Afghan Wars 1839-42 and 1878-80 | Page 5

either in

money or by military service. To all intents and purposes it is
equivalent to the establishment of a Russian garrison in Merv.
The thorough way in which Russia seeks to bind her Asiatic subjects is
shown in the fact that in 1884, at the request of the Khan of Khiva, a
Russian tutor was selected to instruct his children.
Soon after it was reported that the Russians had established themselves
at Sarakhs on the direct road to Herat and just over the Persian
boundary of Afghanistan. These later movements again aroused the
distrust of England, and a joint commission of Russian and English
officials was appointed early in the year 1885.
While the English members of the commission under Sir Peter
Lumsden were awaiting the convenience of their foreign colleagues,
the presence of Russian troops was reported on the disputed territory in
the vicinity of Herat.
This action alarmed the Afghans, and a collision seemed imminent. The
English Government considered M. de Giers' explanation of this
encroachment unsatisfactory. Pending an adjustment of the new
complication both nations prepared for the worst.
Here we will leave the subject of the Russian advance through the
Gates of Asia and pass to the consideration of the present neutral
ground of Afghanistan.
[Illustration: OUTLINE MAP Showing RUSSIAN-CAUCASIAN and
TRANS-CASPIAN Territory, and NEW ODESSA-HERAT ROUTE.]

II.
ON THE THRESHOLD OF INDIA.
From the Amu Daria and the Turcoman steppes to the deserts of
Beloochistan, from Persian Khorassan to the valley of the Indus,
stretches the country of the Afghans. Men of renown and events of
world-wide interest have been connected with its history. Its records
tell of the murder of Cavagnari in recent times; of the tragedy of
Elphinstone's command (1838-42); of Shah Nadir, the butcher of Delhi
(1738-39); of Baber Khan, the founder of Mongolian rule in India
(1520); of Timur, the assailer of the world (1398); of Genghiz Khan,
the annihilator of the civilization of ancient Asia (1218-24); of the great
ruler, Sultan Mahmoud (A. D. 1000); and yet earlier, of Alexander, "the
divinely favored Macedonian." Afghan history dies away, in the hymns

of the Indian Vedas, eighteen hundred years before the birth of Christ.
The territory of Afghanistan--which is destined to be the arena of a
great international duel--covers an area of 12,000 square miles, or a
tract measuring from north to south 688 miles, and from east to west
736 miles. It is a mountainous country; a high plateau, 6,000 feet above
the sea, overlooked by lofty mountain ranges which open out and sink
toward the west and south. On the north it is bordered by the western
ranges of the Himalayas, which reach to the Amu Daria; by the
wall-like range of the Hindu Kush, some of whose peaks are 19,000
feet high; and by several smaller ridges. Between the Kabul and Kuram
rivers rises the snow-capped Sufeid Koh, the principal peak of which,
to the south of Jelalabad, attains an altitude of 15,000 feet. To the south
of this, in Southern Afghanistan, the Suleiman range, of an average
height of 9,000 feet, falls rapidly toward the valley of the Indus.
Between the Hindu Kush and the Suleiman ranges there are several
lesser ones stretching toward the southwest, including the Auran
Mountains (7,000 feet).
Of the principal rivers noted here (the Helmund, Har-i-Rud, Kabul,
Kuram, and the Gomal) the Helmund alone is navigable. The Helmund
terminates in the swamps of Seistan, as also do the Kash, Farrah, and
Herat rivers, running parallel to the Helmund across the
Kandahar-Herat roads, at 80, 150, and 200 miles, respectively, to the
west of it. These rivers are without bridges, but (with the exception of
the Helmund--provided with ferry at Girishk) are fordable, save in the
months of April and May. The country is otherwise open and easily
traversable, but only on the main routes can water be readily obtained,
and forage is scarce in the winter.
The Turnuk valley, running northeast from Kandahar, is followed by
the great route to Ghazni and Kabul skirting the Guikok range--
separated from the Hazaristan to its west by the parallel valley of the
Argandab. The latter valley is also followed by a route which enters it
from Mooktur, the source of the Turnuk. This debouches upon the
Herat road about ten miles west of Kandahar, and there is no
communication west of it between Herat and Kabul, save by
impracticable mountain routes across the Hazaristan.
Three routes from Kandahar to Herat separate at Girishk on the
Helmund, cross the Kash at different points, and meet at Sabzawar (280

miles from Kandahar) on the Herat; both of the southernmost passing
by the town of Farrah, which is 230 miles from Kandahar. From
Girishk also a road follows the Helmund to Seistan and Lash Jowain,
where it joins