baffled by any such mystery as the English | Government is in the habit of professing are those for whose sake it is nominally set up. We are, for instance, sure that twenty-four years ago the percussion fuze of the Moorsom shell, which was a secret too awful to be revealed even to our own officers, was as familiarly known to the Russians as the small torpedoes, then called Jacobis or infernal machines,' laid down off Cronstadt were to the English. Still more recently, it is from America that the public gets the description of the mysterious Whitehead torpedo; and we think it more than probable that the Russian Foreign Office possesses at least one copy of MacGregor's Gazetteer of Afghanistan. But however this may be, if the India Office prefers to cloak itself in mystery, let it do so; but we protest against its cloaking itself in ignorance, and giving to that the name of confidential.' Mean time it is but too certain that the relations in which we stand to these, our immediate neighbours, is most unsatisfactory. Savages as they are, they will refrain from evil doing only where they feel sure of punishment. If it is not our policy to subjugate them, it is, at least, our duty to prevent them injuring our subjects; and this can be done effectually only by running good military roads through the country they infest, or through so much of it as shelters those predatory tribes who own no allegiance either to the Amir of Cabùl or to the Khan of Kalàt; who, from their mountain lair, look down on the valley of the Indus as Clan Alpine may be supposed to have looked down on the Carse of Stirling; and who, yielding to the temptation, every now and again ravage our border. As it is, it is scarcely possible to take up any newspaper which professes an Indian interest without finding a notice of some outbreak. Lately the disturbers of our peace have been the Afridis, in the neighbourhood of Kohat and Peshawur; at other times they have been Wazirs of the Derajat, or Baluchis of Sind or Derah Gazì Khan; but now, and for several years back, their mode of attack, of robbery, and murder, has been the same, and the methods of conciliation or suppression which have been adopted on our side have been useless or imperfect. Mr. Thorburn, who, as settlement officer of the Bannú district, was brought into very close acquaintance with one of the most serious of these recent outbreaks, has given us a connected account of it, and enables us to understand the confusion of local interests and local politics which is probably always at the bottom of the discontent and disturbance. The Muhammed Khels, a clan of the Waziri, hold the lands through which the rivers Tochi and Kurm flow to the plains; and these passes are of considerable value to them, as, though no dues are nominally levied, no trader is allowed to pass unless he takes with him an escort of their tribe, for which he pays heavily if he takes an escort from any other tribe, he has to fight his way through. Many of these Muhammed Khels, as of other Waziri tribes, have, of late years, settled in the plains, in British territory; and as nothing can possibly be carried up their passes without their direct assistance, the custom has grown up of holding them responsible. When stolen property is proved to have been taken up any particular pass, the tribe which is settled nearest to the mouth of that pass has either to give up the thief or to make good the loss. In return for this responsibility, their lands are lightly assessed, and the chiefs nominate to a certian number of appointments in the frontier militia. The Kurm Pass, for which the Muhammed Khels are in this way responsible, is particularly important, as being in the immediate neighbourhood of many rich villages, the plunder of which can be thus carried up into the mountains without delay or difficulty, if the guardians of the pass neglect their trust; and this, in 1868, the Muhammed Khels began to do. An ambitious and turbulent fellow named Madaman rose to a leading position amongst them, and the influence which he exercised produced a very bad effect. They became possessed with an exaggerated idea of their own importance; they conceived that they were slighted by the Government; many border offences were clearly traced to the Kùrm Pass, and many fines were levied on the responsible Muhammed Khels. In this unsettled state, and amidst this discontented feeling, things drifted from bad to worse the better disposed amongst them were unable or unwilling to constrain the good-for-nothings, and the idle young men associated themselves with Bannùchì bad characters, and resumed their hereditary profession of robbing and camellifting. Many acts of kidnapping and exceptional violence at length provoked the Government. In January, 1870, a Hindù boy, named Ganga, was carried off in broad daylight, taken up the Kurm Pass, and a ransom demanded from his friends. The head