An extensive and powerful kingdom of Asia, which formed at one time a considerable portion of the Mogul empire. On the decline of that power, it rose to the rank of an independent state; and from its population and extent, and still more from the character of the people, who are brave, hardy, and enterprising, as well as from its commanding position in the heart of Asia, it soon acquired political importance, and has since acted a principal part in all the revolutions which have occurred either in Hindostan or in Persia.

It is only of late years that Europeans have obtained any authentic account of this interesting country. In 1783, Mr Foster, in the course of an overland journey from India, in which he was exposed to the greatest danger from the predatory habits and religious prejudices of the people, succeeded in penetrating into those mountainous regions. He visited the cities of Cabul and Candahar, respecting which his information is equally curious and instructive. A more complete and satisfactory account of Afghanistan is derived from the work of Mr Elphinstone, by whom it was visited in 1808. It was supposed that about this time the French were meditating an invasion of British India; and Afghanistan being in a manner one of the outworks of Hindostan through which an invading army must make its approaches on the north, it was judged necessary to apprize the sovereign of his danger, in order to secure his cooperation against the common enemy. With this view, a mission was sent to him by the British government, at the head of which was Mr Elphinstone, who, with the other members of the embassy, determined, with a laudable and enlightened zeal, to profit by so favourable an opportunity for collecting information. More recent travellers have contributed largely to the stock of materials previously existing, and by the aid of their interesting works, satisfactory and ample details may now be furnished respecting the geography and productions of the country, the manners of the people, and their condition, character, and habits.

The boundaries of Afghanistan have fluctuated with the vicissitudes of war from the middle of the tenth century, when the Turkish slave, Alptegin, first founded the dynasty of Ghuzni, to the date of the recent invasion of the country by the British. At the latter period the kingdom consisted of four subdivisions, Cabul, the Huzareh country, Candahar, and Herat. Taken in this extent, Afghanistan is bounded on the north by Bokhara, Kunduz, and Kaferistan; on the east by the British province of Peshawur and the Soliman range of mountains; on the south by Beloochistan, and on the west by Persia. Its greatest length from north to south is about 600 miles; its breadth measures about the same distance. The Afghans have no general name for their country but that of Afghanistan, which, Mr Elphinstone thinks, was probably first employed in Persia. It is frequently used in books, and is not unknown to the inhabitants. It is sometimes known under the appellation of the kingdom of Cabul.

Afghanistan to the west of the Soliman Mountains, which form its eastern barrier, may be described generally as a table-land, lying higher than most of the neighbouring plains, and countries. The Hindoo Khosh Mountains, its north-eastern rivers' bulwark, overlook the low country of Balk, the ancient Bactria, formerly a province of Persia. On the east it is equally elevated above the lower plains of the Indus. On the south it overlooks Sewestan; and on the south-west a deep valley runs between it and Beloochistan. It slopes gradually to the west, and loses the appearance of elevation as it approaches the Paropamisum Mountains. The mountainous chain of Hindoo Khosh is a continuation of the great Himalaya ridge, which it rivals in grandeur and elevation. From the elevated plains of Afghanistan these mountains are seen on the north in four distinct ranges. The first and lowest had no snow in February, when it was observed by Mr Elphinstone from the plain of Peshawur; but the tops of the second still had their winter covering, and the third had snow halfway down. The fourth and highest range is covered with snow at all seasons. It is of great elevation, some of its peaks rising, according to measurement, to the height of 20,493 feet, and is conspicuous from Bactria, from the borders of India, and from places in Tartary at the amazing distance of 250 miles. "The stupendous heights of these mountains," says Elphinstone, "the magnificence and variety of their lofty summits, the various nations by whom they are seen, and who seem to be brought together by this common object, and the awful and undisturbed solitude which reigns amid their eternal snows, fill the mind with an admiration and astonishment which no language can express." The inferior ranges of the Hindoo Khosh Mountains decrease in height according to their distance from the principal chain. The title of table-land, which has been applied to Afghanistan, if it be understood to imply anything more than that it is raised above the level of the surrounding regions, will convey a very inaccurate idea of the nature of the country, which, so far from being a plain, is of the most diversified surface, being intersected everywhere with chains of mountains, which diverge in various directions from the main ridge of Hindoo Khosh. We will not enter into any detailed description of this complicated mass of mountains, which, however accurate, would fail to present any very clear view of the topography of the country. It may be generally stated, that the ridges branch off southward, not exactly at right angles from the main ridge, but in irregular lines, to the distance of 60 or 70 miles, when they decline to a lower level; and that those ridges are separated by intervening valleys, each of which is watered by a river flowing down the southern declivity of the Hindoo Khosh Mountains into the Cabul, which, after an easterly course along the base of the mountains of about 350 miles, joins the great Indus. These valleys or glens all open from the south into the great valley of Cabul; and the country is described as being fertile, and of a pleasing appearance. On the lower hills by which the valleys are closed in, the snow generally lies for four months in the year; there are few trees on the tops, but their sides are covered with forests of pine, oak, and wild olive. Lower down, the country improves, and is interspersed with many little valleys, watered by clear and beautiful streams, and enjoying a delicious climate, under which European fruits and flowers grow wild in the utmost variety and perfection; and even the rocks add to the beauty of the scenery, from the rich verdure of mosses with which they are covered. The narrow and alluvial plain at the bottom, through which the river runs, is in general highly productive. The valleys yield two harvests, and produce most sorts of grain; and on the plains are numerous mulberry trees and planes, besides other fruit-trees improved by culture.

