1854.] Some Remarks on the Origin of the Afghan people. 565 



and Bajawer, which were in the hands of the Kafirs, they got pos- 

 session by force of arms. They also obtained grants of land at Ghaz- 

 ni and Kabul, from Sultan Mahmud and his successors, and by de- 

 grees began to emigrate from the neighbourhood of Kaseghar, and 



Osman determined on the conquest of Khorasan, he requested Kais to ohey the 

 orders of Ahd-ullah bin JEamir bin Karez, who had been appointed to head the 

 expedition. This chief had been directed to settle the Afghan tribe with their 

 families, after the conquest of that province, between it and Hindustan, that they 

 might become a barrier against invasion from the latter country. Kais assisted in 

 the conquest of Khorasan, after which, the tract of country lying between Hirat 

 and Kandahar was bestowed on him and his tribe, subject to the governor of the 

 province. 



" At the period of the struggles between the Omeyahs and Abbasis, which ended 

 in favour of the latter, the Government of Khorasan was administered by Hujaj 

 bin Yusuf, Sakafi, who sent an exepedition into Hindustan, under his nephew 

 Kasim bin Muhammad bin Yiisuf, Sakafi, who was accompanied by a strong body 

 of Afghans. They advanced through the district of Roh,* and at length reached 

 Multan, after annexing the former district, which was made over to the Afghan 

 tribes, with directions to keep under the refractory Hindus. From the occupation 

 of Roh by the Afghans, they obtained the name of Rohillas. 



" Sabuktagin the founder of the Ghuzniwid dynasty, and father of the great 

 Muhammad, entertained a number of Afghans in his army. When that ruler died, 

 Ismaail his son by the daughter of Alta'kin, the owner of Sabuktagin, for the latter 

 was originally a slave, succeeded his father, but Muhammad, another son by the 

 daughter of the chief of Zabulistan (Kabul) opposed him in the succession, and a 

 civil war ensued betweea them. The Afghans who were dependent in some mea- 

 sure on that chief, joined his son-in-law Muhammad, who defeated Ismaail, and 

 confined him in a fortress. 



" In gratitude for this effectual aid on the part of the Afghanah, Muhammad gave 

 his sister in marriage to Sa'ho the chief of the tribe, by whom he had three sons — 

 Salar, Mas'ceud, and Ghazi, who are buried at Baraj. 



" When Sultan Muhammad set out on his expedition against Samnathin Guzerat, 

 he took with him a' body of Afghans. Several times during the siege of that 

 stronghold, fortune seemed to incline against the Muhammadan arms, but at length 

 the Afghans were brought to the front, who having fastened the skirts of their 

 garments together, attacked the Hindus with such fury that the latter were entirely 

 defeated, but not until the victors as well as the vanquished had sustained immense 



* The Beluchis and other inhabitants of the Derail Ghazi Khan, and those of the 

 southern part of the Derah Ismaail Khan districts, speak of the mountain range imme- 

 diately west of the Indus, to the southern boundary of Afghanistan, by this name. 