men of the tribe admitted indeed their responsibility, but pleaded that they were powerless in the matter. Four of them were accordingly seized as hostages, and held until the boy Ganga was restored. Then followed a difficulty about the course of the Kurm. The Muhammed Khels in the dry season ran a dam across it, and diverted the stream to their own lands. The troops in cantonments and the townspeople of Edwardesabad were deprived of drinking water. The dam was cut, and the water came down as before, but the Muhammed Khels were very angry. They went mad with passion. With genuine savage cunning they prepared an ambuscade for a small party of soldiers that they knew had to pass by, and from it killed seven men and three horses four more men were wounded, and the Muhammed Khels retired in safety to their mountains. They had expected that the kindred clans would support them; but the most powerful of these, the Hathi Khels, who could muster eight hundred fighting men, gave in their adhesion to the Government, and the others followed the example. The Muhammed Khels were left alone; they were proclaimed outlaws; their lands were confiscated; they were blockaded in the mountains; they were told that till the whole clan, including Madaman and the other chiefs of the uprising, surrendered unconditionally, the blockade would be enforced, and they would be debarred from entering British territory. They endured this for fifteen months; but food, and the means of procuring food, failed them; and at last, on the 20th September, 1871, the whole tribe, men, women, and children, came into Edwardesabad. The men, with heads bare and ropes tied round their necks, cast their arms in a heap at the feet of the Commissioner and Deputy-Commissioner, and, throwing themselves on the ground before them, begged for pardon. The women and children, meanwhile, spread like locusts over the garden, and devoured greedily every green thing they could find. Six of the head men were sent to Lahore jail, where two of them died: the other four were released after a year's imprisonment. A fine of seven thousand rupees was imposed on the clan; and, on that being paid, they were allowed to resettle on their lands in Britisn territory. Mr. Thorburn, in summing up his detailed account of this instance of border warfare, expresses his opinion that the punishment was inadequate to the offence; that the memory of the fine and the fifteen months' suffering will soon fade away; whilst that of the successful ambuscade, and of the slaughter of British soldiers, will remain an incentive to further attacks. He thinks that Madaman and some of his accomplices should have been hanged, transported for life, or, with their families, deported to another part of India; that such penalties B-14 VOL. LXVII. would have been longer remembered, and more likely to act as a deterrent in the future. Later events, the conduct of the neighbouring Afridis even at the present time, the petty war even now being waged against the Jowakis, seem to bear out Mr. Thorburn in this opinion. But, after all, it is the nature of the savage to act as these savages did; and whilst we think that such outbreaks and uprisings should be sternly repressed and severely punished, we think also that it should be the aim of a powerful civilization to render them, in the first instance, impossible; and we conceive that this would be best brought about by making, or compelling the natives to make and maintain, good military roads through their valleys and mountain passes. It might perhaps be necessary to hold these by military posts: it is at least possible that such posts might be kept up by a native force under the command of a native chieftain, a feudal vassal of the English Government or of the Amir of Cabùl. The great obstacle in our way is the want of a responsible governor to treat with: if that responsibility could be called into being, much of the frontier difficulty would surely vanish, as it vanished lower down, whilst the Government of Sind, of set purpose and with a strong hand, upheld the authority of the Khan of Kalat. It is only recently, since that purpose has wavered and the pressure of the strong hand has been withdrawn, that the Sind-Baluch frontier has again been disturbed. This unsettled state of the Sind frontier, and the discontent of the Khan, give probably the true interpretation of the policy of the present Indian Government in occupying Quetta-a policy that, as far as Baluchistan is concerned, has been, we believe, followed by the happiest results, but which has none the less been angrily controverted by many able men, writing with the authority of former high and responsible position, though perhaps also with an imperfect acquaintance with the changing relations between the two governments, and with a general disposition to find fault with what is new. It has been said that the occupation of Quetta is