by that of the Eimaks. The mountain-regions of the Hazarah and Eimak tribes may be regarded as extending from the Koh-i-Baba on the E, at the western extremity of the Pughman mountains, to the Persian Kohistan. The general altitude of this region—which may have a superficies of 50,000 sq. m.—is about 10,000 ft. above sea-level.—To the E of this region, but to the N of the Koh-i-Baba and W of the Pughman range, is the Kohistan, the district of Bamian, and the valley of Ghorbund, containing the chief passes between Cabul and Kunduz. —The term Kohistan signifies ‘a mountainous region;' and the Kohistan of A. is a large elevated upland at the foot of the Hindu-kush, about 30 m. from Cabul. Of this district Vigne says the plains of Lombardy, as seen from the Apennines, do not exceed it in richness or brilliancy of verdure, whilst it far surpasses them in situation, being backed by an amphitheatre of enormous mountains.—The valley of the Cabul river begins on the W at the eastern declivity of the Pughman mountains, and stretches eastwards to the banks of the Indus,—descending in that space from an alt. of 10,000 ft. to 750 ft. above sea-level. This valley, forming the most important district in A., is hounded on the S by an extensive chain of mountains, and may be regarded as divided into three regions by the two mountain-ranges of Lattabund or Lutabund [Burnes] on the W, and Khyber on the E. The western region or basin, that of Cabul, extends about 36 m. from W to E, and has a varying breadth of from 8 to 16 m. On the N it has the Kohistan or Koh-i-Daman; on the E is the district of Lughman; on the S, the district of Logur stretches along the northern slope of the high land of Ghuzni; on the W it is separated by the narrow plain of Mydan—through which runs the road from Cabul to Ghuzni—from the Pughman range. The alt. of this plain is 7,747 ft.; that of the town of Cabul, 6,396 ft. above sea-level. Seen from the summit of the Tukt-i-Suliman, to the S of Cabul, this district presents the appearance of an extended plain surrounded by bare mountains and hills broken into passes. The mountain-region which receives its name from the Lattabund pass, and which separates the basin of Cabul from that of Jellalabad, is about 30 m. in breadth; the pass itself is 6 m. in length [Burnes]. The beautiful vale of Jellalabad stretches about 40 m. from W to E, and has an average breadth of 10 m. Its elevation is from 1,500 to 3,000 ft. above sea-level. To the NE lie Bajur, and the valleys drained by the Panjkora, the Suwat, and the Lundi rivers, districts inhabited by the Eusufzie tribe. To the S, the district of Nungnehar extends along the northern base of the Sufaid-Koh. On the E is the mountain range of Khyber, intersected by numerous passes, the most celebrated of which, giving name to the region, is about 30 m. in length, and has its summit 3,373 ft. above sea-level, 2,300 ft. above Peshawur, and 1,400 ft. above Jellalabad.—The low level, fertile and once highly cultivated district of Peshawur, extends from W to E above 60 m.; with a varying breadth of from 20 to 40 m. It has suffered greatly under Sikh oppression. It is separated on the E from the Indus by a low ridge.—Between the Khyber mountains and the Salt range, which is pierced by the Indus near the 33d parallel, lies the district of Tira; and to the W of this, and the S of the Sufaid-Koh, is the table-land of Bungush; and on the S the rich level district of Bann or Bunnu.—The Daman, or great plain lying between the Indus and the Suliman range, from the parallel of 32° 40' to that of 29° now forms the western limit of the Punjab, the Suliman range defining the eastern limits of A. to the district of Sewestan. Very little is known of the eastern portion of the table-land of A., especially of that portion of it which lies to the S of the Gomul river. It is a country entirely in the possession of nomadic tribes.—The district of Sewestan, forming the SE angle of A., is entirely unexplored.—To the W of it lies the elevated plain of Pishin, and the Beluchistan district of Shawl, or Quetta, through which the Bolan pass leads to that of Khojak, and thence NW to Candahar.—The central table-land of A. has for its eastern flank the Khojek-Amram or Toba mountains and the Sir-i-Koh. Its western flank is formed by another ridge which is united on the N to the Pughman mountains, and terminates on the S a little to the NW of Candahar. A few miles N of Ghuzni this table-land has an elevation of about 9,000 ft.; at Candahar it is only 3,484 ft.—To the S of the plain of Candahar—over which, however, detached hills are thickly scattered—is the district of Shorawuk; to the SW lies Seistan, a vast basin surrounded by hills on all sides.—The district of Subzewar or Isfezar, between Seistan and Herat, is an elevated upland covered with lofty mountains, a continuation of the Paropamisan mass, on which snow remains five months annually.

