AFGHANISTAN. 



situated, then the Czar must renounce their 

 allegiance and treat their country as a neutral 

 and inviolable zone, belonging geographically, 

 though not politically, to Afghanistan. At 

 Akrobat or Zulfikar, the military critics de- 

 clared, the Russians would have gained the 

 glacis of Herat, having planted themselves 

 within coup-de-main distance, at a position 

 whence an army could descend upon the city 

 in a week's time. The two practicable routes 

 to Herat follow the valleys of the Heri Rud 

 and the Murghab. The Merv-Penjdeh route is 

 not suitable for the passage of a large body of 

 troops. An army could not assemble in Merv 

 except slowly, in detachments, and amid many 

 difficulties and privations. Nor do the oasis 

 and the narrow strip of cultivated ground 

 along the Murghab produce a sufficient surplus 

 of food beyond the requirements of the dense 

 population. Furthermore, the Penjdeh road to 

 Herat is not passable for wheeled transport. 



Assuming that the Russians have designs 

 upon Herat, and eventually upon India by Sko- 

 belefFs plan of " a hard blow struck in the front 

 simultaneously with a mutiny fomented at the 

 rear of the Indus," many supposed that Russia 

 was disappointed in the Merv route, and hence 

 hastened to possess herself of Sarakhs and the 

 other approach. All invaders of India have, 

 however, found it necessary to secure the ad- 

 herence or neutrality of the Mervians. By sub- 

 duing the intrepid warriors of the steppes, Rus- 

 sia added greatly to her prestige and fame in 

 Asia. She secured, moreover, an important 

 accession of strength, for the Tekke Turko- 

 mans can furnish 40,000 of the best irregular 

 cavalry in Asia, who are superior in fighting 

 qualities to an equal number of Afghans. 



The Heri Rud route presents no natural or 

 topographical difficulties. Sir Charles Mac- 

 Gregor, who explored it in 1873, declared that 

 he could drive a mail-coach from Meshed to 

 the Khyber Pass. The engineer and diploma- 

 tist, Lessar, who visited the country in 1882, 

 to explore a railroad route, found various easy 

 passes over the Borkhut mountains, and one, 

 the Khom-bou or Robat Pass, especially suita- 

 ble for a railroad. The Elbirin-Kir range pre- 

 sents but slight difficulties ; while the southern 

 branch of the Paropamisus, marked on the 

 maps as a mountain-chain, consists merely of 

 gently sloping hills. With steam connection 

 between the Caucasus and Sarakhs, to which 

 point the extension of the Michaelovsk-Aska- 

 bad Railway has been authorized, troops can be 

 forwarded from Russia at the rate of a division 

 a week. The arable lands, claimed by Russia 

 as the possessions of her Turkoman subjects, 

 are sufficient in extent and productivity to 

 maintain an army. Hence it was desirable for 

 England, from the military stand-point, to re- 

 quire the Russians to withdraw to the edge of 

 the desert, and not merely to secure for Afghan- 

 istan the mountain-passes, which are numerous 

 and can easily be forced or turned by by-paths. 



The English authorities based the Afghan 



claim to Penjdeh on historical grounds. Al- 

 though Abdurrahman Khan first asserted his 

 sovereignty there in 1884, the population of 

 the district formerly paid tribute to the rulers 

 of Herat. About sixty years ago, the Jamshidi 

 and Huzara branches of the Aimak tribes dwelt 

 there. The Ersari Turkomans, who succeeded 

 them, paid tribute to the Afghan Government, 

 as did also the Salors who came later. The 

 Sariks, when expelled from Merv by the Tekkes, 

 moved into the district, and drove out the 

 other inhabitants about 1856. From them the 

 Afghans appear to have collected tribute oc- 

 casionally on the ground that they pastured 

 their flocks in Afghan territory, when herbage 

 failed in their oasis or when the Tekkes dis- 

 turbed their security. The Sariks were addict- 

 ed to brigandage before the coming of the 

 Russians. They made incursions into Afghan- 

 istan as well as into Khorassan, and were 

 often visited with Afghan reprisals. In 1883 

 the Ameer appointed as his representative in 

 Penjdeh an official named Dsman Khan. In 

 April, 1884, after the Russian occupation of 

 Merv, he appointed Aminulla Khan, a Jam- 

 shidi chief, governor of the Penjdeh district, 

 and in June Afghan troops took forcible pos- 

 session of the town. The Afghans would have 

 advanced beyond Penjdeh, but Col. Alikhanoft 

 met them at Sariyazi and drove them back 

 after a slight skirmish. The small khanate of 

 Shugnan in Afghan Turkistan was seized by 

 Abdurrahman in 1883, although in the agree- 

 ment of 1872 it was excluded from the terri- 

 tory claimed by Afghanistan. These acts were 

 the primary cause of the Russian advance, and 

 of the overtures for delimitation. 



Herat. The strategical value of Herat in 

 relation to the conquest of India consists not 

 merely in its geographical position in the only 

 line of approach from the Russian base to the 

 Indus valley, the only route where a railroad 

 can be laid, but in the extraordinary fertility 

 of the district, which is capable of supporting 

 a large army for an indefinite period without 

 having to draw any supplies of food from Eu- 

 rope. The same consideration would render 

 Herat and the fertile slopes of Afghan Turkis- 

 tan, where also the Afghans are present only 

 as harsh and alien conquerors, valuable acqui- 

 sitions in themselves, easily developed nnder 

 a reign of peace and justice into flourishing 

 communities, capable of balancing the large 

 annual deficit in the Turkistan budget, and of 

 unlocking a mine of wealth for the benefit of 

 Russian commerce. 



The climate of Herat is temperate. The 

 hottest days of summer are followed by cool 

 nights. The soil of the Paropamisan valleys, 

 of unrivaled richness, is abundantly watered 

 by the many perennial streams that flow into 

 the Murghab and the Heri Rud. The wheat, 

 equal to the Jerusalem wheat of Khiva, ripens 

 in June. The rice is one of the chief articles 

 of food consumed by the Turkomans of Merv 

 and the Hezaris in the East. The grapes are 



