Uncategorized

AFGHANISTAN, a country of Central Asia. Estimated area
245,000 sq. m. (including Badakshan and Kafiristan). Pop. about
5,000,000. It is bounded on the N. by Russian Turkestan,
on the W. by Persia, and on the E. and S. by Kashmir and the
independent tribes of the North-West Frontier of India and
Baluchistan. The chief importance of Afghanistan in modern
days is due to its position as a ``buffer state'' intervening
between the two great empires of Asiatic Russia and British
India. During the last quarter of the 19th century our
knowledge of the country was greatly increased, and its
boundaries on the N., E. and S. were strictly delimited.
The second Afghan war of 1878-80 afforded an opportunity for
the extension of wide geographical surveys on a scientific
basis. The Russian-Afghan Boundary Commission of 1884-1886
resulted in the delimitation and mapping of the northern
frontier. The Durand agreement of 1893 led to the partition of
the Pathan tribes on the southern and eastern frontiers. The Pamir
Commission of 1895 settled its north-eastern border. Finally the
Perso-Baluch Commission of 1904-1905 defined its western face.

Beginning with the Persian border at Zulfikar on the Hari Rud

river, the boundary between Afghanistan and Russia follows

a line roughly parallel to the course of the Paropamisus,

and about 35 m. to the north of it, till it strikes the

Kushk river in Jamshidi territory at a point which was

once known as Chahil Dukteran, but is now the Russian post

Kushkinski, and the terminus of a branch railway from Merv.

Kushkinski is about 20 m. below the old Jamshidi settlement

of Kushk, which is the capital of Badghis. The settlement

and the post originally called Kushk must not be confused

together. From Kushkinski the boundary runs north-east,

crossing the Murghab river near Maruchak (which is an Afghan

fortress), and thence passes north-east through the hills of

the Chul, and the undulating deserts of the Aleli Turkmans,

to the Oxus, leaving the valleys of Charshamba and of Andkhui

(to which it runs approximately parallel) within Afghan

limits. These valleys denote the limits of cultivation in

this direction. Throughout all this region the boundary is

generally of an artificial character, marked by pillars, but

it is here and there indicated by natural features forming

local lines of water-parting or water-course. The boundary

meets the Oxus at Khamiab at the western extremity of the

cultivated district of Khwaja Salar, and from that point to

the eastern end of Lake Victoria in the Pamirs the main channel

of the Oxus river forms the northern limits of Afghanistan.

(See OXUS.) Eastwards from Lake Victoria the frontier

line was determined by the Pamir Boundary Commission of

1895. A part of the little Pamir is included in Afghan

territory, but the boundary crosses this Pamir before the great

bend northwards of the Aksu takes place, and, passing over a

series of crags and untraversable mountain ridges, is lost on

the Chinese frontier in the snowfields of Sarikol. Bending

back westwards upon itself, the line of Afghan frontier now

follows the water-parting of the Hindu Kush; and as the Hindu

Kush absolutely overhangs the Oxus nearly opposite Ishkashim,

it follows that, at this point, Afghanistan is about 10 m.

wide. Thus a small and highly elevated portion of the state

extends eastwards from its extreme north-eastern corner, and

is attached to the great Afghan quadrilateral by the thin

link of the Panja valley. These narrow limits (called Wakhan)

