1 152 lABLV HisrrcmT.
2 I^bmn oouBtry k not included within the strict limits of Khorassaun ;
3 and, an the other, > caontiderable part of that provinoe is not inhabited
4 by Afghauns. *
5 I know verv little of the earlv historv of the Aftjhnnns. Their own
6 accotmts of their ori^i)i, appear u> me to be fabulous ; and, I shall
7 therefore state the few tacla Lo be Itiuiid in forpi^ni historians, before
8 I proceed to those recordetl or invented by themselves, f ' -
9 All accounts agree that they inhabited the mountains of (liiorc at
10 a very remote period, and they seem early to liave possessed the
11 mountains of Solimaun ; which term, in its most extended seu^e, com-
12 prehends all tlic southern mountains of Afghaunistaim. They also
13 appear by Ferislita, to have been established in the nortli-eastern
14 mountains of A%haunistaun, in the ninth century. At that period,
15 the greater partof ifae aadon is said iiy the same mthor to have been
16 snfageot to <he Arabian dynasty of Samaimee. Hie Afghanns seenr
17 to haveiiuiiiafaed % Urge part, and probably the principal part, of the
18 may of Mafamood, and the other Ghnsnevide kings but, those who
19 infaaUted the mountains of Ghore, retMned their wMiapfidBiifft^ jaw!
20 wm governed by a King of thdr own, who drew his deacent tfaroa^
21 a long line of Soreragns, fiom Zohauk, «me of the earliest Idngji -of
22 Persia. IMs geneskgy, though asserted by Meer Khonde, and ocNi- >
23 firmed faj Ferishte, may be oonsiderad as doubtful at least; but,'it is
24 certain, that the princes of Ghore belonged to the A%iiaun tribe of
25 * In some English Sookii I have seen the A%haan country called Roh; a word,
26 which I unrlorntand, means a hill in Punjauby, hjk) which h onlylmoiiB lo UMB t£
27 the Afghauns tiirough .the madiiim of booki^ written lu India.
28 f A dO^^joifc mrdi iato ihe Peniin and Anbiu Uitoriei woM probably fiuniiih
29 more information concerning the antiqaitiat of diit people, and would, at least, enal^
30 at to tnce the history of thdr country from the time of MahmnncI of Ghuzni ; but
31 die neoenary books are difficult to be procured, and would take a lung time to explore.
32 As I may have to tdet hereafter to mmay fiMls in Aabtie hufeoiy, I take tUe oppoiw
33 tunity of nckTio'.rVflping that I have scarcely unv ncrpinintance with the witers on that
34 subject but what I have derived from a tiew ol iho«e which have been translated into
35 "EgifiAat TnoA, aiidaitinaiBalkr luiinberinFerataa and Pusbtots «4iidi rdateasujir
36 dvdy to the A%Imiiiim.
37 Digitized by Google