he rode for four miles through the suburbs. Its population, including the suburbs, must be very great, but it would be quite absurd to state its amount in the absence of all positive information. It is surrounded with a lofty mud wall, with numerous towers, and a wet ditch. Its population, which Christie supposes to be at least 100,000 (exclusive of the suburbs) includes 10,000 Afghauns, 600 Hindoos, a few Jews, the rest being the Herautees, or natives of the vicinity. It was a favourite residence of Shab Rokh Mirza, the greatest and best of the sons of Timoor, and of his successors, till it was taken by Shaibanee Khaun, in 1509, who put an end to the dynasty of Timoor in Khorasan and Mawaralnahar. It then abounded with numerous and magnificent buildings, and was then the abode of science and literature, such as has never since appeared in the East. During the reign of Husseyn Mirza the court of Heraut was the most splendid and luxurious in Asia. No court of Europe could then vie with that of Heraut in magnificence, or in the number of learned and ingenious men who then flourished under its patronage, in the various capacities of historians and poets, moralists and metaphysicians, in the cultivation of music and the fine arts, as Mirkhond Khondemir, his son, Ali Shir Beg, a celebrated Toorkish poet, and a patron of literary genius, Jamee, Soheilee, Binai, and a great number of others, whose names and merits have been preserved by Sultaun Baber in his memoirs. A detailed account of the principal buildings of Heraut, as they stood more than three centuries since, is given by Khondemer, himself a native of the place, who has described a tedious succession of mosques, colleges, caravanseras, palaces, &c. as also by Baber, in his memoirs. But whatever were the glories of Heraut in those days, whether as a royal residence, or the haunt of genius, they have long since departed, and it is one amongst many melancholy instances, of that instability, inseparable from despotism, which has in every age been more or less communicated to the science and literature of the East. On the defeat and death of Shaibanee Khaun, at Marou or Merve, by Shah Ismael Sooffee, in 1510, Heraut remained under the Persian government, till the period of the Afghaun invasion, when it fell into the hands of the Abdallee or Doorrannee Afghauns. It was recovered, after a ten months' siege, in 1731, by Nadir Shah. After the death of this conqueror it fell, in 1749, into the hands of Ahmed Shah Abdallee, founder of the short-lived dynasty of the Caubul sovereigns, and has ever since been the residence of an Afghaun prince. It is now the only remaining part of the extensive dominions of Ahmed Shah, that belongs to his descendants, and prince Camran Mirza, the son of Mahmood Shah, is the present ruler of Heraut, and for which he is or was obliged to pay the crown of Persia the sum of £6,000 of annual tribute. In 1825, Camran having despatched an army to assist the khan of Toorbut-ee-Hyderee, against the prince of Meschid, and called in the Tartars of Kyvah to co-operate with him, his army was completely defeated by the Persians, leaving Toorbut in their possession, who took its chief and put him to death. The Tartars of Khyvah, who had come with 30,000 men to Heraut, at Camran's desire, found the gates shut against him, as he was now quite sick of this unfortunate business. Raheem Khaun, in revenge, wasted all the country round Heraut, carried off many of the unfortunate villagers into captivity, and then recrossed the Oxus to Oorgunge, his capital. Such are the political fluctuations in this region, that it is impossible to say at this moment whether Heraut be in possession of Camran or not, (1829). All we can say is, the probability that Heraut will, ere long, from the weakness of the Persians on the one

hand, and the power of the Usbecs, be in possession of the latter. Serrukhs, Marou, Mahan, and Morghaub, are already in their possession, and many of the Hazaurehs, bordering on Baulkh have been reduced by the khans of Khooloom and Koondooz.

CHAP. IV.-SEISTAUN.

