AFGHANISTAN. 



AFGHANISTAN. 



another powerful clan of the Durances. The government of the tribes 

 is republican ; they are divided into clans, and each clan has its 

 chief, chosen from the oldest family. The khans administer justice 

 in moat cases, but rarely without the concurrence of a council of the 

 heads of families. The clans are eminently exclusive, and are often 

 at feud with each other. They appear to be little attached to their 

 chiefs, but very strongly to their tribe. They are very jealous of 

 interference, and their republican spirit has preserved the country 

 from degenerating into the ordinary oriental despotism. The reply 

 made to an English traveller, who expatiated on the freedom from 

 alarm, blood, and discord, which must ensue from a more steady 

 government, was, " We are content with discord, we are content with 

 alarms, we are content with blood, but we will never be content with 

 a master." 



Before the death of Shah Soojah the government was a limited 

 monarchy. The king made peace and war; had the control of the 

 revenue, and appointed to such official situations as were not 

 hereditary ; and although his power infringed upon the republican 

 institutions of his own clan, his right over other tribes extended only 

 to the levying troops, and the collection of revenue. Over those of 

 his subjects who were not Afghans, his power was less limited, but it 

 was rarely exercised with severity. The Durance lords controlled the 

 king, who could rarely act without their concurrence. The crown 

 was hereditary in the family, but elective as to the person. 



We have spoken of these attributes of the king in the past tense, 

 for it will be seen in the sequel that Afghanistan now consists of 

 three independent political divisions Cabul, Candahar, and Herat 

 the chiefs of which possess similar attributes in their respective states. 



For the administration of justice a cadi is appointed to ever, 

 town, before whom causes are brought, and whose awards are rarely 

 disobeyed : death is very rarely inflicted. The cadi never interferes 

 unless called upon ; most cases are decided by the heads of tribes ; 

 and even a murder, if in retaliation, is rarely inquired into. The 

 police generally is defective ; watchmen paid by the inhabitants are 

 appointed in all large towns. Parties are stationed in dangerous 

 places for the protection of travellers, who find, however, the purchase 

 of security from the clans a more efficient guard. 



The military may be about 30,000. One-third of these are 

 Gholams, or military adventurers, who enlist for life ; about 

 10,000 are furnished by land-owners at a stated rate; and a large 

 :L,'ent is supplied by the Duranee tribe, as the condition on 

 which they hold their lands. Their soldiers are chiefly horsemen, 

 and their arms are swords and matchlocks. 



The Ha/areh and Eimack are of Mongol race ; at present they 

 speak a dialect of the Persian language, but in the time of Sultan 

 Bnber they spoke a Mongol dialect. It is stated that they are a 

 c.f Mongols left in this country by one of the armies of Mauku 

 Khan, one of the successors of Gengis Khan. There is some difference 

 in the manner of life of these two tribes. The Hazareh, who occupy 

 the higher part of the Paropamisus, have fixed abodes. They live in 

 villages consisting of low huts, where they pass the winter 

 season under one roof with their cows and sheep, using as fuel small 

 dry shrubs and the dung of their cattle. In summer they live with 

 their animals on the slopes of the mountains. Near their villages 

 they cultivate small fields, where they raise barley, and, when the 

 elevation ig not too high, wheat. The Eimack lead a more nomadic 

 lif'-. and reside the whole year round in tents made of dry sticks or 

 felt, and go with their flocks in summer to the more elevated and in 

 winter to the lower declivities of their mountains. They exact a 

 tribute from all travellers who pass through their country. Both 

 tribes arc nominally dependent on the sovereign of Cabul ; but they 

 are governed by their own hereditary chiefs, who exercise despotic 

 authority. They are visited by traders from Herat, Candahar, and 

 Cabul, who furnish them with some common articles of dress and 

 utensils, and receive hi return slaves, cattle, clarified butter, woollen 

 cloth, grain, sacks and carpet-bags, felts for horse-clothing, and 

 carpet*, all made from the produce of their flocks. They also furnish 

 lead and sulphur. 



That portion of the population on the table-land which is occupied 



with agricultural pursuits is known by the name of Tajiks or Tadjiks. 



Tli-y MI-,- found in all the countries of Western Asia, from the 



Mediterranean to Chinese Turkistan. In a few mountainous countries 



!i:m; maintained their independence: in all others they are 



t to the nations which have conquered them, and which have 



preserved their pastoral habits. Their condition may be compared to 



t)i at of the serf* of the middle ages in Europe. They are the glebte 



ho work the cultivated grounds, and are obliged to give 



tors one-fourth or one-half of their produce. They 



lli industrious peasants, more civilised, intelligent, and 



skilful than their masters. In the towns they constitute the labouring 



classes ; tl. ,,. DI mechanics, and labourers. They 



generally v ,1 follow the customs of their rulers. 



They have preserved their language, which is, however, mixed with 



many terms derived from the language of the predominant nation.. 



Their 1 u^nage is learned by all the Afghans who wish to be considered 



as men of educut 



In the plain of Peshawur and the neighbouring districts many 

 Hiudkees, an they are called, are settled as agriculturists. Their 



language is a kind of Hindustanee, resembling the dialect of the 

 Panjab. The number of Hindoos settled in Afghanistan is very great : 

 there is scarcely a village of any extent without a family or two, and 

 in the larger places there are many. They keep shops ; are brokers, 

 merchants, bankers, goldsmiths, sellers of grain, and other occupations. 

