JOURNAL 
OF THE 
ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL. 
a 
Part I—HISTORY, LITERATURE, &ec. 
No. IJI.—1879. 
Rough Notes on the Distribution of the Afghan Tribes about Kandahar.*— 
By Ureur. R. C. Tempe, Ist Goorkhas, (with two maps). 
I was employed in foraging in advance of General Stewart’s Division 
during the march back from Kelat-i-Ghilzai to Kandahar, 1st to 10th Febru- 
ary 1879,—afterwards in taking a convoy of camels to Col. Patterson’s recon- 
noitring expedition down the Arghisan valley, 13th to 23rd February, and 
these rough notes are the result of such information as I had time to pick 
up regarding the population of the villages I passed en route. At the foot 
of the Maps accompanying these notes, I have given a list of the villages 
inhabited by the various tribes of Afghans found in those parts so that the 
_ reader can see for himself how they are distributed ; but the following addi- 
_ tional notes may prove useful. 
Nearly all the Afghans living in the Kandahar district are Duranis of 
the Popalzai and Barakzai sections. Of these the Pdpalzais mainly occupy 
the valley of the Tarnak as far as Shahr-i-Saffa and the Barakzais the 
whole valley of the Arghisin to Marif. Beyond Shahr-i-Saffa (now mere- 
ly a ruined mound), as far as Jaldak in the Tarnak valley, the Alikdzai 
section of the Duranis is found ; the Ghilzais not being seen till the neigh- 
bourhood of Kelat-i-Ghilzai is reached. 
* The local pronunciation of this word is as nearly as possible Kandhar, the second 
syllable which probably really exists between the d and the h being so short as to be 
“Searcely audible. [It is commonly identified with the Sanskrit Gandhdra (azat<) ; Ev.] 
Z 