Climate.] From the varied nature of its surface the climate of A. must be necessarily very various,—much more so than from the mere difference of latitude. It is also materially affected by the direction of the prevailing winds. Some blow over snowy mountains; others are heated in summer and rendered cold in winter by passing over deserts; some places are refreshed in summer by breezes from moister countries; and some districts so surrounded by hills as to be inaccessible to any wind whatever. In the plain of Cabul the wind in spring blows incessantly from the N, and is hence called the breeze of Perwan, a town N of Cabul, at the foot of the Hindu-kush. In the district of Peshawur—which is a low plain, surrounded by hills except on the E—the air is much confined and the heat consequently greatly increased.In the summer of 1809—esteemed as a mild one— the thermometer, suspended here in a tent artificially cooled, stood for several days at 112° and 113°, which is as high as that of the hottest parts of India. But the duration of this heat is not so great as that of an Indian summer, and it is compensated by a much colder winter, while the snow-clad peaks of the sublime Hindu-kush are ever in sight. After the middle of July, a cold wind, which produces cool and cloudy weather, sets in from the E; winter is reckoned to commence in the latter half of September, the succeeding months grow progressively colder till February, and hoar-frost frequently covers the ground to the middle of March, in the mornings. After that, the solar heat increases so much, as to be disagreeable by 8 A.M.; and the weather gets gradually hotter till May, when the very wind, which previously tempered the increasing heat, becomes itself heated. In the dusht or plain of Buttecotte the simoom prevails in the hot season, though the mountains on both sides are covered with perpetual snow [Burnes]. Western A. is, however, colder than Eastern A.; but the coldest parts are those immediately to the E and W of the dividing range. Though Candahar has, comparatively, a hot climate, and no snow in winter, yet it gets gradually colder to the S, N and E. In this last direction, as we ascend the valley of the Turnuk, the cold increases at every stage, and the summer-heat proportionally diminishes. Even at Kelauti Ghilji, snow falls often and lasts long; and the Turnuk is often frozen so as to bear a man. In the high tract S of that valley, the cold is very great. To the N of Ghuzni the cold gradually diminishes, till we arrive at the Kohistan, N of Cabul, where it again increases gradually, as the country rises towards the Hindukoosh. Cabul itself, being lower than Ghuzni, and more enclosed by hills, is not so cold. The cold of winter is there equal to and more steady than that of England; but the summer is much hotter. In the winter of 1839-40, the temperature at Cabul was often 4° and 6° below zero. The climate of A. may be generally pronounced dry, and little subject to rain, fogs, or clouds. The inhabitants appear generally stout, active, and of larger size than those of India; and few of those epidemic diseases which make so much havoc in other countries,—as the plague, cholera morbus, and yellow fever,—are known here. Fevers and agues are common in autumn. Coughs—as might be expected in a climate whose variations are sudden and frequent—are very common and troublesome, and dangerous in winter. The small-pox carries off many, and the vaccine inoculation has not yet been introduced into common practice. Ophthalmia is a common disease.

Animals.] Lions are rare, but tigers and leopards are numerous in Eastern A. Wolves, hyænas, jackals, foxes, and hares are abundant. Bears are common in all the woody mountains. Many kinds of deer, including the elk, are found in the mountains; but antelopes are rare, and are confined to the plains. Wild sheep and wild goats are common in the eastern hills. Porcupines, hedge-hogs, mangooses, ferrets, and wild dogs, are numerous; and apes are found in the valley of the Kashkar river. In the mountains the flying-fox occurs. Cabul was once a great mart for horses,—not less than 60,000 being annually brought into the country by the Usbec Tartars. Goats and sheep, of the kind called in Persian doomba, having tails a foot broad, and almost entirely composed of fat, form the great stock of the nomade tribes. The goats are shaggy in the fleece, and short-legged. A long-haired species of cat, called boorak, is much esteemed; and great numbers of this species are annually exported to the neighbouring countries. It is remarkable that neither elephants nor rhinoceroses are now to be found W of the Indus; although the latter existed in Baber's days, and the former in those of Alexander the Great, who seems to have procured them in the lower valleys of Sewad and Bunn, near the Indus.—The feathered tribes, both wild, tame, and aquatic, are numerous. Of eagles there are two or three species, and of hawks many. Herons, cranes, and storks are common; as are wild ducks, geese, swans, partridges, quails, and that beautiful bird the Greek partridge, called in India the hill-chuckore, and cupk by the Persians and Afghans. Cuckoos which are rare, and magpies which are unknown in India, abound in A.; but neither peacocks nor parrots exist therein. Burnes observed nightingales, blackbirds, thrushes, and doves in the gardens of Cabul.—Of the reptiles of this country, the snakes are mostly innocent; but the scorpions of Peshawur are notorious for their size and venom.

