262 On the Sites of Nikaia and Boukephalon. [No. 3. 



both still occupying the sites in which Alexander found them. Again 

 we have in the Moosazye, or children of Moses, the Mowrucavoi of 

 Strabo,* still occupying; their old habitat at the S. Western roots of Mt. 

 Mahabunn ; whilst the Assazyes, or children of Asa, are found where 

 Alexander found their fathers the Assakanoi, or tribe of Asa Khaun. 



Again the HaKTv'iKOL of Herodotus who dwelt upon the Indus conter- 

 minous with the mountains are as certainly the Pookhtoo auka,f or, 

 Pooktoo marr, as they are still called by other tribes, i. e. the speakers 

 of Pookhtoo (Pooshtoo) or Afghans, Eusufzye, &c. whilst the ilevKe- 

 Aaarris of the Greeks is to be found only in the Pooktoo rendering of 

 Peshawur, viz. Pekawur ; called so to this day, and very probably 

 derived from " Pooktoo," Pooshtoo, and " wur," a door or entrance, 

 the entrance to the Pooshtoo speaking tribes. 



So many Mosaic and Afghan names found in their present habitat a 

 thousand years before the Hijra, are proofs that the Afghans truly 

 derive their origin from Israel, as they could not have been received 

 from the Arabs with the religion of Muhammed, and lead at once to 

 the important query, whether the sublime truths found in the older 

 books of the Hindus may not have been derived from Mosaic tradi- 

 tions which must have been long preserved by these Israelitish tribes 

 with the tenacity characteristic of their race. 



We must not trust the particular accounts of the Afghans them- 

 selves in which they seek to connect themselves with Ali the great 

 hero of Afghanistan. The utter confusion of all chronology in the 

 narrative is in itself evidence of its fallacy. But the general deduction 

 of their line from Israel is confirmed by many evidences ; not the least 

 of which is their close resemblance, moral and physical, to the Israelitish 

 race. Of this derivation none but the children of Israel would boast, 

 for the name is a byeword and reproach amongst all other nations. 



Some have entertained the idea that Alexander crossed the Indus at 

 Taxila, and that Atuk is the site of that city. But Arrian says, " But 

 he passed over the river Indus, and there again Alexander burnt 



are speaking of is upon the confines of Turkestan. Egypt, far more remote, was 

 conqueied by Tartars, 2150 B. C. 



* These Mousikanoi are not to be confounded with the Moosa Khaun of Sind, 

 on the Indus, who was most probably also an Afghan prince. The Afghans having 

 always when they increased in power, subjected Sind to their rule. 



f Aukna, in Punjaubi, to speak. v 