only a first step to the invasion of Afghanistan, and the repetition of the blunder of 1839 it has been said that the natives, as well of Baluchistan as of Afghanistan, are bitterly opposed to it, and will resent our intrusion with the most savage hostility. We believe that much of this has been said or written under a wrong impression: we believe that the Khan of Kalat, far from resenting our so-called intrusion, looks on it rather as a seal to his authority; that he has quite wit enough to Not only geographically, as we have already said, but historically, these countries of Baluchistan and Afghanistan belong to Persia. They were part of the old empire, and sent their contingents to die at Marathon or at Platæa. As part of that empire they were subdued by Alexander; and, after him, were held for two centuries by the successors of Seleucus. In many parts of Bannù, silver and copper coins, moulded bricks and figures, and other antiquities, are dug up; life-sized sculptured or moulded heads, made of artificial stone, and clearly of Greek manufacture or imitated from the Greeks, are found; and Sikandar Bådshah, King Alexander, is the Bannù equivalent of Arthur or of Charlemagne. understand, and that he does understand, | ing the peace of that part of his territory that it is likely to enrich not only his king- which marches with ours. If he cannot do dom, but himself—a thing which may prob- it, we can; if he will not do it, we must; but ably seem to him of much higher importance. the upholding him whether as a roi fainéant What difficulty there is comes only from or as a robber chieftain is a vain policy and Afghanistan. The Amir of Cabùl considers, a useless task. or rather-for it must be borne in mind that the logical process of a barbaric mind is by no means easy to unravel-he is said to consider that his authority is slighted by our establishing a garrison, however small, in liis immediate neighbourhood; that he has a territorial claim to Quetta, and that our occupation of it is not only an insult to this claim, but is a standing threat to Kandahar and Cabul. The conduct of the Afridis, on the Punjab frontier, during the past year, is said to be one manifestation of this hostile feeling on the part of the Amir. This may be doubted; for the frontier tribes do not readily admit their allegiance to him; and when they ravage our border, or resist our authority, are but acting as they have acted any time during these last five and twenty years, indulging their own appetite for plunder and bloodshed. More recently, it is announced that the Amir is collecting troops in the neighbourhood of Cabùl: it is difficult to say with what object, for none of the suggestions that have been put forward seem altogether satisfactory. We certainly do not believe that he has any settled idea of provoking England to war, and of leading an invading army into English territory; but it is quite possible that he may be meditating an attack on our station at Quetta, trusting to the chapter of accidents to ward off any evil consequences. It is, again, not impossible that he is meditating an attack on Persia, and a rectification' of the Sistan frontier, with which he was avowedly discontented; and it is, of course, not impossible, it is only very improbable, that he meditates co-operating with our forces, and reducing the border tribes to a state of subjection and obedience. This is indeed what he ought to do, what we ought to insist on his doing; but the policy of the Punjab Government has been all along to ignore his claims and his responsibilities. The present Amir of Cabul, Shir Ali, is considered to be a man of unstable and treacherous character, one to whom cunning is cleverness and falsehood is policy. A savage of this type is not to be won by blackmail, which we may call a subsidy, but which he considers as a mark of weakness. He accepts the gift, but despises the giver. If Shir Ali receives a subsidy, he is bound to render an equivalent in service; if the payment is made to uphold him on the throne, we ought, at least, to insist on his maintain It is impossible to follow out their later history. Hindus, Mongols, Persians, have overrun them by turns, and possibly the mongrel descendants of each now form the different tribes. It has often been suggested that there is amongst these an Israelitish element; many of the Pathans have the marked features that we are accustomed to consider Jewish; and some of them have certain customs which would almost seem to be derived from the Mosaic law-such, for instance, as the practice of slaying an animal and smearing the doorway with its blood, in order to avert calamity; the offering up of sacrifice; and the stoning to death of blasphemers. These customs however, are but feeble evidence of race; and there is no trace of Hebrew in Pashto, distinctly and certainly an Aryan, not a Semitic, language. It is, however, possible