AFGHANISTAN. 



AKUHA Sl- 



and Clil. and th* other to the south-wet to 



TV> Uunl road eonaeoU the Indian Ocean with the table-land. 

 It bqrin. at th. ,,.. of Kraoe*. situated K.W of the mo* 

 inouth of th* Indus, and ran* chiefly long the bank of the 

 , BUkarpoor. whence it diverge* to the N.W., and passing 

 i Dadur in Cutch Oundava, ascends the table-land by the BoUn 

 From thi* plaee H continue* through QuetUh over the 

 tT*ojuk Pass to Caodabar. 



The rod from fandahar to Persia paejas westward, and crosses 

 Ik* river Helmund about two mile* east of Ohirishk. Thence it 

 Hlrtiini la the earn* direction to Kumh, and from Kurrah north- 

 ward to Subzawar and Herat, whenoa it passe* through Meabed and 

 Niahapoor to Tehran, 



Th* commerce by the way of Peahawur doe* not appear to be very 

 attire. Tit* export* arc principally iron from the mine* of Bajour, 

 which i* extensively mod in the Panjab and in Coahmere, madder, 

 aafactida, tobacco, and fruits, nich a* almond*, pistachio-nuts, 

 walnnu. haaal-noU, dried plum* and apricot*, and rauin* ; apple*, 

 pear*, and pomegranate* ; there U also a large quantity of freah 

 fruit A ootubderaMr number of bone* and ponie* are sent to the 

 Panjab. and fun to Hindustan. The import* from the Panjab are 

 route cotton-cloth, mualin and other fine manufacture*, aome aorta 

 of rilken doth and brocade, indigo, ivory, bamboo*, wax, tin, sandal- 

 wood, and a large quantity of *ugar, musk, coral, drug*, and some 

 other trifling article*. 



The traffic carried on by the Qomul 'Pan and Dera Ismael Khan 

 appear* to be more important. It i* entirely in the hands of the 

 Lobani merchant*, a tnbe which pretend* to be of Afghan origin. 

 They arrive annually with three kafila* at Candahar and CabuL The 

 fir*t kafila leaves Dera lamael Khan about the middle of April ; its 

 merchandise conaicU of ooane cotton (tuff* and salt, which are sold 

 at P*fjmh*r and Cabot The aeoood kafila bring* indigo from Mool- 

 tan and Bhawulpoor, and chinU from Hindustan, and depart* from 

 Dara Ismael Khan toward* the end of April ; aome part of these 

 good* goe* to Bokhara. The third kafila depart* from Dera lamael 

 Khan about the middle of March, and the bulk of it* cargoes ooniiit* 

 of kimkal (or golden cloth of Benare*), English chintie* and calicoes, 

 gunlockt and similar article* ; a great portion of theae good* i* taken 

 to th* plain* of Turan. The lait kafila only bring* good* back, and 

 arrive* at Dera lamael Khan in the middle of October with pome- 

 granate*, almonds, raisins, and rhubarb, from Cabul and Candahar, 

 and with bone*, cochineal, nankeen, gold thread, raw silk, and other 

 good* from Bokhara. 



Th* commerce between Shikarpoor on the one aide and Candahar 

 and Herat on the other, i* more important It U carried on by kafilas, 

 the number of which i* about four, but they consist of a much 

 greater number of camels. The article* which they import into 

 Afgh*nitn are indigo, henna, metal* of all kinds, coarse and fine 

 cotton-cloth, Mooltanee ooane cloth, silks manufactured at Shikarpoor 

 and other place* in Sinde, groceries and spices, raw cotton, ooane 

 sugar, opium, hemp seed, shields of buffalo and rhinoceros hides, 

 leather, embroidered hone-cloths, and dry grain*. To theae are 

 added Mreral article* of British manufacture, a* red dyed cotton- 

 cloth, white cotton-cloth partly dyed, long cloth, glazed chintz, 

 printed cotton*, bleached cotton*, unbleached cotton*, red and white 

 striped cottons, yellow cotton*, cbcnai cottons, Jugurnaut inusliu, 

 black cotton-Velvet, a specie* of *heeting-cloth bleached and 

 unbleached, a coloured ooane broad-cloth. The returns from 

 Candahar and Herat conaUt of raw ailk to the amount of 50,0002. 

