1 DESCENT OF THE AFGHAUNS FROM THE JEWS. . 1^
2 Ai^aun. the son of Irmia, or Berkia, son of Saul, King of Iflfae!;
3 and all their hiatories of their nation begin with relating the tmnwr
4 tions of the Jews from Abtaham doim to the (Mf»tivity. Their naiw
5 rative of those transactions appears to agree with that of the other
6 Mahomedans ; and though interspersed with some wild fables, does
7 not essentially differ from Scripture. After the rapti\nty, they allege
8 that part of the children of Ai'ghaiin withdrew to the moimtaios erf'
9 Giu)r(\ n??H part to the neighbourhood of Mecca in ArahiH.
10 So tar tiiis account is by no ineans tlestitiite of probabihty. It is
11 known that ten of the twelve tribes rem;iii)eil in the east after the re-
12 turn of their brethren to Judea ; and liie supposition that the
13 A^;faauns are their descendants, explains easily and naturally both
14 tfie disappearance of the one people, and the origin of the other.
15 Hie- reat of the atoi7 » contniied by the &ct, that the Jeira wen
16 very nmnerow in Afibk al the dme of Mahomet, and that the pnn-
17 <ipaldt?iraof Ifaem botetheappeUfllieiiof JDiyte adU
18 tfae Mraeof sdutrictm A^^iaoniataun, if not of an.A%h«nn tribft.
19 The theory is plaoaible, and may be true; buft whan doidy ^afnniiMMi
20 it wiU appear to leat on a Tague tradidon akme; and even that tnidi*
21 tion is clouded with many inooBiialeiiclea and contradictions.
22 The Afghaun historians proceed to rekte, that the children of
23 Israel, both in Ghore and in Arabia, preserved their knowledge of
24 the unity of God, and the purity of their religious belief, and that on
25 the appearance of the last and greatest of the prophets (IMahomet),
26 the Afi^liauns of Ghore listened to the invitation of tlieir Arabian
27 brethren, the chief of whom was Khauled (or CAled) the son of Wa^
28 leed, so famous for his conquest of Syria, and marched to the aid of
29 the true iaith, under the command ol" Kyse, aitervvards surnamed
30 Abdoolre^eed. The Araluan historians, on the contrary, bring the
31 descent of Khaided from a well known tribe of their own nation,
32 omit the name of Kyse in their lists of the prophet's companionit or
33 sifiea, * and an entirely silent on the airibject of the A^unm sue-
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