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



(in the Sind Sagur Doaba, of the Panjab) to Kandahar in breadth, 

 and in this highland range the latter city is situated." 



I have been told by Afghans in the vicinity of Pesh'awer, and 

 other places, that their ancestors first came from a district named 

 Grhwari Marghab, which they said lies to the westward of Khorasan. 

 This is, however, a mistake ; a small village bearing this name, and 

 the place referred to by them, is situated about mid-way between 

 Kandahar, Shorawak, and Girishk, which is one of the old seats of 

 the Afghan tribes who now occupy the Pesh'awer valley. Ghor, 

 supposed to have been the original district of the Afghana, lies much 

 to the north. It was from this latter place that the Ghorian tribe 

 issued in the year 1152. A. D. when they overturned the throne of 

 the Ghazniwid Sultans. 



The diversity of opinion regarding the origin of the Afghana, is not 

 greater than that respecting their language, of which, at the time 

 I write, with the exception of a small brochure by the late Major 

 R. Leech of the Bombay Army, no grammar exists.* I have just 

 completed a grammar which, together with a dictionary in prepara- 

 tion, will, perhaps enable the learned both of Europe and India, to 

 give a better, and more decided opinion than heretofore on the 

 affinity of the Afghan language to those of ancient Asia. 



Sir William Jones's opinion was, that the Pushto or Pukhto lan- 

 guage has a manifest resemblance to the Chaldaic, but Professor 

 Klaproth vehemently denies this, and states, that nothing whatever 

 is known regarding this dialect ; that neither in words or grammati- 

 cal structure, is there the slightest resemblance between Pushtu and 

 any Semitic language, and that it is unquestionably a branch of the 

 great Indii-Germanic division of languages.f 



The Baptist Missionaries of Serampur again consider the Pushto 

 and the Belli ch J languages, to form the connecting link, between 

 those of Sanskrit, and those of Hebrew origin. § M. Adelung, in his 



* Since writing the above, Captain Vaughan of the Bengal Array has published 

 a Grammar. 



f It is to be hoped the Professor will change his opinion now, as regards the 

 latter part of this sentence. 



% The Beluchki is a mixture of Persian, Sindhf, Hindi, and Sanskrit, with some 

 original words. 



§ They also notice the numerous pure Hebrew roots to be found in Pushto. 



