and surrender of Merve.

CHAPTER XIX Page 183

Amir .Abdur Rahman — Afghanistan, the buffer State — Russian and
Afghan Boundary delimitation — Sphere of influence between India
and Afghanistan — Completion of the Northern Boundary internal
affairs — Progress made in their reign — Concluding remarks.

CHAPTER XX Page 196

Pashtu, the language of the Afghans ; its distribution, and origin —
First use of this vernacular for literary purposes. Growth of a national
literature — The sentiments pervading the ccmpositicns ; notices of a
few of the most famous authors— -Khushal Khan, the Khatak Chief,
Warrior and bard — Other authors. The Ballad Poetry of the Afghans
keep alive the spirit of the clans is responsible for outbreaks of
hostilities directed against their neighbours, tie British Government.
Notice of the founder of the heretical sect of the Roshanis— Influence
exerted by spiritual teachers — Diminishing Influence of such persons
— Causes which contribute towards the latter.



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THE THREE CITIES OF KANDAHAR.



THE KINGDOM OF AFGHANISTAN.



CHAPTER I.



The Country of Afghanistan.

BETWEEN the Russian Dominions in Asia and the Indian
Empire of Great Britain, Afghanistan is placed, like a nut,
between the levers of a cracker. The notoriously unwhole-
some quality of the kernel, however, will perhaps continue
to preserve it from being- shared by its powerful neighbours. The dis-
organised condition of Persia relieves the Ruler of Afghanistan of all
fears of military aggression, but it is not unlikely to be the cause of
considerable anxiety to His Majesty the Amir. The progress of lyiodern
ideas, and the aspirations of the Persians in the direction of some form
of constitutional government, which apparently has terminated the old
established despotism of the Shahs, must, in course of time, filter across
the border into Afghanistan ; and the democratic nature of the people
would seem to render them peculiarly susceptible to the movement,
which has reformed the governments of the Kingdom of Turkey (the
head of Islam) and Persia. The restrictions placed upon trade by the
late Amir, and, therefore, to the influx of foreigners into his country,
may possibly have been designed as a precaution also against the
introduction of modern ideas among his subjects, which would greatly
increase the difficulties with which the rulers have always had to contend
in the administration of that State.

The rivalry (that has happily, of late years, subsided) between the
great powers which are the neighbours of the Afghans has led to the
careful demarcation of the boundaries of that State, with the exception
I



THE KINGDOM OI- AFGHANISTAN,

of a short and unimportant length on the west and east. The generall}-
accepted area of 243,000 square miles, therefore, may be regarded as
correct. While, however, a fairly accurate general knowledge exists
with regard to the geography of Afghanistan, very little is known as to
the number of the inhabitants the country supports. From observations
made in Seistan, in 1904, there is reason to believe that an average
density of 50 souls to a square mile, is not an excessive estimate, or
(say) 12,000,000 souls for the population of the country. The richer
lands in the wider valleys drained by the principal rivers of the country
carry the densest population. In the more elevated and poorer
districts, there are fewer inhabitants, and they are to a certain extent
migratory. Those who are able to avoid the rigorous winter descend
to the lower levels on the approach of that season. Above these
districts, again, are others to which shepherds resort in the spring, and
in which, during the summer, a considerable population is to be found.
These tracts are vacated as winter draws on. The flocks are driven
down to warmer districts, where fodder is procurable and in which
during the early spring (the lambing season), the climate is not too
severe for the young stock.

The name Afghanistan was invented in the i6th and 17th centuries,
as a convenient term by the Moghal government in India, and since
then it has become current in the mouths of foreigners. The Afghans
speak of their country as Wilayat and less commonly as Khurassan,
although Afghanistan covers less than a third of the area of that
ancient Division of Asia. As late as the 14th and 15th centuries, the
country from Kandahar to Kabul, including the Valley of the Helmand,
v/as still known as Bakhtar Zamin, the country of Bakhtar, and in
1832 Sir Alexander Burnes was tcld that the country from Kabul to
Balkh had also been known by the same name. In this name, perhaps,
may be found a corruption of the older form of Vaerkerata, which
scholars, versed in the ancient languages of Persia, say, was the name
of a Province which appears in the Avesta. In this name, Bakhtar,
may also be found the origin of the name Baktria, and the Paktyan
land of ancient European writers, which was governed by the
Asiatic Greeks till their declining authority, was extinguished by the
inroads of hordes from Central Asia.