 annually fur the manufacture* of Sinde, turquoiae earth, churus (an 

 intoxicating drug prepared from hemp-seed or bang, and used as 

 opium), gum, sift stufls of various kinds from Herat, dried fruits 

 (each a* prunes, black grapes, apricots, almonds, and date* in great 

 quantities), tinsel-thread for embroidery, broken copper and bras* 

 vessel* (to be re-manufactured at Sbikarpoor), madder (an important 

 article), especially that grown near Candahar, saffron from Bakna, 

 west of Candahar, aafflower from Herat, gum aalop from Herat, 

 antimony from Beua in Laa* (an important article), assafoHida (an 

 important article), and other drugs, a very fine description of cotton 

 from Herat, cochineal from Herat, and other material* used a* dye*. 

 An active commerce i* carried on between Herat and Meshed and 

 other town* in Persia. The export* from Herat consist of shawls 

 and shawl goods, indigo, carpet* of Herat, Mooltanee chintz, Indian 

 brocade*, muslin and other cotton-cloth, aeaafcotida, lead (from the 

 mine* of the Kimack), cast-iron, saffron, pistachio-nut*, gums, a 

 yellow dye, rsrraway -seeds, and paper. The import* of Herat are 

 chiefly silk, dates, tobacco, lemon-juice, and ivory heel-tap*. 



Several caravans go annually from Cabul to Bokhara. They 

 export chiefly article* which have been imported from India, 

 especially shawl* and shawl-cloth, whit* cloth of all kinds, India 

 turbans, Mooltanee chintz, indigo, and spices ; and they import from 

 Bokhara principally horses, and gold and silver in coin* and bars. 

 Some article*, brought from Russia, ant also imported by the** 

 caravan*, especially cast-iron pota, cutlery and other hardware, 

 needles, looking-glasses, Iluasia leather, tin beads, and spectacle*. A 

 fine cloth made of camels' wool, some raw cotton, and some 1. ml. 

 skins are also brought from Bokhara and Balkh. 



Th* chief town*, CABUL, CAXDAHAR, UIIUZXKE, JKLLALABA.D, 

 HERAT, I'MIIAWI-H, Ac., are noticed under their respective heads. 



AniHi*iHrt.Tta antiquities of Afghanistan have lately attracted 

 much attention. In the valley of Bameean, west of the Pughman 

 Mountains, are two colossal statue*. [UIIOOLOHOOLA.] Many monu- 

 ments have lately been discovered which the natives call topes or 

 ntupas, which, we believe, occur only in the valley of the Cabul River 

 and it* vicinity. 



All the topes, which are in a tolerable state of preservation, consist 

 of a basement and a perpendicular story resting on it and terminating 

 above in the form of a cupola, which U sometimes so depressed a* to 

 exhibit merely a convexity, but it generally approaches to the form of 

 a cone. Theae edifices are substantially constructed of layers of large 

 stones connected with well-prepared and beaten earth. They vary 

 greatly in dimension*, some of them having a circumference of 144 

 feet, and many of only 108 feet The front, as it appears, U directed 

 to the east, for all of them have flight* of steps on that aide ; and 

 aome alao on other sides. They are situated on the skirts of hills or 

 elevation* separated from each other by ravines, and in their vicinity 

 there are always many oaves, which apparently have been used a* 

 dwelling*. Near them there are also always one or more tumuli, but 

 there are tumuli where no topea are found; and in general such 

 tumuli abound all over Afghanistan. 