enough that some Hebrews were forcibly settled here by the Persian conquerors, and that they here taught some of their religious rites, to be handed down as depraved superstitions. Nadir Shah was the last who held the country as a province of Persia. After his death, in 1747, Afghanistan claimed and won its independence, under Ahmed Shah Duràni, the founder of the Duràni Empire, to whom Baluchistan was tributary under Nasir Khan. Their later history is not interesting, except so far as it became mixed with ours in 1838 and the following years; but between Persia and Afghanistan or Baluchistan the question of boundaries had never been settled: each held a'l she could, and claimed a great deal more. Persia could not forget that Herat and Sistàn, which, being well watered, were the most valuable parts of the whole, had belonged to her; hence there were frequent wars and squabbles and intrigues, which have been, for the time at least, arranged by a Boundary Commission, arbitrating in the name of the British Government. The account of the journeys and researches of the several members of this Commission, Majors St. John, Lovett, and Euan Smith, and of Mr. Blandford, who accompanied Major St. John, with an introduction by the Chief Commissioner and Arbitrator, MajorGeneral Sir Frederic Goldsmid, is now before us; and independently of the discussion of the Sistan and Kalàt boundary, which was the main object of the undertaking, it is a most valuable description of the physical geography of the greater part of Persia, concerning which much confusion of idea and misapprehension of facts have hitherto existed. The settlement of these boundaries was, in reality, a question of the peace and protection of our Indian frontier: as such, the Chief Commissioner rightly considered it. The advantage we derive from it is only by the increased prosperity of our neighbours it gives them the opportunity of cultivating the arts and the virtues of peace; and if they do not, if they prefer-as they most likely will-to continue in a state of anarchy and frequent revolution, they will still be left to themselves to arrange their domestic matters according to their own tastes. sia has no longer a pretext for interfering, or for attempting encroachments. Per and that such Makràn territories as at the time being she held in tribute were hers by right of possession; and, in the same way, that those portions of Makràn obeying the authority of the Khan of Kalàt were his by possession. On this basis the boundary line was drawn. The boundary, as so fixed, is then historical and political, rather than geographical, and is widely different from that shown in the older maps, which embraces the whole country of the Baluchis, the true and natural Baluchistàn: this crosses the country nearly in the middle. Starting from Gwatar Bay, and running to the north-east for about two hundred miles, it then turns sharply to the north-west, to the Zirreh Swamp, which it crosses near its northern end, after turning again to the north-east. The previous unsettled condition of Makran had caused much misery; and though rebellion, division, and discord in the Kalat country have not yet given opportunity for material improvement, the inhabitants of both countries will, it is hoped, eventually derive great benefit from the closing of the political breach. The arbitration as to the Afghan frontier involved historical difficulties of the same kind as those which had affected the settlement in Makràn; with the financial difficulty added, that the province of Sistàn, which was the immediate subject of dispute is well watered, and has therefore a certain tax-paying value, which the great sandy desert of Baluchistan has not. enormous. Nevertheless, it cannot be a nice place to live in. The climate during the summer,' says Major Smith, would appear to be trying; and the Yàwar, a very thin spare man, endeavoured to give us some idea of the fact, by saying that whenever he sat down in that season, the parched-up earth around him became at once a small swamp of mud, owing to the excess of perspiration.' The fertility of Sistàn is described as wonderful. There was little doubt in the But the defining the Perso-Kalàt frontier minds of the Commission that under Persian involved an inquiry into both the recent his- rule its resources had been much augmented, tory of the country and the sentiment of the and were still capable of immense developinhabitants. It was then set forward that ment-that the quantity of grain that could Nasir Khan had been governor of Baluchis-be grown in the province must be simply tan in its widest sense, as a feudatory of Persia, under Nadir Shah; and had afterwards transferred his allegiance to Afghanistàn, under Ahmed Shah. When the Afghan monarchy fell to pieces, this subjection virtually ceased; but Baluchistan also fell to pieces, and its chiefs set up claims of independence for