duced in the (independent) territory of Bajaur, north-west of Peshawar, from magnetic iron sand, and is exported. Kabul is chiefly supplied from the Permûli (or Farmûli) district, between the Upper Kurram and Gomal, where it is said to be abundant. Iron ore is most abundant near the passes leading to Bamian, and in other parts of Hindu Kush. Copper ore from various parts of Afghanistan has been seen, but it is nowhere worked.

Lead is found, e.g., in Upper Bangash (Kurram district), and in the Shinwari country (also among the branches of Safed Koh), and in the Kakar country. There are reported to be rich lead mines near Herat scarcely worked. Lead, with antimony, is found near the Arghand-ab, 32 miles north-west of Kala't-i-Ghilzai; in the Wardak hills, 24 miles north of Ghazni; in the Ghorband valley, north of Kabul; and in the Afridi country, near our frontier. Most of the lead used, however, comes from the Hazara country, where the ore is described as being gathered on the surface. An ancient mine of great extent and elaborate character exists at Feringal, in the Ghorband valley. Antimony is obtained in considerable quantities at ShahMaksud, about 30 miles north of Kandahar. Silicate of zinc in nodular fragments comes from the Zhob district of the Kakar country. It is chiefly used by cutlers for polishing.

Sulphur is said to be found at Herat, dug from the soil in small fragments, but the chief supply comes from the Hazara country, and from Pirkisri, on the confines of Seistan, where there would seem to be a crater, or fumarole. Sal-ammoniac is brought from the same place. Gypsum is found in large quantities in the plain of Kandahar, being dug out in fragile coralline masses from near the surface.

Coal (perhaps lignite) is said to be found in Zurmat (between the Upper Kurram and the Gomal) and near Ghazni.

Nitre abounds in the soil over all the south-west of Afghanistan, and often affects the water of the kârez, or subterranean canals.

VEGETABLE KINGDOM.—The characteristic distribution of vegetation on the mountains of Afghanistan is worthy of attention. The great mass of it is confined to the main ranges and their immediate offshoots, whilst on the more distant and terminal prolongations it is almost entirely absent; in fact, these are naked rock and stone.

Take, for example, the Safed Koh. On the alpine range itself and its immediate branches, at a height of 6000 to 10,000 feet, we have abundant growth of large forest trees, among which conifers are the most noble and prominent, such as Cedrus Deodara, Abies excelsa, Pinus longifolia, P. Pinaster, P. Pinca (the edible pine), and the larch. We have also the yew, the hazel, juniper, walnut, wild peach, and almond. Growing under the shade of these are several varieties of rose, honeysuckle, currant, gooseberry, hawthorn, rhododendron, and a luxuriant herbage, among which the ranunculus family is important for frequency and number of genera. The lemon and wild vine are also here met with, but are more common on the northern mountains. The walnut and oak (evergreen, holly-leaved, and kermes) descend to the secondary heights, where they become mixed with alder, ash, khinjak, Arbor-vitæ, juniper, with species of Astragalus, &c. Here also are Indigofera

and dwarf laburnum.

Lower again, and down to 3000 feet, we have wild olive, species of rock-rose, wild privet, acacias and mimosas, barberry, and Zizy phus; and in the eastern ramifications of the chain, Chamaerops humilis (which is applied to a variety of useful purposes), Bignonia or trumpet flower, sissu, Salvadora persica, verbena, acanthus, varieties of Gesneræ.

The lowest terminal ridges, especially towards the west, are, as has been said, naked in aspect. Their scanty vegetation is almost wholly herbal; shrubs are only occasional; trees almost nonLabiate, composite, and umbelliferous plants are most Ferns and mosses are almost confined to the higher

existent. common. ranges.