SEISTAUN, or Sigistaun, is the ancient Drangiana or Zarang, and received its modern appellation from the Saca, who, passing the Oxus 126 years before Christ, overthrew the Greek kingdom of Bactria. In ancient times it was a province of great importance, extent, and fertility, having_Carmania Deserta on the W.; Aria, from which it was separated by Mount Bagous, on the N.; Arachosia on the E.; and Gedrosia on the S. In the days of its prosperity, it was one of the richest inland tracts in the whole Persian empire, being a vast hollow space, surrounded by hills on all sides, and having a large lake in the centre, the common receptacle of all the streams that flowed in every direction from them, and particularly of the Etymandrus. At present it is a province of small account, its once fertile surface being now, for the greater part, a desert. It is not easy to account for so remarkable a change in a province once the granary and the paradise of Persia. The extirpation of its ancient agricultural possessors, the Sarangæans, by their Scythian conquerors, the Sacæ, its conquest by the Arabs, another race of shepherds, its devastation by the ruthless Timoor and his destroying hordes, and the indolence of its present possessors, the Mahommedans, a very different race from the ancient Ghubres, may all have contributed to its present melancholy aspect. The sandy deserts are gaining ground in Persia, and have a tendency to do so, and their gradual increase has reduced the modern Seestaun to less than one half the rich and alluvial soil of Drangiana, which anciently comprehended a space double that of the ancient Susiana. Every wind from the wide and sandy deserts on every side, except on the N., where it has the elevated highlands of Subzwar, the Mons Bagous of Ptolemy, brings clouds of a light shifting sand, which destroys the fertility of the fields, and gradually overwhelms the villages. Where no means are used by ingenuity and industry to protect the soil from the accumulation of sand,—where no endeavours are made to preserve the ancient water-courses from their destructive influence-and such means cannot be expected to be put in practice where there is no security of property, either for lord or peasant-the cause will continue to operate till Sigistaun itself be wholly converted into a desert, and the lake be dried up. Nothing can more clearly evince this, than the fact that the lake is annually diminishing, notwithstanding the vast influx of waters brought into it by the Etymandrus and its subsidiary streams, which drain the whole western slope of the Afghanistaun mountains. Besides these it receives the waters of the Furrah Rood from the N., another considerable stream. The lake itself is called the sea of Zoor, or Zurrah, or Zurang, or Durrah. In Persian books it is called the sea of Soukh. We are ignorant of its real dimensions. Elphinston, from all the information he could collect, estimates its circumference to be 150 miles, whilst Rennel makes it in his map 100 miles long by 20 broad. This lake may be reckoned the lowest hollow of all Eastern Persia. Its water is brackish and hardly drinkable. In its centre stands an insulated hill called the Kohee Zoor, and sometimes the fort of Rustum, that hero of Persian romance.