The great range of the Hindu-Kush divides Afghanistan into two
unequal parts, about a third part lying to the north of the water-shed.
The country generally consists of narrow valleys sheltered by giant
spurs, and ridges of inferior elevation, which descend from the
parent range. The latter is a double range pierced by streams which



THE RIVERS OF AFGHANISTAN. 3

flow alternately north and south, and drain the trough between the
ridges. The Heri-Rud, the River of Herat, drains the western end of
this trough.' Within the present limits of Afghanistan, permanent
snow covers onl}- the loftier summits of the range or collects at the
heads of the most elevated valleys, which descend on either side ; but
the heavy snowfall of winter, on the whole range, and rain which falls
at certain seasons replenish the rivers which rise high up on the
slopes of the mountains. The southern ridge oi' the Hindu-Kush is
pierced by the beds of the principal rivers of Afghanistan, and the
northern ridge is broken by torrential streams which descend towards
the Oxus ; but only the more important of these actually join that river.
The beds of these streams and rivers are followed by the routes which
cross the lofty saddles of the range, and the lowest of these passes
is the Khawak, considerably over 11,000 feet above sea-level.

The two ridges culminate in the vicinity of the mass ofTirich
Mir, close to the eastern boundary of Afghanistan, the highest peak
of which attains to an altitude of 25,426 feet above the sea.
Westwards from the junction of the ridges, the Hindu-Kush throws
off minor ranges or great spurs, and continuously decreases in
height ; and to the north of Herat, the mountains disappear under the
sloping glacis which descends towards the Turkoman Desert. A
broken chain of low hills, links the southern water-shed of the Heri-
Rud, and the Hindu-Kush, ^ with the mountain system of Northern
Persia.

The Kabul, Helmand, the Heri-Rud, the Murghab and the River
of Badakshan to the north of the Hindu-Kush are the principal rivers
of /Afghanistan. The Arghassan, Tarnak, Arghandab, which swell the
discharge of the Helmand ; the Rivers of Khash, of Farah and Kushk,

1 Geography and Geology of the Himalayas : Col. Biirrard, R.E., F. R. S.,
and H. H. Hayden, B. A., F. G. S., 1908 : Part III, pp. 122-123.

-' The soldiers of Alexander, the first of all Europeans to cross the rang-e,
named it the Parapamisus. That eminent scholar, the late Sir Henry Ravvlinson,
derived this name from Parii-parae-sanna. and which, he wrote, was the cuneiform
title of the range read in full. Jour R. Geogr. Soc. Vol. XLII, pp. 501-2,

Hindu-Kush is not a modern name. It appears to have been current in the
14th Century, when Timur crossed from Andarab, " by the Pass of (the) Hindu-
Kush, and the ice-bound road (or path) of Jarkaran " (Charikar ?) into the valle}
of the Kabul river, on his way towards India. In a 17th Century Indian Chronicle
' Badshahnamah) the variant Hindu-Kuh, is to be found.

Hindu-Kush is probably a corruption of Hindi-Kash or Kesh — the boundary
of Hind, i.e. India. Before the Christian era, and afterwards, there was an inti
mate connection between the Kabul Valley and India. All the Passes of the
Hindu-Kush descend into that valley ; and travellers from the north as soon as
they crossed the watershed, found a civilization and religion, the same as that
which prevailed in India. The great range was the boundary in those days and
a barrier that was at times impassable.

Hindu-Kuh — the mountains of Hind — was similarly derived



4 THE KINGDOM OF AFGHANISTAN.

the streams which water the district of Sabzawar and which terminate
in the Lake of Seistan ; the other streams which nourish the districts
of Andikhui, Shibarghan and Hazdanahr (Balkh) are the minor rivers of
the country.