1 Chiefly from Bellew.

In the low brushwood scattered over portions of the dreary plains of the "Khorasan" table-lands, we find leguminous thorny plants of the papilionaceous sub-order, such as camel-thorn (Hedysarum Alhagi), Astragalus in several varieties, spiny rest-harrow (Ononis spinosa), the fibrous roots of which often serve as a tooth-brush; plants of the sub-order Mimosea, as the sensitive mimosa; a plant of the Rue family, called by the natives lipád; the common wormwood; also certain orchids, and several species of Salsola. The rue and wormwood are in general use as domestic medicines-the former for rheumatism and neuralgia; the latter in fever, debility, and dyspepsia, as well as for a vermifuge. The lipad, owing to its heavy nauscous odour, is believed to keep off evil spirits. In some places, occupying the sides and hollows of ravines, are found the rose bay (Nerium Oleander), called in Persian khar-zarah, or assbane, the wild laburnum, and various Indigofera.

In cultivated districts the chief trees seen are mulberry, willow, poplar, ash, and occasionally the plane; but these are due to man's planting.

Uncultivated Products of Value.-One of the most important of these is the gum-resin of Narthex assafoetida, which grows abundantly in the high and dry plains of Western Afghanistan, especially between Kandahar and Herat. The depot for it is Kandahar, whence it finds its way to India, where it is much used as a condiment. It is not so used in Afghanistan, but the Seistan people eat the green stalks of the plant preserved in brine. The collection of the gum-resin is almost entirely in the hands of the Kakar clan of Afghans.

In the highlands of Kabul edible rhubarb is an important local luxury. The plants grow wild in the mountains. The bleached rhubarb, which has a very delicate flavour, is altered by covering the young leaves, as they sprout from the soil, with loose stones or an empty jar. The leaf-stalks are gathered by the neighbouring hill people, and carried down for sale. Bleached and unbleached rhubarb are both largely consumed, both raw and cooked.

The walnut and edible pine-nut are both wild growths, which are exported.

The sanjit (Elaeagnus orientalis), common on the banks of watercourses, furnishes an edible fruit. An orchis found in the mountains yields the dried tuber which affords the nutritious mucilage called salep; a good deal of this goes to India.

Pistacia khinjak affords a mastic. The fruit, mixed with its resin, is used for food by the Achakzais in Southern Afghanistan. The true pistachio is found only on the northern frontier; the nuts are imported from Badakhshan and Kunduz.

Mushrooms and other fungi are largely used as food, especially by the Hindus of the towns, to whom they supply a substitute for

meat.

Manna, of at least two kinds, is sold in the bazaars. One, called

turanjbin, appears to exude, in small round tears, from the camelthorn, and also from the dwarf tamarisk; the other, sir-kasht, in large grains and irregular masses, or cakes, with bits of twig imbedded, is obtained from a tree which the natives call siah chob (black wood), thought by Bellew to be a Fraxinus or Ornus.

AGRICULTURE.—In most parts of the country there are two harvests, as generally in India. One of these, called by the Afghans baharak, or the spring crop, is sown in the end of autumn, and reaped in summer. It consists of wheat, barley, and a variety of lentils. The other, called paizah or tîrmái, the autumnal, is sown in the end of spring, and reaped in autumn. It consists of rice, varieties of millet and sorghum, of maize, Phaseolus Mungo, tobacco, beet, turnips, &c. The loftier regions have but one har

vest.

Wheat is the staple food over the greater part of the country. Rice is largely distributed, but is most abundant in Swat (independent), and best in Peshawar (British). It is also the chief crop in Kurram. In much of the eastern mountainous country bajra (Holcus spicatus) is the chief grain. Most English and Indian garden-stuffs are cultivated; turnips in some places very largely, as cattle food.

The growth of melons, water-melons, and other cucurbitaceous plants is reckoned very important, especially near towns; and this crop counts for a distinct harvest.

Sugar-cane is grown only in the rich plains; and though cotton is grown in the warmer tracts, most of the cotton cloth is imported.

Ghazni and Kandahar districts, and generally over the Madder is an important item of the spring crop in west, and supplies the Indian demand. It is said to be very profitable, though it takes three years to mature.

Saffron is grown and exported. The castor-oil plant is | everywhere common, and furnishes most of the oil of the country. Tobacco is grown very generally; that of Kandahar has much repute, and is exported to India and Bokhara. Two crops of leaves are taken.