An immense curve or angle projects southward from the mountain barrier to the north eastern frontier of the country, when the snowy mountain abruptly descends into the low and hot plain of Jellalabad. The range then resumes its westerly course, when lower hills assume their former appearance and character, and form the Cobistan or high lands of Cabul, a country watered by the river of this name and its tributary streams, and described as fruitful and of a delightful aspect. Thirty miles south of Jellalabad the aspect of the country is varied by the range of the Soliman Mountains, which, commencing with Suffaid Coh, or the White Mountain, so called from the snow with which it is covered at all seasons, extend south-south-west almost parallel to the course of the Indus. These mountains decline towards the west by lower ridges, which run nearly in the same direction as the main ridge; while other ridges branch off eastward toward Afghanistan. The height of these mountains is greatly inferior to that of the Hindoo Khosh; but it is still great, as they are covered with snow to the end of spring, which, in the latitude of 31 degrees, gives a considerable altitude. Beyond the Soliman ridges on the west, the country consists for the most part of high and bleak downs, interspersed with moderate hills; in some places desert and ill cultivated, bare and open, better fitted for pasturage than for the plough, and inhabited by migratory tribes of shepherds. There are exceptions, however, to this general description. In the country which is watered by the Helmund and its tributary streams are found many fertile and delightful spots, which afford pleasant retreats to the shepherds, and pasturage to their flocks. The country round Candahar is fertile and highly cultivated; but to the south and especially as it recedes west from the Helmund, it is a complete desert.

Afghanistan has few large rivers for a country of such extent, and so interspersed with mountains; and of these there is not one which is not fordable throughout its course for the greater part of the year. They partake generally of the character of mountain torrents, swelling rapidly, and running off; or they are sometimes all drained away for the irrigation of the fields. All the rivers of this country which take their rise in the Hindoo Khosh Mountains are feeders of the Cabul, which drains the waters falling on the southern declivity of that range, and conveys them to the Indus. The most important tributary of the Cabul is the Kooner. Lower down the country is traversed in an easterly direction by the Koorum, a tributary of the Indus; and the only river south of this which runs into the Indus is the Gomul, which, however, unless when swollen by the rains, never reaches its destination, being generally consumed in the irrigation of the country. The greatest of the rivers which run through the rest of Afghanistan is the Helmund. This river is the drain of that extensive slope which lies between the Soliman and the Paropamisan Mountains. It has its rise in the latter, and running a south-west course of 550 miles, terminates in the Lake Hamoon. The Urgundauda rises 130 miles north-east of Candahar, and after passing within a few miles of that city, joins the Helmund. It is never more than 150 yards broad. The Kashrood, after a course of 150 miles, falls into the Lake Hamoon; as does also the Farrabrood, after a course of about 60 miles. The Turunk is a tributary of the Urgundauda, which it joins about 25 miles south-west of Candahar. It is a rapid torrent and receives the Doree and other smaller rivers. Notwithstanding these additions, its stream rather decreases, being consumed in the irrigation of the country, or in the parched and barren sands through which it passes. The Lora, which rises in the south of Afghanistan, has a western course of 80 miles, when it disappears in the sands of the desert.

The climate of Afghanistan is extremely various, owing to the height and inequality of its surface. According to its latitude, which is between the 28th and 37th degrees, it should have a decidedly hot temperature; but the general law of climate is here modified by the elevation of the ground, and great diversities of heat and cold are accordingly experienced within a very limited space. The mountainous nature of the country also occasions peculiarities in its climate, and distinguishes it in some degree from that of the adjacent regions. In almost all the countries of Asia within the same latitude as Afghanistan, one important circumstance in their climate is the season and quantity of the periodical rains. Throughout the greater part of India the rainy season is ushered in by the south-west monsoon, which drives the rolling clouds from the ocean on the land, where they descend in rains. The monsoon is earlier in the south of India, and in the vicinity of the ocean, than in the north, and Afghanistan: the rains are heavier. In many cases the opposition of mountains in the interior either arrests entirely the progress of the clouds, or it varies their direction; and hence large tracts of country are exempted from, or only partially experience, the influence of the monsoons. Before they make their way from the Indian Ocean to Afghanistan, these periodical tempests are greatly moderated, having to traverse the whole extent of Bengal in their progress to the Himalaya Mountains, when they are forced by this impassable barrier out of their original course towards the north-west by the range of Hindoo Khosh; and it is from that quarter that such parts of Afghanistan as are exposed to the monsoon receive the periodical rains. But the clouds are exhausted as they pass on westward to this country, the rains gradually become less heavy, and are at last merely sufficient to water the mountains, without much affecting the plains below. In some of the valleys to the south, the monsoon appears only in some clouds and showers: it is still less felt in the valley of the Kabul river, the passing clouds being opposed by the southern projection of the Hindoo Khosh Mountains and the Soliman range. Besides the partial influence of the south-west monsoons to which the north-eastern provinces of Afghanistan are exposed, it has the winter and the spring rains, which are of great consequence to agriculture in all those countries between the Indus and the Hellespont which are not subjected to the full effect of the south-west monsoon.

