by the late amir of compulsory military service, whereby
each tribe was required to supply a proportionate number of
recruits. With this object a council of state for tribal
affairs was established; and it was arranged that a
representative of each tribe should be associated with the
provincial governors for the adjudication of tribal cases.
In the important matter of foreign relations Habibullah showed
a determination to adopt the policy of his father, to whom
the British government had given an assurance of aid to repel
foreign aggression, on the condition that the amir should
follow the advice of that government in regard to external
affairs. This condition was loyally observed by the new
amir, who referred to India all communications of an official
kind received from the Russian authorities in the provinces
bordering on Afghanistan. But toward the various questions
left pending between the governments of India and Afghanistan
the new amir maintained also his fatber's attitude. He gave
no indications of a disposition to continue the discussion of
them, or to entertain proposals for extending or altering
his relations with the Indian government. An invitation
from the viceroy to meet him in India, with the hope that
these points might be settled in conference, was put aside
by dilatory excuses, until at last the project was abandoned,
and finally the amir agreed to receive at Kabul a diplomatic
mission. The mission, whose chief was Sir Louis Dane, foreign
secretary to the Indian government, reached Kabul early in
December 1904, and remained there four months in negotiation
with the amir personally and with his representatives. It
was found impossible, after many interviews, to obtain from
Habibullah his consent to any addition to or variation of
the terms of the assurance given by the British government in
1880, with which he professed himself entirely satisfied, so
that the treaty finally settled in March 1905 went no further
than a formal confirmation of all engagements previously
concluded with the amir's predecessor. It was felt in British
circles at the time that a very considerable concession to
Habibullah's independence of attitude was displayed in the fact
that he was styled in the treaty ``His Majesty''; but, in the
circumstances, it seems to have been thought diplomatic to
accede to the amir's determination to insist on this matter of
style. But the rebuff showed that it was desirable in the
interests both of the British government and of Afghanistan
that an opportunity should be made for enabling the amir
to have personal acquaintance with the highest Indian
authorities. A further step, calculated to strengthen the
relations of amity between the two governments, was taken
when it was arranged that the amir should pay a visit to
the viceroy, Lord Minto, in India, in January 1907; and
this visit took place with great cordiality and success.
The Anglo-Russian Convention, signed on the 31st of August 1907,
contained the following important declarations with regard to
Afghanistan. Great Britain disclaimed any intention of altering
the political status or (subject to the observance of the treaty
of 1905) of interfering in the administration or annexing any
territory of Afghanistan, and engaged to use her influence
there in no manner threatening to Russia. Russia, on her part,
recognized Afghanistan as outside her sphere of influence.
AUTHORITIES. ---MacGregor, Gazetteer or Afghanistan
(1871); Elphinstone, Account of the Kingdom of Kabul
(1809); Ferrier, History of the Afghanis (1858); Bellow,
Afghanistan and the Afghans (1879); Baber's Memoirs
(1844); Kaye, History of the War in Afghanistan (1878);
Malleson, History of Afghanistan (1879); Heusman, The
Afghan War (1881); Sir H. M. Durand, The First Afghan War
(1879); Forbes, The Afghan Wars (1892); Rawlinson, England
and Russia in the East (1875); Wyllie, Essays on the
External Policy of India (1875). A. C. Yate, Northern
Afghanistan (1888); Curzon, Problems of the Far East (1894);
Robertson, The Kafir of the Hindu Kush (1896); Holdich,
Indian Borderland (1901); Thorburn, Asiatic Neighbours
(1895); Lord Roberts, Forty-one Years in India (1898); Lady
Betty Balfour, Lord Litton's Indian Administration (1899);
Hanna, Second Afghani War (1899); Gray, At the Court of
the Amir (1895); Sultan Mohammad Khan, Constitution and
Laws of Afghanistan (1900): Life of Abdur Rahinani (1900);
Angus Hamilton, Afghanistan (1906). (H. Y.; A. C. L.)
1 We owe our knowledge of the geology of Afghanistan almost
entirely to the observations of C. U. Grierbach, and a summary
of his researches will be found in Records of the Geological
Survey of India, vol. xx. (1887), pp. 93-103, with map.
AFGHAN TURKESTAN, the most northern province of Afghanistan.
It is bounded on the E. by Badakshan, on the N. by the
Oxus river, on the N.W. and W. by Russia and the Hari Rud
river, and on the S. by the Hindu Lush, the Koh-i-Baba and
the northern watershed of the Hari Rud basin. Its northern
frontier was decided by the Anglo-Russian agreement of 1873;
and delimited by the Russo-Afghan boundary commission of
1883, which gave rise to the Panjdeh incident. The whole
territory, from the junction of the Kokcha river with the
Oxus on the north-east to the province of Herat on the
south-west, is some 500 m. in length, with an average width
from the Russian frontier to the Hindu Kush of 114 m. It thus
comprises about 57,000 sq. m. or roughly' two-ninths of the
kingdom of Afghanistan. Except in the river valleys it is a
poor territory, rough and mountainous towards the south, but
subsiding into undulating wastes and pasture-lands towards
the Turkman desert, and the Oxus riverain which is highly
cultivated. The population, which is mostly agricultural,
settled in and around its towns and villages, is estimated at
750,000. The province includes the khanates of Kunduz, Tashkurgan,
Balkh with Akcha; the western khanates of Saripul, Shibarghan,
Andkhui and Maimana, sometimes classed together as the Chahar
Vidayet, or ``Four Domains''; and such parts of the Hazara
tribes as lie north of the Hindu Kush and its prolongation.