Lucerne and a trefoil called shaftal form important fodder crops in the western parts of the country, and, when irrigated, are said to afford ten or eleven cuttings in the season. The komal (Prangos pabularia) is abundant in the hill country of Ghazni, and is said to extend through the Hazara country to Herat. It is stored for winter use, and forms an excellent fodder. Others are derived from the Holcus sorghum, and from two kinds of panick. It is common to cut down the green wheat and barley before the ear forms, for fodder, and the repetition of this, with barley at least, is said not to injure the grain crop. Bellew gives the following statement of the manner in which the soil is sometimes worked in the Kandahar district :Barley is sown in November; in March and April it is twice cut for fodder; in June the grain is reaped, the ground is ploughed and manured, and sown with tobacco, which yields two cuttings. The ground is then prepared for carrots and turnips, which are gathered in November or December.

Of great moment are the fruit crops. All European fruits are produced profusely, in many varieties, and of excellent quality. Fresh or preserved, they form a principal food of a large class of the people, and the dry fruit is largely exported. In the valleys of Kabul, mulberries are dried, and packed in skins for winter use. This mulberry cake is often reduced to flour, and used as such, forming in some valleys the main food of the people.

Grapes are grown very extensively, and the varieties are very numerous. The vines are sometimes trained on trellises, but most frequently over ridges of earth 8 or 10 feet high. The principal part of the garden lands in villages round Kandahar is vineyard, and the produce must be enormous.

Open canals are usual in the Kabul valley, and in eastern Afghanistan generally; but over all the western parts of the country much use is made of the karez, which is a subterranean aqueduct uniting the waters of several springs, and conducting their combined volume to the surface at a lower level. Elphinstone had heard of such conduits 36 miles in length.

ANIMAL KINGDOM.-As regards vertebrate zoology, Afghanistan lies on the frontier of three regions, viz., the Eurasian, the Ethiopian (to which region Biluchestan seems to belong), and the Indo-Malayan. Hence it naturally partakes somewhat of the forms of each, but is in the main Eurasian.

MAMMALS.-Monkeys are stated by Mr Bellew to exist in Yusufzai, and perhaps extend to some other districts north of the Kabul river; but no species has been named.

Felide.-F. catus, F. chaus (both Eurasian); F. caracal (Eur., Ind., Ethiop.), about Kandahar; a small leopard, stated to be found almost all over the country, perhaps rather the cheeta (F. jubatus, Ind. and Eth.); F. pardus, the common leopard (Eth. and Ind.) The tiger is said to exist in the north-eastern hill country, which is quasi-Indian.

Canido. The jackal (C. aureus, Euras., Ind., Eth.) abounds on the Helmand and Argand-ab, and probably elsewhere. Wolves (C. Bengalensis) are formidable in the wilder tracts, and assemble in troops on the snow, destroying cattle, and sometimes attacking single horsemen. The hyena (H. striata, Africa to India) is common. These do not hunt in packs, but will sometimes singly attack a bullock: they and the wolves make havoc among sheep. A favourite feat of the boldest of the young men of southern Afghanistan is to enter the hyaena's den, single-handed, muffle and tie him. There are wild dogs, according to Elphinstone and Conolly. The small Indian fox (Vulpes Bengalensis) is found; also V. flavescens, common to India and Persia, the skin of which is much used as a fur.

Mustelide.-Species of Mungoose (Herpestes), species of otter,

Mustela erminca, and two ferrets, one of them with tortoise-sheil marks, tamed by the Afghans to keep down vermin; a marten (M. flavigula, Indian). Bears are two: a black one, probably Ursus torquatus; and one of a dirty yellow, U. Isabellinus, both Himalyan species.

Ruminants.-Capra agagrus and C. megaceros; a wild sheep netted in batches when they descend to drink at a stream; G. (Ovis cycloceros or Vignei); Gazella subgutturosa-these are often dorcas, perhaps; Cervus Wallichii, the Indian barasingha, and probably some other Indian deer, in the north-eastern mountains.

