OR, PLAIN TEACHING. 



151 



The Afghans are divided into 

 many sects or tribes, such as the 

 Dooraunees, Eusfozyees, Ghiljies, 

 and Lahonees ; the latter tribe 

 supplying the mercantile and 

 commercial men of the country, 

 and the first, the clan that for 

 many generations has yielded the 

 sovereigns and rulers of the na- 

 tion. The climate of Afghani- 

 stan is very various; in one part 

 !it has the tropical heat of India, 

 tin another, the intense rigour of 

 the north pole, while in some of 

 •the valleys the climate is tempe- 

 rate and European. The ani- 

 mals are the same as those met 

 with in other parts of India, 

 though the lion, when found, is 



18 



473. 



somewhat smaller, and the breed 

 of horses remarkably fine. The 

 •vegetation and trees are more of 

 an European than an Asiatic 

 character ; the apple, pear, plum, 

 and other varieties of home fruit, 

 growing wild in the valleys. 



Travellers in India ride upon 

 camels, or elephants, 19. The 

 country, from its geographical 

 formation and vast extent, can 

 never be sufficiently intersected 



by wheel carriage roads. The 

 great extent of the country — 

 the abrupt transition from low 

 to high ground, and the destruc- 



19 



474. 



tive effects of floods, will always 

 be prejudicial to the formation of 

 roads. Many districts of India 

 must, therefore, of necessity, 

 always remain what may be 

 called a "burden" country; and 

 as either for a load upon the 

 back, or a dead pull, an elephant 

 concentrates into one effort power 

 equal to that of a great number 

 of other animals, the elephant 

 must always be an animal of 

 great value in India. A story 

 told by Mr. Corse Scott, of a tra^. 

 veiling elephant, is well worthy 

 of repetition here: — 



" A male elephant, taken the year before, was 

 travelling in company with some other elephants 

 towards Chittagong, laden with a tent and some 

 baggage for our accommodation in the journey. 

 Having come upon a tiger's track, which ele- 

 phants discover readily by the smell, he took 

 fright, and ran off to the woods, in spite of the 

 efforts of the driver. On entering the wood, the 

 driver saved himself by springing from the 

 elephant and clinging to the branch of a tree 

 under which he was passing. When the ele- 

 phant got rid of his driver, he soon contrived to 

 shake off his load. As soon as he ran away, a 

 trained female was despatched after him, but 

 could not get up in time to prevent his escape ; 

 she, however, brought back his driver, and the 

 load he had thrown off, and we proceeded 

 without any hope of ever seeing him again. 

 Eighteen months after this, when a herd of 

 elephants had been taken, and had remained 

 several days in the inclosure, till they were 

 enticed into the outlet, then tied and let out in 

 the usual manner, one of the drivers, viewing a 

 male elephant very attentively, declared he 



