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A F O 



1736, he proceeded with his army towatds K;ir.d<ihar, in 

 erder to reduce to fnhjedion the Afghans, who were the 

 only entinies of the Pei-f;an empire whom he had not fub- 

 diud. Havinj;^ fccured Kandahar and Cabiil, and ad- 

 vancing in his ir.aich towards Peiflior, he was miith iixom- 

 nioded by thefe hardy n.oiuAiiineers, znil in fcveial ftirinifl'ics 

 witii tlicm loll niaiiv men, v. ho were either killed or 

 wounded. The Afghan.i had ft-rtified themfelvcs fo Ifrongly 

 on the toi)s of the hills, tl'.at this vitlorious general found 

 k impoflibk- to force tlieir jiafles w-ithout mueh bloodiliLd ; 

 and he therefore fcnt them ofieiTi of aecomm.odalion, which 

 they accepted the more readily, as they had not received 

 for four or five years llie ufual alkv>ance from court for 

 their ferviccs in defending the pad'esof tlie mounta!-s. Nadir 

 Shah, upon paying them a ceita'n fum of money, was 

 allowed to march forward \\ithout molcftation : fevcral of 

 the Afghans enliilcd in his arniy ; a:id others joined him in 

 his further pngrefs. 'l"he mountainous refidences of the 

 Afghans were included in the territories to the wilUvaid of 

 the river Attek, formally ceded to Nadir Shah by Ma- 

 hommed Shah, in the year 1739. A body of Afghans, 

 in the ftrvice of Nadir Shah, was commanded by Ahmed 

 Khan, who, after the aflaliination of this barbarous con- 

 queror in 1747, took poiielilon of Cabul, and with the 

 rtfources iurniibed by the treafure whicli he thus obtained, 

 laid the foundation of an independent government, including 

 Afghaniilan Gour, Multan, Sind, and Cafmir. Ahmed 

 was fuccecded in 177'?, by his fon Timar Shah, who, be- 

 fides his Afghan and Indian dominions, poffefled a large 

 divifion of Khorafan. His fuccefTor, who now fills the 

 throne, carried his arms in 1796 as far as Labor, when he 

 was recalled by inteftine commotions. Hanway's Hiil. 

 Ace. of the Britifh Trade, &c. vol. iii. p. 27, &c. &c. 

 Hanway's Trav. vol. iii. p. 148, &c. Frafer's Hilt. 

 Nadir Shah, p. 91. Raynal's Revol. vol. ii. p. r>8. 



In the 2d volume of the Afiatic Refearches, we have 

 feme curious particulars relating to the Afghans : they call 

 themfclves the po/^erity of Mf.lic Talut, or king Saul. 

 In a war, they fay, which raged between the children of 

 Ifrael and the Amalekites, the latter, being victorious, 

 plundered the Jews, and obtained pofTefTion of the ark of 

 the covenant. Confidcring this as the God of the Jews, 

 they threw it into the fire, which did not injure it ; and 

 having incfTcdtually endeavoured by other methods to dellroy 

 it, they placed it in their temple, and all the idols bowed 

 to it. At length they fallencd it upon a cow, which they 

 turned loofc in the w'ldernefs. They are faid to have applied 

 to Samuel, after their defeat l:)y the Amalekites, for a king ; 

 and at this time the angel Gabriel defeendcd, and delivered 

 a wand, with inftruftion, that the perfon, whofe flatnre 

 conxfponded with that wand, fiioukl be king of Ifrael. 

 Melic Talut was then a heidfman df inftrior condition: 

