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JOURNAL 



OF THE 



ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL 



Part I.— HISTORY, LITERATURE, &e. 

 No. III.— 1879. 



Bough Notes on the Distribution of the Afghan Tribes about Kandahar.* — 

 By Lieut. R. C. Temple, 1st Ooorkhas, (with two maps). 



I was employed in foraging in advance of General Stewart's Division 

 during the inarch back from Kelat-i-Ghilzai to Kandahar, 1st to 10th Febru- 

 ary 1879, — afterwards in taking a convoy of camels to Col. Patterson's recon- 

 noitring expedition down the Arghisan valley, 13th to 23rd February, and 

 these rough notes are the result of such information as I had time to pick 

 up regarding the population of the villages I passed en route. At the foot 

 of the Maps accompanying these notes, I have given a list of the villages 

 inhabited by the various tribes of Afghans found in those parts so that the 

 reader can see for himself how they are distributed ; but the following addi- 

 tional notes may prove useful. 



Nearly all the Afghans living in the Kandahar district are Duranis of 

 the Popalzai and Barakzai sections. Of these the Popalzais mainly occupy 

 the valley of the Tarnak as far as Shahr-i-Saffa and the Barakzais the 

 whole valley of the Arghisan to Maruf. Beyond Shahr-i-Saffa (now mere- 

 ly a ruined mound), as far as Jaldak in the Tarnak valley, the Alikozai 

 section of the Duranis is found ; the Grhilzais not being seen till the neigh- 

 bourhood of Kelat-i-Ghilzai is reached. 



* The local pronunciation of this word is as nearly as possible Kandhar, the second 

 syllable which probably really exists between the d and the h being so short as to be 

 scarcely audible. [It is commonly identified with the Sanskrit Gandhdra (j^w} ; Ed.] 

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