404 ON THE ROSHENIAH SECT 



|)eciiliar letters of the Afghans, as distinguished from those of th^ 

 Jrahs , inserted in that work, he makes the following singular apology, foj 

 the inelegance of his composition, 



" Know gentle reader, that in Afghan poems, the authors are accus- 

 tomed ito pay no great attention, to the corre6^ness and similarity of the 

 rhym;e, or the equal proportion of the lines to each other, in a couplet; 

 nor are they more careful, with f-espe^l to uniformity of orthography. 

 For my own part, I must admit, that I have paid little attention to poetry, 

 for the mere purpose of promoting the pleasure of the hearer ; but res- 

 pe<51:ing the more important matters of religion, I have been more careful ; 

 and should any one profit by my endeavours, the prayers of that person 

 will be most acceptable to the author/' ...,:',,- - 



This passage not unaptly chara6lerizes the Makhzan Afghani, the 

 style of which is both quaint and rambling, while the texture sets all 

 method at defiance. Indeed the work betrays few features of either 

 power of thought or vigour of expression. A considerable part of it, 

 consists of translatidns' of sentences, and passages, from common moral 

 and religious tra61s, in the Arabic and Persic languages ; such as the 

 Kas'ideh Burdah, the Kha Ids' ez Ceidnni, the Resdleh Imam Omar Nasaf, the 

 works of Nasar Khosru and Ba'yezid Bo'sta'mi. These fragments of 

 translation, are hitertningred with religious exhortations, addressed to the 

 Afghan tribes ; common maxims of morality, quaint verses, and mystical 

 explanations of the Arabic and Pashtu letters of the alphabet. Some 

 Afghans are iiiolined to thitrk, that the. popular Makhzan Afghani, is not 

 the conjunct work of Akh'un Derwe'zeh and Cerimija'd, but only a 

 compilation, from two distinct works of the same name ; the first, com- 

 posed by Akh'un Derwe'zeh, and the second, by his son CerImda'd* 



