Scrapbook of newspaper cuttings about Afghanistan [‎30r] (60/312)

CABUL AN D ITS PEOPLE.
Gabul proper is the mountainous region north I
of Ghuzni and the Sufaid Koli (the White I
Mountains), bound ed on the west by the Hazara '
country and on the east by the Indus— or Abba i
Sin u the Father of Rivers." But the " Cabul "
of our atlases, of the press, and of ordinary con
versation to-day includes not only the' tract
properly denoted by that name, but also
the province of Khorassan or Zabulistan,
which on the north extends to the moun
tains of Hazara and Ghor, and on the
I south to Beluchistan, with the Suleiman range
(the so-called western •' frontier" of British
India) on the east of it, and Persia on the west.'
These two districts, Cabul proper and Khorassan, i
constitute the modern kingdom of Afghanistan,
of which Shere Ali Khan is now the Ameer. Of
the physical features of the country, and its |
natural products, we yesterday gave some
account ; but the interesting diversity of
climate and landscape to be found within its
limits require, in connection with the' news
we publish this morning, some further refe
rence. Indeed, this diversity is sufficiently
striking to be of interest apart from its more
immediate connection with the events that seem
to be impending. Thus, in Cabul predo
minate lofty pine-clad and snow-capped
mountains, which enclose luxuriant valleys and
glens, watered in every direction by numberless
mountain streams, and profusely rich in a variety
of vegetable productions. In Khorassan, on the
other hand, the characteristic features of its
greater extent, notably to the west, are low
ranges of bare rocky hills, skirting elevated
plateaux of sand or gravel. As regards
the cljmate, the differences are not less clearly
demarcated. Thus, the winter, which at the
towns of Cabul and Ghuzni is usually very
severe, is at Candahar and in the south-western
portions of the country comparatively mild.
Again, when the northern half has its
summer tempered by cool breezes blowing from
the snows of the Hindu Koosh, the southern
portion has to bear, in all its intensity, the
scorching heat that has given the district its
name of Khorassan, or ' 4 Land of the Sun."
These facts acquire, in their application to the
circumstances of a hostile advance into the
interior of Afghanistan, an importance hardly in
ferior to a knowledge of the natural configuration.
Notable among the physical features of the
country is the small number and size of its,
rivers. None of them reach the sea, for they
are all lost in the mountain labyrinths or sandy
wastes, except those which, like the Cabul
river and the Kuram, flow eastward into the
Indus. The latter, destined, if the intentions
of the Indian Government are carried out, to
become important in history, is a small stream
of no depth or velocity, which, after fertilising
the valley to which it gives its name, joins the
Indus near Isa-Kheyl. The former is a consi
derable river, and impetuous in its course.
It receives in its passage across Cabul
the tributary waters of several streams
descending from Kafristan, Swat, and the
north, and empties itself into the Indus at
Attock. Of the mountain features of the
country it is impossible to give detailed notice.
It will suffice for the purpose of this article
to say that throughout its length, and nearly
throughout its breadth, the surface is broken
up by irregular mountain chains running out
south from the Hindu Koosh and west from
the Suleiman range. But the Sufaid Koh, a
range of lofty peaks starting in the south
west from the Cabul end of the Knram
valley and running north-east till it strikes the
Suleiman range, requires a separate notice.
For should the project announced in our special
telegram of yesterday be executed, and a force
enter Afghanistan by way of Thai and the
Kuram river, the Sufaid Koh will do duty as an
effectual barrier against any attempt from the !
north to disturb the advancing column. It covers
the line of advance up to the turning point of the
Kuram river, whence, by the regular road, both
Ghuzui and the town of Cabul are commanded.
To sum up roughly, therefore, the kingdom of
the Ameer is a mountainous plateau, separated
j from British India by the Suleiman range. This
range is pierced at several parts by passes, of
which three—the Khyber and the Kuram in the
north, and the Bolan in the south—will play a
prominent part should any offensive movement
be decided upon by the Government. The rivers
are unimportant, considered as features of the
military geography, but as fertilising the nume
rous valleys which lie between the various ranges |
are of. the utmost value, since they guarantee
ample food and forage for a force of such dimen
sions as our telegrams indicate.