Vegetation.] Very little is known of the vegetation and flora of A. The best account we have of it is from Baber himself, who is lavish in his praises of it; but it must be remembered, that though a florist, Baber was no botanist, and that Elphinstone was no further W than Peshawur. Both he and Baber agree in their admiration of the beautiful plain of Peshawur, which is covered with a varied profusion of the richest vegetation. The orchards scattered over the country contain a profusion of plum, apple, peach, pear, quince, and pomegranate trees; in the fields cabbage, lettuce, turnips, carrots, onions, cucumbers, endive, celery, and cauliflower are raised; whilst the uncultivated parts present a thick elastic turf never equalled but in some parts of England. This rich plain is also plentifully irrigated by water-courses and canals. Never was a spot, says Elphinstone, of the same extent better peopled. The bearings of 32 villages were taken from one height, all within the compass of four miles, and all neat, clean, and set-off with trees: every stream, however small, had a little bridge of masonry, ornamented with a small tower at each end. The greater part of the trees on the plain were mulberries. Baber praises the anemonies and other wild flowers which ornament the meadows of Peshawur; Elphinstone saw none of these, but says that the want of them was fully compensated in his eyes by the profusion of dandelions and other weeds common in England. Roses are abundant. English flowers are found in the gardens of Peshawur; but the gardens of Cabul are the boast of the Afghans. The fruits, both of cold and hot climates, are found in the vicinity of Cabul; and dried fruits constitute a principal article of trade between Cabul and Hindostan. Vigne describes the country between Ghuzni and Cabul as one mass of smiling vegetation produced by the united labours of the agriculturist and the market-gardener. Grapes, pomegranates, apricots, pears, apples, quinces, jujubes, damsons, almonds, and walnuts, are reared here in great abundance. The cherry was introduced by Baber himself from India, and now thrives well. The fruits of the hot climates are oranges, citrons, amluks, and sugar-cane. The wines of Derehnur are famous over all the Lumghanat, and are of two kinds, yellow and red. The wine of Cabul has a flavour not unlike Madeira [Burnes]. The grapes of Ghuzni are superior to those of Cabul, and its melons more abundant. On the slopes of the Hindukoosh are forests of pines, firs, oaks, and mastic; these forests are the most extensive in A. Tamarisks, willows, planes and poplars are found on the plains. The pistachio-tree grows wild in the Hindu-kush; and amongst the mountain-pines the jelgoozeh is remarkable for cones larger than artichokes, containing seeds resembling pistachio-nuts. Mulberry plantations are extensive in some of the sheltered valleys of the Hindu-kush. To the south of Ghuzni the country is destitute of wood; but in the plain of Shilgur planes and poplars are planted for the sake of the timber.

State of Agriculture.] A large proportion of the surface of A. is so rugged and ill-watered as to be incapable of cultivation; much of it is more suited to pasturage than to agriculture; and many tracts of cultivable ground are held in pasture only. The best cultivation is found in the valley of Cabul, in the Daman, in Peshawur, in the country around Candahar, in the Mydan valley, in the valley of Herat, and in the valley of Boreé in Sewestan. The business of cultivation is conducted in Afghanistan by five classes of persons: 1. Proprietors who cultivate their own lands. 2. Tenants who pay rent, either in money or a fixed proportion of the produce. 3. Buzgurs, the same as the metayers in France. 4. Hired labourers; and 5. Villeins, who cultivate their lord's lands without wages. Landed property is more equally divided here than in most countries. Small proprietors are numerous. One great reason of this, is the Mohammedan law which enjoins the equal division of every man's estate amongst all his sons. The value of land is said to be from 9 to 12 years' purchase; and the longest period of a lease, five years. Labourers are hired and paid chiefly by the buzgurs. The general time of service is nine months; and the common rate, when they are paid in money, is 30 rupees or £3 15s. besides food and clothing. In towns the common wages of a labourer are 4½d. a-dav with food, and in Candahar from 6d. to 7d. a-day. Wheat is the staple of food; but rice is grown at an elevation of even 7,000 feet above sea-level. The processes of agriculture are conducted in an extremely rude manner: the soil is broken by a plough of the most primitive construction, which is generally dragged by oxen: yet in Cabul 5 lbs. of wheat may be had for 2d., and in the country the same sum will purchase one-half more. Irrigation is common wherever water is found. Two harvests are reaped in most parts of A. annually,—one crop being sown in spring and reaped in autumn, and another sown in the end of autumn and reaped in summer. The plain of Peshawur yields three crops annually; and even in the lower valleys of the Paropamisan region good crops of wheat, barley, and millet are obtained. Turnips are much cultivated in some parts as food for cattle. Ginger, turmeric, and the sugar-cane, are grown in the eastern parts; but the cultivation of the cane is confined to the rich plains. The castor-oil plant is common over the whole country, and madder abounds in the western parts. Tobacco is generally cultivated; madder is extensively grown around Ghuzni.

