ADVENTISTS. 



AFGHANISTAN. 



of indebtedness was $62,019.81, leaving a clear 

 balance of assets of $98,973.58. 



The receipts of the Health Keform Institute 

 for the year ending in September, 1877, were 

 $36,648.04, and the expenditures during the 

 same period were $33,139.52. The assets of 

 the Institute were valued at $58,805.13, and 

 its liabilities were $12,928.82. Four hundred 

 and ninty-three patients, residents of twenty- 

 three different States and the Canadas, were 

 treated at the institution during the year, and 

 no death occurred. Measures were taken look- 

 ing to a change in the name of the Institute. 



The treasurer of the Seventh-Day Adventist 

 Educational Society reported at the annual 

 meeting of the society, September 24th, that 

 his receipts for the year had been $11,289.63. 

 The property of the society consisted of the 

 college grounds and buildings at Battle Creek, 

 Mich., detached lots, seven new buildings, etc., 

 and were valued at $56,477.52, while the lia- 

 bilities amounted to $9,306.29. 



The sixteenth annual session of the General 

 Conference of the Seventh-Day Adventists was 

 held at Lansing, Mich., beginning September 

 20th. Elder James White was elected presi- 

 dent. A report was made concerning the mis- 

 sionary work of the conference in Denmark, 

 showing it to be in a prosperous condition. 

 In view of the favorable opening which ap- 

 peared among the Swedes, Norwegians, and 

 Danes, in the United States, and in the Scan- 

 dinavian countries themselves, young men of 

 those nationalities were invited to prepare 

 themselves for preaching. The conference ex- 

 pressed the hope that it might soon be able to 

 establish a mission-field in the English-speak- 

 ing parts of Europe. The president of the 

 conference was advised to visit the southern 

 field in the United States, or to send some one 

 in his place, accompanied by other laborers. 

 A Biblical Institute having been held in Cali- 

 fornia with the result of almost doubling the 

 number of laborers of the church in that State, 

 the holding of similar institutes in other States 

 was advised. The possession of the gift of 

 prophecy by Mrs. White, the wife of Elder 

 James White, was recognized, and to it was 

 ascribed the unity of doctrine and practice 

 which prevailed among all the Seventh-Day 

 Adventists, while other bodies of Adventists 

 were crippled by division. The conference 

 rescinded all that part of an address on " Leader- 

 ship" which had been passed in 1873, which 

 taught that the leadership of the body was 

 confined to any one man, and declared by reso- 

 lution that " the highest authority under God 

 among Seventh-Day Adventists is found in the 

 will of the body of that people, as expressed 

 in the decisions of the General Conference when 

 acting within its proper jurisdiction ; and that 

 such decisions should be submitted to by all 

 without exception, unless they can be shown 

 to be in conflict with the word of God and the 

 tights of individual conscience." 



III. LIFE AND ADVENT UNIOX. The four- 



teenth anniversary of the Life and Advent 

 Union was held at Wolfboro', N. H., August 

 8th. Mr. G. K. Carroll presided. The treasurer 

 reported the receipt of $1,238.25, and the ex 

 penditure of $1,549.46. The receipts of the 

 business agent had been $3,397.54, and his ex- 

 penditures $3,856.29. It was resolved to raise 

 $1,800 for the purposes of the Union during 

 the ensuing year. The sum of $842 was pledged 

 to this purpose during the meeting. 



The sixth anniversary of the Life and Ad- 

 vent Missionary Society was held at Wolfboro', 

 N. H., August 10th. The treasurer reported 

 that his receipts for the year had been $71.66, 

 and his expenditures $137.68. The society re- 

 solved to endeavor to raise $200 for mission- 

 ary efforts. Forty-six dollars were subscribed 

 toward this sum at the meeting. A tent-meet- 

 ing was appointed to be held at Provincetown, 

 Mass. 



AFGHANISTAN,* a country in Central 

 Asia; area, 278,000 square miles, population 

 about 4,000,000. The tribes inhabiting the 

 northwestern frontier of India fall under three 

 divisions: the idolatrous Kafirs and other tribes 

 of the countries of Afghanistan opposite the 

 Cashmere frontier, the Pathan or Afghan tribes 

 opposite the Punjaub frontier, and the Belooch 

 and Brahoe tribes opposite the Sinde frontier. 

 They all claim independence, and in Afghan- 

 istan are virtually independent and under no 

 rule whatever, except that of their own chiefs, 

 who are seldom obeyed one instant longer than 

 is convenient. The only authority, indeed, rev- 

 erenced by the Afghan tribes is that of the 

 Akhund of Swat, who accidentally gained his 

 ascendancy over them through his reputation 

 as a saint. The Amir of Cabool, Shere Ali, 

 however, is the nominal ruler of Afghanistan. 



The Afghans style themselves the Bani Is- 

 rael, or Sons of Israel, and claim descent in a 

 direct line from Saul. Saul had two sons, 

 Barakiah and Iramia, and the latter a son 

 named Afghana. When Bakht-n-Nasr (Nebu- 

 chadnezzar) took the children of Israel into 

 captivity, the Afghana were driven into the 

 mountains about Herat, and afterward extended 

 their migrations eastward into the Cabool val- 

 ley and to the borders of Sinde and Beloo- 

 chistan, where many of the tribe fell into idola- 

 try. They first heard of Mohammed nine years 

 after his announcement of his mission. They 

 sent six of their chief men under a leader called 

 Kish to Medina, where they at once embraced 

 the new religion, and returned to Afghanistan 

 to convert their fellow countrymen; and in 

 the course of a few years a large proportion 

 of them became Mohammedans. But many 

 resisted to the last, and there is a tradition still 

 current among the Afghans that the Khyber 

 hills were inhabited, until a comparatively re- 

 cent period, by a colony of Jews. The prin- 

 cipal tribes are the Durranis, Tarins, Kakars, 

 Ghilzais, Provindahs, and others of Afghanistan 



* For an account of the population of the several prov- 

 inces, see ANNUAL CTCLOP^DIA for 1874. 



