550 Some Remarks on the Origin of the Afghan people. [No. 6. 



Some Remarks on the Origin of the Afghan people and dialect and on 

 the connexion of the Pushto language with the Zend and Pehlavi 

 and the Hebrew. — By Lieut. H. Gr. Baverty, 3rd Regt. Bombay 

 N. I. Asst. Commissioner, Multdn. 



In all investigations into the manners and customs of mankind, 

 which must ever be an interesting enquiry, language has a strong 

 claim to our attention and study. It will be found, in various ways, 

 such an unerring guide, that we may term it the barometer of a 

 people's civilization or barbarity ; whilst on the other hand the deri- 

 vation and affinity of different tongues, afford an indisputable proof 

 of the origin and genealogy of the various families of the human 

 race. It also adds a physical certainty to historical evidence, and 

 at the same time, no authority can so indubitably determine the 

 peculiar habits and pursuits of a people, as the manner in which 

 their thoughts and ideas are articulated and expressed ; for want of 

 copiousness, or poverty of a language, as it may be termed, generally 

 indicates an uncivilized state — ignorance, and superstition. 



By oral means alone can a dialect be formed or extended, but its 

 subsequent cultivation must depend on writing and literature ; and 

 knowledge, on which civilization, and refinement — in fact, on which 

 every thing that tends to raise mankind above the level of the brute 

 depends, must naturally be confined within exceedingly narrow 

 limits, until a written language has diffused it throughout all classes 

 of mankind. 



Before venturing to offer an opinion as to the origin of the 

 Pushto lauguage, it will be necessary to make a few observations 

 respecting the topography, as it may be termed, of the ancient lan- 

 guages of Asia, more particularly those from which we may naturally 

 suppose the Pushto or Afghanian language to have sprung ; still 

 all researches into high antiquity are more or less involved in dark- 

 ness and perplexity, and every argumentative enquiry, however 

 ingenious, must at last rest on the uncertain basis of conjecture 

 and fancy. 



According to the accounts of Herodotus and other ancient 

 writers, we find, as is the case even at the present day, that in cer- 



