AFGHANS, in History, a people who inhabit a province in the northern parts of India, between the 30th and 35th degrees of latitude. Its length from north to south may be estimated at 350 miles, and its breadth at 300. Cabul and Candahar are the two principal divisions of the country; but many of the contiguous provinces have also been occasionally subject to their princes. It is probable that not one-fiftieth part of the country is under a state of permanent cultivation. Most of the genuine Afghan tribes are migratory, and dwell in tents, and subsist on the produce of their flocks. In the south, the country of the Afghans is a barren desert of sand: to the north of Cabul it is a savage and mountainous region. The central part, through which the rivers Cow and Cabul flow, is fertile. The population probably does not exceed three millions of all descriptions. The armies of the state are composed of a diversity of nations; but the best troops are drawn from the Afghan districts. Cavalry constitute their chief military strength; a serviceable horse in this country costing only about six pounds sterling. A corps of infantry, armed with matchlocks, composes also a part of the Afghan armies.
The Afghans have been sometimes described as Tartars; but they bear no resemblance to this people, either in person or language. They are hardy and robust; and being addicted to a state of predatory warfare, have a fixed contempt for the occupations of civil life. Bread, of wheat and barley, milk, butter, and cheese, compose their usual diet. Throughout Hindostan they are represented as ferocious, sanguinary, and treacherous; but their courage and military habits make them be sought after as soldiers by the native powers.
They boast of being descended of Saul the first king of Israel, and that their great ancestor was raised from the rank of a shepherd, not on account of his princely qualities, but because his stature was exactly equal to the length of a rod which the angel Gabriel had given to the prophet Samuel as the measure of the stature of him whom God had destined to fill the throne of Israel.
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The province which they occupy at present was formerly called Roh; and hence is derived the name of the Rohillas. The sects of the Afghans are very numerous, and they are Mussulmans, partly of the Sunni, and partly of the Schiek persuasion. They are divided into four classes. The first is the pure class, consisting of those whose fathers and mothers were Afghans. The second class consists of those whose fathers were Afghans and mothers of another nation. The third class contains those whose mothers were Afghans and fathers of another nation. The fourth class is composed of the children of women whose mothers were Afghans and fathers and husbands of a different nation. Persons who do not belong to one of these classes are not called Afghans.
Sir William Jones seems to have had no doubt but the Afghans are descendants of Israel. "We learn (says he) from Esdras, that the ten tribes, after a wandering journey, came to a country called Arsareth, where we
may suppose they settled: now the Afghans are said by the best Persian historians to be descended from the Jews. They have traditions among themselves of such a descent; and it is even asserted, that their families are distinguished by the names of Jewish tribes, although since their conversion to Islam, they studiously conceal their origin from all whom they admit not to their secrets. The Pushto language, of which I have seen a dictionary, has a manifest resemblance to the Chaldaic; and a considerable district under their dominion is called Hazareth or Hazaret, which might easily have been changed into the word used by Esdras. (Asiatic Researches.)