 They retain the Hindoo features, and some of them have nearly the 

 Hindustanee dress. They are much employed by the great men of 

 the country in every kind of business connected with money or 

 accounts. 



The Khuzzilbashes are only found in towns, except about Herat, 

 where they are also settled in villages. A great number of them are 

 in Cabul, where they were settled by Nadir Shah and Ahmed Khun. 

 They are Turkomans, and their ancestors were members of some of 

 the Hats which wander about in the plains of Persia. They are 

 mostly soldiers, or employed by men of rank as secretaries, masters 

 of the household, and stewards. Some of them have acquired landed 

 property, which they let out to Afghan or Tajik tenants. They are 

 lively, ingenious, elegant, and refined, but false, designing, cruel, and 

 rapacious. 



Arabs are settled in Cabul and Jellalabad. They are agriculturists, 

 and do not mix much with the other inhabitants ; they have lost their 

 original language. The number of their families amounts to about 

 2000. Armenians are settled in different towns as merchants. 

 Abyssinians are imported into Afghanistan as slaves, and generally 

 form a part of the king's guards. There are also Calmucks in the 

 king's guards ; but some families of that nation are settled near Herat 

 as agriculturists. 



The population is very unequally distributed over the country. 

 The most populous parts are the valley of the Cabul River, the 

 country south of the Sufaid-Koh and of the Salt Range, the central 

 table-laud north of Kelat-i-Ghilzie, and the immediate neighbourhood 

 of the towns of Candahar and of Herat. In all the other parts the 

 population is scanty, as the inhabitants lead chiefly a nomadic life, 

 with the exception of the fertile tract round Lake Hamoon, where 

 there is a considerable agricultural population. 



Manufacture*. Manufactures for export are produced only at 

 Herat and Candahar. Those of Herat are silk and woollen-stuffs, and 

 sword blades ; and these articles find a ready sale in Persia. The 

 ictures of Candahar are of the same description, with the 

 addition of fire-arms. The manufactures of the country are sufficient 

 for the home consumption ; no manufactured articles are imported 

 from India except cotton stuffs. As a knowledge of the manufacturing 

 trades conveys an idea of a nation's civilisation and of the comforts 

 which it enjoys, we transcribe from Elphinstone's work the following 

 list of the trades exercised in the town of Candahar : Jewellers, gold 

 and silver smiths, booksellers, bookbinders, stationers, makers of 

 kullumdauns (a sort of inkstand and pencase, of which every man who 

 can write has one), seal engravers, sellers of armour, sellers of shields 

 (these shields are of buffalo or rhinoceros hide), gunsmiths, sword- 

 cutlers, polishers of steel, sellers of bows and arrows, sellers of glass 

 ornaments for women, three descriptions of shoemakers, boot-makers, 

 button-makers, silk thread sellers, gold wire and gold thread sellers, 

 saddlers, farriers, painters, fruiterers, cooks, soup-sellers, tobacconists, 

 druggists, perfumers, sellers of sherbet and of fullodeh, confectioners, 

 embroiderers, and people whose business is to sew ornaments on 

 clothes of all descriptions, from jewels to spangles. The inhabitants 

 of the Eimack and Hazareh mountains do not export the wool of their 

 numerous flocks of sheep in a raw state, but manufacture it into 

 several kinds of cloth, carpets, grain-bags, saddle-bags, rugs, felt, felt 

 cloaks, mittens, socks, and horse-cloths. The felt cloaks are called 

 kosahs, and are extensively used in Candahar, where they are much 

 prized. 



Commerce. As Afghanistan has no navigable rivers, the transport 

 of merchandise is expensive, and the expense is increased by the 

 want of -oads, which are not met with in all Western Asia from the 

 Indus to the Straits of Constantinople. The conveyance of mer- 

 chandise is therefore effected by beasts of burden. Camels are mostly 

 used in the level countries, and mules or asses in the. mountainous 

 districts. Nearly all the land commerce existing between India on 

 one side, and Persia, Turkistan, and China on the other side, must 

 be carried through Afghanistan. If we except the difficult and 

 dangerous road which leads from Leh in Ladak to Ycrkaud in Chinese 

 Turkistan, no line of communication exists between India and the 

 -.lied countries, except the three lines which traverse 

 Afghanistan. The most northern of these lines begins near the 

 British military station at Loodiana on the Sutlej, passes through 

 Lahore, and reaches the Indus at Attack. Thence it runs through 

 Peshawur and the Kyber Pass to Cabul, where it divides into two 

 roads. One of these runs over one of the elevated mountain-passes 

 of the Himloo-Coosh range, or the Pughuian Mountains, and descends 

 to the plains of Turan, leading to Kunduz and Khulum, and 

 Un'iiee to Bokhara. The other road runs from Cabul S.S.W. to 

 Candahar, at which place all three lines meet. 



The middle line of commercial communication passes from Lahore 

 directly west, crosses the Indus at Dora Ismael Khan and 

 ascends the Gomul Pass, which is also called the Golair Pass, and 

 which leads across the eastern table-laud. When it reaches the 

 central table-land it divides into two roads, one of which HUM 



