6 



AFGHANISTAN. 



The fifth annual meeting of the Seventh-Day 

 Advent Educational Society was held at Battle 

 Creek, Michigan, November 9th. The Trea- 

 surer reported that the property of the Society 

 amounted to $52,758 in value, and that its net 

 assets after all indebtedness was paid would 

 be $46,423. The receipts for the year had 

 been $9,416. The institution at Battle Creek 

 had been attended by 426 students. Three new 

 departments, a normal department, or teach- 

 er's institute, commercial, and primary depart- 

 ments had been added. The debt of the insti- 

 tution was continually decreasing, and would 

 be reduced to about $6,000, or one half of what 

 it was in 1875, during the present year. 



AFGHANISTAN, a Mohammedan country 

 in Central Asia; area, about 278,000 square 

 miles ; population, about 4,000,000. The re- 

 cent war between this country and England, 

 and the views which both England and Russia 

 are supposed to entertain with regard to the 

 annexation of parts of its territory, have at- 

 tracted the attention of the entire civilized 

 world to Afghanistan, which has hitherto be- 

 longed to the least known parts of Asia. The 

 Government of British India has for years 

 made incessant efforts to obtain accurate in- 

 formation about Afghanistan, not only through 

 its military expeditions and diplomatic mis- 

 sions, but through numerous travelers and ex- 

 plorers whom it has supported. These efforts 

 to explore the unknown country have required 

 many sacrifices. Stoddard, who was the first 

 to cross the mountains from Herat to Bokha- 

 ra, and Arthur Connolly, who pursued a new 

 way from Cabool, by way of Merv, to Khiva, 

 Khokand, and Bokhara, perished in 1841 in 

 Bokhara. Edward Connolly, the first discov- 

 erer of Seistan, was shot from an unknown 

 fort in Kohistan. Dr. Lord, the companion 

 of Wood in the valley of the Oxus, was assas- 

 sinated about the same time. Dr. Forbes was 

 murdered in 1841 in Seistan. Lieutenant Pat- 

 tinson, who was the first to explore the middle 

 and lower valley of the Helmund, was killed 

 by the mutinous Jan-bas in Candahar. Colonel 

 Sanders, who had drawn an excellent map ot 

 the region between Candahar and the Hasareh 

 Mountains, was slain a few years later at 

 Maharajpoor. Eldred Pottinger, who twice 

 crossed the mountains between Cabool and 

 Herat, escaped the massacre of Cabool and the 

 danger of an imprisonment by the Afghans, 

 but died soon after of yellow fever in Hong 

 Kong. Alexander Burnes, one of the most 

 distinguished geographical explorers, was one 

 of the first victims of the rising in Cabool. 

 The most important of the English explora- 

 tions in Afghanistan are laid down in the col- 

 lective work, "Central Asia, compiled for 

 Political and Military Reference." A synop- 

 sis of all the recent explorations is given by 

 F. von Stein, in Petermann's " Mittheilungen," 

 1878, I., and 1879, 1. and II. 



The boundaries of Afghanistan have never 

 been fixed. The frontier which separates the 



Afghan territory of Herat from the Persian 



Erovince of Seistan in the southwest, and from 

 eloochistan in the south, was regulated in 

 1872 by an English commission of arbitration. 

 In 1873 Russia and England agreed upon the 

 northern frontier of Afghanistan, which was 

 to embrace Badakshan with the dependent 

 district Wakhan, the districts of Koondooz, 

 Khooloom, and Balkh, and the interior dis- 

 tricts of Akhshee, Siripal, Maymene, Shiber- 

 gan, and Anjai. The eastern frontier, which 

 separates it from British India, is likewise 

 fixed, but the Afghan tribes which live east of 

 it can not be relied upon, and frequently make 

 it insecure. The frontier between Afghanistan 

 and Kafiristan has never been settled, and the 

 English maps generally leave it unmarked. 



The administrative division of the country 

 was made by Dost Mohammed, who tried to 

 unite the multitudinous independent tribes in 

 an organic whole, and organized the three prov- 

 inces of Caboolistan in the northeast, Herat in 

 the west, and Candahar in the southeast. The 

 former contains the capital of the country, with 

 the residence of the Ameer, who is accustomed 

 to appoint his nearest relatives governors of 

 the two other provinces. The provinces north 

 of the Hindoo Koosh and its western con- 

 tinuations are treated as conquered lands, and 

 constitute the four administrative districts of 

 Badakshan, Khooloom, Balkh, and Anjai. The 

 governors of all these provinces are appointed 

 by the Ameer, and the Governor of Balkh is 

 regarded as governor-general, the three other 

 governors being dependent upon him. 



Afghanistan has not many cities. The capi- 

 tal, Cabool, is situated about 6,000 feet high, 

 and is strongly fortified by nature, being only 

 accessible from one side. The residence of the 

 Ameer, Shere Ali, was in the fort Bala-Hissar. 

 On October 4, 1874, an earthquake destroyed 

 about a thousand houses, and greatly added to 

 the wretched aspect of the city. The number 

 of inhabitants is estimated at 60,000. The 

 city of Candahar is only a shadow of what it 

 was in former times. About twenty miles from 

 the city are the ruins of the city of Alexandria, 

 which was built by Alexander the Great. The 

 present population of Candabar probably does 

 not exceed 15,000, though according to some 

 it is from 60,000 to 80,000. In May, 1874, a 

 part of the city wall fell down, destroyed four 

 hundred houses, and killed many persons. 

 Herat is the chief station on the great road 

 that leads from India to Persia, and as such 

 has long been an apple of discord between the 

 Persians and Afghans. The English regard 

 Herat as so important that they interfered 

 when it was threatened in 1837 by the Persian 

 Shah Mohammed. In 1856 they even began a 

 war against Persia in order to prevent it from 

 occupying Herat. Ghuznee, northeast of Can- 

 dahar, was the residence of the first Moham- 

 medan dynasty which ruled in India. It was 

 captured by the English in 1839, and again in 

 1842, and Shere Ali defeated his brother here 