The wild hog (Sus scrofa) is found on the Lower Helmand. The wild ass, Gorkhar of Persia (Equus onager), is frequent on the sandy tracts in the south-west. Neither elephant nor rhinoceros now exists within many hundred miles of Afghanistan; but there is ample evidence that the latter was hunted in the Peshawar plain down to the middle of the 16th century.

Talpida.-A mole, probably T. Europaa; Sorex Indicus; Erinaceus collaris (Indian), and Er. auritus (Eurasian).

Bats, believed to be Phyllorhinus cineraceus (Panjab species), Scotophilus Bellii (W. India), Vesp. auritus and V. baroastellus, both found from England to India.

Rodentia.-A squirrel (Sciurus Syriacus); Mus Indicus and M. Gerbellinus; a gerboa (Dipus telum?); Alactaga Bactriana; Gerbil lus Indicus, and G. erythrinus (Persian and Indian); Lagomys Nepalensis, a central Asian species. A hare, probably L. ruficaudatus. BIRDS.-The largest list of Afghan birds that we know of is given by Captain Hutton in the J. As. Soc. Bengal, vol. xvi. p. 775, seqq.; but it is confessedly far from complete. Of 124 species in that list, 95 are pronounced to be Eurasian, 17 Indian, 10 both Eurasian and Indian, 1 (Turtur risorius) Eur., Ind., and Eth.; and 1 only, Carpodacus (Bucanetes) crassirostris, peculiar to the country. Afghanistan appears to be, during the breeding season, the retreat of a variety of Indian and some African (desert) forms, whilst in winter the avifauna becomes overwhelmingly Eurasian. REPTILES.—The following particulars are from Gray:-LizardsPseudopus gracilis (Eur.), Argyrophis Horsfieldii, Salea Horsfieldii, Calotes Maria, C. versicolor, C. minor, C. Emma, Phrynocephalus Tickelii-all Indian forms. A tortoise (T. Horsfieldii) appears to be peculiar to Kabul. There are apparently no salamanders or tailed Amphibia. The frogs are partly Eurasian, partly Indian. And the same may be said of the fish; but they are as yet most imperfectly known.

DOMESTIC ANIMALS.-The camel is of a more robust and compact breed than the tall beast used in India, and is more carefully tended. The two-humped Bactrian camel is sometimes seen, but is not a native.

Horses form a staple export to India. The best of these, however, are brought from Maimana and other places on the Khorasan and Turkman frontier. The indigenous horse is the yábú, a stout, heavy-shouldered animal, of about 14 hands high, used chiefly for burden, but also for riding. It gets over incredible distances at an ambling shuffle; but is unfit for fast work, and cannot stand excessive heat. The breed of horses was improving much under the Amir Dost Mahommed, who took much interest in it. Generally, colts are sold and worked too young.

The cows of Kandahar and Seistan give very large quantities of milk. They seem to be of the humped variety, but with the hump evanescent. Dairy produce is important in Afghan diet, especially the pressed and dried curd called krút (an article and name perhaps introduced by the Mongols).

There are two varieties of sheep, both having the fat tail. One bears a white fleece, the other a russet or black one. Much of the white wool is exported to Persia, and now largely to Europe by Bombay. Flocks of sheep are the main wealth of the nomad population, and mutton is the chief animal food of the nation. In autumn large numbers are slaughtered, their carcases cut up, rubbed with salt, and dried in the sun. The same is done with beef and camel's flesh.

The goats, generally black or parti-coloured, seem to be a degenerate variety of the shawl-goat.

The climate is found to be favourable to dog-breeding. Pointers are bred in the Kohistan of Kabul and above

Jalalabad-large, heavy, slow-hunting, but fine-nosed and staunch; very like the old double-nosed Spanish pointer. There are greyhounds also, but inferior in speed

to second-rate English dogs. The khandi is another sporting dog, most useful, but of complex breed. He is often used for turning up quail and partridge to the hawk.

INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS.-These are not important. Silk is produced in Kabul, Jalalabad, Kandahar, and Herat, and chiefly consumed in domestic manufactures, though the best qualities are carried to the Panjab and Bombay.