Mineralogy.] Little is known of the mineralogy of A. Gold is found in several of the streams which flow from the Hindu-kush. The fable of vegetable gold found in the country of the Eusufzies arises from the particles of gold washed into the fields when those streams are in flood. Drummond says that the Hazarah mountains are rich in gold. Baber says that there are mines of silver and lazulite in the hills of Ghorbund. The former is found in small quantities in the country of the Kafirs, in the upper ridges of the Hindu-kush; and whole cliffs of lazulite overhang the river of Kashkar, between Chitral and the Eusufzie country. Mines of lead and antimony mixed occur in the country of the Afridis, and in that of the Hazarahs, of lead in Upper Bungush, and in the districts of the Zmurris and the Kaukers. Iron is abundant among the Viziris, in the district of Bijore, and the adjoining hills. Copper is met with in many places, especially to the SE of Cabul. Iron ore is abundant throughout the Hindu-kush, and in Bamian; and coal has recently been discovered in Kohat near Peshawur, and also in Cutch. Alum is made from the clay at Kallabagh, where are also cliffs of rock-salt.

Manufactures.] The manufactures of A. consist chiefly of leather, saddlery, coarse hardware, and cutlery, felt, carpets, coarse cottons, fine woollen shawls, and silks; but little or nothing is manufactured for export.

Commerce.] A. being a mountainous inland country, without a single navigable river, and containing a population principally pastoral, has little commerce; and that which it does possess is conducted wholly by caravans. Its exportable articles are principally silk, tobacco, wool, lead, sulphur, alum, madder, saffron, asafœtida, fruits and horses. Horses are brought in great numbers annually from Cabul and Candahar to Cutch and Bombay. The wool of A. is of fine quality, particularly that obtained from the goats, which is manufactured into very costly shawls at Cabul and Candahar. Its chief commerce was with India, but that has declined much of late owing to the unsettled state of the country. Yet it would appear that during the last few years the trade of Cabul has considerably increased. The custom-house of Cabul, under the Suddozie princes was farmed for only 25,000 rupees per annum, and that of Ghuzni for only 7,000 rupees per annum; whereas, in 1834, the former was farmed for one lac and 40,000 rupees, and the latter for 80,000 rupees,—while the duties levied are at the same rate, or 2½ per cent, ad val. With respect to the value of the trade of Cabul, it may be observed, that there are six points within its territories, where duties on merchandise are levied:— viz., Cabul, Ghuzni, Bamian, Charreekar, Loghar, and Jellalabad. The transit-duties at these places in 1834, were farmed as follows:—

Cabul, at 12 rupees per pound, sterling	£466,666
Ghuzni, at Do. Do.	266,666
Bamian, at Do. Do.	166,666
Charreekar, at Do. Do.	33,333
Loghar, at Do. Do.	20,000
Jellalabad, at Do. Do.	40,000
Value of merchandise	£993,331

The greater part of this trade was carried on by the Russians, through Bokhara and Astrabad,—the imports from Russia being gold, jewellery, fire-arms, hardware, glass, paper, tea, sugar, broad cloth, velvet, chintzes, and muslins. The British Indian marts were thought too remote from Cabul, and the intervening obstacles too formidable to be successfully grappled with. The routes between Cabul and India, by the Khyber pass on the N, the Bolan on the S, and the Gomul between these—are, says a government paper, "with the exception of the dreary and desolate one of the Gomul, impracticable to any kafla of whatever strength;" and this can only be travelled by the Lohanis, who are soldiers as well as itinerant traffickers, and can resist extortion by force of arms. On a recent occasion they defeated the nawab of Dera Ismael Khan at the head of 3,000 men supported by artillery. But the Lohanis being also a pastoral community, for the convenience of their flocks, make but one visit to India during the year, and the route is closed except at the periods of their passage and return. The Lohanis, born and nurtured in the wilderness, and inured from infancy to hardship and danger, will encounter from custom the difficulties of the Golairi pass and the Gomul route; but the merchant of Cabul shrinks from them, and the route is likely to be monopolized by the Lohanis, and never to become a general one for the merchants of Cabul. It appears that five or six caravans, besides those of the Lohanis, annually pass the Hindu-kush with wares for Bokhara [Vigne]; and that British commerce has of late years been successfully forcing its way across the NW frontier of India, from Delhi to Cabul. The movement of this trade, as the French express it, in the year ending April 1839, was as follows:— The total amount of exports of all kinds was 7,51,698 rupees, which, in the following year, on account of the war, decreased to 2,43,402 rupees; but by April 1841, it had increased to 38,08,873 rupees, so that in one year of what might be called British possession, with the country yet far from settled, and without any time given to develop its resources, or to know the tastes of the consumers, we had a trade increasing from 7 lacs to 38 lacs! Looking at a few of the main details of this statement, we find that piece-goods formed an item of 259,000 pieces, valued at 22,13,000 rupees. That broad cloths—the coarser kinds and dark colours being preferred—amounted to 23,000 pieces, valued at 5,81,000 rupees; and metals and hardware to 3,55,000, of which upwards of two lacs worth were copper, brass, iron, and block-tin pots and pans. At present this commerce, so far as British India is concerned, is in a very depressed and uncertain state.

