AFGHANISTAN. 



andrian patriarch. The echegheh, who presides 

 over the monastic establishments, which contain 

 about 12,000 monks, possesses more real author- 

 ity. Jewish ceremonies, survivals of an early con- 

 version to Judaism, are mingled with the Chris- 

 tian rites. The ruling caste shows an admixture 

 of Hebrew and Arab blood. 



The natives raise cattle, goats, and sheep in 

 great numbers. Tillage is not much practiced, al- 

 though the soil is fertile. Sugar and cotton are 

 easily grown, and the vine and the date palm 

 thrive, while the coffee plant is a native of the 

 country. The chief products for export are hides 

 and skins, civet, coffee, and wax. Gold and ivory 

 are royal monopolies. Barley, millet, and wheat 

 are raised for domestic consumption. The chief 

 imports are cotton goods of English, American, 

 and Indian manufacture, wool and woolen goods, 

 cutlery, and matches. The Maria Theresa dollar 

 has been the current coin for more than a cen- 

 tury, and Menelek has had pieces of the same 

 weight coined with his own effigies. The most 

 populous town is Ankober, in Shoa, with 7,000 

 inhabitants. The French are building a railroad 

 from Jiboutil to Harrar, to which place a tele- 

 graph has been erected from Adis Abeba, the 

 present residence of the Negus. As the result of 

 negotiations that have been in progress since 1891 

 the French minister to Rome, M. Barr&re, and the 

 Italian Minister of- Foreign Affairs, the Marquis 

 Visconti Venosta, signed on Jan. 24 a protocol de- 

 limiting the French and Italian possessions on the 

 Red Sea littoral. The frontier line, starting from 

 the extremity of Ras Dumeira, follows the water 

 parting for some distance inland, and then turns 

 in a southwesterly direction so as to leave within 

 Italian territory the caravan routes leading to As- 

 sab, in Aussa. The contracting parties leave for 

 future settlement the question of the small islands 

 opposite Ras Dumeira, both undertaking to oppose 

 any attempt of other powers to occupy the is- 

 lands. Capt. Ciccodicola, the Italian resident at 

 Adis Abeba, came to a settlement of the Italo- 

 Abyssinian boundary question with the Emperor 

 Menelek, who agreed to the retention of the 

 Mareb, Belesa, and Muna line, thus sanctioning 

 the Italian possession of a considerable portion of 

 the Abyssinian plateau. The Abyssinian frontier 

 along the British possessions in East Africa has 

 been strengthened by the occupation and adminis- 

 tration of the country bordering on the equa- 

 torial provinces and on Lake Rudolph by Euro- 

 peans in the employ of Menelek, led by Capt. 

 Leontieff, a Russian, who with a force of Sene- 

 galese soldiers erected forts at the principal stra- 

 tegic points. The Mohammedan tribes in Ogadayn, 

 roused by a so-called Mahdi, rebelled, but were 

 routed, on March 19, at Digdiga, with a loss of 

 nearly 3,000 men, by Benti, the Governor of Har- 

 rar, who lost only 21 killed and wounded. The 

 prompt arrival of re-enforcements from the Negus 

 further checked the rising and prevented it from 

 ox tending into Soiiialiland. 