The principal town is Mazar-i-Sharif, which in modern times
has supplanted the ancient city of Balkh; and Takhtapul, near
Mazar, is the chief Afghan cantonment north of the Hindu Kush.
Ethnically and historically Afghan Turkestan is more
connected with Bokhara than with Kabul, of which government
it has been a dependency only since the time of Dost
Mahommed. The bulk of the people of the cities are of
Persian and Uzbeg stock, but interspersed with them are
Mongol Hazaras and Hindus with Turkoman tribes in the Oxus
plains. Over these races the Afghans rule as conquerors and
there is no bond of racial unity between them. Ancient Balkh
or Bactriana was a province of the Achaemenian empire, and
probably was occupied in great measure by a race of Iranian
blood. About 250 B.C. Diodotus (Theodotus), governor of
Bactria under the Seleucidae, declared his independence, and
commenced the history of the Greco-Bactrian dynasties, which
succumbed to Parthian and nomadic movements about 126 B.C.
After this came a Buddhist era which has left its traces in
the gigantic sculptures at Bamian and the rock-cut topes of
Haibak. The district was devastated by Jenghiz Khan, and
has never since fully recovered its prosperity. For about
a century it belonged to the Delhi empire, and then fell
into Uzbeg hands. In the 18th century it formed part of the
dominion of Ahmad Khan Durani, and so remained under his son
Timur. But under the fratricidal wars of Timur's sons the
separate khanates fell back under the independent rule of
various Uzbeg chiefs. At the beginning of the 19th century
they belonged to Bokhara; but under the great amir Dost
Mahommed the Afghans recovered Balkh and Tashkurgan in 1850,
Akcha and the four western khanates in 1855, and Kunduz in
1859. The sovereignty over Andkhui, Shibarghan, Saripul and
Maimana was in dispute between Bokhara and Kabul until settled
by the Anglo-Russian agreement of 1873 in favour of the Afghan
claim. Under the strong rule of Abdur Rahman these outlying
territories were closely welded to Kabul; but after the
accession of Habibullah the bonds once more relaxed. (T. H. Ut.v)
AFIUM-KARA-HISSAR (afium, opium), the popular name of
Kara-hissar Sahib, a city of Asiatic Turkey, in the vilayet
of Brusa, nearly 200 m. E. of Smyrna, and 50 m. S.S.E. of
Kutaiah. Pop. 18,000 (Moslems, 13,000; Christians, 5000).
Called Nicopolis by Leo III. after his victory over the
Arabs in 740, its name was changed by the Seljuk Turks to
Kara-hissar. It stands partly on level ground, partly on a
declivity, and above it rises a precipitous trachytic rock
(400 ft.) on the summit of which are the ruins of an ancient
castle. From its situation on the route of the caravans
between Smyrna and western Asia on the one hand, and Armenia,
Georgia, &c., on the other, the city became a place of
extensive trade, and its bazaars are well stocked with the
merchandise of both Europe and the East. Opium in large
quantities is produced in its vicinity and forms the staple
article of its commerce; and there are, besides, manufactures
of black felts, carpets, arms and saddlery. Afium contains
several mosques (one of them a very handsome building), and
is the seat of an Armenian bishop. The town is connected
by railway with Smyrna, Konia, Angora and Constantinople.
See V. Cuinet, Turquie d'Asie (Paris, 1894), vol. iv.
A FORTIORI (Lat. ``from a stronger [reason]''), a term
used of an argument which justifies a statement not itself
specifically demonstrated by reference to a proved conclusion
which includes it; thus, if A is proved less than B, and
is known to be greater than C, it follows a fortiori that
C is less than B without further proof. The argument is
frequently based merely on a comparison of probabilities (cf.
Matt. vi. 30), when it constitutes an appeal to common sense.
AFRANIUS, LUCIUS, Roman general, lived in the times of
the Sertorian (79-72), third Mithradatic (74-61) and Civil
Wars. Of humble origin (Cic. ad Att. i. 16. 20), from
his early years he was a devoted adherent of Pompey. In 60,
chiefly by Pompey's support, he was raised to the consulship,
but in performing the duties of that office he showed an
utter incapacity to manage civil affairs. In the following
year, while governor of Cisalpine Gaul, he obtained the honour
of a triumph, and on the allotment of Spain to Pompey (55),
Afranius and Marcus Petreius were sent to take charge of the
government. On the rupture between Caesar and Pompey they were
compelled, after a short campaign in which they were at first
successful, to surrender to Caesar at Ilerda (49), and were
dismissed on promising not to serve again in the war. Afranius,
regardless of his promise, joined Pompey at Dyrrhachium,
and at the battle of Pharsalus (48) had charge of Pompey's
camp. On the defeat of Pompey, Afranius, despairing of pardon
from Caesar, went to Africa, and was present at the disastrous
battle of Thapsus (46). Escaping from the field with a strong
body of cavalry, he was afterwards taken prisoner, along with
Faustus Sulla, by the troops of Sittius, and handed over to
Caesar, whose veterans rose in tumult and put them to death.
See Hirtius, Bell. Afric. 95; Plutarch, Pompey; Dio Cassius
xxxvii., xli.-xliii.; Caesar, B.C i. 57-87; Appian, B.C ii.;
for the history of the period, articles on CAESAR and POMPEY.
AFRANIUS, LUCIUS, Roman comic poet, flourished about 94
B.C. His comedies chiefly dealt with everyday subjects