The temperature of Afghanistan varies of course with the difference of level, and also from local causes. It is affected by the direction of the prevailing winds, some blowing over snowy mountains, others being heated in summer and rendered cold in winter by their passage over deserts and arid tracts of great extent. The heat of summer is refreshed in some places by the breezes from moister countries, and others are so environed with hills as to be sheltered from all winds. Thus, throughout this extensive country, great diversity of temperature takes place often within very short distances. In the Hindoo Khosh Mountains perpetual winter reigns, and among the lower ranges snow frequently lies for four months in the year. In the plain of Peshawur, which is within view of these snowy summits, the thermometer in summer rises as high as in the hottest parts of India. It is mentioned by Mr Elphinstone, that in a tent artificially cooled, the thermometer stood for several days of summer at $112^\circ$ and $113^\circ$ in the shade. But the heat is not so uniform, nor does it last so long, as that of an Indian summer. At intervals in June and July cold north-west winds set in, which refresh the air, and render it pleasant. The last half of September is so cold as to be counted among the winter months, and the cold continues to increase till February. But the winter is not severe; and though there is frost in the night, it is always dispelled during the day by the influence of the sun. The temperature of the different valleys depending in this manner on their respective levels, they frequently exhibit the most remarkable contrasts of heat and cold. The plain of Jellalabad during summer is intolerably hot, while to the south, and immediately above it, the mountain of Sufaid Koh lifts its snowy summit to the clouds. To the north the nearest hills are cold; and in the distance the Hindoo Khosh Mountains are seen skirting the horizon with a bright outline of perpetual snow, while the table-land of Kabul, immediately to the west, enjoys the coolness and verdure of a temperate summer. Among the Soliman Mountains, the higher countries are exposed to severe cold; but there are some of the lower valleys on the western plains where the heat predominates, and they are accordingly deserted in the summer by the wandering shepherds, for the cool retreat and grassy valleys of the mountains. At Candahar the heat of summer is excessive, and is occasionally aggravated by the simoon winds. In proceeding north-east, however, from Candahar, along the course of the Helmund and its tributary streams, we reach elevated ground, where the cold is excessive, and where winter is experienced in all its severity. If we ascend the course of the Turmak, and thence proceed onward to Ghuzni, we find the snow lying deep for some time after the equinox, and so thick a covering of ice on the rivers as to afford a passage for camels. At Kabul the winter is more steady and severe than in England, while the summer heat is greater. The great difference between the seasons, and the quickness with which they change, are marked by the changes which take place in the dress of the inhabitants. In winter they wear woollen garments, and in some places clothes of felt, and over these a large great-coat of well-tanned sheep-skin with the long shaggy wool inside. With the vernal equinox the snow disappears, the country is covered with young grass, the buds burst forth, and are soon followed by a profusion of flowers; and the inhabitants change their winter dress for a thin one of chintz or cotton, and frequently sleep at night under trees in the open air. The prevailing winds throughout Afghanistan are from the west, and they are generally cold; while the easterly wind is hot, and brings clouds. On the whole, the climate of this extensive country seems little subject to rains, clouds, or fogs; and judging from the size and strength of the inhabitants, it must be considered salubrious. Some fatal diseases are, however, common; such as fevers and agues, which prevail in autumn and in spring; and the small-pox still carries off many persons, though the practice of inoculation has long been introduced.

Afghanistan abounds in wild animals, which find ample range in the extensive forests and large tracts of unfrequented deserts which it contains. The lion, however, though so common in Persia, and though it has been lately found in such numbers in Guzerat, and in the Huriana, north-west of Delhi, is rare. In the hilly country around Kabul there is a small animal which bears the name without any of the qualities of the lion. Tigers and leopards are to be found in most of the woody tracts of the country. Wolves, hyenas, jackals, foxes, hares, porcupines, and hedgehogs, are to be seen everywhere. The wolves are formidable during the winter in the cold parts, where they assemble in troops, destroying cattle, and frequently attacking men. The hyenas sometimes attack a bullock singly, and, as well as the wolves, they make great havoc among the sheep. Bears of two kinds, the one the black bear of India, and the other of a dirty white, are quite common in all the woody mountains; but they rarely leave their haunts, except when they are tempted by the sugar-cane. There are also ichneumons, ferrets, and wild dogs. Monkeys are common in the north-eastern parts. The wild boars of Persia and India are seldom seen; and the wild ass is confined to the south-western districts, on the lower Helmund, and to the sandy country round Candahar. The mountains abound with many kinds of deer, including the elk; but the antelope is rare, and confined to the plains. A species of deer is seen, which is remarkable for the size of its horns, and the strong but not disagreeable smell of its body. The chiefs are in possession of a few elephants; but neither that animal nor the rhinoceros is to be found wild in any part of the country.

Among the domestic animals is the horse, a considerable number of which are bred in the Afghan dominions; and those bred near Herat are very fine, uniting the figure of the Arab horse with superior size. In general, however, the breed of Afghan horses is not good. There is a very strong and useful breed of ponies. On the other hand, the mules and asses are the most wretched that can be conceived. The camel is the animal most employed in carrying burdens. The dromedary, the tall long-legged animal common in India, is found all over the plains. The Bactrian camel, with two distinct humps, which is lower than the other by one-third, but stout, and covered with shaggy black hair, is much more rare, and is brought from the country beyond the Jaxartes. Buffaloes are to be found in many parts; and oxen are universally employed in the plough, and sometimes camels. They are not reared in the country, but are imported from the Rajpoot States, where they are the best in India. The sheep forms the principal stock of the pastoral tribes: it is remarkable for a tail about a foot in breadth, and consisting almost entirely of fat; in other respects it resembles the English sheep. The goat abounds in all the mountains, and is not scarce in the plains. Some of the breeds have remarkably long and curiously twisted horns.

The pastoral tribes in the country, who are extremely fond of hunting, breed great numbers of excellent greyhounds, and even pointers, resembling those in England both in shape and quality. There is a breed of long-haired cats in great esteem, and of which great numbers are exported.

Of the birds, there are three sorts of eagles, and many kinds of hawks; namely, the gentle falcon, a large grey short-winged bird; the gos-hawk; the shahineeh, which soars over the falconer's head, and strikes the quarry as it rises; and the chirk, which is trained to strike the antelope, and, by fastening on its head, to retard its flight till the greyhounds come up. The other birds are, herons, cranes, storks, wild ducks, geese, swans, partridges, quails, and a bird known in Europe under the name of the Greek partridge. There is another smaller bird resembling it, which is found nowhere except in Afghanistan. Pigeons, doves, crows, and sparrows, are common in all countries. Cuckoos, which are rare, and magpies, which are unknown in India, abound in the colder climate of those northern mountains; while peacocks, so commonly found wild in India, are here seen only in their domesticated state. Parrots make their appearance in the eastern provinces near the Indus.

The country is not infested with venomous reptiles. The snakes are mostly harmless. There are no crocodiles, but there are turtles, as well as tortoises. In Khorassan, great flights of locusts have sometimes occasioned famine by their devastations, though this rarely occurs. Mosquitoes are less troublesome than in India, except in the southern district of Seistan, where they bite as severely as in Bengal.