themselves. This was Persia's opportunity; and in a leisurely careless manner she had from time to time asserted her sovereignty over the greater The arbitrator basing his decision, as in part of Makràn. It was therefore decided the case of Baluchistan, on actual possesthat though the claims of Persia to Makrànsion, laid down a boundary line, which was generally were based upon somewhat tradi- appealed against by both parties, but was tionary conquests of former years, and ultimately accepted. There seems,' writes though she had since been dispossessed of Sir Frederic Goldsmid, 'to be no real ob her never well-defined Makràn territories, stacle to the perpetuation of the settlement still the forcible reassertion of the Shah's if only the spirit of discord will allow of a sovereignty over certain parts of Makran mutual understanding for mutual advantage was not a matter for foreign interference, But in addition to its very great political a house in Isfahan, and having collected all the plunder they could lay hands on, were making their way out through a hole in the wall, when the owner woke up, and, hearing the noise, rushed to the spot. The last rob first, when the owner seized him by the feet, and held on, shouting lustily for assistance. The robbers outside caught hold of their comrade's shoulders, and tried to pull him through, but finding they could not do so, they cut off his head and carried it away. The dead man could not bear witness against them the headless trunk could give no clue to their identity. and geographical value, the record of the labours of the Commission has a remarkable social interest, as containing many details of the manners and industries of the modern Persians. Amongst these industries the manufacture of shawls and carpets has a de-ber was wriggling through the hole, head cided pre-eminence; and the Karmànis a people whose name, in some of its transformations, is curiously like that of the Germans-boast that their shawls are superior to those of Kashmir. The material of which these are made is kùrk, the fine wool found next the skin of the goat. To make one shawl of the best description, three yards long, occupies a man and two boys for nearly a year, and when it is finished it is worth about £20. They are made on a horizontal web, with the right side down: the pattern can thus not be seen, and the workman is guided, not by his eyes, but by his memory. The pattern is written out in words, composed as if it was a piece of poetry, and the better workmen all learn their tasks by heart; but for beginners, with a simple pattern, a man walks up and down, reading it aloud to them. The bleared eyes, pale sallow faces, and emaciated bodies of the men and boys, seemed to testify as to the unhealthy nature of the work they testified, perhaps, rather to the ill effects of stooping over a web for four-mountains, eight thousand feet above the teen hours a day of actual work, and of the employment of children seven or eight years old. Carpets are made entirely of cotton woven in by the fingers, and after every few stitches the work is hammered close together with a mallet. Their manufacture is tedious and costly in the extreme, but they are beautifully soft and very durable. One beautiful carpet, eleven yards long and two and a half broad, making for the sacred shrine at Mash-had, was to take at least two years, and to cost £200. Such carpets are as rare as they are costly. They rank almost as works of art, and are made only for shrines, or for grandees of the kingdom: they thus scarcely ever come into the market, and it is only by an exceptional chance that they can be bought by Europeans. The carpet-makers, men and boys, did not look so unhealthy as the shawl-makers: the difference may possibly be due to the fact that the web of the carpet is upright, that of the shawl horizontal. The lower orders of Persians are described as industrious and frugal, not too scrupulously honest, good-humoured, but with the carelessness as to bloodshed that is common to all Orientals. Here is a story in illustration of this, which, of its kind, is perhaps unique. Three robbers cut their way one night into The general impression in England has, we think, been that, as soldiers, they are worthless; and their conduct during recent petty wars has certainly been far from brilliant. But it is difficult to say that this is not due to the officers, rather than to the men. They fought well under Nadir Shah, a hundred and fifty years ago; and at the present time, the peasants, in private life, are enduring and courageous. Colonel Baker, considering them with the judgment of a soldier, speaks of them as hardy, and admirable marchers. 'No people in the world,' he says, can equal them in the latter quality.' On one occasion, when in the sea, he wished to send a letter to Tehran, * See notes to Rawlinson's ' Herodotus,' vol. i. p. 167, vol. iii. p. 398. |