Of these the Helmand is the first in rank draining- an area of
about 100,000 square miles, and with a discharge in the summer
(taken in Seistan) of 70,000 cubic feet per second in ordinary years.
This river also ranks the twelfth in the list of the rivers of Asia, having
regard to the area drained by it and its tributaries, and eleventh with
reference to the population it supports.' The Kabul river draining an
area of 35,000 square miles, and a discharge about 30,000 cubic feet
per second in the summer, ranks next to the Helmand. The river Hel-
mand is crossed near Girishk with difficulty by travellers from Herat. ^
The waters of the Kabul river flow swiftly to meet the Indus and the
fords are deep and unsafe. Recently, however, it has been spanned
by a suspension bridge near Jalalabad, and permanent communication
between one bank and the other has been insured ; the numerous canals
which irrigate the valley of Herat deplete the waters of the Heri-Rud,
but the Murghab has always nourished the famous oasis of Merv, and
a dam across the river-bed maintains a good supply of water in the
irrigation channels which fertilize the soil. This work was destroyed
by the troops of the Amir of Bokhara towards the close of the i8th
century, but it has been restored by the Russians and the Tsar's
private domains in that district are a valuable property on which great
results have been achieved by irrigation. The rivers of Andikhui and
Shibarghan are exhausted by the canals which are supplied with water
by them, which have always rendered those districts fertile. The
rivers of Khash, Farah, of Sabzawar, and the Harut Rud are
torrents. They rise in the mountainous district of Ghor and the
Zamindawar, and are subject to sudden irresistible floods, rendering
them inpassable for a time. These streams contain no flowing water for
some distance above the lake of Seistan into which their floods are
discharged. The principal tributary of the Helmand is the Arghandab,



1 Geography and Geology of the Himalayab, Pt. Ill, p. 120.

- The column detailed to Girishk under Brigadier Genl. Sale, in 1839, crossed
the Helmand in the month of May. The troops crossed with some difficulty
on rafts made of rum kegs. "It was, at one time, contemplated to swim over the
Cavalry horses ; but it is said there would have been great risk, as the water was
deep, and the stream rushed with such violence, that some few who tried it riding-
barebacked were carried more than a mile down the river." Major Hough's
narrative:— Major Abbot, on his journey from Herat to Simla in 1837-38, crossed
the Helmand at this place on an elephant. Captain Edward Conolly at an earlier
date found that boats, which ferried passengers and goods to the opposite bank,
were provided at this crossing.



DIFFERENCES IN ELEVATION. 5

and its name is derived from the swiftness of the current when in flood.
It is said to become impassable when the depth of water in its channel
exceeds three feet. In 1839 a cavalry reconnaisance from Kalat-i-
Ghilzai visited the Maidan district on the banks of the Arghandab, and
the tired horses w'ere ridden girth-deep into the stream and slaked their
thirst in its clear swift waters. The country on either banks was found
to be cultivated and studded with tow^ns and villages. The district of
Malistan, in which this river has its source, is famed for its temperate
climate in the summer, rich pastures, and an abundance of springs.
The waters of the Tarnak and Arghasan barely suffice for the demands
of the agriculturists in the country round Kandahar, and in the valley
of the last-named stream. The district of Ghor, in which the rivers
of Khash and of Farah rise-, has always been famous for its strength
and inaccessibility.

The Kabul river and its tributaries, the Panjshir and Kunar, rise
at great elevations upon the slopes of the Hindu-Kush. At Dakka
(below Jalalabad), close to which their united waters pass out of Afghan
territory, the elevation of the valley is under 1,300 feet. The Helmand,
at the point where it is crossed on the road from Kabul to
Bamian, is about 10,500 feet above sea-level. The lake which it
forms in Seistan is 1,600 feet above the sea. The rivers of Herat and
the Murghab rise at elevations of about 9,000 feet. Herat itself is
6,000 feet below the source, and Bala Murghab is lower still. Kabul is
under 6,000 feet, Kandahar a little more than 3,000 feet ; Balkh (about
40 miles from the left bank of the Oxus), at the foot of the Hindu-Kush,
is 1,300 feet, and Khamiab, the frontier post of Afghanistan on the left
bank of the Oxus, is only 900 feet above the sea. No less than one
hundred and four peaks, attaining altitudes from 20,000 to over 25,000
feet above the sea^ break the sky line of the ridges of the Hindu-Kush;
but these are situated outside of the modern limit of Afghanistan on the
•east. Within the boundaries of that country, the summit of the range
is considerably below 20,000 feet. The differences in elevation,
which the country exhibits, are very considerable^ and are accompanied
by corresponding differences in climate, scenery, and produce. In the
highest inhabited valleys, the moderate temperature of a short-lived
summer provides a single crop of cereals for the inhabitants. In the
low-lying valleys, a warmer climate, a rich soil, and an abundance of

^ Geography and Geology of the Himalayas, Pt. I, p. 31.

