make havoc among sheep. A favourite feat of the boldest of
the young men of southern Afghanistan is to enter the hyena'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.
Mustelidae.--Species of the Mungoose (Herpestes),
species of otter, Mustela erminea, and two ferrets, one
of them with tortoise-shell 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 Himalayan
species. Ruminants.--Capra aegagrus and C. megaceros;
a wild sheep Ovis cycloceros or Vignei); Gazella
subgutturosa--these are often netted in batches when
they descend to drink at a stream; G. 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
Helmund. The wild ass, Gorkhar of Persia (Equus
onager), is frequent on the sandy tracts in the south-west.
The Himalayan varieties of the markhor and ibex are abundant in Kafiristan.
Talpidae.--A mole, probably Talpa Europaea; Sorex Indicus;
Erinaceus collaris (Indian), and Er. auritus (Eurasian).
Bats believed to be Phyllorhinus cineraceus (Punjab
species), Scotophilus Bellii (W. India), Vesp. auritus
and V. barbastellus, both found from England to India.
Rodentia.--A squirrel (Sciurus Syriacus?); Mus Indicus
and M. Gerbellinus; a jerboa (Dipus telum?); Alactaga
Bactriana; Gerbillus Indicus, and G. erythrinus (Persian
and Indian); Lagomys Nepalensis, a Central Asian species.
A hare, probably L. ruacaudatus. by Captain Hutton in
the J. As. Soc. Bengal, vol. xvi. pp. 775 seq.; 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:--Lizards
Pseudopus gracilis (Eur.), Argyrophis Horipeldii, Salea
Horsfieldii, Calotes Moria, C. versicolor, C. minor, C.
Emma, Phrynocephalus Idchelii--all Indian forms. A tortoise
(Testudo 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.
The camel is of a more robust and compact breed than the
tall beabt used in India, and is more carefully tended.
The two-humped Bactrian camel is commonly used in the Oxus
regions, but is seldom seen near the Indian frontier.
Horses form a staple export to India. The best of these,
however, are reserved for the Afghan cavalry. Those exported
to India are usually bred in Maimana and other places in Afghan
Turkestan. The indigenous horse is the yabu, 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 much
improved under the amir Abdur Rahman, 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 krut
(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 shawlgoat.
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.
Trade and commerce.
The manufactures of the country have not developed much
during recent years. Poshtins (sheepskin clothing) and the
many varieties of camel and goat's hair-cloth which, under
the name of ``barak,'' ``karak,'' &c., are manufactured in
the northern districts, are still the chief local products
of that part of Afghanistan. Herat and Kandahar are
famous for their silks, although a large proportion of the
manufactured silk found on the Herat market, as well as many
of the felts, carpets and embroideries, are brought from
the Central Asian khanates. The district of Herat produces
many of the smaller sorts of carpets (``galichas'' or
prayer-carpets), of excellent design and colour, the little
town of Adraskand being especially famous for this industry;
but they are not to be compared with the best products of
eastern Persia or of the Turkman districts about Panjdeh.
The nomadic Afghan tribes of the west are chiefly
pastoral, and the wool of the southern Herat and Kandahar
provinces is famous for its quality. In this direction,
the late boundary settlements have undoubtedly led to
a considerable development of local resources. A large
quantity of wool, together with silk, dried fruit, madder and
asafetida, finds its way to India by the Kandahar route.
It is impossible to give accurate trade statistics, there
being no trustworthy system of registration. The value of
the imports from Kabul to India in 1892-1893 was estimated
at 221,000 Rx (or tens of rupees). In 1809 it was little
over 217,000 Rx, the period of lowest intermediate depression
being in 1897. These imports include horses, cattle, fruits,
grain, wool, silk, hides, tobacco, drugs and provisions (ghi,
&c.). All this trade emanates from Kabul, there being no
transit trade with Bokhara owing to the heavy dues levied by the
amir. The value of the exports from India to Kabul also shows
great fluctuation. In the year 1892-1893 it was registered at
nearly 611,000 Rx. In 1894-1895 it had sunk to 274,000 Rx, and
in 1899 it figured at 294,600 Rx. The chief items are cotton
goods, sugar and tea. In 1898-1899 the imports irom Kandahar
to India were valued at 330,000 Rx, and the exports from India
to Kandahar at about 264,000 Rx. Three-fourths of the exports
consist of cotton goods, and three-eighths of the imports were raw
wool. The balance of the imports was chiefly made up of dried
fruits. Comparison with trade statistics of previous years on
this side Afghanistan is difficult, owing to the inclusion of
a large section of Baluchistan and Persia within the official
``Kandahar'' returns; but it does not appear that the value
of the western Afghanistan trade is much on the increase. The
opening up of the route between Quetta and Seistan has doubtless
affected a trade which was already seriously hampered by
restrictions. In the year after the mission of Sir Louis Dane
to Kabul in 1905 it was authoritatively stated that the trade
between Afghanistan and India had nearly doubled in value.