Monies, Weights, and Measures.] The cowrie shell is current in A. at the value of about one-tenth of a penny. The smallest copper coin is the kusira which is worth about .083 of a penny. The ghaz equals two kusiras. The shahi, a silver coin, is worth 1.666 of a penny; the abbasi, 6.666; the rupee 1s. 8d.; the tilla, a gold coin, 11s. 9d. The average value of the gold mohur is 30s.—The nukhvad, a commercial weight, is equal to 2958 grains. The pow is 12 oz.; the sir 12 lb. 15 oz.—In measures of length, the kurd is 0.632 inches; the bisivah, 4 ft.; the kroe or coss, 2 miles.

Population.] On the subject of the population of this region we have little but mere conjecture. Whilst the Afghan domination was at its height, the population must have been 14,000,000 at least; but at present it is probably reduced to about 5,000,000. Thornton gives the pop., as derived from Elphinstone and others, thus:

Tribes
Durani,	800,000
Euzufai,	700,000
Ghiliji,	600,000
Peshawur,	300,000
Daman,	200,000
Kauker,	200,000
Khaiberf,	120,000
Khuttuk,	100,000
Bungush, Banú, and Murwut,	100,000
Suliman,	100,000
Otmun Khall,	50,000
Momund,	40,000
Nausser and other wanderers,	100,000
Huzareh and Elmauk,	200,000
	3,620,000
Tajik, Hindkí, Hindu, Kuzzilbash,	1,500,000
Total	5,120,000

Elphinstone classes the Afghans under the three great divisions of Dooraunees or Duranis, Ghiljis, and Berdooranees or Berduranis,—the two former belonging to the north-western part, and the last to the eastern part of A. The Duranis are the most polished race; and, unlike most other Afghan tribes, have no internal feuds. They inhabit the region extending from the Khojeh-Amran range on the SE to the Paropamisan mountains on the NW. Eraser estimates their numbers at 800,000. The Ghiljis are less civilized; and as their chiefs have not the same influence over their respective tribes as those of the Duranis, internal feuds are frequent amongst them. They occupy the upper valley of the Turnuk, and the valley of Cabul, to the frontiers of the Berdurani territories. The Euzofzies or rather Eusufzais, a tribe of the Berduranis, occupying Sewat, Bunur, Punjicora, &c., are the most turbulent and rapacious of all the Afghan tribes. The Kauker tribe in conjunction with the Atchikzai, greatly harassed the British troops in their marches through the Bolan and the Kojak passes. The Khyberís who hold the upper regions of the Sufaid-Koh, are a most rapacious, treacherous race. The Kuttuks, who occupy the banks of the Indus from the junction of the Cabul river to the Salt range, and the tribes of Daman, who succeed them lower down the course of the Indus, are quiet and tractable. They are divided into innumerable petty clans; but, unlike our Scottish Highlanders, the clannish attachment of the Afghans is more to the community than to the chief. As respects their manner of life, they may be divided into the two classes of shepherds and agriculturists,—or the dwellers in tents, and the dwellers in houses. The former are most numerous in the west; the latter in the east. The tents of the Afghan shepherds are made of coarse black blankets, or black camlet; as is the case in most parts of Persia. Polygamy is allowed by the Mohammedan law; but the bulk of the people content themselves with one wife. Women of the lower orders share all the domestic amusements of their husbands. In towns they go veiled, but in the country unveiled; and they seldom come into the public apartment of their houses when a stranger is there. The moral conduct of the country women, especially those of the shepherd-class, is exemplary.

The costume of the Afghans is various. That of eastern A. appears to be the most primitive. It consists of a pair of wide pantaloons of dark cotton; a camise or a sort of blouse with wide sleeves, which reaches to the knees; a cap of gay coloured cloth or gold brocade turned up with black silk or satin; and half-boots of brown leather buttoned or laced closely to the limb. (J. B. Fraser.] They wrap their persons during the greater part of the year in large mantles made of sheep skins well-tanned, with the wool turned in, or of fine soft felt. This garment is thrown over the shoulders with the sleeves pendant, and reaches to the ancles. In the towns and more polished districts of the country, the Persian dress is generally adopted; and on the E frontier that of Hindustan is in most common use. The women wear camises like those of the men, but longer and of very fine stuff, highly painted, coloured, or brocaded with silk. In the west it is sometimes entirely made of silk. Their trousers are of coloured cloth and lighter than those of the men. The cap is of bright-coloured silk embroidered with gold, and seldom covers the forehead or ears. Thrown over the head is a veil with which they conceal the face on the approach of a stranger. In the W, this head-dress is often covered with a handkerchief of black silk, the hair is braided and made into two tresses which are fixed at the back of the head, and is further adorned with strings of Venetian sequins and chains of gold and silver. They wear ear-rings, and rings on the fingers and neck. Young unmarried women are distinguished by wearing the hair loose, and by their trousers being white.

