AFGHANISTAN. 



ALABAMA. 



raise camels, cattle, sheep, and goats, and meat, 

 hides, and butter are exported. At Massowah 

 and in the Dahlak archipelago pearls are raised 

 of the value of from 400,000 to 600,000 lire a 

 year, and about 200,000 lire worth of mother- 

 of-pearl is exported. The total imports of Mas- 

 sowah for 1890 were 14,981,041 lire. In 1889 

 the number of vessels entered was 2,242, of 

 215,955 tons, and the number cleared was 2,519, 

 of 219,712 tons. There were 1,535 Italian ships 

 entered and 1.585 cleared. 



AFGHANISTAN, a monarchy in central 

 Asia. The ruling prince, called the Ameer, is 

 Abdurrahman Khan, a son of Afzul Khan and 

 grandson of Dost Mohammed. lie was recognized 

 as Ameer by the British in July, 1880, after their 

 invasion and temporary occupation of the coun- 

 try and the expulsion of Shere Ali. The Oxus 

 is recognized in an international arrangement 

 between Great Britain and Russia as the northern 

 boundary of Afghanistan from the place where 

 it rises in the Pamir to Kamiab, and thence a 

 boundary line has been surveyed and marked 

 by an Anglo-Russian delimitation commission 

 westward to Zulfikar, on the Persian frontier. 

 The country is about 600 miles long and 500 

 broad at the widest part. The military system 

 is feudal ; but besides the tribal levies the Ameer 

 has a regular army formed on the European 

 pattern. The number of active troops in 1890 

 was 50.000. Afghanistan exports fruits and nuts 

 and large quantities of asafcetida to India, and 

 manufactures silk, felts, and carpets. 



Tension between the Ameer and Great 

 Britain. While the Indian Government has 

 constantly warned the Ameer against attempt- 

 ing to annex the districts between India and 

 Afghanistan which he claims, and has supported 

 the independent tribes in their determination to 

 resist him, and thus encouraged them in their 

 raids on the Afghan territory, the hill tribes on 

 the side toward India are being steadily subju- 

 gated and swallowed up by the British, who 

 have refused the Ameer's request for a delimita- 

 tion of the frontier, in order that they may thus 

 possess themselves gradually of the territories 

 over which the Afghan rulers are unable to ex- 

 ercise effective dominion. The terminus of tho 

 railroad from Quetta to the Afghan frontier was 

 placed beyond the fortified post at Chaman on 

 land that Abdurrahman claimed was on his side 

 of the boundary. For this reason, when the 

 Indian Government treated his remonstrances 

 with indifference, he refused to allow connections 

 to be established between Afghanistan and the 

 railroad, and, as his people sustained him in his 

 position, the trade fell off, and a decided coolness 

 arose in his relations with the Indian Govern- 

 ment. He was aroused to a determination to 

 rectify the indeterminate frontier, and thus pre- 

 vent his country from being eaten up piecemeal. 

 Gholarn Ilyder, his principal general, was sent, 

 in December, 1891, to occupy the Mohmund 

 town and state of Asmar, on the frontier of 

 Kafiristan. The town lies halfway between 

 Jelalabad and Chitral, about sixty-five miles 

 northeast of the former. The late chief of Asmar, 

 Shah Tahmasp Khan, being dissatisfied with his 

 reception at a durbar given by Lord Dufferin at 

 Peshawur in 1887, accepted the protection of 

 Abdurrahman. After his murder a year later, 



Umra Khan, of the neighboring state of Jandol, 

 was encouraged to attempt the conquest of As- 

 mar. In order to support the son of the late 

 ruler, Gholam Hyder marched with an army 

 against Umra Khan. At the same time Abdur- 

 rahman dispatched some of his tribal levies 

 against the Turis of the Kuram valley, who had 

 received a promise of protection from the British 

 for the assistance they had rendered in the last 

 Afghan war. The Afghan general was success- 

 ful in his first engagement with Umra Khan, 

 but afterward lost a battle, and was hard pressed 

 and forced to send to Jelalabad for re-enforce- 

 ments. At this juncture the Indian Govern- 

 ment intervened diplomatically, and warned the 

 Ameer not to molest Umra Khan further. 

 Nevertheless Gholam attacked him again and 

 made himself master of Asmar, and thus of the 

 Dora Pass, which leads through the Pamir into 

 Chitral. British troops were then sent to the 

 frontier to prevent further extension of the Af- 

 ghan power. A formidable rebellion in the cen- 

 ter of Afghanistan prevented the Ameer from 

 consolidating his position and compelling a de- 

 limitation of the Indo-Afghan frontier. 



The Hazara Rebellion. The numerous and 

 warlike Hazara tribes, which occupy the central 

 and most inaccessible parts of Afghanistan, as 

 well as some districts in the north, have chafed 

 more than other tribes under Abdurrahman's 

 iron system of taxation and military levies, to 

 which the people of Afghanistan have never 

 been accustomed, but which the British subsidy 

 and gifts of arms have enabled him to establish 

 through a great part of northern and central 

 Afghanistan. The Hazaras are of different ori- 

 gin from the Afghans, and their racial antipa- 

 thy is heightened by religious differences, since 

 they are mostly Shiites, while the pure Afghans 

 are fanatical Sunnites. 



ALABAMA, a Southern State, admitted to the 

 Union Dec. 14, 1819; area, 52,250 square miles. 

 The population, according to each decennial cen- 

 sus since admission, was 127,901 in 1820 ; 309.527 

 in 1830; 590,756 in 1840; 771,623 in 1850; 964,- 

 201 in 1860; 996,992 in 1870; 1,262,505 in 1880 ; 

 and 1,513,017 in 1890. Capital, Montgomery. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers during the year: Governor, Thomas G. 

 Jones, Democrat ; Secretary of State, J. D. Bar- 

 ron ; Treasurer, John L. Cobbs: Auditor, Cyrus 

 D. Hogue ; Attorney-General, William L. Martin ; 

 Superintendent of Public Instruction. John B. 

 Harris ; Commissioner of Agriculture, Hector D. 

 Lane; Railroad Commissioners, Henry R. Short- 

 er, Levi W. Lawler, who died early in Septem- 

 ber, and Wiley C. Tunstall ; Chief Justice of the 

 Supreme Court, George W. Stone ; Associate 

 Justices, .David Clopton. who died on Feb. 5, 

 and was succeeded by William S. Thorington, 

 Thomas N. McClellan, Thomas W. Coleman, and 

 R. W. Walker. 



Finances. For the fiscal year ending Sept. 

 30, 1891, the total receipts of the State treasury, 

 including a balance of $332,561.17 on hand at 

 the beginning of the year, were $1,949,945.74, 

 and the total disbursements were $1,773,906.34, 

 leaving a balance of $176,039.40 at the close of 

 the year. Of this balance only the sum of $37,- 

 358.17 is available for general State expenses. 

 Included in the receipts were $968,112.27 from 



