Scrapbook of newspaper cuttings about Afghanistan [‎73r] (149/312)

served undefiled." This was done; tbey lied witto
the head only, leaving all the spoil -which had
been thrown out, and, as Khan Gul ended the
story, he thanfeed God that the honour of his
house had by tbese means been preserved. There
is something heroic in. such acts. Neither Aga
memnon nor Achilles, as described by Homer,
suggest a character capable of such self-devotion.
Among the troops raised during the mutiny
were some regiments composed largely of
Pathans, or men from the hill country
where India borders on Afghanistan, and the
deeds of these men I have often heard spoken
©f by the officers who commanded them as being
sometimes magnificent from their daring and
brilliancy. It was one of Lord Lawrence's prin
ciples, which was acted upon more strictly after
the mutiny was suppressed, that there should not
be above a certain percentage of Pathans in the
irregular regiments, thus by fear paying a respect
to their prowess, for it was considered that if a
mutiny should take place among such men it
might be highly dangerous, and quite another
matter to suppress in comparison to that of the old
Pandy regiments.
The practical conclusion of all this is not far to
seek—let us try as much as we can to make these
people our friends. They have ko love for their
own rulsrs, but they have a high respect for us ;
the British name is in repute all over Afghanistan;
and they are anxious at all times to enlist as
| soldiers or to act as servants. Every Afghan we
i enroll in our service is so far a safeguard to our
[ invading army» There ar e ple nty of men in
India who understand these people, and officers
like Probyn and Fane are known all over Afghan-
stan. They would only have to tap their drum
anywhere on the frontier, and the idea of fighting
under such leaders would bring these rough
warriors in, as the fiery cross of old brought th«
Highlaad clang to the place of muster.
The men whose names are announced to tha
various commands of the gathering force on the
frontier are all of a character to give us confidenca
that the army will be in good hands. The Cham
berlains are known and tried men. They have
passed through the fire and have been found true.
General Roberts has the Victoria CrosS, won
during the mutiny. lie has been long in the
Quartermaster-General's Department, and is as
steady and indefatigable at hard work in
that department as he was brave in action
I have lived in camps under bis cou«
trol bo f h in India and in Abyssinia,
and know how steady has been his progress
General Stewart is also known to me by ex
periences in the field. I have marched under tha
protective power of his wing through the Sovroi
Pass to Senape daring the Abyssinian campaigni
and can speak with respect, not only of his mili
tary, bixt also of his social qualities. General
Biddulph's is a still older friendship. I first
met him as a gunner in the trenches before
Sebastopol. Accomplished in many ways, he will
make a good leader of men. There is one office*
that it would be satisfactory to see at the head oi
these generals, and I should not feel astonished
at hearing that the Governor of Gibraltar, Lord
Napier of Magdala, was on his way to India,
accompanied by his old companion in arms,
Colonel Dillon, again at his former post of military
secretary. If the present Commander-in-Chief in
India does not go himself, this is "-n impro
bable arrangement.
The Cabul merchants who trade with Indii
leave their homes about the present time of thfl
year, and come into the Punjaub, by Peshawur,
5©era Ishmael, Dera Gbazi Khan, and the BholaB
Pass to Shikarpoor, as the bot weather begins tc
I cease. They march along with a line of cameia
laden with their merchandise, grapes, apples, and
other fruits—this being perhaps one of their most
important branches of business. The grapes ara
packed in cotton so that they may not be damaged,
and carried in small circular wooden boxes. They
also bring chogas, a woollen garment elaborately
embroidered, and much desired among Euro
peans as dressing gowns. The Afghans
with these caravans penetrate as far souti
as Bombay and Calcutta. They are to be seen is
most of the bazaars of India, and are easily dis
tinguished from the natives of Hindostan, noi
only by the costume, but by their size and per
sonal appearance. After disposing of what they
bring, they then purchase Manchester cottons, 01
any goods that are in demand in their own
country; and they return in time to escape tin
hot season in the plains of India.
The Afghans are of course Mohammedans. Ther\ n
are a few Hindoos scattered through Cabul, who ^
live thus far out of Eindostan for the sake o?
business, which thrives under them, and they ge<
rich, and are often liable to being despoiled
by the Afghan authorities. I mentioi«ed the
Jewish features of the man who invited us into
the Khyber Pass, and this peculiarity of phyeica]
appearance is connected with one of the mosl
curious questions relative to the Afghans, which
is their tradition of an Israelitish descent. Thej
even call themselves the " Bani Israel," 01
children of Israel, and according to their own
histOMSs, they ai-e descended from Saul, the King
of Israel. In addition to this they have many
traditions which are common to Jews. They even
talk of their nation ws having once possessed the Ark
of the Covenant, made of Shemshed wood, anc
that it came from Adam in Paradise. They car
ried it into battle with them, and when it wenl
before them with a rushing sound they knew thai
victory was certain. The curious point is, that
although there are these Israelitish traditions aa
to origin, there is an almost total absence of the
Hebrew language, which is hard to explain if
they are really a portion of the Bani Israel. There
are a few words of a Hebrew character which ara
to be found all over the East, and of course these
words are in use in Afghanistan; but that is a dif
ferent thing from a nation giving up its language
altogether. As an instance, although they have
traditions of the Ark of the Covenant,
it is mentioned in their books in a dif
ferent name from that of the Hebrew.
The Hebrew word is Aron, and they know it as
the Taboot-i-Sakina, two terms so totally different
that they cannot be explained as having
changed from the one into the other. Now it ia
hard to suppose that such "a stiff-necked race aa
the Jews would have adopted a name from a
foreign and heathen tongue for their Sacred Ark,
We could suppose that after a long course of mix
ture with foreigners they lost their own language
and found another. There is at the same time some
confirmatory evidence in the number of Jewish
names which are to be found in Cabul. Tha
Yusui'-zais are the sons of Joseph; Ibrahim, for
Abraham; Yacoob, for Jacob, &c. Sulieman is a
common name, and it is the distinctive term given
to the prominent range of mountains along the
west bank of the Indus, out of which, near tha
centre of the range, there is a prominent peak,
known as the Tukht-i-Suleiman, or Throne of
Solomon. On this peak, which is not far from
Dera Ismael Khan, the Mohammedans believe that
Noah's Ark rested after the flood. Pilgrimages
are made to this, and on tl*e top they are admitted
to a place where they are allowed to touch
what they believe is a portion of the Ark,
which still remains, and they have a pro
found feeling of reverence for this sacred
relic. Many other details connected with this
subject could be given, but as the ten lost tribes
have been found in so many quarters of the globe
any particulars which would have a tendency to
place them in Cabul may only excite a feeling of
^ceptisism in the minds of the ordinary newspaper
reader. Colonel Edwardes, who was at one time
our Commissioner at Peshawer, if I mistake not,
came to the conclusion that the Afghans were
really the lost tribes, and I think he published a
book on the subject. I would not venture to endorse
this opinion regarding these people, but from what
I have heard—I think there must have been soma
intimate affinity between the races of Afghanistan
and' those of Palestine at some early date, a re
semblance which repeated inroads of the Turco
mans, and other Turanian races, has obliterated.
Let us hope by the time the war is over and the
affairs of Afghanistan are settled, we may get
something like reliable information on this head,
by which we may understand the matter. If war
is a curse there is at times some good which cornea
from it, and our modern wars generally bring
knowledge of the region to us as a slight recom
pense for many evils.