1 GENERAL DESCRIPTION.
2 880
3 jwnrR rtriking than that he-ttmm thp> wMtom A^iuiimi the IndilttM;
4 tboqgh that abo u great Scattered orer an estebuve eoaattf, the
5 WaatflfD AigbaniM are too distant ham each other to acquire either
6 the vices or the habits, of strife which belong to a cxowded pc^ndadoii :
7 each horde dxtVM its flock over Ha CKteiittTe lands, or the wider
8 faingB of unappropriated pBBtme; mlhaiA a rival and often without a
9 ncigywur. In the same manner, each society of tlie fixed inhabi-
10 tants cultivates the banks of a river, or the ground commanded by a
11 Cahreez, at a distance firom all other agricultural people ; and indivi-
12 duals of those societies are prevented from quarrelling about their
13 lliaiesy bj the abimdance of waste land, and the facility with which
14 the surplus of their population can be provided for in pasturage.
15 This thinness of the population, while it retards the progeesa of the
16 arts of lite, is doubtless equally effectual in checking the increase of
17 the vices wliich abound in populous countries ; and accordinglv we
18 ■find among the Western Afghauns, a sort of primith e simplicity,
19 which reminds us ratljer of the scriptural accounts o{ the early ages,
20 than of any thing wliicli lias been observed bv motK i tis in nations
21 where society is still in its infancy. In s<nne parts of this tract the
22 character nf the ])eople seems to have undergone some change, in
23 consequence of tiie impii'ssion made on the governments of their
24 tribes by the neighbourhootl of the munaichy. Among the Ghiljies
25 and Dooraunees, the hereditary chiefs of the tribes have suci essively
26 tbuiided great kingdoms, of which the latter is known stUl to subsist.
27 Among the Dooraunees, the heads of clans also form the nobility,
28 who enjoy the great offices of the court, the state^ and the army ; and
29 they appear in the doable character of patriarchal dbiefr, and of
30 wealthy and powerihl noblemen, deriring oonunand and influence
31 fiiom the Kingfs authority, and firom thar own riches' and magnifi*
32 canoe* In this atuatiMii, many of the republican insdtutions of the
33 tribes disappear, but other orcumstaaces oontribote to preserve the
34 imptmance of the daasmen, and to prevent their sinking into entire
35 depfndfftce on their lord. A degree of order and tranquillity i8.se^
36 onedf si^flrior to what is ever attahted m the democmtic trfbess jt
37 It
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