Excellent carpets-soft, brilliant, and durable in colour are made at Herat. They are usually sold in India as Persian. Excellent felts and a variety of woven goods are made from the wool of the sheep, goat, and Bactrian camel. A manufacture, of which there is now a considerable export to the Panjab for the winter clothing of our irregular troops, besides a large domestic use, is that of the postin, or sheepskin pelisse. The long wool remains on, and the skin is tanned yellow, with admirable softness and suppleness. Pomegranate rind is a chief material in the preparation.

Rosaries are extensively made at Kandahar from a soft crystallised silicate of magnesia (chrysolite). The best are of a semi-transparent straw colour, like amber. They are largely exported, especially to Mecca.

TRADE.-Practically, there are no navigable rivers in Afghanistan, nor does there exist any wheeled carriage. Hence goods are carried on beasts of burden, chiefly camels, along roads which often lie through close and craggy defiles, and narrow stony valleys among bare mountains, or over waste plains. Though from time immemorial the larger part of the products of India destined for western Asia and Europe has been exported by sea, yet at one time valuable caravans of these products, with the same destination, used to traverse these rugged Afghan roads. The great trade routes are the following:

1. From Persia by Mesh'hed to Herat.

2. From Bokhara by Merv to Herat.

3. From the same quarter by Karshi, Balkh, and Khulm, to Kabul.

4. From the Panjab by Peshawar and the Tatara or Abkhanah Passes to Kabul.

5. From the Panjab by the Ghawalâri Pass towards Ghazni. 6. From Sind by the Bolan Pass to Kandahar.

There is also a route from eastern Turkistan by Chitral to Jalalabad, or to Peshawar by Dîr; but it is doubtful how far there is any present traffic by it.

Their sum

But this omits some passes, and the Bolan exports do not include the large item of wool which enters Sind further south. A relic of the old times of Asiatic trade has come down to our day in the habits of the class of Lohâni Afghan traders, commonly called Povindahs, who spend their lives in carrying on traffic between India, Khorasan, and Bok. hara, by means of their strings of camels and ponies, banded in large armed caravans, in order to restrict those recurring exactions that would render trade impossible. Bullying, fighting, evading, or bribing, they battle their way twice a year between Bokhara and the Indus. mer pastures are in the highlands of Ghazni and Kala't-iGhilzai. In the autumn they descend the Sulimani passes. At the Indus, in these days, they have to deposit all weapons; but once across that, they are in security. They leave their families and their camels in the Panjab plains, and take their goods by rail to all the Gangetic cities, or by boat and steamer to Karachi and Bombay. Even in Asam or in distant Rangoon the Povindah is to be seen, pre-eminent by stature and by lofty air, not less than by rough locks and filthy clothes. In March they rejoin their families, and move up again to the Ghilzai highlands, sending on caravans anew to Kabul, Bokhara, Kandahar, and Herat, the whole returning in time to accompany the tribe down the passes in the autumn. The Povindah trade by all the passes is now estimated to reach £1,500,000 in value annually.

INHABITANTS OF AFGHANISTAN.-These may first be divided into Afghan and non-Afghan, of whom the Afghan people are predominant in numbers, power, and character.

The Afghans themselves do not recognise as entitled to that name all to whom we give it. According to Bellew they exclude certain large tribes, who seem, nevertheless, to be essentially of the same stock, speaking the same language, observing the same customs, and possessing the same moral and physical characteristics. These are recognised as Pathâns, but not as Afghans, and are all located in the vicinity of the Sulimani mountains and their offshoots towards the east. We do not attempt to name them, because the information on the subject seems con

Burnes's early anticipation of a large traffic in wool from the regions west of the Indus has been amply verified, for the trade has for many years been of growing importance; and in 1871-72 2,000,000 Ib were shipped from Karachi. The importation to Sind is chiefly in the hands of Shikarpûr merchants. Indeed, nearly all the trade from southern Afghanistan is managed by Hindus. That between Mesh'hed, Herat, and Kandahar is carried on by Persians, who bring down silk, arms, turquoises, horses, carpets, &c., and take back wool, skins, and woollen fabrics.