include the lofty spurs of the northern flank of the Hindu

Kush, an impassable barrier at this point, where the glacial

passes reach 19,000 ft. in altitude, and the enclosing peaks

24,000 ft. The backbone or main water-divide of the Hindu

Kush continues to form the boundary between Afghanistan and

those semi-independent native states which fringe Kashmir

in this mountain region, until it reaches Kafiristan. From

near the Dorah pass (14,800 ft.), which connects Chitral with

the Panja (or Oxus) river, a long, straight, snow-clad spur

reaches southwards, which divides the Kafiristan valley of

Bashgol from that of Chitral, and this continues to denote

the eastern limits of Afghanistan till it nearly touches the

Chitral river opposite the village of Arnawai, 45 m. south of

Chitral. Here the Bashgol and Chitral valleys unite and the

boundary passes to the water-divide east of the Chitral river,

after crossing it by a spur which leaves the insignificant

Arnawai valley to the north; along this water-divide it extends

to a point nearly opposite the quaint old town of Pashat in

the Kunar valley (the Chitral river has become the Kunar in

its course southwards), and then stretches away in an uneven

and undefined line, dividing certain sections of the Mohmands

from each other by hypothetical landmarks, till it strikes

the Kabul river near Palosi. Thence following a course nearly

due south, it reaches Landi Kotal. From the abutment of

the Hindu Kush on the Sarikol in the Pamir regions to Landi

Kotal, and throughout its eastern and southern limits, the

boundary of Alghanistan touches districts which were brought

under British political control with the formation of the

North-West Frontier Provinces of India in 1901. From the

neighbourhood of Laudi Kotal the boundary is carried to the

Safed Roh overlooking the Afridi Tirah, and then, rounding

off the cultivated portidins of the Kurram valley below the

Peiwar, it crosses the Kaitu and passes to the upper reaches

of the Tochi. Crossing these again, it is continued on

the west of Waziristan, finally striking the Gomal river at

Domandi. South of the Gomal it separates the interests of

Afghanistan from those of Baluchistan, which here adjoins the

North-West Frontier Province. From Domandi (the junction of

the Kundar river with the Gomal) the Afghan boundary marches

with that of Baluchistan. (See BALUCHISTAN.) It is carried

to the south-west on a line which is largely defined by the

channels of the Kundar and the Kadanai to a point beyond

the Sind-Peshin terminal station of New Chaman, west of

the Khojak range, and then drops southward to Shorawak and

Nushki. From Nushki it crosses the Helmund desert, touching

the crest of a well-defined mountain watershed for a great

part of the way, and, leaving Chagai to Baluchistan, it

strikes nearly west to the Persian frontier, and joins it on

the Koh-i-Malik Siah mountain, south of Seistan. Two points

of this part of the Afghan boundary are notable. It leaves

some of the most fanatical of the Durani Afghan people on the

Baluch side of the frontier in the Toba district, north of

the Quetta-Chaman line of railway; and it passes 50 m. south

of the Helmund riven enclosing within Afghanistan the only

approach to Seistan from India which is available during the

seasons of Helmund overflow. Between Afghanistan and Persia

the boundary was defined by Sir F. Goldsmid's Commission

in 1872 from the Mahk-Siah-Koh to the Helmund Lagoons, and

rectified by the Commission under Sir Henry Macmahon in

1903-1905. Beyond these lagoons to Hashtadan it is still

indefinite. The eastern limits of Hashtadan had been previously

fixed as far north as the Hari Rud river at Toman Agha. From

this point to Zulfikar the Hari Rud is itself the boundary.

Afghan provinces.

Within the limits of this boundary Afghanistan comprises

four main provinces, Northern Afghanistan or Kabul, Southern

Afghanistan or Kandahar, Herat and Afghan Turkestan, together

with the minor dependencies of the Ghilzai and Hazara

Highlands, Ghazni, Jalalabad and Kafiristan. All these are

described in separate articles. The kingdom of Kabul is the

historic Afghanistan; the link which unites it to Kandahar,

Herat and the other outlying provinces having been frequently

broken and again restored by amirs of sufficient strength and

capability. The Herat province is largely Persian, while

Afghan Turkestan is chiefly Usbeg; and in neither is

the sentiment of loyalty to the central government very

strong. The bond is geographical and political rather than

racial. The geographical divisions of the country are created

by the basins of its chief rivers, the Kabul, the Helmund,

the Hari Rud and the Oxus. The Kabul river drains Northern

Afghanistan, the Hari Rud the province of Herat, and the Oxus

that of Afghan Turkestan. Afghanistan is largely a country

of mountains and deserts; but there are wide tracts of highly

irrigated and most productive country where fruit is grown in

such abundance as to become an important item in the export

trade. The Afghans are expert agriculturists and make profitable

use of all the natural sources of water-supply. As practical

irrigation engineers they are only rivalled by the Chinese.

Mountain systems.

The dominant mountain system of Afghanistan is the Hindu

Kush, and that extension westwards of its water-divide which

reindicated by the Koh-i-Baba to the north-west of Kabul,

and by the Firozkhoi plateau (Karjistan), which merges still

farther to the west by gentle gradients into the Paropamisus,

and which may be traced across the Hari Rud to Mashad.

The culminating peaks of the Koh-i-Baba overlooking the sources

of the Hari Rud, the Helmund, the Kunduz and the Kabul very

nearly reach 17,000 ft. in height (Shah Fuladi, the highest,

is 16,870), and from them to the south-west long spurs divide

the upper tributaries of the Helmund, and separate its basin

from that of the Farah Rud. These spurs retain a considerable

altitude, for they are marked by peaks exceeding 11,000

ft. They sweep in a broad band of roughly parallel ranges to

the south-west, preserving their general direction till they

abut on the Great Registan desert to the west of Kandahar,

where they terminate in a series of detached and broken

anticlinals whose sides are swept by a sea of encroaching

sand. The long, straight, level-backed ridges which divide

the Argandab, the Tarnak and Arghastan valleys, and flank the

route from Kandaharto Ghazni. determining the direction of

that route, are outliers of this system, which geographically

includes the Khojak, or Kwaja Amran, range in Baluchistan.

North of the main water-parting of Afghanistan the broad synclinal

plateau into which the Hindu Kush is merged is traversed by

the gorges of the Saighan, Bamian and Kamard tributaries of the

Kunduz, and farther to the west by the Band-i-Amir or Balkh

river. Between the debouchment of the Upper Murghab from

the Firozkhoi uplands into the comparatively low level of

the valley above Bala Murghab, extending eastwards in a

nearly straight line to the upper sources of the Shibarghan

stream, the Band-i-Turkestan range forms the northern ridge

between the plateau and the sand formations of the Chul. lt

is a level, straight-backed line of sombre mountain ridge,

from the crest of which, as from a wall, the extraordinary

configuration of that immense loess deposit called the Chul

can be seen stretching away northwards to the Oxus--ridge

upon ridge, wave upon wave, like a vast yellow-grey sea of

storm-twisted billows. The Band-i-Turkestan anticlinal may

be traced eastwards of the Balkh-ab (the Band-i-Amir) within

the folds of the Kara Koh to the Kunduz, and beyond; but

the Kara Koh does not mark the northern wall of the great

plateau nor overlook the sands of the Oxus plain, as does the

Band-i-Turkestan. Here there intervenes a second wide synclinal

plateau, of which the northern edge is defined n1y the

fiat outlines of the Elburz to the south of Mazar-itsharif,

and immediately at the foot of this range lie the alluvial

plains of Mazar and Tashkurghan. Opposite Tashkurghan the

Oxus plain narrows to a short 25 m. On the south this great

band of roughly undulatine central plateau is bounded by the

Koh-i-Baba, to the west of Kabul, and by the Hindu Kush to

the north and north-east of that city. Thus the main routes

from Kabul to Afghan Turkestan must cross either one or

other of these ranges, and must traverse one or other of the

terrific defiles which have been carved out of them by the

upoer tributaries of the rivers running northwards towards the

Oxus. Probably in no country in the world are there gathered

together within comparatively narrow limits so many clean-cut

waterways, measuring thousands of feet in depth, affording

such a stupendous system of narrow roadways through the hills.