It has the appearance of having been once so, as it is steep and lofty, and surrounded by a ditch of great depth, and is still a place of refuge for the inhabitants of the opposite shores. The edges of the lake are, to a considerable distance, choked with long rushes and reeds. The shores also are overgrown with the same sort of vegetation, and subjected to inundations, and full, in consequence, of miry places and stagnant pools. These marshes and thickets are frequented by herds of oxen, kept by a description of men distinct from the other inhabitants of Seistaun, being tall and stout, but black and ugly, with long faces and large black eyes, going nearly naked, and dwelling in reed-huts. Immediately beyond these marshes the land produces grain, grass, and tamarisks, as does the narrow valley through which flows the Helmund, and probably the valley of the Furrah Rood, entering from the north, produces the same. These are the only fertile places now in Seistaun, the rest being almost a desert, yielding, like others of the same description, forage for camels, and here and there a well for the wandering Belochees who tend them. The whole extent of Seistaun from N.W. to S.E. is 300 miles, by upwards of 80 of average breadth, containing a surface of 25,000 British square miles. It is full of ruined cities up to the very foot of the Beloochistaun mountains, and on the banks of the Helmund, but which of these corresponds to the Propthasia and Ariaspe of Ptolemy is impossible to say. The ruins of Dooshauk or Jellallabad are supposed to be those of Seistaun or Zarang, destroyed by Timoor, and these again are supposed by D'Anville and Rennel to be those of Propthasia, and Ariaspe is supposed to be Dergaspe on the Helmund, considerably to the N.E. of the former. But the reverse is the case in Ptolemy's table of Drangiana, which places Ariaspe considerably to the S.W. of Propthasia. The truth seems to be that Ptolemy was very ill acquainted with the topography of this region, and the two latter little better. The ruins above mentioned cover a vast extent of ground, showing it once to have been a great city. N.W. of this are other large ruins of an ancient city named Paushwaroon, and S.E. of Jellallabad are the ruins of Putkoo and Keykobad. On the banks of the Helmund, still more to the east, are the ruins of a great edifice called the Bund, or Dyke of Rustum, destroyed by Timoor in his march from Seistaun to Bost. This ferocious monster, the whole of whose active life was employed in the work of destruction, and in which he pretended to have nothing at heart but the glory of God, and the propagation of the true faith, the creed of an impostor, utterly destroyed the city of Seistaun, all the inhabitants, from the infant on the breast to the man of 100 years old, men, women, and children, being massacred by his orders, as his biographer tells us, with great satisfaction at the inhuman deed. The original inhabitants of Seistaun are Taujiks, a mixed breed of Persian and Arabian descent. Of foreign descent are two tribes called Shehrukee and Surbundee, who emigrated from the Persian Irak to Seistaun, and in much later times a Beloochee tribe has fixed its residence in the east of the country. The Taujiks and the two tribes mentioned above much resemble the Persians, and have little remarkable in their character. The Beloochees were, in 1810, commanded by Khaun Jehaun Khaun, an enterprising robber, the terror of all caravans and the vicinity. They formerly lived in tents, and subsisted, as most nomadic hordes do, by pasturage and pillage; but they have lately applied themselves with industry and success to husbandry, and adopted the dress and manners of the Seistaunees. The nominal prince of all Seistaun, in 1810, was Malek Behraum

Kyaunee, a reputed descendant from the ancient Kyaunian kings who ruled over Persia, and produced the famed Cyrus and his successors. Though this line of descent be at least very problematical, Malek believes it firmly; he still assumes the name of king, and maintains, on a small scale, all the state and form of royalty. His authority is, however, recognised but in a small part of Seistaun, and his whole force does not exceed 1000 men. His capital is Jellallabad, before mentioned, containing a few thousand people, and which lies amidst ruins of vast extent. An ancestor of this chief, named Malek Mahmood, rose into great notice in the commencement of Naudir Shah's career, and acquired possession of the greater part of Khorasan, but was at last defeated and slain by orders of Naudir, who subsequently reduced the whole of Seistaun, and transferred its government to his brother's son, Solimaun, who was chief in the time of Ahmed Shah, the founder of the Afghaun monarchy, submitted to him, and gave him his daughter in marriage. The Seistaunees used to pay a slight tribute to the successors of Achmed, and furnished him with a contingent of troops; and the present prince of Heraut, the only one of the race of Achmed who has retained a portion of his dominions, is married to a daughter of Malek Mahmood, the present nominal chief of Seistaun.

11. AFGHANISTAUN PROPER.

HAVING described the kingdom of Heraut and principality of Seistaun as once integral parts of the Afghaun monarchy, Afghanistaun Proper will now engage our attention.

Boundaries and Extent.] This is a large and extensive portion of very irregular form, bounded by Beloochistaun on the S., by the Indus on the E., by the Hindookoosh, and by the Paropamisan mountains on the W., whilst its S.W. angle is bounded by Seistaun on the S., and Heraut on the N., and on the N.W. by the desert of Kermaun. From long. 69° E. and 35° N., its boundary runs S.W. to long. 68° E. and 33° N., whence it runs in a somewhat waving direction alongst the southern limit of the Paropamisan upland to 63° E. long., and 33° N. lat., from thence it runs N.W. to 62° long. E. and 34° N., from thence it runs due W. N. of the source of the Furrah Rood, to 61° long. E. and 34" N. lat., forming in this small angle the dividing-line between the streams that run S. to the lake of Zurrah, and the principality of Heraut. Its greatest extent from N. to S. is in the eastern part where its breadth occupies 6 degrees of latitude, or from the 29th to the 35th degree, and upwards. Towards the W. its breadth does not exceed 3 degrees of latitude. Its greatest extent E. and W. is 12 degrees, or from 61 to 73, but in the N.E. part it does not exceed 4 degrees beyond the parallel of Caubul. Its form is so irregular as to be reducible to no determinate figure, and hence the difficulty of calculating the amount of its surface in square miles. Balbi has calculated it at 229,000 square miles, but in this he included Seistaun on the W., and Mooltaun on the E. of the Indus, and the provinces of Baulk and Badakshaun. So that if these be excluded, the total superficies will not exceed 150,000 square miles.

