446 " An account of the Early Abdalees. £No. 162. 



notice of Majesty by the striking effects of his assiduity in groom- 

 ing. 



Finally, in the History of India, Shah, an Abdalee Governor of Herat, 

 is mentioned ; and as these three items compose all the information 

 which to my knowledge is possessed at the present day of the Early Ab- 

 dalees, the following few pages have been compiled to supply much 

 that is deficient, chiefly from a manuscript procured in Afghanistan, a 

 second copy of which I never met with, and partly from accounts writ- 

 ten at my request, and from enquiries made from time to time during a 

 continued residence of five years in Afghanistan. 



As the information now furnished was not possessed by the late Shah 

 Shuja, I am in hopes it may not elsewhere be considered stale. 



The following few prefatory " Remarks on the Origin of the Afghans," 

 will not perhaps be thought misplaced, coming next and before treating 

 of the Abdalees. 



Much has been written on the descent of the Afghans. They believe 

 themselves to be descended from king Saul. There are some circum- 

 stances against, and some in favour, of this belief. 



Those against, are — 



1st. They have among their predecessors no Jewish names except 

 that of Kais, the Kish of Scripture (1 Samuel, chap. ix. verse 1,) who 

 was according to some the first Afghan who believed in Mahommed, 

 and in consequence received the title of Abdu Rasheed ; the Jewish 

 names now common among them being gleaned from the Kuran. 



2nd. They have no vestige of the festival of Purim instituted by 

 Esther, (chap. ix. verse 28.) 



Those in favour, are — 



1st. Contrary to the precepts of the Kuran, they do not permit a 

 widow to marry any but the heirs of her husband, and the Jews did not 

 allow a virgin to marry out of the tribe, (Numbers, chap, xxxvi. 

 verse 8,) or a widow any but first her brother-in-law, (Deuteronomy, 

 chap. xxv. verse 5). The heir however among the Afghans, in case 

 of his not proposing for the widow, is not reduced to the alternative 

 described in the 9th verse of the same chapter. 



2nd. They do not allow daughters a portion of inheritance with the 

 sons. Likewise did not the Jews at one time, if we judge by inference 

 from Numbers, chap, xxvii. verse 8. 