After the Hindu Kush and the Turkestan mountains, that range

which divides Ningrahar (or the valley of ialalabad) from

Kurram and the Afridi Tirah, and is called Safed Koh (also

the name of the range south of the Hari Rud), is the most

important, as it is the most impressive, in Afghanistan.

The highest peak of the Safed Koh, Sikaram, is 15,600 ft. above

sea-level. From this central dominating peak it falls gently

towards the west, and gradually subsides in long spurs,

reaching to within a few miles of Kabul and barring the road

from Kabul to Ghazni. At a point which is not far east of

the Kabul meridian an offshoot is directed southwards, which

becomes the water-parting between the Kurram and the Logar at

Shutargardan, and can be traced to a connexion with the great

watershed of the frontier dividing the Indus basin from that

of the Helmund. This main watershed retains its high altitude

far to the south. There are peaks measuring over 12,000

ft. on the divide between the Tochi and the Ghazni plains.

So far as we know at present the geological history of Afghanistan

differs widely from that of India. When, somewhere at the

commencement of the Cretaceous period, the peninsula of India

was connected by land with Madagascar and Southern Africa, all

Afghanistan, Baluchistan and Persia formed part of an area

which was not continuously below sea-level, but exhibited

alternations of land and sea. The end of the Cretaceous

period saw the beginning of a series of great earth movements

ushered in by volcanic eruptions on a scale such as the earth

has never since witnessed, which resulted in the upheaval

of the Himalayas by a process of crushing and folding of the

sedimentary rocks till marine fossils were forced to an altitude

of 20,000 ft. above the sea. It was not till the Tertiary

age, and even late in that age, that much of the land area of

Afghanistan was raised above the sea-level. Then the ocean

gradually retired into the great Central Asian depressions.

Everywhere there have been great and constant changes of

level since that period, and the process of flexure and the

formation of anticlinals traversing the northern districts of

Afghanistan is a process which is still in action. So rapid

has been the land elevation of Central Afghanistan that the

erosive action of rivers has not been nble to keep pace with

that of upheaval; and the result all through Afghanistan (but

specially marked in the great central highlands between Kabul

and Herat) is the formation of those immensely deep gorges

and defiles which are locally known as daras. One of these,

in the Astarab, to the south-east of Maimana, is but 30 yds.

wide, and is enclosed between perpendicular limestone cliffs

1500 ft. high. C. L. Griesbach considers that the general

outline of the land configuration has remained much the same

since Pliocene times, and that the force which brought about

the wrinkling of the older deposits still continues to add

fold on fold. The highlands which shut off the Turkestan

provinces from Southern Afghanistan have afforded the best

opportunities for geological investigation, and as might

be expected from their geographical position, the general

result of the examination of exposed sections leads to

the identification of geoloeical affinity with Himalayan,

Indian and Persian regions. The general configuration

of the Turkestan highlands has been already indicated.

Against the last great fold which terminates this mountain

area northwards are ranged the Tertiaries and recent

deposits. North of Maimana they form low undulating loess

hills, in which most of the Band-i-Turkestan drainage is

lost. This wide-spreading loess area, formed partly of

wind-blown sand and partly of detritus from the mountains, is

known as Chul, and merges into the great plains south of the

Oxus river, a great part of which is covered with modern aerial

deposits. Beneath this Chul formation the older beds of

the outer and Turkestan ranges dip and pass to an irregular

outcrop near the banks of the Oxus. Between the Oxus and the

hills there has already been formed a rise or flexure in the

ground, which extends more or less parallel to the northern

edge of the hills, and, shuttinr in the cultivated area of the

plains, arrests all tributaries seeking to effect a junction

with the Oxus from the south, and leads to the formation

of marshes and swamps. This appears to be the beginning of

a new anticlinal which has altered the levels of the Balkh

plain, and is indicative of those elevating processes which

may have been effective within historic times in changing

the climate and the agricultural prospects of this part

of Central Asia. The Oxus itself is steadily encroaching

on its right banks and depositing detritus on the left.

No fresh discoveries of minerals likely to be of hich

economic value to Afghanistan have been made of late

years. Such as are known and worked at present have been

worked from very ancient times, and their capacity is not

likely to develop greatly under the Kabul government. The

most important feature in this connexion which was noted

by the geologist of the Russo-Afghan Commission is the

existence of vast coal beds in northern Afghanistan. In 1903

some coal mines were discovered in the Jagdalak districts.

There are no glaciers now to be found in Afghan Turkestan; but

evidences of their recent existence are abundant. The great

boulder bed terraces in some of the valleys of the northern

slopes of the Ferozkhoi plateau are probably of glacial

origin. In the mountains west of Kabul glaciers have

retired, leaving the moraines perfectly undisturbed. They

are probably contemporary with the older alluvia. (T. H. H.*)

Rocks.