The ordinary mode of travelling is on horseback; even the women do not generally make use of palanquins. The conveyance restricted to royal use is named nalki. Some of the highest members of the state enjoy the privilege of using the djampan, a sort of small canopied palanquin. The baggage of travellers is conveyed by dromedaries or mules. State-despatches are conveyed, as in Persia, by tchoppers or mounted couriers, and private letters by cossids or foot-messengers who go sometimes at the rate of 70 leagues in four days. Slavery, as in all Mahommedan countries, exists in Afghanistan. The greater number of the slaves are native born Abessinians, and Negroes who are brought from Arabia. The Beluchis sell into slavery all whom they take in their incursions; and many Caffirs are purchased from their countrymen or from the Eusufzais.

The Afghans are tall and spare in their persons, but muscular; with aquiline noses, high cheek-bones, long shaped faces, and generally black hair; brown or red hair is seldom met with. [J. B. Fraser.] They shave the middle of the head, but they retain the beard long. In the E they have complexions as brown as that of the Hindu, those of the W are less swarthy and some are remarkably fair. Their countenances generally indicate health and vigour; and their manners have little of the cringing servility of the Hindus. An Afghan rarely engages in commerce or any mercantile occupation. The merchants are generally Tadjiks, Hindus, or Persians. Vigne says, "The better classes of Afghans," in Cabul, "pass much of their time in their gardens. They will remain for hours together, sitting on a carpet spread in the shade, talking scandal, or listening to the songs of their own musicians, who accompany themselves on the saringa or native guitar. Tea and the kaliun are usually introduced," he adds, "and often a substantial dinner. Wine is drunk now and then in secret, at private parties."

Language.] In the days of Baber not less than eleven languages were spoken in Afghanistan; viz., Arabic, Persian, Turki, Hindki, Mogoli, Afghani, Pushawi, Puranchi, Goberi, Burruki, and Lumghani; and he doubts whether so many distinct races and different languages could be found in any other country. This enumeration nearly corresponds to actual fact. Persian and Turkish are both spoken by the Taujiks and Kuzzilbashes; the Hindkis speak a dialect of Hindustani resembling the Punjabi; the Arab tribes seem to have lost their language which they spoke in Baber's time; the Deggauni language is that called Lumghani, and is a mixture of Sanscrit and modern Persian, with some Pushtu words, and a very large mixture of some unknown root; the Pushawis, a branch of Taujiks, Shulmanis, and Turyis, speak each a peculiar language. The Guberi seems to be the language or at least a dialect of the Kafirs on the N of Afghanistan. The Burruki corresponds to that spoken by the Burrukis of Logur and Butkak, a Taujik tribe. The Puranchi seems to correspond to the Baraichi of Pishin; and the Mogoli to nave been the language of the Eimaks and Hazarahs in Baber's time, though they now speak a dialect of Persian. The Afghani is the Pushtu language spoken by all the Afghans or Pushtun nation. The origin of this language is unknown. A large portion of its words cannot be traced to any of the ancient languages, although Sir William Jones considered it as a dialect of the Scriptural Chaldaic. In a specimen of the Lord's prayer, in the Pushtu, the missionaries could scarcely trace four words to the Sanscrit; though half of them were quite familiar as being current in the Hindustani. The polyglot vocabulary printed at St. Petersburg by order of the empress Catherine, contains a list of 102 words of this language, of which Adelung in his 'Mithridates' says that a small number are derived from the Indian and Tartar tongues, but that twenty-five are Persian words. Elphinstone has compared a list of 200 words with the corresponding terms in the principal idioms of the Hindu, Persian, Semitic, and Caucasian dialects, and expresses the opinion that not more than half of them could be traced to any of these sources; that the other half belonged principally to modern Persian; but that not one was derived from the Hebrew, Chaldaic, or Armenian. A similar examination by Klaproth has yielded the same result as regards the Persian; but he argues in favour of the connexion of many genuine Pushtu words with the Kurd, the Ossite, and even Russ. More recent researches, especially those published at Bonn in 1830 by Prof. Ewald in two numbers of the 'Zeitschrift fur die Kunde des Morgenlandes' trace a great many more of these pretended Pushtu radicals to Indian roots. The Afghan must now differ very considerably from what it was before the introduction of Islamism. In its present form it occupies an intermediate place between Persian and Hindustani. It assimilates to the former in its conjugations, and to the latter in its declensions. The Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal contains a small Afghan grammar by Lieut. R. Leich; and the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg [6th series, vol. 5th] contains grammatical remarks on the Pushtu by Prof. Bernhard Dorn, who gives numerous extracts from Afghan poets. It is evident, therefore, that the languages derived from the Sanscrit terminate in A., which idea is confirmed by the Beluchi dialect to the S of this region. In writing Pushtu the Afghans generally use the Persian alphabet and the Nushk character; but sounds not expressible by any Persian letter are denoted by adding a distinctive point or mark to the Persian letter which approaches nearest in sound. Though the Pushtu be a rough language, it is manly and not unpleasing to an ear accustomed to oriental sounds. It has two dialects,—the eastern and western,—which differ as much from each other, not only in pronunciation, but also in words, as English and Scottish. There are no authors of note in the Pushtu more than a century and a half old; and there are probably no books in it more than three centuries old. Whatever literature the Afghans possess is of Persian derivation; and Persian is still the language in which all the works having any science are composed. There are a few poetical works in Pushtu; the most popular of which are the odes of Rehman, which are similar to those of the Persians. In the opinion of Elphinstone, Khushal is a superior poet to Rehman. This poetical personage was khan of the Khuttuks, and spent his days struggling with the arms of Aurungzebe, unsuccessfully, though he maintained the unequal contest with the bravery and patriotism of a Wallace. His poems are numerous, and he likewise composed a history of the Afghans, from the epoch of the Babylonish captivity down to his own times. Ahmed Shah Durani, the founder of the late monarchy, was also a poet, and composed a book of odes on which a voluminous commentary was written by the Khani Ulum: he also composed odes in Persian, as did his son Timur Shah. The prose writers of A. are chiefly on theology and law. Persian, however, is the learned language, and all the Persian authors are familiarly read in Afghanistan; but the learning and accomplishments of the nation are inferior to those of the Persians.