- In Switzerland the lowest levels are on the Lago Maggiore 614 feet and at
Basel on the Aar 914 feet above sea level, The Monte Rosa attains to an elevation
of more than 15,000 feet above the sea.



THE KINGDOM OF AFGHANISTAN.



water are congenial to rice, the lemon flourishes, and the plantain
was introduced by the famous Baber, who founded the Moghul dynasty
in India. With the exception of Kafiristan and the northern slopes
of the Hindu-Kush, where the forests which once must have clothed
the mountains have escaped complete destruction, the country may,
with justice, be described as treeless, except where, in the valleys,
fruit trees take the place of natural vegetation.

There is no part of Afghanistan where snow never falls. The
rainfall is very small, and except on irrig-ated lands, there is
an absence of moisture, and the climate of the country is very
favourable to human existence. The inhabitants of those lands
suffer from ailments, due to malaria and damp. ' The district of
Hazdanahar (so called from the i8 water-courses which exhaust the
water of the River of Balkh) in which Balkh stands, the country round
the Cities of Kabul and of Kandahar and the small district of Girishk
on the right bank of the Helmand, are notoriously unhealthy in the
summer. Owing to neglect of the elements of sanitation, and owing
to vicious habits diseases are rife in the towns. The dry atmos-
phere, and bright sunshine during^ the greatest part of the year,
combined with the migratory habits of a large proportion of the
inhabitants, and the isolated position of the principal centres of
population in Afghanistan with respect to neighbouring countries,
have preserved the inhabitants of that country from the pestilences
which scourge India so frequently. "

Years of scarcity are not infrequent, but severe distress is
confined to those districts in which cultivation depends chiefly on the
rainfall. It rarely becomes very general or developes into a famine.
The rivers, which are fed by the snowfall on the Hindu-Kush, provide
an unfailing but variable supply of water, which is conveyed to the
lands on either bank by open flood watt^r canals, and in suitable locali-
ties, under-ground springs are tapped and their waters led by means
of Karezes to lands often many miles distant from the heads of these

^ In the vicinity of Kabul, the sub-soil water is about 6 feet below the surface
of the land. At Kandahar it is about 4 feet, and in the vicinity of Herat from 10
to 12 feet below the surface.

- In the 15th century an outbreak of pestilence — probably of plague, almost
depopulated the City of Herat, at that time the capital of the wide Empire, ruled
by Shah Rukh, the son of Tamerlane. The disease attracted notice on the
6th February 1435, by which time it had become established. It raged for four
months. A local chronicler has recorded the mortality in that period at
1,000,000 souls in the city itself and the surrounding- country. An outbreak cf
pestilence in 16S5 was general, and as it was considered worthy of being recorded,
the mortality must have been very great. The year 1828 was marked by another
visitation, and Herat w^s again afflicted.



PRODUCE AND SOIL. 7

works. Wherever it is possibls to do so, the inhabitants surround
their villagfes and towns with orchards and vineyards,' and the banks
of the irrii^ation channels are adorned with fruit trees, poplars and
willows. The Tajiks are famous horticulturists. Expert judges
profess to recognise more than thirty varieties of grapes alone. All
stone fruits attain to perfection. The melons (of many varieties),
grown in the country round Herat and Kandahar have always been
celebrated for their flavour. Dried fruit of all kinds used to be
imported in very great quantities to India ; and the value of this
branch of trade is said to have exceeded that of all other exports not
excepting even the export of horses, at a time when the imports ot
horses into India from Australia was in its infancy, and when
Afghanistan stipplied India with animals suited for all kinds of work.
Wheat and barley are the staple crops ; but rice and other cereals are
cultivated successfully in suitable localities. The chaff, after the
wheat and barley have been trodden out and winnowed, forms the
principal supply of food for horses, camels, and live-stock generally
during the winter, and for the greater part of the year. The
silkworm is raised in the valley of Herat, and silk is manufactured
there, not, however, to the same extent that it was when Herat was
the capital of Khurassan. Sir Alexander Burnes is credited with the
introduction of the potato into Afghanistan in 1837. The soil is
a light loam, impregnated with saline constituents, but wherever water
is available for irrigation, it yields a good return to the husbandman.
The animals owned by the latter supply the manure which is necessary,
but as the quantity is not great, it is reserved for those lands which
can be irrigated. Shepherds are encouraged to herd their flocks on
outlying fallow lands during the winter, and the manure \\-hich
collects within the folds is valued by the owners of the soil. The
national agricultural implement is the spade, and the universal pattern
of plough, which is used everywhere in the east, is also employed to till
the land. Iri constructing irrigation channels, a shallow brass or iron
dish containing water is used as a guide for the eye of the person in
charge of the work and serves the purpose of a level.