In most parts of Afghanistan there are two harvests, one in spring and the other in autumn. The former is the more important. The produce of the first, which is sown in autumn and reaped in spring, is wheat, barley, peas, beans, and other grains; that of the second, sown in the end of spring and reaped in autumn, is rice, Indian corn, and various kinds of pulse. Cotton is confined to the hot climates, and sugar is cultivated in some of the rich plains. Tobacco is produced in most parts. There is another distinct harvest, which is counted of great importance, of musk-melons, water-melons, the scented melon, and various sorts of cucumbers, pumpkins, and gourds, which are grown in the open fields. All common garden-stuffs are abundant, such as carrots, turnips, beetroot, lettuce, onions, garlic, spinach, greens of all kinds, cabbages, cauliflowers, and many of the Indian vegetables. The castor oil plant is found everywhere. Madder abounds over all the western provinces, and the assafetida plant in the hills. In the west, lucerne and a sort of trefoil are among the most important products of husbandry. Of the fruits and trees which abound in tropical countries, none are to be found; but almost all the European trees and fruits are indigenous in the congenial climate of those elevated regions. They are frequently found growing wild in different parts of the country, and are still more common in gardens and orchards. The most common trees in the mountains are pines, oaks, cedars, a sort of gigantic cypress, the Afghaniswalnut and the wild olive tree, the birch, the holly, and the hazel. In Hindoo Khosh the pistachio tree grows wild; and on the plains are the mulberry, the tamarisk, and the willow; also the plane and the poplar. English flowers, such as roses, jessamines, poppies, narcissuses, and hyacinths, are found in the gardens, and often in a wild state.

Of the minerals produced in the country little is known. Gold is said to be washed down the streams that flow from the Hindoo Khosh Mountains. Small quantities of silver are found in Kaferistan; also lead, copper, iron, and antimony, in different parts; sulphur and rock-salt in the salt range of mountains, and saltpetre everywhere in the soil.

The political institutions of the Afghans present the rude Government and disjointed materials of a free constitution. The form of the government is patriarchal. The nation is supposed to derive its origin from four tribes, which are divided and subdivided into inferior clans, until the last subdivision does not include more than a few families. The chief of a tribe is called Khan. The head of one of the inferior divisions owes his choice to the people. Each inferior division of the tribe has its respective head; and in cases of emergency these all meet together and form a general assembly, called a Jeerga, which, with the khan presiding over it, deliberates and decides in all matters of public importance. The heads of the inferior branches of the tribe hold similar assemblies, which decide on minor matters, and are guided by the same rules as the greater convention. When wars arise among the different tribes, it is the business of the assemblies to provide the means of carrying them on, to concert the plan of operations, or to settle the terms of peace. They have the power, along with the khan, to call out all the fighting men of the tribe, or they may levy taxes for any purpose of public utility. There is scarcely a petty community throughout the nation which does not make its own arrangements for the support of moollahs, an order of Mahometan priests, and for the maintenance and reception of strangers into the tribe, whom it is always reckoned a duty to treat with peculiar attention.

The Afghan nation consists in this manner of numerous rude democracies, which were subjected for many years to one paramount sovereign, who exercised a general superintendence over the whole kingdom, and could levy troops or money from each tribe for the common defence. But the authority of the sovereign was not equally respected by all the tribes. In the plains around the towns, throughout a considerable portion of the country, and in all the foreign provinces, he ruled with full power, and collected a revenue and maintained an army without the aid of the khans or the popular assemblies. He employed for this purpose officers of his own appointment, namely, a haukim, to collect the revenue and command the militia; a sirdar, who commanded the regular troops, and whose duty it was to enforce submission to the haukim, and to the cauzy, who presided over the administration of justice. The heads of tribes, and under them the heads of the divisions of tribes, acted in the revenue and police departments, under the haukim and the sirdar. Where the royal authority was strong, the khans had comparatively little influence; but, on the other hand, where weak, it was frequently resisted by the powerful influence of the khans, who form the aristocracy of the land, as their authority was also resisted by the inferior assemblies; and it sometimes happened that those assemblies differed with each other about the limits of their own powers; and hence the democratic tribes are often involved in dissension by this complicated collision of rival authorities. In the concerns of some of the tribes the king never interfered; he merely levied supplies of money for the public service, which, notwithstanding the presence of one of the royal sirdars, were Afghanistan frequently withheld or granted, according to the discretion of the khan; and in like manner the khan and the cunzy contended with more or less success, according to the state of the king's authority, for the exercise of the judicial power. Under Nadir Shah, and the earliest of the Dourance emperors, the kingdom of Afghanistan comprehended Cashmere, together with the whole extent of territory stretching westward of the Indus, and its tributaries, to the mountains; but during the distraction of the country, the Punjab and Scinde, together with the other districts of this tract, aspired to independence, and the limits of Afghanistan, for several years past, have been contracted within the boundary of the Soliman range of mountains.

The government of the Afghans, though it contains in this manner the elements of freedom, fails entirely in the great end of securing to the community the blessings of good order and peace. The people are bold and independent, and spurn the restraints of law. Among such a variety of independent communities, imperfectly controlled by superior authority, wars arise, which are waged with great fierceness, and in which the tumultuary militia of the tribes frequently come to blows, and waste each other's territories. Private revenge, also, though prohibited by the laws, is sanctioned by manners; it is accordingly practised by all classes, and is accounted the unalienable right of every freeman. Hence family feuds arise, which are not only carried on with bitterness at the time, but being transmitted from generation to generation, produce a long-continued course of violence and bloodshed. Afghanistan, with its bold and turbulent aristocracy, and the rude independence of its peoples presents a lively picture of the state of society in Europe under the feudal system, when every potent baron could defy the authority of the crown, and when, owing to the private feuds of the nobles, the whole country was frequently one general scene of rude commotion. But the liberty of the Afghans, notwithstanding all its disadvantages, is preferable to a state of despotism. The rude and stormy independence which they enjoy is calculated to give to the national character a manly and heroic cast, to inspire the Afghan with proud and elevated sentiments, and to raise him, in point of courage and intelligence, far above the wretched slaves of Asiatic despotism. The Afghan himself, far from desiring to exchange his disorderly independence for the peace of tyranny, glories in the freedom of his institutions; and it is well observed by Elphinstone, that a European visiting the country, however he might lament that the inhabitants were "trained by their unhappy situation to fraud and malice, to rapine, deceit, and revenge, yet let scarce fail to admire their martial and lofty spirit, their hospitality, and their bold and simple manners, equally removed from the supineness of the citizen, and the awkward rusticity of the clown;" and he would probably before long discover, among so many qualities that excited his disgust, the rudiments of many virtues."