The chief imports by Peshawar from India into Afghanistan are cotton, woollen, and silk goods; from England, coarse country cloths, sugar and indigo, Benares brocades, gold thread and lace, scarves, leather, groceries, and drugs. The exports are raw silk and silk fabrics of Bokhara, gold and silver wire (Russian), horses, almonds and raisins, and fruits generally, furs (including dressed fox skins and sheep skins), and bullion.

elsewhere, such as the Wardaks, to the south of Kabul; and there are again some tribes, in contact with these and with Afghan tribes, who speak the Afghan language, and have many Afghan customs, but are different in aspect, and seem not to be regarded as Pathan at all. Such are the Tûris and Jâjis of Kurram.

Of the Afghans proper there are about a dozen great clans, with numerous subdivisions. Of the great clans the following are the most important:—

The Durranis, originally called Abdalis, received the former name from a famous clansman, Ahmed Shah. Their country may be regarded as the whole of the south and south-west of the Afghan plateau.

The Ghilzais are the strongest of the Afghan clans, and perhaps the bravest. They were supreme in Afghanistan in the beginning of last century, and for a time possessed the throne of Ispahan. They occupy the high plateau north of Kandahar, and extend, roughly speaking, eastward to the Sulimani mountains, and north to the Kabul river (though in places passing these limits), and they extend down the Kabul river to Jalalabad. On the British

The Yusufzais occupy an extensive tract of hills and valleys north of Peshawar, including part of the Peshawar plain. Except those within our Peshawar district, they are independent; they are noted even among Afghans for their turbulence.

The Kakars, still retaining in great measure their independence, occupy a wide extent of elevated country in the south-east of Afghanistan, among the spurs of the Toba and Sulimani mountains, bordering on the Biluch tribes. But the region is still very imperfectly known.

Of the non-Afghan population associated with the Afghans, the Tajiks come first in importance and numbers. They are intermingled with the Afghans over the country, though their chief localities are in the west. They are regarded as descendants of the original occupants of that part of the country, of the old Iranian race; they call themselves Parsiwân, and speak a dialect of Persian. They are a fine athletic people, generally fair in complexion, and assimilate in aspect, in dress, and much in manners to the Afghans. But they are never nomadic. They are mostly agriculturists, whilst those in towns follow mechanical trades and the like, a thing which the Afghan never does. They are generally devoid of the turbulence of the Afghans, whom they are content to regard as masters or superiors, and lead a frugal, industrious life, without aspiring to a share in the government of the country. Many, however, become soldiers in the Amir's army, and many enlist in our local Panjab regiments. They are zealous Sunnis. The Tajiks of the Daman-i-Koh of Kabul are said to be exceptional in turbulent and vindictive character. The Kizilbashes may be regarded as modern Persians, but more strictly they are Persianised Turks, like the present royal race and predominant class in Persia. They speak pure Persian. Their immigration dates only from the time of Nadir Shah (1737). They are chiefly to be found in towns as merchants, physicians, scribes, petty traders, &c., and are justly looked on as the more educated and superior class of the population. At Kabul they constitute the bulk of the Amir's cavalry and artillery. Many serve in our Indian regiments of irregular cavalry, and bear a character for smartness and intelligence, as well as good riding. They are Shîahs, and heretics in Afghan eyes. It is to the industry of the Parsiwans and Kizilbashes that the country is indebted for whatever wealth it possesses, but few of them ever attain a position which is not in some degree subservient to the Afghan.

The Hazaras have their stronghold and proper home in the wild mountainous country on the north-west of Afghanistan proper, including those western extensions of Hindu Kush, to which modern geographers have often applied the ancient name of Paropamisus. In these their habitations range generally from a height of 5000 feet to 10,000 feet above the sea.