Religion.] The Afghans are all Sunis, or orthodox Mussulmans, in opposition to the Persians, who are Shiahs, or followers of Ali, as are also the Hazarahs. This difference creates a bitter animosity on both sides. Other sects are the Suffis, the Zukkhis, and the Rushunis. The first are increasing among the higher orders, and even among such of the mollahs as are fond of dabbling in mystical theology. The second, so called from Mollah Zukkhi their patron and founder, are hostile to all revelation, and the belief of a future state; and are said to identify their conduct with their doctrines by the depravity of their lives. Their opinions, however, are far more ancient than the time of Zukkhi, and are precisely those of an old Persian poet, called Kheium, whose impious language in a poetic dress has hardly a parallel. The Rushunis originated in the time of Akbar with one Bayazid Ansari, who assumed the title of Piri Rushen, or 'Apostle of light.' His system was substantially the same with Suffeeism; but he added the dogma of transmigration, and that the Deity was manifested in his own person particularly. So far as respects the external forms of their religion, the Afghans are very regular and devout. So much is their common conversation tinged with their religion that one would imagine the whole people, from the monarch to the peasant, were always engaged in holy reflections; scarce a sentence is uttered by them without some allusion to the Deity; and the slightest occurrence produces a pious ejaculation. The mollahs or priests are numerous, and are found in every rank, from the chief courtiers and minsters to the lowest class in the poorest and wildest tribes. They are collectively called the Ulema, and are generally active and comparatively able men, possessed of the most of what is called learning in Afghanistan. The education of the youth, the practice of the law, and the administration of justice in all parts of the country completely under the royal authority, are committed to them. These advantages, together with the respect which their superior knowledge commands amongst the illiterate and superstitious people, give them a paramount influence over individuals and bodies of men, enable them to check and control civil authority, and even to intimidate and endanger the king himself. It was by their influence chiefly that Shah Mahmud was deposed. They wear a distinctive dress consisting of a large white turban, and a loose gown of white or black cotton. The Afghans believe each of the numerous solitudes in the mountains and deserts of their country to be inhabited by a lonely demon, called by them the Ghoule Biaban, or 'Spirit of the waste.' He is represented as a frightful and gigantic spectre who devours any passenger whom chance may bring in his way. To the power of the Ghoules, the mirage of the desert, by which the traveller is deceived in crossing the desert, is attributed; they are also thought to haunt burying-grounds, to disinter the dead, and devour them. The Afghans greatly reverence burial places, which they poetically denominate 'cities of the silent;' and which they people with the ghosts of the deceased sitting, each at the head of his own grave, invisible to mortal eyes, and enjoying the odours of the garlands hung on their tombs by their surviving relatives.

Government.] During the dynasty of Durani sovereigns, the sovereign power in A. was limited by the aristocratic spirit of the Durani clans, much in the same way as our ancient Scottish sovereigns were controlled by their powerful nobles. The various tribes constituted so many petty independent republics, of which the Durani sovereign was merely the nominal head. The towns, and the country in their immediate vicinity, with the Taujiks and the foreign provinces, were entirely under regal government and control; and with their aid, the sovereign was enabled to raise a revenue and maintain an army independent of his nobles; he had also nominally the superintendence of the whole kingdom, and was empowered to levy a fixed contribution of troops and money proportioned to the population and resources of the tribes for the common defence. But the Afghans are seldom or never actuated by one interest; and the interests of the king and the chiefs of tribes were often in collision. This state of things, combined with a total contempt for the rights of regal primogeniture, and the constant competition for a disputed sceptre amongst the sons of the sovereign, gradually, but rapidly, paved the way for the dissolution of the reigning dynasty.

