1 UH^ DESCENT OF THE AFGHAUNS FROM THE JEWK.
2 CDMM* £f«rt the Ay*—"^ hi^rians, although they describe their
3 eountrymen as • nunMrcMis people during their Arabian canapoigD^
4 and though it appears from a sarcasm attributed by those hiBtorians
5 to the Prophet (who declared Pushtoo to be the language of hell),
6 that thov already spf^tkc^ their national and peculiar tongue, yet do
7 not scruple in aiiuthii place, to derive the whole nation irom tUe
8 loins of the verv Kyj»e,who oommanded during the period of the
9 above trauisactions.
10 If any other argument were icqLiired to disprove this part of the
11 insiory, it h furnished by the Alghaun iastorians themselves, vvliu
12 state that Saui was the I'ortjrfitth in descent from Abraham, and
13 V Kyse the thirtynseventh Ccom SauL The first of these geneeLogies
14 if utterly inooniHteBt with thoie of tlw 8«ered Writingi, «Bd tii«
15 woond eUowv only thirty-seven generatioos jbr . a period of sixteen
16 Iwadrad yetrt^. If to these fiicta we tddL, tfart Saul hed bo ton
17 named either Imia or Bevkia^ and ihafc if the esuiteiuae of hi^gMiidr
18 Kxt A^lfr— m be admitted* no tvaoe of that Jteiarch*e immm lemaina
19 among his deaoandanfta;. and if we oontider the eaaj fiyth with which
20 all rude- nations receive accounts £i,vourable to their own antiquity ;
21 I liear we must dasa the descent of the Afghauns from the Jews, with
22 that of the Romans and the British fijmn the Trcyan^ andthat of jthe
23 If! ah &tm the Milfffiaffff or the Siranuna*.']*.
24 • Thtt nnmhfr from the Taureckhee Sheer Shauliee. The Taureekhee MoniMl
25 give* a muc^ greater number, but thui it iiiuruduces tbr^-five generatuuu between Abra*
26 Ikav and Jaoofau
27 t Tliis subject is briefly discussed by Sir William Jones, in a Note on a Translation
28 by Mr. Vaiwittart (Asiatic Researches, Vol. II. Article IV.) That elegant schdAT i« iB>
29 dined to balisvt tiu» supposed descent, which he strengthens by foor reaamw.
30 His first affgunent is drawn irom die rescinblancc of the name of Hazaur^ to Ausp
31 reth, the country whithrr the Jews arc said by Ebuliju* to have retired; but thin rrti-onirip',
32 which waa never veiy satisfiictory, is destrcryed by the fact, that the Hazaurehk arc a
33 mtiom wholwrahit weetatdy 4Keafiied mi yren tfa«r naiaatoapaitof A%hamiwtainfc
34 TIk- swoiul argument is built on the traditions examined in the text, and on the a«sertioD
35 of Persian historiana, jprobably derived from tboae traditioii% and at mo time very deserv-
36 iogoTfiidi.
37 Digitized |?y Google