Antiquities.
The basin of the Kabul river especially abounds in remains
of the period when Buddhism flourished. Bamian is famous
for its wall-cut firures, and at Haibak (on the route between
Tashkurghan and Kabul) there are some most interesting Buddhist
remains. In the Koh-Daman, north of Kabul, are the sites of
several ancient cities, the greatest of which, called Beghram,
has furnished coins in scores of thousands, and has been supposed
to represent Alexander's Nicaea. Nearer Kabul, and especially on
the hills some miles south of the city, are numerous topes. In
the valley of Jalalabad are many remains of the same character.
In the valley of the Tarnak are the ruins of a great city
(Ulan Robat) supposed to be the ancient Arachosia. About
Girishk, on the Helmund, are extensive mounds and other traces
of buildings; and the remains of several great cities exist in
the plain of Seistan, as at Pulki, Peshawaran and Lakh, relics
of ancient Drangiana. An ancient stone vessel preserved in
a mosque at Kandahar is almost certainly the same that was
treasured at Peshawar in the 5th century as the begging pot of
Sakya-Muni. In architectural relics of a later date than the
Graeco-Buddhist period Afghanistan is remarkably deficient. Of
the city of Ghazni, the vast capital of Mahmud and his race, no
substantial relics survive, except the tomb of Mahmud and two
remarkable brick minarets. A vast and fruitful harvest of coins
has been gathered in Afghanistan and the adjoining regions.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.---Rawlinson, England and Russia in the
East (1873); H. M. Durand, The First Afghan War (1879);
Wyllie's Essays on the External Policy of India (1875);
Elphinstone, Account of the Kingdom of Kabul (1809);
Parliamentary Papers, ``Afghanistan''; Curzon, Problems in
the Far East; Holdich, Indian Borderland (1901); India
(1903); Indian Survey Reports; Russo-Afghan Boundary Commission
(1886); Pamir Boundary Commission (1896). (T. H. H.*)
HISTORY The Afghan chroniclers call their people Beni-Israil
(Arab. for Children of Israel), and claim descent from King
Saul (whom they call by the Mahommedan corruption Talut)
through a son whom they ascribe to him, called Jeremiah,
who again had a son called Afghana. The numerous stock
of Afghana were removed by Nebuchadrezzar, and found their
way to the mountains of Ghor and Feroza (east and north of
Herat). Only nine years after Mahommed's announcement of his
mission they heard of the new prophet, and sent to Medina a
deputation headed by a wise and holy man called Kais, to make
inquiry. The deputation became zealous converts, and on
their return converted their countrymen. From Kais and his
three sons the whole of the genuine Afghans claim descent.
This story is repeated in great and varying detail in sundry
books by Afghans, the oldest of which appears to be of the
16th century; nor do we know that any trace of the legend
is found of older date. In the version given by Major
Raverty (Introd. to Afghan Grammar), Afghanah is settled
by King Solomon himself in the Sulimani mountains; there
is nothing about Nebuchadrezzar or Ghor. The historian
Ferishta says he had read that the Afghans were descended
from Copts of the race of Pharaoh. And one of the Afghan
histories, quoted by Mr Bellow, relates ``a current tradition''
that, previous to the time of Kais, Bilo the father of the
Biluchis, Uzbak (evidently the father of the Usbegs) and
Afghana were considered as brethren. As Mahommed Usbeg
Khan, the eponymus of the medley of Tatar tribes called
Usbegs, reigned in the 14th century A.D., this gives some
possible light on the value of these so-called traditions.
We have analogous stories in the literature of almost all
nations that derive their religion or their civilization from
