THE AFGHANS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LI, Issue 5575, 4 January 1879, Page 7

THE AFGHANS.

(&<**,) ' l ' “ Afghanistan Pwper maybocaid to date as a naUon from a pet tod a little before the Norman conquest of England. We bare little information with, respect to this pari of the worid till about »» *.», At that twt Ifauoor, a Tartar chief, seem* to hare bald eway to the north-weal of what is now our Indian frontier, and on his death one of his officers, Sebek-Ttgheet tewed the opportunity to oarre out for hiawlf, out el Tartar territory, an indemnde&hSlate,of«hich Qhusnee was made' thecapital. This Sebek-Tsghse is regarded as the rounder of the nation whose nuer aeocoa likely to fire. our Government in India so little trouble. ‘ , It would seem to hare always been an exceedingly difficult part of the world for the historian or geographer to deal withg and not altogether a pleasant region lor military operation*, as our -own history can testify. Its people aro of rarious races—the Afghans, the Tsjtka, the Kaxzil Baehecs, the Bacarahs, the Bindlde, the J*t*,and a number of minor tabes, of whom rosy little is known. These all. or at least the most of them, speak different languages or dialects. Some of the Ameer's subjects or tributaries speak Afghan, some Persian, and others, again, Hindi, while tsriobs dialects mid combinations of these leading languages are numerous. The ruling noeis or course the Afghans, numbering it has been estimated, oome. 8,000,000 <• a ’ peculiar and interesting people,” Jan Mr Bellew, “ who differ from those around them, to appearance, mode of life and d««,in customs and xnanncrvAOd also in cbiiafUr." They are dmded,it seems, into two great classes,, the nomads aad the fixed population, belli of which dyw# are also into tribes, wbdse pepetuai feuds and Strife* aerre to sustain the character which the Afghan seems always to hare borne for ferocious pugnacity. The nenads. of course, are maudy a pastoral sa u to their usual occupation, the Ejoeasaoy of their way day liras being i revered bv an oceanonaT faction’ fight, or bj expeditions to adjacent tribes for the | purpose of cattle lifting, this Tbenig, ipl parectly, one of the due. arts of AfghanaSao. Ail Afghans, notwithstanding their native feroestr, pride themselves on their hospitality to strangers who bare actually attained the shelter of their roof or the protection of their tribes, though it must rather detract from the enjoyment of such hospitality, for the visitor to know, that no sooner mar be have passed beyond the line within which religion and traditional custom have enjoined the entertainment of the stranger, than Ms host may be the first to set upon him and rob him, if nothing worn. “Beyond the shelter of the roof, or the limits of the camp,” says the writer from whom we hare already quoted, rod who accompanied the political mission to Afghanistan in 1887, “all comers are considered fair game for attack; and on the principle of might it right, the opportunity of robbing, or perhaps murdering, the unprotected wayferer, who perchance, was a few minutes previously a gacei, rod as euch, sheltered and fed, u rarely allowed to pass.” These nomad tribes, as represented by their various chiefs pay tribute to the Ameer of Cabul, and furnish a contingent for the regular army of Afghanistan. They constitute, also, the bulk of the militia on which the Ameer can draw on an emergency. In all other respect* they would seem to be quite independent of the government at OaboL The fixed population are engaged chiefly in agriculture. They never trade or engage in any kind of mechanical handicraft muess compelled to do »o br abject poverty. So thoroughly beneath dignity ate commercial pursuits held to be, that although a email number of Afghans, tempted by the wealth that is the pretty certain prim of mercantile enterprise, are merchants. the actual transaction of business is always left to a Persian or Hindu. This aristocratic pride is one of the most striking peculiarities of the Afghan nhawmfea ■wjf combined with a noble presence, undoubted brareiT, and a certain restless impatience of control, renders the Afghan in a general way an individual who would ho 0 f immense service to novelists in want of models for tVfr heroes. AH accounts represent the Afghan t ribes a* bold, turbulent, and independent to the last degree, and our experience of them in warfare certainly bear* out this description. Same of the moit difficult of then to deal with ms the hill tribes, who In past jan have given us but oppmteatse* of Judging of their fighting capabilities. “Those bold mountaineers, «sy» Colonel Adye, “ ignorant of am discipline or of any regular art of war, armed with rode • matchlock* and short swords, nevertheless, by a kind of natural instinct, discovered at! onoexur weak points j and by feints at the I centre, combined with furious nimnltg upß» I the isolated flank*, not only inflicted hetrr! loss upon usTlmt succeeded lemi^S in endaoKriag the whole position. The Craig picket"—a pinnacle of huge rocks, constituting a vital point in the defence of ueoeral Chamberlain's camp —— “ fell throe times into their hands, by direct assault, at periods of the campaign.'' “They we f •” «7». w brave rod worthy foe*/’ and something of the same kind ha* Men said by most traveller* jjj this remote land, not only with respect to the hill tribe*, toatof all I ‘ e speaking of the nation as a whole, KlphinsUme says that a European t tile . co | mtr 7> wwgh he might lament that the mtabitant wer-.- trained to fraud, malic/-, rapine, deceit, and revenge. “ could yet scarcely fail to admire their minftfl and , y "writ. ’ He goe. on to speak of their hospitality, ami their bold arid simple removed from K sapple&ess of the citizen ,e ._i ward rusticity of the clown if probably before long discover arr!*/ qualities that er«tl biTdiZ,l? ,l* menu of many virtue* •» i, Ust t l 6 nidi* Much a people mightVfJf ll7 a good deff°St^Kf/ population, it is true, baa bu “f ab ° nt Sure of ffil® th f ud the tw 77? un ? g T* ° f mutud ll0 » ulit r- That numbwi n’t 1 ? 6 .!-' in VW I ' ■ediS ? , ? Whcn united they are CXulreadfLn k b c l°“ t s dtal with, has t oo tJmi *i shown. It happens, brought into "h** W r tb w,lom wo »Hould be i .Vclv V , '-. Wim , Ctl! f <!ontact if - enfortuare i ; ?'' sllould P n ' sentl y break out, t / ■ lilo * t WmJabll, of all the ' J b :; Urie> - ;* of fighting for " UI m f, ’i Adye, “ engaged in -mile ri I * 1 ! ? mon * thcnsselvce, they are i u.- *ll, to for b"’ t f a!,; ’l v quarrels under ■ i h : °l c * w, r au ' nt «f 11 collision ' *■ ‘ l: , °d invader; and, stranger tVI ” emi f»? U time jmt aside - i , 7 ' : feu !.i, and nil, n;jd en’7'v a «. tuirainu shat ut all events 7 ' h '.\ tone 3vi-;o:.ai ttlid ir- 7,';. : " -.'fui.” Thi*last > i to the esfCCial

weakness ol the Ameer’s position. ThIM fhwfrliwi stsl -can 1 bid higheat » for hia femoes, and show him the best prospect -of successful fighting, 'is the one who dan bo 1 pretty sureto secure theco-operatiopof many of the hill tribes especially, if only they are approached in a