EVERY-DAY LIFE IN AFGHANISTAN 



91 



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Photograph by P. 0. Crawford 



THE AMIR'S CLOCK TOWER IN KABUL, CONSTRUCTED BY EUROPEANS IN I913 



Clocks of all kinds, particularly those with alarm bells, cuckoos, and musical attachments, 

 are popular in Afghanistan, but time itself is no object here. An audience with the Amir 

 often lasts from o'clock in the morning till late at night, interrupted by a long, ceremonious 

 repast. 



cally, its most conspicuous features are 

 the high peaks in the northeast ; where 

 it touches the great Hindu Kush, the 

 Tirach Mir attains a height of over 

 23,000 feet. 



Through these mountains of northeast 

 Afghanistan wind some of the most pic- 

 turesque and historic trails of the whole 

 world. For centuries the trade between 

 Turkestan and India has flowed over 

 these high passes, and the story goes that 

 often these annual caravans number as 

 many as 120,000 loaded animals, includ- 

 ing camels, mules, and horses. 



Alexander the Great founded Herat 

 and Kandahar, and here and there are 

 ruins and monuments that mark the 

 marches of the ancient Greeks through 

 the valley of Kabul, of Loghar and 

 Bactra. 



At Aibag and elsewhere in Afghanistan 

 are also found the crumbling ruins of 

 Zoroastcian fire temples, the best pre- 

 served of which is probably the "Tup-i- 

 Rustam" ruin at Balkh. Near Tacht-i- 



Rustam, also, several prehistoric caves 

 have been found, their walls decorated 

 with carvings of giant sunflowers. 



The city of Balkh, like Babylon, ap- 

 parently lived through three or four dif- 

 ferent civilizations ; its ruins show that 

 one city after another has occupied this 

 site, each one being built above the ruins 

 of its predecessor. 



Among the oldest ruins in existence 

 are these fire temples in Afghanistan. 



A BABEL OE TONGX 



AND RACE 



Afghanistan is a Babel of races and 

 tongues; more than half its population 

 are not 



Afghan 



at all. The majority 

 group embraces the Iranian- Aryan Tad- 

 jiks, who inhabit the settlements and 

 large towns; the Mongolian Hazarahs, 

 who roam the mountainous central re- 

 gions of the country, and the Turkomans 

 and Uzbegs of northern Afghanistan. 

 The real Afghans, or "Pantos" ( Pathans^ . 

 as they call themselves, live in the high 

 ranges stretching from the Solimans past 