Revenue.] The fixed revenue of the Durani sovereigns, when their power was at its utmost, was estimated at £3,000,000; but one-third was remitted to half-subdued princes, who were content to hold their revenue as a royal grant, though they would never consent to give it up; and, in fact, the real revenue fell a good deal within £2,000,000. Of this a part was allotted to the support of the mollahs, dervises, and seids, and of the mosques and colleges: the other half was received by the king. The whole expenses of the king, independent of those of the army, &c., were not much above half a crore of rupees, or £600,000; and what remained was used as a fund for extraordinary expenses. Balbi, in his statistical chart for 1828, has estimated the revenue at £1,856,000; but this cannot possibly apply to the state of things at present. When Dost Mahomed held Cabul, his revenue was estimated at £260,000; and that of his three brothers in Candahar at £80,000. The revenue of Kamrám at Herat may have amounted to £200,000.

Military power.] The military strength of the A. monarchy was never very great, though stated by Balbi at 150,000 in time of war. The greatest army raised by an Afghan was 100,000 men, in 1789, when Timur Shah marched against Shah Morad. Dost Mahomed's army amounted to 14,000 men, of whom 6,000 were cavalry, with an artillery force of 40 guns. The conduct of the Duranis in their civil wars gives but a mean idea of their military character. Their armies were small, seldom exceeding 10,000 men on each side, and generally ill-paid and discontented. The victory was usually decided by some chief going over to the opposite side, on which the greater part of the army followed his example, or took to flight. Abbott says: "An Afghan horseman never thinks himself safe until he has a long heavy matchlock with a bayonet, a sabre, a blunderbuss, three long pistols, a couteau-de-chasse, a dagger, and four or five knives, besides a shield, and a complete rigging round his waist of powder-flasks, powder-measures, powder-magazines, bullet-pocks, and fifty nameless articles." The Afghan troops have always been roughly handled by the Sikhs; and in 1842 General Nott with 1,200 men drove 8,000 Afghans from a strong position near Candahar after a very brief conflict. The Kuzzilbashes, who formed the royal guards of Dost Mahomed, and of whom about 4,000 or 5,000 could, in an emergency, be levied for the purposes of war, are described in very contemptuous terms by such of our officers as came into contact with them during the late war.

Cities and towns.] A region such as we have described, presenting vast tracts of rugged or desert ground, can have few towns in proportion to its extent. The following are the principal towns of A.:—

	N. lat.		E long.			Pop.
	d.	m.	d.	m.
Peshawur,	34		71	40	Hough	80,000	!
Cabul,	34	30	69	6	Griffith	60,000
Candahar,	32	37	65	28	Ibid	50,000	!
Herat,	34	22	62	9	Ibid	45,000
Dera Ghazi Khan,	30	5	70	52	Wood	25,000
Jellalabad,	34	25	70	28	Griffith	10,000
Ghuzni,	33	34	68	18	Ibid	10,000	!
Dera Ismael Khan,	31	49	70	58	Wood	8,000
Furrah,	32	24	62	7		5,000	!
Kalabagh,	32	57	71	37		2,000	!
Kohat,	33	31	71	29
Subzawur,	33	20	62	10

Antiquities.] Extensive ruins evidently of a very remote age exist throughout A. Wood is of opinion that some of these buildings may have been coeval with the pyramids of Egypt; but Ritter assigns them to a much later period when Buddhism prevailed in A. In the plain of Peshawur, and in the valleys of Jellalabad and Cabul, are found many of those singularly constructed buildings which are generally thought to have been Buddhist shrines; but are by some regarded as places of regal sepulture. Great numbers of Greek, Roman, Bactrian, Indo-Parthian, and Sassanian coins have been found in A., particularly in the neighbourhood of Beghram, 25 m. N of Cabul. The study of these coins, Professor Wilson remarks in his 'Ariana Antiqua,' [London, 4to, 1841] has enabled us to fill up what Sir John Malcolm, only a few years ago, called a blank in Eastern history,—the records of nearly 500 years from the death of Alexander. We now know that "the latest of the princes of Greek origin must have ruled until within a brief interval of the era of Christianity;" and these coins enable us to trace the successive dynasties of Sakas, Getæ, Parthians, Huns, and Turks, who, from the beginning of the Christian era to the 5th and 6th century after it, held the country on the W of the Indus, from the Hindu-kush to the Indian ocean.

Authorities.] Memoirs of the Emperor Baber.—Elphinstone's Account of Caboul, 1815, 4to.—Pottinger's Travels in Beloochistan and Sinde, 1816, 4to.—Burnes's Travels into Bokhara, 1834, 3 vols. 8vo.— Wood's Oxus, 1841, 8vo.—Masson's Travels, 1844, 4 vols. 8vo.— Vigne's Narrative, 1840, 8vo.—Abbott's Heraut and Khiva.—Havelock's War in Afghanistan.—Journal of the Asiatic Society, 1841.— Wilson's Ariana Antiqua, 1841, 8vo.—Burnes's Cabool, 1842, 8vo.—Prinsep's Notes, 1844.—Ogle in Asiatic Journ.—Thornton's Gazetteer, 1844.—Humboldt's Central Asien, 1844.

(William Henry Beable, Russian Gazetteer and Guide (1919))