AFGHANISTAN. 



embraces the districts of Kumluz, Khulura, and 

 Bulkh, and is bounded north by theOxus in its 

 it tho month of tho Koktcha as far 

 M!J;I Sula, a post-station on the road 

 ;r..m li..kh:ir;i to Bulkh. TheEmirof Afghan- 

 .111 flaini nothing on the left bank of the 

 - bel>\v Khodja Sala ; 3. The interior 

 di>t.rirts of Aklisheo, Siripul, Maymene, Shiber- 

 nid Andjai, tho latter of which is the ex- 

 treme possession of Afghanistan in the north- 

 west, while the desert beyond it belongs to the 

 independent Toorkoman tribes ; 4. The west 

 frontier of Afghanistan between the territories 

 <>f Horat and the Persian province of Khoras- 

 san has not undergone any change. 



Since the new regulation of the frontier, 

 the area of Afghanistan is estimated at 278,- 

 647 square miles. The population is estimated 

 at upward of 4,000,000. The population of 

 the provinces into which Afghanistan is di- 

 vided is given by a Russian military periodi- 

 cal as follows : Caboolistan, 900,000 ; Hasareh, 

 195,000; Khorassan with Herat, 1,654,000; 

 Seistan, 280,000 ; Kunduz, 400,000 ; Khulum, 

 300,000; Balkh, 64,000; Andjai and Shiber- 

 gan, 60,000; Aktche, 10,000; Maymene, 100,- 

 000; in all, 8,963,000. In this report, no 

 statement is made of the population of the 

 provinces of Badakshan 'and Wakhan. The 

 population of the former is estimated by E. 

 Schlugintweit from 100,000 to 150,000. To 

 the territory of Maymene, Vambery now as- 

 signs a population of 300,000. 



Afghanistan was again, in 1874, the scene of 

 serious dynastic difficulties, which attracted 

 great attention from the fact that both Great 

 Britain and Russia appeared, as usual, to take 

 a profound interest in them, and to use them 

 with a view to establishing their ascendency 

 in this region. Russian and English accounts 

 of these troubles widely differ, and in many 

 cases it is at present impossible to ascertain the 

 truth. The recent disturbances arose in con- 

 sequence of the appointment of Abdallah Jan, 

 the younger son of Shore Ali, the present 

 ruler, as heir-apparent to the throne, with the 

 exclusion of Yakoob Khan, the eldest son, who 

 for some time had been governor of the im- 

 portant province of Herat. The latter at once 

 prepared to enforce his claims to the throne by 

 a resort to arms, and to reopen the civil war 

 among the members of the dynastic family, 

 from which the country has already suffered 

 so much. As all the living members of the rul- 

 ing family who had taken a part in the former 

 civil wars of the country may be expected to 

 appear again on the scene, a brief retrospect 

 of the former family quarrels will help to elu- 

 cidate the present complication. Shere Ali, 

 the present ruler of Afghanistan, had been 

 preferred by his father. Dost Mohammed, in 

 the same manner in which he now favors his 

 youngest son. When, on the death of his fa- 

 ther, he assumed the reins of the government, 

 his elder brothers, Afzool and Azim, at once 

 rose against him. Afzool placed himself at 



the head of the rebellion in Balkh, while Azira 

 fought in tho east, and finally a younger broth- 

 er, Kiiiin, raised the standard of revolt in Can- 

 dahar. The latter was killed in tho battle of 

 Kelat-il-Ghilzie, in which Shere Ali also lost 

 his beloved eldest son. Soon the sons of the 

 rivals took a prominent part in the war. The 

 eldest surviving son of Shere Ali, Ibrahim, is a 

 weak and insignificant man, while the second 

 son, Yakoob, who, when a boy, had detected 

 the disguise in which the Hungarian traveler, 

 Vamb6ry, traversed these countries, soon gained 

 great renown for his sagacity and bravery. 

 Rhaman Khan, the oldest son of Afzool, is 

 likewise a brave warrior, and the two cousins 

 fought many hotly-contested battles against 

 each other. After many vicissitudes, Afzool 

 Khan was overtaken by death, while advancing 

 at the head of his victorious columns. His 

 brother Azim, who by his misgovernment had 

 become extremely unpopular, died soon after. 

 The brave Rhaman, after several crushing de- 

 feats, was driven by Yakoob Khan out of the 

 country, and Shere Ali recognized as ruler of 

 the Afghans. But, although Shere Ali was in- 

 debted for the throne to his son Yakoob, he 

 soon began to favor his younger son, Abdal- 

 lah Jan (born in 1862), the child of his favor- 

 ite wife. This preference was shown in an 

 ostentatious manner when Shere Ali, in 1869, 

 had an interview with the Viceroy of India. 

 Lord Mayo by no means encouraged the plan, 

 and, when Yakoob Khan attempted to secure 

 his right of succession, he used his whole in- 

 fluence to bring about a reconciliation between 

 Shere Ali and his disaffected son. The latter 

 was appointed governor of the province of 

 Herat, and until 1874 the relation between fa- 

 ther and son continued of a peaceable nature. 

 It was, however, expected all the time that, 

 whenever Shere Ali should officially proclaim 

 Abdallah Jan as his presumptive successor, 

 Yakoob Khan would again rise in rebellion, and 

 that in such a case Rhaman Khan would also 

 appear on the scene. As Rhaman Khan had 

 closely allied himself with the Russians, the 

 British statesmen have looked forward with 

 considerable anxiety to the time when civil 

 war might once more reign in Afghanistan. 



The province of Herat is situated in the 

 northwestern corner of Afghanistan, and is 

 bounded by Persia, Khiva, and Bokhara. The 

 great distance from the capital of Afghanistan 

 made it possible for Yakoob Khan, not only to 

 be virtually the independent ruler, but also to 

 prepare for another war against his father. 

 He appears to have had secret diplomatic cor- 

 respondence with the governments of the 

 neighboring countries, but the character of the 

 negotiations is not yet fully known. Ho is 

 believed, however, to have courted the friend- 

 ship of Russia, which, according to the papers 

 of British India, has of late built two roads 

 leading to the frontier of Afghanistan one 

 from Urgentsh to Herat, and the other from 

 Urgentsh to Meshid. 