The judicial institutions of the Afghans are rude and imperfect. There are no regular tribunals of justice, nor any organized systems of police. The popular assemblies of the tribes, composed of khans, mullikas, or elders, assisted by moolahs, and even by grave and experienced persons of inferior rank, discharge the functions of judges in criminal cases. Petty offences are settled by the elders of the village in which they occur; and in loosely governed tribes, every village or subdivision acts for itself. When the members are assembled, they hear the accuser's story; and after examining witnesses and other evidence, they proceed to give judgment. The right of private revenge, which is congenial to the habits of a barbarous nation, is but feebly restrained by the judicial tribunals. Among several tribes the adjustment of disputes is attempted by mediation and persuasion, to which the chief and the elders lend their influence. But Afghanistan; notwithstanding this mediation, the aggressor refuses compensation, and the injured party to forgive, the latter is no longer restrained from pursuing his revenge. Among some tribes the obstinate party is compelled to yield obedience to the award of the court. The general law of the country is that of Mahomet; but there is the code of Poushtoon-Wallee, or the peculiar usages of the Afghans, which has all the force of law. In towns justice is administered by the cunzy, who decides both in civil and in criminal cases, aided by the mootees. There is an officer named Ameen Mehkench, who takes charge of all deposits; and the Darogha of the Adawlut superintends the whole proceedings. There are also three officers who superintend the police of the towns. But in the judicial as well as the police departments the greatest abuses are said to prevail, and justice is frequently sold to the highest bidder.

The Afghans are strict Mahometans, and the moolahs or Manners of priests have great influence over them. They are looked upon with extraordinary reverence. They frequently gratify their private enemies by raising a charge of heresy against obnoxious individuals, and exposing them to persecution. In the remote districts of the country an insult to any of those personages would of itself be sufficient to raise a tumult. Being intrusted with the education of youth, the practice of the law, and the administration of justice, and in possession of all the learning and science which are to be found in the country, they take the lead in popular assemblies, or in judicial proceedings, and are frequently of use in moderating the violence of an ignorant people. In some circumstances they are enabled, by their superior knowledge and habits of business, to exercise an almost unlimited influence over individuals, and even over bodies of men; to check and control the governors and other civil officers; and sometimes even to overawe and control the power of the khan himself. These priests are generally taught to read the Persian classics and the Arabic grammar, which they study diligently. They afterwards repair to Bokhara, or Peshawur, or some other seat of Mahometan learning, where they are initiated in logic, law, theology, and the system of physics known in the East, as well as in history, poetry, and medicine, which last is a favourite study. The moolahs are not so intolerant as Mahometans generally are; and the people, when they are not instigated by them, are still less disposed to religious persecution. The Hindoos in Afghanistan are allowed the free exercise of their religion, though they are prohibited from all religious processions or public exposure of their idols. But among so rude a people dissenters from the popular creed can have little security for their freedom; and among the Afghans, accordingly, there are not wanting some cruel examples of religious tyranny. Yet the Hindoos, though they are held to be impure, and though no strict man would consent to eat meat of their dressing, are employed in public situations of trust and emolument, and appear to enjoy as much security as the other inhabitants. All the Afghans are sent in their infancy to a moolah for education, by whom they are frequently taught nothing more than some prayers and passages of the Koran, and the ceremonies of their religion. A great portion of them remain consequently in a state of ignorance, and cannot read their own language. The rich maintain moolahs in their own houses, to teach their children, some of whom are taught to read the Persian classics and the Arabic. The Afghans have no literature of their own beyond a few patriotic songs or tales of love, of which passion they speak in the most romantic strain. The Mahometan religion exercises, as usual, its injurious influence on the character and condition of the women, who, especially among the higher classes, are shrouded in concealment. Polygamy is allowed, and any woman may be divorced at the caprice of her husband. Among the lower classes the women are more freely exposed, and do all the drudgery of the house, being forced to bring in water, and, among the ruder tribes, to do the work of the men out of doors. Slavery is allowed, as in all Mahometan countries. The greater part of the slaves are born at home; but supplies are received of Abyssinians, and negroes from Arabia; and of Persians from the inhabitants of Beloochistan, who seize them in their forays. Kaufirs are purchased from their own nation, or carried off by some of their own border tribes. These last are generally women, who are in great request on account of their beauty.

The low state of knowledge among the Afghans is evinced by some of their favourite studies and amusements. They are greatly addicted to alchemy and to magic; they have implicit faith in ghosts, in dreams, in the arts of divination, the power of talismans, and in the possibility of controlling genii and demons. Grown up men play at marbles. Prisoners base, quoits, and a game like hunt the slipper, are also common; as are wrestling and other trials of strength and skill. Fighting quails, cocks, dogs, rams, and even camels, are much admired. Some of their sports are, however, more manly. The chase is the favourite amusement of all classes, for which the abundance of game in the country affords ample scope. Horse-racing is common. An amusement of the better classes is to tilt with their lances, or to shoot at a mark with carbines or matchlocks on horseback; or with guns or bows and arrows on foot. They also practise a complicated sort of dance, which gives them great delight.