CHAP. I.-NAME-HISTORY AND DIVISIONS.

THE modern appellation Afghaunistaun is Persian, signifying, the country of the Afghauns,' and is known to the natives only through that medium.

But whence the Persian terms Afghaun and Afghaunistaun are derived none can tell. The natives call their own nation Pooshtoon, and in the plural Pooshtaunch. Hence their language is called the Pooshtoo. Yet, according to Mr Elphinston himself, the Afghauns claim kindred with the Jews, and say that they are descended from one Afghaun, the grandson of Saul. It would appear from this, that if they acknowledge one Afghaun as the common ancestor of their nation, they must call themselves Afghauns as well as Pooshtoons. But whatever be the origin of the name Afghaun, we find no trace of it in ancient history nor geography. No trace of it appears in the books of the Ghubres, or even in those idle legends of the earliest Mussulmaun historians of Persia, who have been ridiculously dignified with the name. Mr Elphinston denies that the Pooshtoo language, as asserted by Sir William Jones, has any affinity with any of the Hebrew dialects; while, on the other hand, it is affirmed by the translators of the Old Testament into that language, that it abounds more in Chaldaisms than any other language of Hindoostaun or Persia. It is clear, however, that at a very early period the Afghauns inhabited the mountains of Ghore, and are perhaps the descendants of those Mardi who occasioned such trouble to Antiochus in his Bactrian war, Mardi being an ancient Persian generic name for mountaineers. According to Hanway they inhabited the mountainous country to the E. of Heraut in the 7th century, the very tract inhabited by the Mardi of Pliny. They seem also to have early possessed the mountains of Solimaun, or the southern mountains of Afghaunistaun. In the 9th century they are said by Ferishta to have been established in the north-eastern mountains of this region, and the greater 'part of them were nominally subjects of the Sammanean dynasty. At the commencement of the Ghiznean dynasty under Mahmood, they furnished a large part of his army, and that of his successors. As the Pooshtoo name for a mountain is Ghur, this may perhaps be the origin of the word Ghor, or Ghore, or Gaur, a name generally applied to the Paropamisan mountains in general, and to many places in particular in this region. The Sooree tribe of Afghauns inhabited the mountains of Ghore E. of Furrah, and their principal cities were Ghore, Feroozeoh, and Baumeeaun. This Afghaun principality overthrew in the 12th century that of Ghiznee, and established a powerful empire over all eastern Persia, Baulkh, Badakshaun, and India. But of this they were soon stripped by the Kowarazmian princes, their Indian dominions excepted. We hear no more of them till the time of Tamerlane, when they are noticed by his flattering biographer, Sherefeddin, under the name of Ouganes, and were then independent, and continued so, till they were partially subdued by Sultaun Baber and his successors, who having firmly established themselves on the throne of Delhi, the plains of Afgaunistaun were divided between these sovereigns and those of Persia, but the mountaineers still retained their independence. In the beginning of the 18th century the Ghiljie tribe of Afghauns founded an empire which included all Persia, and extended westwards to the limits of the Russian and Turkish empires. Part only of Afghaunistaun, however, acknowledged their dominion. Nadir overthrew this dynasty, and annexed all Afghaunistaun to Persia, and soon after his death, the Doorranee dynasty of Afghauns was founded, which is now dissolved.

Divisions.] The Afghaun monarchy being dissolved, and Afghaunistaun Proper being the present subject of discussion, it is impossible to say what are its present political divisions, the whole being parcelled out