The oldest rocks which have yet been identified 1 in Afghanistan

occur along the axis of the main watershed, and have been

referred to the Carboniferous. At Robat-i-Pai near Herat, for

example, there is a dark Productus limestone which seems

to be identical with the Productus limestone of the Central

Himalayas. These beds are conformably succeeded, along the

Central Asian watershed, by a continuous series of strata

which apparently represent the Permian, Trias and Jurassic of

Europe. They consist of marine beds alternating with

freshwater and littoral deposits, together with plant beds

and coal-scarns of considerable thickness. The lowest beds

of this series, which from their position may belong either

to the Permian or to the upper part of the Carboniferous,

have yielded no recognizable fossils; but they include a

conglomerate which closely resembles the boulder bed near the

base of the Talchir series in India. The Upper Trias has been

definitely identified by the occurrence of Halobia and other

fossils; while in the higher beds of the series marine forms

belonging to the middle and upper Jurassic have been found.

The plant beds occur at several horizons, and among the

remains which have been found in them are several forms

which occur also in the Gondwana beds of India. There can

be no doubt that the series as a whole is the equivalent

of the Gondwana system, and when the country has been

more closely examined the association of marine fossils

with Gondwana plants will be of the greatest value in

determining the precise homotaxis of the Indian deposits.

The Jurassic beds are followed, generally with perfect

conformity, by the Cretaceous, which covers a large part of

Afghan Turkestan and probably forms the greater part of the

ranges which run south and south-west from the principal

watershed. The lowest beds consist of red grits which contain

Neocomian fossils, while the middle and upper Cretaceous

consist chiefly of limestone and chalk. The entire system

may be represented in the west, but in the Herat province

and in Afghan Turkestan the middle Cretaceous seems to be

absent, and it is probable that, as in other regions, the

upper Cretaceous covers a much wider area than the lower

beds. Tertiary and recent deposits are widely spread, filling

most of the valleys and covering the plains of the Helmund.

Eocene beds have not yet been proved to exist; but this is

probably owing to the imperfect knowledge of the country, for

the formation is known in Persia, Baluchistan and the Suliman

Hills. The lower part of the Miocene is marine in Herat

and Afghan Turkestan; but the upper Miocene is usually of

freshwater or estuarine origin. in Afghanistan, as in other

regions near the great Eurasian system of folds, the Miocene

includes extensive deposits of gypsum and salt. It was during

this period that the forces which finally raised the country

above the level of the sea began to take effect. The Pliocene

consists entirely of freshwater and terrestrial deposits, which

were probably laid down at the foot of the rising hills and

on the floors of the intervening valleys. As the elevation

continued, they were sometimes involved in the folding to

which the mountains owe their origin. During this period the

gradual desiccation of the country continued, and wind-blown

deposits, such as the loess, began to make their appearance.

Although volcanic cones are known both in Persia and in

Baluchistan, none have yet been described in Afghanistan

itself. There is, however, ample evidence that at several

distinct geological periods the region has been the seat

of great volcanic activity. According to C. L. Griesbach,

basic volcanic rocks are interbedded with the lowest part of

the plant-bearing series, and enormous outbursts took place

during the Neocomian period. But the most important igneous

masses are the great intrusions of syenitic granite and of

basic rock which penetrate the Cretaceous beds. These are

probably of Eocene or of late Cretaceous age. (P. LA.)

Omitting the group of northern routes to India from Central

Asia, which pass between Kashmir and Afghanistan through

the defiles of Chitral and of the Indus (see HINDU KUSH),

the highways of Afghanistan may be classed under two heads:

(1) Foreign trade routes, and (2) Internal communications.

The most important commercially are those which connect the Oxus

regions and the Central Asian khanates with Kabul, and those

which lead from Kabul, Ghazni and Kandahar to the plains of India.

Kabul is linked with Afghan Turkestan and Badakshan by three

main lines of communication across the Koh-i-Baba and the Hindu

Kush. One of these routes follows the Balkh river to its

head from Tahshkurghan, and then, preserving a high general

level of 8600 to 9000 ft., it passes over the water-divides

separating the upper tributaries of the Kunduz river,

and drops into the valley formed by another tributary at

Bamian. From Bamian it passes over the central mountain chain

to Kabul either by the well-known Dasses of Irak (marking

the water-divide of the Koh-i-Baba) and of Unai (marking the

summit of the Sanglakh, a branch of the Hindu Kush), or else,

turning eastwards, it crosses into the Ghorband valley by the

Shibar, a pass which is considerably lower than the Irak and

is very seldom snowbound. From the foot of the Unai pass it

follows the Kabul river, and from the foot of the Shibar it

follows the circuitous route which is offered by the drainage

of the Ghorband valley to Charikar, and thence southwards to

Kabul. The main points on this route are Haibak, Bajgah and

Bamian. It is full of awkward grades and minor passes, but

it does not maintain a high level generally, no pass (if the

Shibar route be adopted) much exceeding 10,000 ft. That this

has for centuries been regarded as the main route northward

from Kabul, the Buddhist relics of Bamian and Haibak bear

silent witness; but it may be doubted whether Abdur Rahman's

talent for roadmaking has not opened out better alternative

lines. One of his roads connects Haibak with the Ghorband

valley by the Chahardar pass across the Hindu Kush. The pass

is high (nearly 14,000 ft.), but the road is excellently well

laid out, and the route, which, south of Haibak, traverses a

corner of the Ghori and Baghlan districts of Badakshan, is more

direct. A third route also passes through Badakshan, and

connects Kunduz with Charikar by the Khawak pass and Panjshir

river. The latter joins the Ghorband close to Charikar. The

Khawak (11,600 ft.) is not a high pass; the grades are easy

and the snowfall usually light. This high road is stated (on

Afghan authority) to be kept open for khafila traffic all the

year round by the employment of forced labour for clearing

snow. It is a recently developed route and one of great

imoortance to Kabul, both strategically and commercially.