The Afghan women are described as large compared with those of India, and very fair and handsome. The men are all of a robust make, and are generally lean, though bony and muscular; and with high noses, high cheek-bones, and long faces. Their hair is always coarse and strong, and they wear long and thick beards, which are generally black or brown, but rarely red. There is an expression of manliness and deliberation in their countenance, joined to an air of simplicity, not allied to weakness. The eastern Afghans have the natural features most strongly marked. Those of the western tribes are less distinct, and exhibit a greater variety of countenance, some of their features being the reverse of sharp, though their high cheek-bones never leave them. The western Afghans are larger and stouter than those of the east, some being of surprising strength and stature; but in general the Afghans are not so tall as the English. The eastern Afghans, owing to the heat of their climate, have generally dark complexions, approaching to that of the natives of Hindostan; while those of the west are olive, with a healthy colour and appearance. But among them, as among the eastern Afghans, are to be found men of swarthy complexions like the natives of India; and others, again, as fair as Europeans. In the east, however, it is more common for the complexion to have a swarthy tinge than in the west. But the two races, the eastern and the western, are distinguished by still more striking peculiarities in their manners than in their complexion. Having derived their civilisation from the Persians and Indians, they each retain the usages of the respective nations with whom they have been connected. The Persian dress, language, and manners, distinguish the western tribes; and from the supremacy which two of these, particularly that of Dooranee, have at times maintained over the whole, they decidedly prevail in the nation, and are even recognised where the Indian customs are more in repute. The manners of the Afghans are frank and open; sometimes rustic, but seldom fierce or insolent, except among the eastern tribe of the Ensofyzes, who have naturally an arrogant carriage. In the towns they are more polished than in the country, and are accustomed to pay respect to their superiors. In all cases Afghans show a great reverence for old age. They are altogether a superior people to the Hindostanese, being free from their puerility, and from the apathy which they display in all matters not bearing on their own interest; nor are they delighted with the baubles which form the most acceptable presents in India. The bulk of the people are rather remarkable for prudence, observation, and, though not very enlightened or enlarged in their views, for a rational spirit of inquiry. Though they have not the same regard to truth as the Europeans, they do not indulge in the practice of gratuitous falsehood, to which the natives of Hindostan and Persia are universally addicted. From the nature of their country, which admits of no travelling except on horseback, they are insured to cold and heat, and to the exertion of making long journeys, of climbing mountains, and of swimming across rapid torrents. Old men who seem hardly able to sit on horseback, will ride at a good pace up and down the steepest and roughest passes, or along the edge of precipices, where it is even dangerous to walk. They are hospitable to strangers under certain circumstances; but they are notorious freebooters, especially the mountain tribes, and plunder travellers without scruple.

The inhabitants of the towns differ in their origin and character from the cultivators and peasantry. The greater part of them in the western country consists of a race called Taujiks, originally descended from the Arabs and Persians; and in the east, of Hindikies, who are of Indian origin. No Afghan ever keeps a shop, or exercises any handicraft trade. Those employments are chiefly left to the classes mentioned above, and to the Persians, some of whom have acquired great wealth. The banking business is chiefly prosecuted by the Hindoos. They lend money at an enormous interest by negotiating bills of exchange; and they occasionally accommodate government with loans, for which they receive bills on the revenues of the provinces. Many of them are rich, and they conceal their wealth. Mr Elphinstone relates, that one of them, who gave him cash for bills on India, would only make his payments in the dead of night, when he dug up the money, and paid it with the utmost secrecy. There is a very strict police in the towns, which being exercised by the Mahometan priests, often affords pretexts for extortion. The food of the common people is leavened bread, rice, flesh, vegetables, sometimes cheese, and always dried curds, of which all classes are fond. Provisions are cheap, and there is a prodigious abundance of fruit.

In an inland country such as Afghanistan, mountainous, destitute of navigable rivers or of proper roads, commerce is carried on entirely by beasts of burden. There are no wheeled carriages, and camels are the animals chiefly employed. The merchants travel at the rate of about 8 or 10 miles a day in large caravans, the roads often lying through close and craggy defiles, and narrow stony valleys, among bare mountains, or along the beds of torrents, or over waste plains, where there is neither water nor provisions. The principal trade is with India, Persia, and Chinese and Independent Tartary. The caravans which set out for Tartary consist of horses or ponies, which are alone able to traverse the mountainous roads that lie in one part over the snowy ridges of Hindoo Khosh. Cahul is the great mart of Independent Tartary, Candahar and Herat that of Persia. The trade carried on by sea comes to Kurrachee, and thence to Shikarpoo and Candahar. The exports to Hindostan, which form by far the most considerable trade carried on by the Afghans, consist of horses and ponies, which chiefly come from Balkh on the northern side of the Hindoo Khosh Mountains, and fruits. The imports are coarse cotton cloths, which are worn by all the common people of the country; muslins, silken cloth, brocade, indigo in great quantities, Afghanistan: ivory, chalk, bamboos, wax, tin, sandal wood, sugar, musk, coral, drugs, and spices of all kinds. To Independent Tartary the exports are chiefly white cloth, shawls, Indian turbans, chintz, and indigo previously imported from India. The imports are horses, gold, and silver; the latter consisting of the gold coin of Bokhara, Dutch ducats, Venetian sequins, and ingots of silver from China; cochineal, cloth, British hardware, looking glasses, Russian leather from Bokhara, to which place they come from Russia; also a fine cloth made of camels' wool. The exports to Persia are shawls and shawl goods, indigo, carpets of Herat, chintz, Indian brocades, muslins, and other cotton cloths. The imports are raw silk, silken stuffs, a coloured cotton manufacture, and silken manufactures, which are used in large quantities by all ranks; embroidered satin, velvet, and Persian brocade, which are confined to the rich. Indian chintz, manufactured at Masulipatam on the Coromandel coast, comes by sea to Busheer in the Persian Gulf; and is thence brought by land to Afghanistan, where it is much used. The exports to Chinese Tartary are the same as to Bokhara. The imports are woollens, Chinese silk and satin, tea in small boxes of thin lead, china, porcelain, raw silk, cochineal, crystal, gold dust, and ingots of gold and silver with the Chinese stamp.

There are five classes of cultivators in Afghanistan: 1. the proprietors, who cultivate their own lands; 2. tenants, who pay a rent in money, or in part of the produce; 3. bazaars, who, like the metayers, are supplied with seed, cattle, the implements of husbandry, and furnish only their labour; 4. hired labourers; and, 5. villains, who are the property of the landlord. From the influence of various causes, landed property is more equally divided than in most countries. The Mahometan law, which divides the father's property equally among his children, soon breaks down the largest landed estates; and rendering the portions too small for the support of their proprietors, they are consequently sold to those who have acquired wealth in public employments, or by agriculture or commerce. Hence small proprietors, who cultivate their own lands either with the aid of their families or labourers, are numerous. The number of tenants is not great; and many of these sublet it to others, who let it to metayers. The common term of a lease is one or two years; the longest is for five. The rent varies from one-tenth to two-thirds of the produce, the latter being the rent of the fertile lands around Cabul. The value of land is from nine to twelve years' rent. Labourers in husbandry are paid by the season.