The Hazaras generally have features of Mongol type, often to a degree that we might call exaggerated, and there can be no doubt that they are mainly descended from fragments of Mongol tribes who came from the east with the armies of Chinghiz Khan and his family, though other races may be represented among the tribes called Hazaras. The Hazaras generally are said by Major Leech

bearing the specific name of Mongol, and speaking a Mongol dialect, is found near the head waters of the Murghab, and also further south on the skirts of the Ghur mountains. But it is remarkable that the Hazaras generally speak a purely Persian dialect. The Mongols of the host of Chinghiz were divided into tomans (ten thousands) and hazaras (thousands), and it is probably in this use of the word that the origin of its present application is to be sought. The oldest occurrence of this application that M. de Khanikoff has met with is in a rescript of Ghazan Khan of Persia, regarding the security of roads in Khorasan, dated A.H. 694 (A.D. 1294-95).

Though the Hazaras pay tribute to the Afghan chiefs, they never do so unless payment is enforced by arms. The country which they occupy is very extensive, embracing the upper valleys of the Arghand-ab and the Helmand, both sides of the main range of Hindu Kush, nearly as far east as the longitude of Andarâb, the hill country of Bamian, and that at the head waters of the Balkh river, the Murghab, and the Hari-Rud; altogether an area of something like 30,000 square miles. The Hazaras are accused of very loose domestic morals, like the ancient Massagetæ, and the charge seems to be credited, at least of certain tribes. They make good powder, are good shots, and, in spite of the nature of their country, are good riders, riding at speed down very steep declivities. They are said to have a yodel like the Swiss. They are often sold as slaves, and as such are prized. During the winter many spread over Afghanistan, and even into the Panjab, in search of work. Excepting near Ghazni, where they hold some lands and villages, the position of the Hazaras found in the proper Afghan country is a menial one. They are Shiahs in religion, with the exception of one fine tribe called the Zeidnat Hazaras, occupying the old territory of Badghis, north of Herat.

Eimák is a term for a sept or section of a tribe. It has come to be applied, much as hazara, to certain nomadic or semi-nomadic tribes west of the Hazaras of whom we have been speaking, and immediately north of Herat. These tribes, it is said, were originally termed "the four Eimaks." It is difficult in the present state of information regarding them, sometimes contradictory, to discern what is the broad distinction between the Eimaks and the Hazaras, unless it be that the Eimaks are predominantly of Iranian or quasi-Iranian blood, the Hazaras Turanian. The Eimaks are also Sunnis. Part of them are subject to Persia.

Hindkis. This is the name given to people of Hindu descent scattered over Afghanistan. They are said to be of the Kshatri or military caste. They are occupied in trade; they are found in most of the large villages, and in the towns form an important part of the population, doing all the banking business of the country, and holding its chief trade in their hands. They pay a high poll-tax, and are denied many privileges, but thrive notwithstanding. The Jats of Afghanistan doubtless belong to the same vast race as the Jats and Jâts who form so large a part of the population of the territories now governed from Lahore and Karachi, and whose origin is so obscure. They are a fine athletic, dark, handsome race, considerable in numbers, but poor, and usually gaining a livelihood as farm-servants, barbers, sweepers, musicians, &c.

Bilúchis. Many of these squat among the abandoned tracts on the lower Helmand; a fierce and savage people, professing Islam, but not observing its precepts, and holding the grossest superstitions; vendetta their most stringent law; insensible to privation, and singularly tolerant of heat; camel-like in capacity to do without drink; superior to the Afghans in daring and address, which are displayed in robber raids carried into the very heart of Persia,

The Afghans, in government and general manners, have a likeness to other Mahommedan nations; but they have also many peculiarities.

Besides their division into clans and tribes, the whole Afghan people may be divided into dwellers in tents and dwellers in houses; and this division is apparently not coincident with tribal divisions, for of several of the great clans, at least a part is nomad and a part settled. Such, e.g., is the case with the Durrani and with the Ghilzai.