Routes that pass between the mountain barriers of the frontier

between Peshawar and the Gomal occur at intervals along the

western border, and in the northern section of the Indian

frontier they are all well marked. The Khyber, Kurram and

Tochi are the best known, inasmuch as all these lines of

advance into Afghanistan are held by British troops or Indian

levies. But the Bara valley route into the heart of the Afridi

Tirah is not to be altogether overlooked, although it is not

a trade route of any importance. Between Kabul and Jalalabad

there are two roads, one by the Uataband pass, and the other

and more difficult by the Khurd-Kabul and Iagdalak passes, the

latter being the scene of the massacre of a British brigade in

1842. Between Jalalabad and Peshawar is the Khyber pass

(q.v..) The Khyber was not in ancient times the main route

of advance from Kabul to Peshawar. From Kabul the old route

followed the Kabul river through the valley of Laghman (or

Lamghan, as the Afghans call it) over a gentle water-parting

into the Kunar valley, leaving Ningrahar and Jalalabad to the

south. From the Kunar it crossed into Bajour by one of

several open and comparatively easy passes, and from Bajour

descended into India either by the Malakand or some other

contiguous frontier gateway to the plains of Peshawar. 8600

and 10,800 ft. respectively) across the southern extensions of

the Safed Koh range, and has never been a great trade route,

however suitable as an alternative military line of advance.

Trade does not extend largely between Afghanistan and India

by the Tochi route, being locally confined to the valley

and the districts at its head, yet this is the shortest and

most direct route between Ghazni and the frontier, and in

the palmy days of Ghazni miding was the road by which the

great robber Mahmud occasionally descended on to the Indus

plains. Traces of his raiding and roadmakina are still

visible, but it is certain that he made use of the more direct

route to Peshawar far more frequently than he did of the

Tochi. The exact nature of the connexion between the head

of the Tochi and the Ghazni plain is still unknown to us.

The Gomal is the great central trade route between Afvhanistan

and India; and the position, which is held by a tribal post at

Wana, will do much to ensure its continued popularity. The

Gomal involves no passes of any great difficulty, although

it is impossible to follow the actual course of the river

on account of the narrow defiles which have been cut through

the recent conglomerate beds which flank the plains of the

Indus. It has been carefully surveyed for a possible railway

alignment; and an excellent road now connects Tank (at

its foot) with the Zhob line of communications to Quetta,

and with Wana on the southern flank of Waziristan. The

Gomal route is of immense importance, both as a commercial

and strategic line, and in both particulars is of far

greater significance than either the Kurram or the Tochi.

(2) Of the interior lines of communication, those which

connect the great cities of Afghanistan, Herat, Kabul and

Kandahar, are obviously the most important. Between Kabul

and Herat there is no ``royal'' road, the existing route

passing over the frequently snow-bound wastes that lie below

the southern flank of the great Koh-i-Baba into the upper

valleys of the Hari Rud tributaries. lt is a waste, elevated,

desolate region that the route traverses, and the road itself

is only open at certain seasons of the year. Between Kabul

and Kandahar exists the well-known and oft-traversed route by

Ghazni and Kalat-i-Ghilzai. There is but one insignificant

water-parting--or kotal--a little to the north of Ghazni;

and the road, although unmade, may be considered equal to any

road of its length in Europe for military purposes. Berween

Kandahar and Herat there is the recognized trade route which

crosses the Helmund at Girishk and passes through Farahand

Sabzawar. It includes about 360 miles of easy road, with

spaces where water is scarce. There is not a pass of any

great importance, nor a river of any great difficulty, to be

encountered from end to end, but the route is flanked on the

north between Kandahar and Girishk by the Zamindawar hills,

containing the most truculent and fanatical clans of all the

Southern Afghan tribes. Little need be said of the 65 m. of

route between Kandahar and the Baluchistan frontier at New

Chaman. It is on the whole a route across open plains and

hard, stony ``dasht''---a route which would offer no great

difficulties to that railway extension from1 Olhaman which

has so long been contemplated. A very considerable trade

now passes along this route to India, in spite of almost

prohibitive imposts; but the trade does not follow the railway

from New Chaman to the eastern foot of the Khojak. Long

strings of camels may still be seen from the train windows

patiently treading their slow way over the Khoiak pass

to Kila Abdullah, whilst the train alongside them rapidly

twists through the mountain tunnel into the Peshin valley.

Climate.

The variety of climate is immense, as might be expected.