AFGHANISTAN, a monarchy in central 

 Asia, lying between Russian Turkestan and 

 British India. The ruler, or Ameer, is Abdurrah- 

 man Khan, who was placed on the throne in 1880 

 by the British after they had occupied Cabul, the 

 capital, and driven out Yakub Khan, the son of 

 Shere AH, the preceding Ameer. The Indian Gov- 

 ernment has since paid an annual subsidy, first 

 1,200,000 rupees, and in 1893 increased to 1,800,000 

 rupees, to onahlo Abdurrahman to consolidate his 

 power and preserve a strong, united, and inde- 

 pendent Afghanistan as a buffer state between the 

 Russian dominions and India. The military forces 

 of the Ameer consist of the feudal militia and his 



regular army of about 20,000 men. The artillery 

 has 76 modern guns, and in the arsenal at Cabul 

 are manufactured gunpowder, cartridges, rifles, 

 and cannon with modern machinery. The bound- 

 ary between Russian and Afghan territory starts 

 at a point in the Kwaja Amran range, runs first 

 westward to the peak of Kohimalik Siuh, south- 

 west of the Helmund, thence northward to Zulfi- 

 kar, on the Heri Rud, thence northeastward to 

 Khamiab, on the Oxus ; this river it follows up, and 

 the Panjah, its longer, southern branch, to Lake 

 Victoria, from which it runs eastward to a point 

 in the Sarikol mountains, which form the bound- 

 ary of Chinese Turkestan. The boundary between 

 Afghanistan and India as finally demarcated 

 leaves Chitral, Bajaur, and Swat within the Brit- 

 ish sphere and Waziristan .in the east, while 

 Afghanistan retains Kafiristan and Asmar, with 

 the Kunar valley. The area of the Ameer's do- 

 minions is estimated at 215,400 square miles. The 

 population is about 4,000,000. The taxes, levied in 

 kind, are from a tenth to a third of the produce, 

 according to the benefit derived from irrigation. 

 The revenue, estimated under a former Ameer at 

 $3,600,000, is subject to fluctuations. The culti- 

 vators raise wheat, barley, beans, peas, etc., as a 

 winter crop and plant rice, millet, or maize in the 

 summer. Fruits are abundant and fine, and are 

 the principal food of the people. Preserved fruits 

 are exported to India. Other exports are nuts, 

 asafcetida, madder, castor oil, carpets, and other 

 manufactures of wool and camels' hair, felt, silk, 

 postins, or sheepskin coats, tobacco, cattle, hides, 

 and rosaries. The chief imports are cotton goods, 

 indigo and other dyes, sugar, and Chinese tea. The 

 trade is with British India and with Bokhara and 

 Russian Turkestan, but there are no statistics of 

 the amount. 



At the beginning of the year a detachment of 

 Russian troops arrived at Kushk, the terminus of 

 the Russian railroad to the Afghan frontier, hav- 

 ing been only a week on the journey from Tiflis. 

 The sending of re-enforcements to the new fortress 

 at Kushk was regarded as a menace to Herat. 

 All the materials for a siege train to be held in 

 readiness for a rapid advance to Herat were accu- 

 mulated at Kushk. The demonstration was in- 

 tended, perhaps, as a warning to England not to 

 extend the Indian frontier, an advance beyond the 

 Raskem mountains north of Kashmir having been 

 contemplated. 



The attitude of the Ameer toward Great Britain 

 since the conquest of the Afghan tribes on the 

 northwest frontier of India, while outwardly 

 friendly, has been far from cordial, and by com- 

 mercial regulations he has endeavored to isolate 

 Afghanistan from India as far as possible. By the 

 imposition of heavy duties and prohibitory regu- 

 lations he almost extinguished the trade with 

 India by Dakka and the Khaiber pass. In 1900- 

 he created a monopoly in postins, asafoetida, 

 almonds, and pomegranates, having already pro- 

 hibited the export of horses and mules and the 

 import of Indian salt. The tax on the exporta- 

 tion of sheep was placed so high that the number 

 sent to India fell from 16,000 to 6,000 in the first 

 year. To the representations addressed to him 

 by the Indian Government Abdurrahman paid no 

 attention. The Englishmen who were formerly in 

 his service he has dismissed one after another, and 

 the factories and arsenals go on without them. 

 His political relations with Russia were not more 

 intimate than before, though trade with Asiatic 

 Russia was not checked by artificial barriers as 

 was the Indian trade. Since the Afridi campaign 

 the Ameer has devoted himself to increasing the 

 efficiency of his regular army. More regiments 