Nomad Afghans exist in the Kabul basin, but their proper field is that part of their territory which the Afghans include in Khorasan, with its wide plains. These people subsist on the produce of their flocks, and rarely cultivate. They may, perhaps, pay something to the Kabul government through their chief, and they contribute soldiers to the regular army, besides forming the bulk of the militia; but they have little relation to the government, and seldom enter towns unless to sell their produce. They are under some indefinite control by their chiefs, to whom serious disputes are referred. Petty matters are settled by the "greybeards" of the community, guided by the Afghan traditional code. Many of the nomad tribes are professed and incorrigible thieves. Among certain tribes the ceremony of naming a male child is accompanied by the symbolical act of passing him through a hole made in the wall of a house, whilst a volley of musketry is fired overhead.1

The settled Afghans form the village communities, and in part the population of the few towns. Their chief occupation is with the soil. They form the core of the nation and the main part of the army. Nearly all own the land on which they live, and which they cultivate with their own hands or by hired labour. Roundly speaking, agriculture and soldiering are their sole occupations. No Afghan will pursue a handicraft or keep a shop, though, as we have seen, certain pastoral tribes engage largely in travelling trade and transport of goods.

As a race, the Afghans are very handsome and athletic, often with fair complexion and flowing beard, generally black or brown, sometimes, though rarely, red; the features

The women have handsome features of Jewish cast (the last trait often true also of the men); fair complexions, sometimes rosy, though usually a pale sallow; hair braided and plaited behind in two long tresses terminating in silken tassels. They are rigidly secluded, but intrigue is frequent. In some parts of the country the engaged lover is admitted to visits of courtship, analogous to old Welsh customs.

The Afghans, inured to bloodshed from childhood, are familiar with death, and are audacious in attack, but easily discouraged by failure; excessively turbulent and unsubmissive to law or discipline; apparently frank and affable in manner, especially when they hope to gain some object, but capable of the grossest brutality when that hope ceases. They are unscrupulous in perjury, treacherous, vain, and insatiable, passionate in vindictiveness, which they will satisfy at the cost of their own lives and in the most cruel manner. Nowhere is crime committed on such trifling grounds, or with such general impunity, though when it is punished the punishment is atrocious. Among themselves the Afghans are quarrelsome, intriguing, and distrustful; estrangements and affrays are of constant occurrence; the traveller conceals and misrepresents the time and direction of his journey. The Afghan is by breed and nature a bird of prey. If from habit and tradition he respects a stranger within his threshold, he yet considers it legitimate to warn a neighbour of the prey that is afoot, or even to overtake and plunder his guest after he has quitted his roof. The repression of crime and the demand of taxation he regards alike as tyranny. The Afghans are eternally boasting of their lineage, their independence, and their prowess. They look on the Afghans as the first of nations, and each man looks on himself as the equal of any Afghan, if not as the superior of all others. Yet when they hear of some atrocious deed they will exclaim—“An Afghan job that!" They are capable of enduring great privation, but when abundance comes their powers of eating astonish an European. Still, sobriety and hardiness characterise the bulk of the people, though the higher classes are too often stained with deep and degrading debauchery.

The first impression made by the Afghans is favourable. The European, especially if he come from India, is charmed by their apparently frank, open-hearted, hospitable, and manly manners; but the charm is not of long duration, and he finds that under this frank demeanour there is craft as inveterate, if not as accomplished, as in any Hindu.

Such is the character of the Afghans as drawn by Ferrier and other recent writers, and undoubtedly founded on their experience, though perhaps the dark colour is laid on too universally. The impression is very different from that left by the accounts of Elphinstone and Burnes. Yet most of the individual features can be traced in Elphinstone, though drawn certainly under less temptation to look on the darker side, owing to the favourable circumstances of his intercourse with the Afghans, and touched with a more delicate and friendly hand, perhaps lightened by wider sympathies. Sir H. Edwardes, who had intimate dealings with the Afghans for many years, takes special exception to Elphinstone's high estimate of their character, and appeals to the experience of every officer who had served in the country. "Nothing," he sums up, "is finer than their physique, or worse than their morale."

Many things in Afghan character point to a nation in decadence--the frank manners and joyous temper, the hospitable traditions, the martial and independent spirit, the love of field sports, the nobility of aspect, suggest a