 and having loft a cow, he applied to Samuel for ?.fliftance 

 to fatisfy the owner. Samuel, perceiving his lofty ft ature, 

 aflced his name : He anfwered Talut. Upon which, having 

 meafured him with the wand, he faid to the children of 

 Ifrael, " God has raifed Talut to be your king." How 

 fhall we know, faid they, ti'at he fhall be our king ? Samuel 

 replied, they fnould know, that God had conftitnted Talut 

 their king, by his reftoring the ark of the covenant. He 

 accordingly reftored it, and they acknowledged him their 

 fovereign. After Talut obtained the kjngdom, he feized 

 part of the teriitories of Jahit, or Goliath, who alTemblcd 

 a large anny, but was killed by David. Talut afterwards 

 died a martyr in the war againll the infidels ; and God 

 conftitutcd David king of the Jews. Melic Talut. ihey 

 fay, had two fons, one c;ilkd Berkia and the other Inxiia, 



who fcrvcd Dnvld and were belov.d by h'.m. The fon of 

 Berkia was called Afghan, and the fon of Irniia was named 

 Ufbec. The latttf was eminent for hi.", h aniing ; and 1 lie 

 former for his corporeal Puength, which llruek terro into 

 Demons and Genii. Afghan made frtipient txcuifions to 

 the mountains ; where his progeny, after his deatli, ef- 

 tahlifiled themfclves, lived in a irate of independence, built 

 forts, and exterminated the infidels. The late Henty Van- 

 fittart, Efq. informs us, that a very particular account cf 

 the Afghans has been written by the late Hrfit:. R/ilimot 

 Khnn, a chief of the- Rohilla.?, from which the c.irious 

 reader may derive much infonnatibr. They arc Mufiulmans, 

 partly of the Sonnite, and partly of the Smiite pe-r- 

 fuaiion. They boail much of the antiquity of their 

 origin, and the reputation of their tribe ; but other MufTnl- 

 mans rcicA tJieir claim, anel confidcr them of modem, and 

 even bafe extraction. From hillory heiwever, we learn, 

 that they have diftinguidied themfclves by their conrage, 

 both iingly and unitedly, as principals and auxiliaiies. 

 Tiiey have conquered tor their own princes and for foreitni- 

 ers, and have always been regarded as the chief ilrength 

 of the army, in which they have ferved. As they have 

 been applauded for their virtues, they have alfe) been 

 reproached for vices ; having fometimes been, guilty of 

 treachery, and even afied the bafe part of aflafTins. They 

 confilf of four clafi'es, viz. pui~e Afghans, Vifhofe fathers ^ 

 and mothers were Afghans ; thole whofe fathers were 

 Afghans, but their mothers of another nation ; fuch as had 

 Afghan mothers, and fathers of another nation ; and th;' 

 children of women, whofe mothers were Afghans, and 

 fathers or huibands of a diflerent nation. 



The above account is extrafted from the Perfian Abridg- 

 ment of a book, called The Secrets cf the Afghans, written 

 in the Pufhto language, a fpecimen of which is added. 

 The work was communicated by Heni-y Vanfittart, Efq. 

 to the late Sir William Jones, who was tlien prefident of 

 the Afiatic fociety. Although their claim to a deleent 

 from vSaul feems to refemble fome of the fictions borrowed 

 by Mahomet from the later Jewifh Rabbins, Sir William 

 Jones has no doubt that the Afghans are defcendaiits of 

 Ifrael. "We learn, fays he, from Esdras, that the ten 

 tribes, after a wandering journey, came to a country cnlled 

 Arfaxeth ; where, we may fuppofe, they fettled. Now 

 the Afghans are faid by the bell Pcrfian hiftoria'ns to l>e 

 defcended from the Jews ; they have ame^ng them.felves 

 traditions of fuch a dtfcent ; and it is even aflerted, that 

 their families are diftinguiihed by the names of Jcwirti 

 tribes ; although, fmce their converfion to the IJliim, 

 they il:udie)nfly conceal their origin : the Puflito language, 

 of which I have feen a dieflionar}', has a manifeff refemblance 

 to the Chaldaic ; aiul a coniiderable dillrict under their 

 dominion is called Hn-nareh, or Haznret, which might 

 ealily have been changed into the word ufcd by Efdras. I 

 ftrongly recommend an enquiry into the literature and 

 hiiton,' of the Afghans." 



AFLOAT, in Sea language, denotes the ftate of a fliip 

 when file is buoyed up by the water from the ground. 



AFFOBA, in Botany, a name given by the natives of 

 Guinea, to a kind of plant, of the genus of the phafeolus, 

 or kidney bean. They ufe it pounded and mixcel Avith oil, 

 to cure the itch, and other cutaneous foulncfies. It is more 

 haiiT than the common kinds, and its leaves are very fm.all. 

 Phil'. Tranf. N° 232. 



AFORE, fignifiesthat part of a (hip which lies forward, 

 or near the ftcrn. It alfo means farther forward, as the 

 manger ftands afore the forc-mall, or nearer to the 

 Hern. 



AFRA, ' 



