- 



AFGHANISTAN. 



the 



around Balkh, the 



the finest in Asia. Apples, pears, and 



U dcliriou, ...1 l>u,,,!ant. The mutton i, ^^^^^^-.b^ 1,OCCN- 



ThprP i 000 people of Turkish race in this part of Af- 



Hftvor Uood wool is aounuttiii. IUQAW * _ A 



,,! for .building, and a great va- ghan.stan ^..^ the 30th of March 



* i . -i 1 . m !nAM>la uronitmcr flAVelOD- 111C .reiyueu JIM' i . -i ,1 



n which the 



to near and distant markets. Since th 

 *isn have reduced the Turkoman robbers to 

 orderly ways, and restored the fields in the 

 north for peaceful culture, the agricultural pro- 

 duct of the district can be increased to several 

 times its present amount, Vambery estimates 

 that the revenue may be increased tenfold from 

 this cause. 



Herat has been a prize for which Persians, 

 Afghans, Uzbecks, Turkomans, and Hezaris have 

 contended for ages. The peaceful and indus- 

 trious inhabitants have never been free from 

 a foreign yoke. The province has often had 

 an independent government because its re- 

 markable resources have enabled the governors 

 to throw off their allegiance to the central 

 powers at Teheran, Ispahan, or Cabul. The 

 original Iranian stock is represented by the 

 Sunnite and Shiite Persians of Herat, the Par- 

 sivans, who dwell in the city, and in the coun- 

 try south as far as Ferrah, and furnish the edu- 

 cated element in other Afghan cities. They 

 pcmoio a brilliant intellectual history extend- 

 ing back into the middle ages, and in intelli- 

 gence, wit, culture, and industry, they rank 

 with the Persians of Shiraz and Ispahan. Averse 

 to military service, they have been content to 

 accept a position of political inferiority to the 

 warlike races that have dominated them. The 

 other inhabitants of the Herat district are com- 

 prised in the Char Aimak, or Four Tribes. 

 These are the Jemshidis, inhabiting the upper 

 valleys of the Kushk and the Murghab ; the 

 Finizkuhis, dwelling to the east of the Jem- 

 shidis, about Kalei-Nau, and like them of pure 

 Iranian origin; the Teitnenis, a farming and 

 trading clan, who live in the south ; and the 

 Timuris, who occupy the border-lands between 

 Herat and Persia. The Huzaras, being Sun- 

 nite*, are not technically included in the Four 

 Tribes, though always counted as another Char- 

 Aimak tribe. The peace-loving Parsivans, as 

 well as the Char Aimaks, who are trained to 

 warfare, long for the independence of Herat, 

 and hate the Afghans and the Persians intense- 

 ly. The population of the Herat district exceeds 



The ponnension of Herat by Russia would be 

 likely to lead to the acquisition also of Afghan 

 Tiirkistan. Andkhoi, Maimene, and the other 

 small khanates east of Herat, were, until re- 

 cently, dependencies of the Ameer of Bokhara. 

 TL Utbecks and Tadjiks on the left bank of the 

 I in the valleys of the Hindoo-Koosh 

 man under the Afghan yoke more sorely than 

 do the Heratis. Counting the Ersaris near 

 Khoja-Saleh, the Achmaylis in Serpul, the 

 Ming and Daz tribes in Maimene, the Kungrats 



lision between the Afghan and Russian forces 

 in the neighborhood of Penjdeh. Since No- 

 vember Russian troops had been gathering in 

 the Sarik district, where the Afghans held the 

 town of Penjdeh and the line of communica- 

 tions along the Murghab. The Afghan sen- 

 tries were posted on the bluff of Aktapa, di- 

 rectly north of the town, at the confluence of 

 the Kushk and Murghab, the strategical key 

 to the district, commanding the roads in all 

 directions ; but the Russians had pushed their 

 line up the left bank of the Kushk to the south 

 of Pendjeh. This town, and with it the Sarik 

 district, were in the beginning the leading sub- 

 ject in the boundary dispute. Col. Alikhanoff 

 took up his position over against the town 

 simultaneously with the arrival of the British 

 Commission in the Herat valley, thus empha- 

 sizing the claim presented diplomatically in 

 the negotiations with the London Government, 

 opened by M. de Giers. In a parley with the 

 Afghan commander at Penjdeh, he used threat- 

 ening and provocative language. Sir Peter 

 Lumsden at once showed forth the belligerent 

 aspect of his mission, already indicated in the 

 massing of troops in Beloochistan and other war- 

 like preparations, in the vigorous diplomatic 

 attitude of the British Government, and in his 

 armed escort and military staff. He proceed- 

 ed forthwith to Bala Murghab, above Penjdeh, 

 with his whole force. The Afghans were given 

 to understand that they must show themselves 

 ready to fight and hold their ground at any 

 cost. Tactical arrangements were looked after 

 by English officers. The Russians responded 

 by strengthening their force. The lines were 

 advanced on both sides until they met. As a 

 conflict seemed likely to occur at any time, 

 Gen. Lumsden, after remaining in the neigh- 

 borhood of P?njdeh from Dec. 13, 1884, till 

 February, 1885, during which time the officers 

 explored and surveyed the districts of And- 

 khoi, Maimene, Akcha, and Shibergan, thought 

 it advisable to withdraw with the main body of 

 his party to Gulran, near the other line of Rus- 

 sian advance, up the Heri Rud into the disputed 

 Salor district. Col. Ridgway was left with a 

 detachment^ on the Murghab, and Capt. Yate 

 was placed in Penjdeh in the capacity of mili- 

 tary adviser to the Afghan commander. At 

 the dangerous pass to which affairs had been 

 brought, the chief commissioner thought best 

 to reduce his party. A large number of the 

 attendants were accordingly sent back to India 

 by way of Persia. 



On March 30 the collision, anticipated if not 

 desired by the military authorities on both 