Taking the highlands of the country as a whole, there is no

great difference between the mean temperature of Afghanistan

and that of the lower Himalayas. Each may be placed at a point

between 50 deg. and 60 deg. F. But the remarkable feature of Afghan

climate (as also of that of Baluchistan) is its extreme range

of temperature within limited periods. The least daily range

in the north is during the cold weather, the greatest in the

hot. For seven months of the year (from May to November)

this range exceeds 30 deg. F. daily. Waves of intense cold

occur, lasting for several days, and one may have to endure

a cold of 12 deg. below zero, rising to a maximum of 17 deg. below

freezing-point. On the other hand the summer temperature is

exceedingly high, especially in the Oxus regions, where a shade

maximum of 110 deg. to 120 deg. is not uncommon. At Kabul, and over

all the northern part of the country to the descent at Gandamak,

winter is rigorous, but especially so on the high Arachosian

plateau. In Kabul the snow lies for two or three months;

the people seldom leave their houses, and sleep close to

stoves. At Ghazni the snow has been known to lie long beyond

the vernal equinox; the thermometer sinks to 10 deg. and 15 deg.

below zero (Fahr.); and tradition relates the entire destruction

of the population of Ghazni by snowstorms more than once.

At Jalalabad the winter and the climate generally assume an

Indian character. The summer heat is great everywhere in

Afghanistan, but most of all in the districts bordering on the

Indus, especially Sewi, on the lower Helmund and in Seistan.

All over Kandahar province the summer heat is intense, and

the simoon is not unknown. The hot season throughout this

part of the country is rendered more trying by frequent dust

storms and fiery winds; whilst the bare rocky ridges that

traverse the country, absorbing heat by day and radiating it

by night, render the summer nights most oppressive. At Kabul

the summer sun has great power, though the heat is tempered

occasionally by cool breezes from the Hindu Kush, and the

nights are usually cool. At Kandahar snow seldom falls on

the plains or lower hills; when it does, it melts at once.

At Herat, though 800 ft. lower than Kandahar, the summer climate

is more temperate; and, in fact, the climate altogether is

far from disagreeable. From May to September the wind blows

from the N.W. with great violence, and this extends across

the country to Kandahar. The winter is tolerably mild; snow

melts as it falls, and even on the mountains does not lie

long. Three years out of four at Herat it does not freeze

hard enough for the people to store ice; yet it was not very

far from Herat, and could not have been at a greatly higher

level (at Rafir Kala, near Kassan) that, in 1750, Ahmad Shah's

army, retreating from Persia, is said to have lost 18,000

men from cold in a single night. In the northern Herat

districts, too, records of the coldest month (February) show

the mean minimum as 17 deg. F., and the maximum 38 deg. . The eastern

reaches of the Hari Rud river are frozen hard in the winter,

rapids and all, and the people travel on it as on a road.

The summer rains that accompany the S.W. monsoon in India,

beating along the southern slopes of the Himalaya, travel

up the Kabul valley as far as Laghman, though they are more

clearly felt in Bajour and Panjkora, under the high spurs

of the Hindu Kush, and in the eastern branches of Safed

Koh. Rain also falls at this season at the head of Kurram

valley. South of this the Suliman mountains may be taken as

the western limit of the monsoon's action. It is quite unfelt

in the rest of Afghanistan, in which, as in all the west of

Asia, the winter rains are the most considerable. The spring

rain, though less copious, is more important to agriculture than

the winter rain, unless where the latter falls in the form of

snow. In the absence of monsoon influences there are steadier

weather indications than in India. The north-west blizzards

which occur in winter and spring are the most noticeable

feature, and their influence is clearly felt on the Indian

frontier. The cold is then intense and the force of the wind

cyclonic. Speaking generally, the Afghanistan climate is a dry

one. The sun shines with splendour for three-fourths of the

year, and the nights are even more clear than the days. Marked

characteristics are the great differences of summer and winter

temperature and of day and night temperature, as well as the extent

to which change of climate can be attained by slight change of

place. As the emperor Baber said of Kabul, at one day's journey

from it you may find a place where snow never falls, and at

two hours' journey a place where snow almost never melts!

The Afghans vaunt the salubrity and charm of some local

climates, as of the Toba hills above the Kakar country,

and of some of the high valleys of the Safed Koh.

The people have by no means that immunity from disease

which the bright, dry character of the climate and the fine

physical aspect of a large proportion of them might lead

us to expect. Intermittent and remittent fevers are very

prevalent; bowel complaints are common, and often fatal in the

autumn. The universal custom of sleeping on the house-top

in summer promotes rheumatic and neuralgic affections;

and in the Koh Daman of Dabul, which the natives regard

as having the finest of climates, the mortality from fever

and bowel complaint, between July and October, is great,

the immoderate use of fruit predisposing to such ailments.

Population.

The term Afghan really applies to one section only of the

mixed conglomeration of nationalities which forms the people

of Afghanistan, but this is the dominant section known as the

Durani. The Ghilzai (who is almost as powerful as the Durani)

claims to be of Turkish origin; the Hazaras, the Chahar-Aimak,

Tajiks, Uzbegs, Kafirs and others are more or less subject

races. Popularly any inhabitant of Afghanistan is known

as Afghan on the Indian frontier without distinction of

origin or language; but the language division between the

Parsiwan (or Persian-speaking Afghan) and the Pathan is

a very distinct one. The predominance of the Afghan in

Afghanistan dates from the middle of the 18th century,

when Ahmad Shah carved out Afghanistan from the previous

conquests of Nadir Shah and called it the Durani empire.