The theory usually prevalent in oriental countries that the soil is the
property of the State, is considerably modified in Afghanistan owing
to the turbulent character of a large part of the population occup3ing
the land ; and among the latter some very curious primitive customs

^ The vines are grown inside parallel trenches, and are trained up the slopes
of the banks into which the soil is heaped between the trenches. The plants are
in this way sheltered from the cutting winds, and additional protection is afforded
by means of tiigh walls enclosing the vineyard,



8 THE KINGDOM OF AFGHANISTAN.

are in force regarding the distribution of tribal lands whether among-
the various families of the tribe or among individuals in the latter.
The underlying principle is probably to attempt to maintain a rough
equilibrium of prosperity between the occupiers of land unequal
in quality, so as to prevent some members of the community
becoming rich on good holdings, while others starve on poor soil.
The periods for which the shares are held extends to several years,
but the details of the system vary among the tribes observing it and
in different districts. Some extend its application— each male, female
or child receiving a share, including the houses in their villages in
the redistribution^ and on the other hand among the certain tribes of
the Ghilzais, unmarried men are said not to receive any share at all,
the right being apparently restricted to the heads ot families. In
some districts the distribution is effected by lot, if a majority of those
interested in the operation wish it.

About 43,000 square miles of unproductive desert exists in the
extreme southern portion of Afghanistan. The river of Khash and
the Helmand flow through this inhospitable region, but the restricted
areas on their banks, which might be cultivated by means of irrigation,
are insignificant in comparison with the expanse of desert on every side.
Although no one knows how much of the remaining area of 200,000
square miles is capable of cultivation, yet it is possible to make a
rough estimate which may be not very far from the truth, by taking as
a guide the proportion of cultivable land, which is known to exist in
those districts (once a part of Afghanistan), which have been trans-
ferred to the Indian Empire, from the Kuram Valley on the north to
Sibi on the south. Ten per cent, of the whole area of Afghanistan may
perhaps represent the area which might be cultivated. Of this, how-
ever, only ten per cent, again may be actually under crops in any
year, owing to a variety of causes, of v/hich the varying quality of the
soil, the precarious supply of moisture supplied by nature, and the
nomadic proclivities of a large proportion of the population are the
more important.

The mineral resources of the country are as yet unexplored ; and
as it is a task which can be successfully carried out only by foreign
experts, progress in this direction must be slow. Some minerals such
as silver, lead, antimony and iron have always been worked in a very
unskilful and desultory fashion ; and traces of gold have been dis-
covered in the neighbourhood of Kandahar. The dislike of foreigners
and of their interference, whether it is due to hostile relations with
foreigners in the past, a dread of sinister designs on their country and



PROGRESS IN CIVILIZATION. 9

cherished libert}-, or to an unconfessed knowledge of their own barba-
rity, on the part of the Afghans themselves, offer an unsurmountable
barrier to the exploration of the mineral resources of the country, and
to development in other directions. The last thirty years of peace be-
tween India and Afghanistan cannot but have had an effect on this ex-
clusive attitude. India offers now, as it always has done, a field for
the enterprise of the Afghans, whose hands can wield indifferently a
cloth measure, a spade, a sword or a rifle. Numbers of the poorer
classes of the population enter India every winter, when all avocations
are suspended in their own country, either for trade or seeking
for employment. The needy tribesmen wander as far afield as Assam
and Burma in search of work, which the natives are too well off or too
indolent to undertake themselves, and for wages which apparently
offer no temptation to the natives for exertion. The Afghans have
crossed the sea to Australia with camels, and some have amassed
money there in other occupations. A very few individuals have even
returned to their homes accompanied by white women, whom they have
induced to take a step, the ultimate result of which can never be