90 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Drawn by A. H. Bumstead 



A MAP OI? AFGHANISTAN AND ITS BORDER LANDS 



Afghanistan has an area equal to twice that of the State of New Mexico, and has a 

 population variously estimated at from 6,000,000 to 7,000,000. The inaccessibility of the 

 country is due to its distance from the sea, its inhospitable sands, and the lofty mountain 

 fastnesses which almost encircle it. 



The Amir reserves to himself the right 

 of passing death sentences.. The cruel 

 Afghan forms of punishment, such as 

 shooting a prisoner from the cannon's 

 muzzle, sabering off his head, stoning 

 him to death, burying him alive, cutting 

 off his hands and feet or putting out his 

 eyes, are seldom employed nowadays; 

 yet often the criminal himself will choose 

 a quick, though violent, exodus to para- 

 dise rather than suffer long imprison- 

 ment in a filthy iron cage, perhaps to die 

 eventually of starvation. 



The way of the transgressor in Af- 



ghanistan continues to be uncommonly 

 hard, however. Time and again, in the 

 recorded history of this land, deposed 

 amirs, troublesome relatives, and political 

 enemies have been deliberately blinded, 

 there being a tradition here that no man 

 with any physical affliction may hold a 

 public office of honor or profit. 



CARAVANS OI< 120,000 ANIMALS £NT£R 

 AFGHANISTAN 



Politically, Afghanistan is divided into 

 four provinces : Afghan Turkestan, Ka- 

 bul, Kandahar, and Herat. Topographi- 