The Durani Afghans claim to be Ben-i-Israel, and insist

on their descent from the tribes who were carried away

captive from Palestine to Media by Nebuchadrezzar. Yet

they also claim to be Pukhtun (or Pathan) in common with all

other Pushtu-speaking tribes, whom they do not admit to be

Afghan. The bond of affinity between the various peoples who

compose the Pathan community is simply the bond of a common

language. All of them recognize a common code or unwritten

law called Pukhtunwali, which appears to be similar in general

character to the old Hebraic law, though modified by Mahommedan

ordinances, and strangely similar in certain particulars to

Rajput custom. 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 (use with the Durani and with the Ghilzai.

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 the Ghilzai Povindahs

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 highly

aquiline. The hair is shaved off from the forehead to the

top of the head, the remainder at the sides being allowed

to fall in large curls over the shoulders. Their step is

full of resolution; their bearing proud and apt to be rough.

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.

The Afghans, inured to bloodshed from childhood, are familiar

with death, and 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.

They are capable of enduring great privation, and make

excellent soldiers under British discipline, though there

are but few in the Indian army. Sobriety and hardiness

characterize the bulk of the people, though the higher classes

are too often stained with deep and degrading debauchery.

The first impression made by the Afghan 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 the Afghan is as cruel and crafty as he is independent.

No trustworthy statistics exist showing either present numbers

or fluctuations in the population of Afghanistan. Within the

amir's dominions there are probably from four to five millions

of people, and of these the vast majority are agriculturists.

The cultivators, including landowners, tenants, hired labourers

and slaves, represent the working population of the country,

and as industrious and successful agriculturists they are

unsurpassed in Asia. They have carried the art of irrigation

to great perfection, and they utilize every acre of profitable

soil. Certain Ghilzai clans are specially famous for their skill

in the construction of the karez or underground water-channel.

Religion.

The religion of the country throughout is Mahommedan. Next to

Turkey, Afghanistan is the most powerful Mahommedan kingdom in

existence. The vast majority of Afghans are of the Sunni sect;

but there are, in their midst, such powerful communities of

Shiahs as the Hazaras of the central districts, the Kizilbashes

of Kabul and the Turis of the Kurram border, nor is there

between them that bitterness of sectarian animosity which is

so marked a feature in India. The Kafirs of the mountainous

region of Kafiristan alone are non-Mahommedan. They are sunk

in a paganism which seems to embrace some faint reflexion

of Greek mythology, Zoroastrian principles and the tenets of

Buddhism, originally gathered, no doubt, from the varied

elements of their mixed extraction. Those contiguous Afghan

tribes, who have not so long ago been converted to the faith of

Islam, are naturally the most fanatical and the most virulent

upholders of the faith around them. In and about the centre of

civilization at Kabul, instances of Ghazism are comparatively

rare. In the western provinces about Kandahar (amongst the

Durani Afghans---the people who claim to be Beni-Israel),

and especially in Zamindawar, the spirit of fanaticism runs

high, and every other Afghan is a possible Ghazi---a man

who has devoted his life to the extinction of other creeds.

Language and literature.

Persian is the vernacular of a large part of the non-Afghan

population, and is familiar to all educated Afghans; it

is the language of the court and of literature. Pushtu,

however, is the prevailing language, though it does not seem

to be spoken in Herat, or, roughly speaking, west of the

Helmund. Turki is spoken in Afghan Turkestan. There is a

respectable amount of Afghan literature. The oldest work in

Pushtu is a history of the conquest of Swat by Shaikh Mali,

a chief of the Yusafzais, and leader in the conquest (A.D.

1413-24). In 1494 Kaju Khan became chief of the same

clan; during his rule Buner and Panjkora were completely

conquered, and he wrote a history of the events. In the

reign of Akbar, Bayazid Ansari, called Pir-i-Roshan, ``the

Saint of Light,'' the founder of an heretical sect, wrote

in Pushtu; as did his chief antagonist, a famous Afghan

saint called Akhund Darweza. The literature is richest in

poetry. Abdur Rahman (17th century) is the best known poet.

Another very popular poet is Khushal Khan, the warlike chief

of the Khattaks in the time of Aurangzeb. Many other members

of his family were poets also. Ahmad Shah, the founder of

the monarchy, likewise wrote poetry. Ballads are numerous.

Education.

Education is confined to most elementary principles in

Afghanistan. Of schools or colleges for the purposes of a

higher education befitted to the sons of noblemen and the

more wealthy merchants there are absolutely none; but the

village school is an ever-present and very open spectacle

to the passer-by. Here the younger boys are collected and

instructed in the rudiments of reading, writing and religious

creed by the village mullah, or priest, who thereby acquires

an early influence over the Afghan mind. The method of

teaching is confined to that wearisome system of loud-voiced

repetition which is so annoying a feature in Indian schools;

and the Koran is, of course, the text-book in all forms of

education. Every Afghan gentleman can read and speak

Persian, but beyond this acquirement education seems to

be limited to the physical development of the youth by

instruction in horsemanship and feats of skill. Such

advanced education as exists in Afghanistan is centred in the

priests and physicians; but the ignorance of both is extreme.

Constitution and laws.