The Afghan nation is divided into a variety of clans, which we cannot even enumerate; nor does it appear to be necessary, since a mere list of names, even if it were given, would throw no light whatever on the peculiar character and manners of the different tribes. One important distinction, however, divides the community into two great classes; namely, the pastoral tribes, who live in tents, and who migrate with the seasons in quest of subsistence for their flocks and herds; and those again who follow agriculture, and have fixed habitations. The country of Afghanistan which is near the hills consists of flat and low-lying plains, or of strongly-marked ranges of mountains. Western Afghanistan has an entirely opposite character, consisting of extensive and open plains, inhabited chiefly by pastoral tribes. These wandering hordes select the grassy valleys among the mountains for their summer habitation; but the approach of winter warns them to go in quest of more genial regions; and they accordingly migrate, some to the lower valleys at the foot of the Paropamisan Mountains, some to the low countries in the south, and others of the more purely pastoral tribes, wandering from the mountain valleys of Khorassan, along the course of the Gomul, and across the Soliman hills, fix their winter habitations in the plains of Damaun, along the western shores of the Indus. The Dooranmee form one of the greatest pastoral tribes. It consists of many subordinate tribes, all of whom are more or less addicted to the wandering life; though a considerable proportion combine agriculture with pasturage, and have fixed residences. The pastoral part of the Dooranmee people are mostly to be found in the eastern hilly tracts near the frontiers of Persia, between Herat and Seistan, and in the waste plains of the south. To the south-east of Candahar the inhabitants are shepherds; in other parts of the country the husbandmen and shepherds are intermixed. North of Candahar, the migrating tribes seek the plains in winter and the hills in summer. Those to the south retire from the summer heat to the northern hills. The numerous tribes still farther south beyond the Helmund also quit the plains, which are thus left with scarcely a single inhabitant before the middle of spring. There are some tribes, such as the Naussers, who are purely pastoral in their habits, who live in tents, and have no fixed dwelling-place, and who regularly wander with the change of the season from their winter to their summer habitations. As they approach the populous parts of the country, they have to make their way through hostile tribes, who beset them in the mountain passes, and either attack the main body or cut off the stragglers. Hence they are compelled to adopt the strictest precautions. Scouts are planted on all sides, the flanks and rear are protected by armed bands, and the main body advances with all the caution and exact discipline of a regular army. These shepherds are all plunderers; and no single travellers, if they be rich, are safe in any part of the country. They are fierce and warlike in their actions, and enterprising in their habits; yet are they capable of strong attachments, and are keenly alive to the force of social and domestic ties. In distant countries they dwell with the fondest enthusiasm on the valleys of their native land, on the varieties of its scenery, on the beauties and delights of spring, and on all the pleasing vicissitudes of their wandering life; and it is seldom that they quit their own happy abodes for foreign adventures. Their camps usually consist of from ten to fifty tents. One hundred is an unusually large number. The tent is formed of coarse black camelot, and affords excellent shelter from the weather, the threads of the blanket swelling as soon as they become wet; so that its texture, naturally close, is rendered quite impervious to rain. The tents of the common people are from 20 to 25 feet long, 10 or 12 feet broad, and 8 or 9 feet high. The tents of the khan are of a superior description, being large enough to contain a numerous assembly, and so high as easily to admit a camel.

Mr Elphinstone estimates the population at 14,000,000, Popula- to which he supposes that the different natives who inhab- bit the country contribute in the following proportions: Afghans, 4,300,000; Beloochees, 1,000,000; Tartars of all descriptions, 1,200,000; Persians, including Taujiks, 1,500,000; Indians, Cashmeres, &c. 5,700,000; miscella- neous, 300,000.

It must be borne in mind, however, that this estimate applies to a period antecedent to the dismemberment of the kingdom of Cabul, and when Cashmere and Scinde, with Lahore, Moultan, and other populous provinces, ac- knowledged the supremacy of its ruler. Looking to the boundaries by which Afghanistan is now circumscribed, and to the character of the country, which is for the most part rugged and ill cultivated, we shall in all probability be nearer the truth, by reducing the estimate of its population to five millions of inhabitants.

The Afghans, like most barbarous nations, derive their origin from high antiquity. They claim their descent from Afghan, the son of Irnia or Birkia, son of Saul, king of Afghanistan: but this is a vain tradition, unsupported by the slightest historical evidence. The first account we have of them is in the 9th century, when they were established in the northeastern mountains of Afghanistan.

In 997 Afghanistan was conquered by a Tartar officer, Sebuctaghi, who, marrying the daughter of Alptegin, the founder of the dynasty of Ghuzni, had been acknowledged as his successor. His son Mahmood greatly enlarged the limits of his empire, which extended over the present kingdom of Cabul, India, Balkh, Badakshan, and a great part of Khorassan. His dynasty lasted till the year 1159, from which period the house of Ghor reigned in Afghanistan till the death of Shahabadin in 1206. The country was afterwards subdued by Ghengis Khan and Tamerlane; and during their government, and that of their descendants, the native Afghans appear to have maintained their independence in the mountains. Baber, the descendant of Tamerlane, began his career by the conquest of Cabul in 1504, and extending his conquests to India, established the Mogul empire of Delhi, from the ruins of which all the existing states in India are now composed. After the death of Baber, the plains of Afghanistan were divided between the empires of Hindostan and Persia, while the mountains as before afforded an asylum to those who rejected a foreign yoke.

