1 BOOK I.
2 GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF AFGHAUNISTAUN.
3 CHAP. L
4 i SITUATION AND BOUXDABIfS OF iVPGHAUNISTAUN.
5 ¥T b dHBcuIt to fix the limits of the Idqgdom of CmbuL Tfaa
6 ^ oountnet under flie wvenaffOj oi the King of Craln]], onoe eix^
7 tended iny^f*" degrees in longitude from Siriiindf about cme hnndied
8 and fifkjr mike fiom Dolly, to Meshhed, about an equal distuMO fiom
9 the Caspian sea. In breadth they reached firom the Oxus to the
10 Persian gulph, a space indnding thirteen dc^greee of latitude^ or' nine
11 hundred and ten miles. ' ;
12 But this great empire has, of late, suffered a considerable diminu>
13 tion, and the distracted state of the government prevents the King's
14 exercising authority even (n er sevt ral of the countries which are still
15 iiicUuled in his domiuious. In thi^ uik ortaintv I shall adopt the test
16 made use of by the Asiatics themselves, and sliail consider tlie King's
17 sovereignty as extending over all the coiinLriea in which the * KhooUia
18 is read, and the money coined in his name.
19 In this view the present kmgdom of Caubul extends from the west
20 of Heraai iti longitude 62', to the eastern boundary of Cashmeer in
21 longitude 77" east, and from the month of the Indns» in latitude 24%
22 to ixe Oxus, in ]«Utude» nocth.
23 The whole space included between thoee Hnee of latitude and loa-
24 gitode* does not belong to the Kmg of Caubul, and it will hereafter
25 * The Khootba U a part of the Mahonunedan service, in which the king of the counti^
26 is prayoi} for Inserting a prince's name in the Kliootbn, and inscribing it on the current
27 coiUf ore reckoned in the East the most certain ackuowledgments of jWTereign^.
28 ♦ M «
29 Digitized by Google