The government of Afghanistan is an absolute monarchy under the

amir, and succession to the throne is hereditary. There are

five chief political divisions in the country---namely, Kabul,

Turkestan, Herat, Kandahar and Badakshan, each of which is ruled

by a ``naib'' or governor, whom is directly responsible to the

amir. Under the governors of provinces the nobles and kazis

(or district judges) dispense justice much in the feudal

fashion. There are three classes of chiefs who form the council

or durbar of the king. These are the sirdars, the khans and the

mullahs. The sirdars are hereditary nobles, the khans are

representatives of the people, and the mullahs of Mahommedan

religion. The khan is elected by the clan or tribe. The

clannish attachment of the Afghans is rather to the community

than to the chief. These three classes of representatives

are divided into two assemblies, the Durbar Shahi or royal

assembly, and the Kharwanin Mulkhi or commons. The mullahs

take their place in one or the other according to their

individual rank. The executive officials of the amir have

a selected body, called the Khilwat, which acts as a cabinet

council, but no member can give advice to the crown without

being asked to do so, or beyond the jurisdiction of his own

department. The amir, in addition to being chief executive

officer, is chief judge and supreme court of appeal. Any one

has the right to appeal to the amir for trial, and the great

amirs, Dost Mahommed and Abdurrahman,were accessible at all

times to the petitions of their subjects. Next to the amir

comes the court of the kazi, the chief centre of justice,

and beneath the kazi comes the kotwal, who performs, as in

India, the ordinary functions of a magistrate. In large

provincial towns there is a punchait, or council, for the trial

of commercial cases. There are government departments for

the administration of revenue, customs, post-office, military

affairs, &c. The general law administered in all the courts

of Afghanistan is that of Islam and of the customs of the

country, with developments introduced by the Amir Abdur Rahman.

Defence.

The Afghan army probably numbers 50,000 regulars distributed

between the military centres of Herat, Kandahar, Kabul,

Mazar-i-Sharif, Jalalabad and Asmar, with detachments at

frontier outposts on the side of India. Abdur Rahman claimed

that he could put 100,000 men into the field within a week

for the defence of Herat. In 1896 he introduced a system of

semi-enforced service whereby one man in every eight between

the ages of sixteen and seventy takes his turn at military

training. In this way he calculated that he could have raised

1,000,000 men armed with modern weapons, but his chief difficulty

would be money and transport. The pay of the army is apt to be

irregular. The amir's factories at Kabul for arms and ammunition

are said to turn out about 20,000 cartridges and 15 rifles

daily, with 2 guns per week; but the arms thus produced are

very heterogeneous, and the different varieties of cartridge

used would cause endless complications. The two chief

fastnesses of Northern Afghanistan are Herat and Dehdadi near

Balkh. The latter fort took twelve years to build, and

commands all the roads leading from the Oxus into Afghan

Turkestan. It is armed with naval quick-firing guns, Krupp,

Hotchkiss, Nordenfeld and Maxim. The chief cantonment for

the same district is at Mazar-i-Sharif, 12 m. from Balkh.

Finance.

Financially, Afghanistan has never, since it first became a

kingdom, been able to pay for its own government, public

works and army. There appears to be no inherent reason why

this should be so. Whilst it can never (in the absence of

any great mineral wealth) develop into a wealthy country,

it can at least support its own population; and it would,

but for the short-sighted trade policy of Abdur Rahman,

certainly have risen to a position of respectable solvency.

Its revenues (about which no trustworthy information is

available) are subject to great fluctuations, and probably

never exceed the value of one million sterling per annum.

They fell in Shere Ali's time to L. 700,000. The original

subsidy to the amir from the Indian government was fixed

at 12 lakhs of rupees (L. 80,000) per annum, but in 1893, in

connexion with the boundary settlement, it was increased to

Minerals.

Few minerals are wrought in Afghanistan, though Abdur Rahman

claims in his autobiography that the country is rich in

mines. Some small quantity of gold is taken from the streams in

Laghman and the adjoining districts. Famous silver mines were

formerly worked near the head of the Panjshir valley in Hindu

Kush. Kabul is chiefly supplied with iron from the Permuli

(or Farmuli) 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 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

m. north-west of Ghazni, and in the Ghorband valley, north of

Kabul. 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 Shah-Maksud, about

30 m. north of Kandahar. 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 karez or subterranean canals.

Vegetation.

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 off-shoots,

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

ft., 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. Pinea (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-vitae, juniper, with species of Astragalus,

&c. Here also are Indigoferae rind dwarf laburnum.

Lower again, and down to 3000 ft. we have wild olive, species

of rock-rose, wild privet, acacias and mimosas, barberry and

Zizyphus; 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 Gesnerae.

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

non-existent. Labiate, composite and umbelliferous plants are most

common. Ferns and mosses are almost confined to the higher ranges.

In the low brushwood scattered over portions of the dreary

plains of the Kandahar 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 Mimosae, as the sensitive mimosa; a

plant of the rue family, called by the natives lipad 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 nauseous odour,

is believed to keep off evil soirits. In some places,

occupying the sides and hollows of ravines, are found the

rose bay (Nerium Oleander), called in Persian khar-zarah,

or ass-bane, the wild laburnum and various Indigoferae.

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

asafetida, which grows abundantly in the high and dry

plains of eastern 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 (Elaeaguns orientalis), common on the banks of

water-courses, furnishes an edible fruit. An orchis found in

the mountain 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 Badakshan and Kunduz 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, apoears 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 sian chob (black

wood), thought by Bellow 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 sprine 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 tirmai, 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 harvest.

Wheat is the staple food over the greater part of the

country. Rice is not largely distributed. 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.

Madder is an important item of the spring crop in Ghazni

and Kandahar districts, and generally over the 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 twelve 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

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