In 1720 the Afghan tribes threw off their allegiance to Persia, and advancing into the country, took Isphahan. But in 1728 they were driven back by the celebrated usurper Nadir Shah, who pursuing his success, in the year 1737 subdued the whole of Afghanistan. He established his power over all the countries to the west of the Indus, which continued subject to Persia till his assassination in 1747. On this event an Afghan officer of the Dooranee tribe, Ahmed Shah, who had risen to high command in Nadir's army, took possession of Candahar, and having united all the Afghans under his authority, founded the kingdom of Afghanistan. He was a wise and politic prince, who united courage and activity with great military talents. He invaded Hindostan at different times; and in the memorable battle of Paniput, fought in 1761, on the 7th January, he gave a decisive blow to the Mahratta power. He died in 1773, and was succeeded by his son Timour Shah, whose indolence was as noted as his father's activity. He died in 1792, after a despotic reign, leaving his dominions to his two sons, Homayon and Zemau Shah. War soon broke out between the two brothers; and the elder being defeated, the whole kingdom acknowledged the authority of Zemau Shah. In 1796 this prince invaded Hindostan with a large army, and advanced to Lahore; but he was obliged to retreat in consequence of an insurrection in his own country. In 1800 Zemau Shah was deposed and deprived of his sight by his brother Mahmood. He was in 1803 expelled by his brother Shuja, but Mahmood reappearing in arms against his competitor, the result was disastrous to Shuja, who ultimately found a retreat in British territory. Meantime Runjeet Singh, the Sikh chief of Lahore, profiting by the confusion, conquered Peshawur, the modern capital of Afghanistan. In 1818 Shah Shuja, impatient of retirement, attempted to regain his former dignity, but failed. A later revolution deprived Mahmood of his throne, when the country, with the exception of Herat, passed to the brothers of Mahmood's minister; the most able of them being Dost Mahomed Khan. Herat continued in the possession of Camran the son of the expelled Mahmood.

About the year 1837 the attention of the British Government in India having been attracted by the conduct of certain supposed agents of Russia in the counties to the west of the Indus, it was considered desirable to establish an alliance with the rulers of Afghanistan, and overtures were accordingly made to Dost Mahomed Khan, the chief of Cabul. Afghanistan: These having failed, the British Government sought to establish a friendly power in Afghanistan by aiding the exiled Prince Shah Shuja in another attempt to regain his throne. At that time Dost Mahomed held Cabul with a considerable tract of adjoining territory, yielding a revenue of L.260,000 a-year. His army was composed of 14,000 men, of whom 6000 were cavalry, and his artillery consisted of 40 field pieces. The brothers of Dost Mahomed held Candahar, with the surrounding country, affording a revenue of L.80,000 a-year, while their military force was estimated at 3000 cavalry, 1000 infantry, and 50 guns. The British force assembled to support the claims of Shah Shuja, amounted to 28,350 men, aided by a contingent force of 6000 Sikhs furnished by Runjeet Singh, the ruler of the Punjab, and by a levy of 4800 troops raised in the name of the Shah's eldest son. These formed the invading force designated "The army of the Indus." The British force was furnished partly from Bengal, and partly from Bombay. Both divisions advanced to the town of Dadar and thence pursued their march by the same route through the Bolan and Kojuck passes to Candahar, under the chief command of Sir John Keane. The city of Candahar was occupied without opposition, and there, on the 8th May 1839, Shah Shuja was solemnly enthroned. After a brief interval, the march was resumed towards Cabul. On the 21st, the army arrived before Ghuzni, a fortress believed by the Afghans to be impregnable. Two days later the gates of the fort were blown in with gunpowder and the place taken by storm. Pursuing its march, the army reached Cabul, and on the 7th August Shah Shuja made his public entry into his capital. The war was now considered at an end, and the "Army of the Indus," leaving behind them a detachment of 8000 men, prepared to return home.

During the two succeeding years, Shah Shuja and his allies remained in possession of Cabul and Candahar. Dost Mahomed had surrendered himself prisoner, and efforts were made to reduce the remaining refractory chiefs. These attempts, however, proved unsuccessful, and indications were not wanting of the difficulty of maintaining Shah Shuja on his throne. At length, on the 2nd November 1841, a fearful outbreak occurred in Cabul, in which Sir Alexander Burnes and several other British officers were massacred. The position of the British now became critical. In a conference held between Sir William Macnaughten and Akbar Khan, son of Dost Mahomed, the British representative and several officers were treacherously murdered. Shortly after, the British entered into a convention to evacuate Afghanistan, and in January 1842, the remnant of the army began to move. In addition to the hardships and privations incident to a winter march in so elevated a region, this miserable band, destitute and spiritless, were exposed to the continual attacks of a pursuing enemy, into whose hands several of the fugitives fell. The remainder pushed on for Jellalabad; but out of 4500 soldiers who quitted Cabul, with a host of camp followers, one European (Dr Bryden of the Medical Service) alone succeeded in reaching that place, and he arrived but to report the capture or destruction of all his companions. The Cabul tragedy gave rise to a further disaster; Ghuzni was surrendered to the enemy by the British garrison. But General Nott retained possession of Candahar, and Colonel Sale maintained his position in Jellalabad, against all the efforts of Akbar Khan to dislodge him. Shah Shuja died by the hands of assassins.

To avenge these disasters, and rescue the prisoners who had fallen into the hands of the enemy, preparations on a large scale were made in India. An army of 12,000 men assembled in the Punjab under General Pollock, who succeeded in forcing his way through the Khyber Pass and joined the force of Colonel Sale at Jellalabad. General AFRICA.

Pollock then advanced to Cabul, where he was met by General Nott from Candahar. Ghuzni had been retaken and dismantled by the last named commander, and on the 16th September 1842, General Pollock, amid the shouts of the soldiery, and the roar of artillery, planted the British colours on the towers of Cabul. All idea of retaining a footing in Afghanistan was abandoned. The rescue of the prisoners from the hands of Akbar Khan had been effected; the fort of Cabul, with several of the principal buildings, demolished; and the British finally evacuated the country in December 1842. Dost Mahomed was set at liberty, and returned to Afghanistan. Since that period various changes have taken place in that turbulent country, with the details of which we are but little acquainted.

AFRIUM, or APYOM, KARA HISAR (or Black Castle of Opium), a city of Asiatic Turkey, in Anatolia, and the capital of Sanjiack. It stands on a declivity, and is defended by a citadel crowning a high and almost inaccessible rock. The population is estimated at 60,000. Opium in large quantities is produced in its vicinity, and forms the staple article of its commerce; besides which it has manufactories of black felts, carpets, arms, saddlery, &c. Lat. 38. 45. N. Long. 30. 56. E.