Most of these topea contain passages or tunnels extending from the 

 centre to the circumference, and the centre is occupied by a small 

 apartment In theae apartments or their recesses are found casket* 

 or vases of copper or steatite. The vases are sometime* of a globular 

 and sometimes of a cylindrical form, and usually contain smaller 

 cylindrical cases of gold or silver, often of both. These vessels are 

 often separate, but often also are one within the other. One of these 

 smaller vessels generally contains a fragment or two of boue, and 

 these appear to have been the relics over which the monument-- 

 been raised. The whole is carefully wrapped up in an envoi.. pi- of fine 

 linen. The larger vases usually contain a portion of fine pulverised 

 earth or of ashes, in which are found burnt pearls, beads, rings, seals, 

 and other trinkets, with gems, coloured stones, pieces of crystal, 

 fragments of mother-of-pearl shells, &<x In some the deposits hare 

 been accompanied by twists of tuz-leaves (probably the inner bark of 

 birch), inscribed internally with characters, but they crumble away 

 when they are handled. Some vases contain minute gold and silver 

 cups, beads of pearls, of crystal, agate, or coral, and small ornaments 

 of gold and stones, and some coins. 



The prevailing opinion respecting theae extraordinary buildings is, 

 that they were erected for the preservation of the relics of Itu.Mlin. 

 and that this country was once peopled by nations which had 

 embraced Buddhism. This opinion is supported by the accounts of 

 two Chinese pilgrims, one of whom, Fa Hian, visited the Holy Land 

 of Hianthu, i. c. Hindustan, about the year 400 A.D., and the other, 

 Hiuan Thaang, about 630 or 650. Both of them state that a hundred 

 yean after the death of Buddha, or about a thousand years before 

 the Christian era, his adherents began to settle in this part of 

 Afghanistan and to build their towers or stupas, and at the tii 



of their travels they found numerous monuments of this description 

 along the road. 



Another kind of antiquities are the coins. Single coins have been 

 found at several places. But they occur in great numbers in tl,.- 

 plain of Beghram, situated in the Koh-Daman, where the i 

 which drain that valley unite in the Qhorbund and toko their course 

 to the south-east towards the Cabul Hirer. The plain contains 

 about 24 square miles, and, except some slight ridges, the rul.l.ish 

 apparently of dilapidated buildings, it is a perfect level, on wlii.'li 

 rain stagnates as it falls. Mr Masson employed several years to 

 gather the coins found in this plain, and in 1837 he succeeded in 

 collecting 60,000 copper coins, besides a number of diver and ^.,\,\ 

 coins, a large number of engraved seals, some of them with inscriptions, 

 figures of men and animals, particularly of birds, cylinders, parallelo- 

 gramic amulets with sculptured sides, rings, and a multitude of 

 trinkets, generally of brass or copper. When Lieut \\ 

 following year visited the plain, some children were sent in seiuvh .!' 

 coins, and in a few hours they returned with 35 copper pieces. It 

 is further stated that from time out of memory coins have been 

 collected on this plain, which have been sent to Cabul to be melted 

 down, and that in some yean as many as 30,000 pieces have been 

 carried off. Some think that the plain is the site of one of Alexander'-' 

 frontier colonies, of Alexandria near Caucasus, and that it has been 

 for a long time a very large town and the metropolis of a great 

 empire. The coins collected by Mr. Maason embrace a peri.., I ,,f 

 more than 1250 yean, the oldest being coined 256 years before the 

 birth of Christ, and the last about a thousand years after it : 

 than 2000 of them were struck during the reigns of the liactriaii 1 

 Meimiiilcr and Apollodotus, between 126 and 100 n.c. 



lliniurt/. --Afghanistan was known to the Greeks under the name of 

 Ariana (AHIANA], which country however extended also over 

 parts of Persia that lie along the northern table-land of Iran, from 

 Herat to Mount Elburz. It formed a part of the old Persian empire, 

 and passed at its downfall, with the other provinces of Persia, under 

 the dominion of Alexander the (treat After the disputes and war; 

 between Alexander's successors had been settled, we find that this 