In our issue of yesterday we sketched very
briefly the history and character of the people'
inhabiting this country, but now that the course
of affairs threatens to bring us into such
intimate relations with them a more detailed
account of the subjects of the Ameer will prove
of interest. The total population, never accu
rately calculated, has been estimated by some as
low as two, and by others as high as seven mil
lions, the true figures lying apparently between
these extremes. A great variety of races contri
bute to this total, but the most numerous and most
important in every way are the Afghans proper.
In their form of government and general cus
toms they resemble other Mohammedan
nations, but, though proud of their devotion to
Islam, they do not hesitate to break all its laws
when their inclinations prompt them ; and in one
respect notably, their large consumption of in-
toxicaiing liquors, they habitually transgress
their Creed. In character, the Afghan is bigoted
and revengeful. His treachery is proverbial
in the East; and hardly less notorious is his
readiness to join in plundSr or murder. Without
being brave, in the sense in which the long-en
during Sikh and patient Ghoorka are brave, he
possesses a certain dashing boldness, which the
first reverse dissipates ; and, though boastful in
promises, is avaricious and mean in performance.
His code of hospitality illustrates this trait. So
long as the guest is under his roof the Afghan
will treat him as a brother, and all the deli
cacies that the women in the harem can prepare
—and every Afghan woman is a skilled cook—
are at his service. But the moment the
stranger has got a gunshot off, his whilom host,
if he should have taken a fancy to his
apparel, or suspected the possession of
money, will as cheerfully send a bullet
into his back as on the day before he had
lighted the guest's pipe for him. By nature, and
in many parts of the country by profession, rob
bers and banditti, the smallest pretext suffices
to excite them to deeds of blood, and in their
tribal and religious jealousies such pretexts are
always at hand. As Sunnis they hold in detes
tation the adverse sect of Sheas, and this dif
ference of doctrine is at all times enough to
1 justify plunder and murder ; while, from the
many varieties of races living among and near
them, excellent reasons for desolating a home
stead or killing a traveller are never wanting.
It is sufficient excuse to an Afghan for firing his
long-barrelled jizail at a stranger if the latter
wears his turban differently to himself—and is
not looking. The turban is in Afghanistan what
the tartan was in the Highlands of Scotland, for
each clan has its distinctive pattern of cloth, and
often a peculiar method of tying it round the
head. These clans are many, but they group
themselves roughly into nomads and agricultural
communities. The former inhabit chiefly the
wilder country of Khorassan, where a more ample
pasture is found than in the north, and where
they wander about with their herds at will.
Nominally, of course, they are under the go-
i vernment of the Ameer ; but virtually they are
retainers of their own chiefs, through whom
they pay their revenue to the central authority,
and who have complete control over the mutual
relations for peace or war of the various tribes.
They contribute a contingent to the regular
army, and form the bulk of the reserve militia.
The main portion of the regular army is drawn
from the agricultural class, and, except as a
soldier or a cultivator, the Afghan in his own
country has no occupation open to him. Whether
from vanity or from traditional antipathy to
useful labour, he refuses to follow any trade, and
history gives ample precedents to justify us
in referring to this trait of character the fact
that the Afghans are the ruling race.
Xq pers onal a ppearance few nations in the
; world can compare With these subjects of the
i Ameer. Travellers agree in describing both the
! men and women, as remarkably handsome, fair
I comploxionod,and with dignified aquiline features.
* In figure they are almost invariably well propor
tioned, toll, and muscular. With such advan
tages, »;• $* not strange that the Afghan is pas-
sionatel} addicted to all exercises that call for
athletic limbs, sound lungs, and tough sinews.
Hunting and hawking are national amusements,
and all kinds of sport are popular. As horse
men they will compare with any race in India,
j or with ourselves ; while as marksmen, whether
with the rifle, spear, or stone, they are remark-
j ably proficient. With such tastes and pursuits