Religion, practical lessons in, 229 Rhyme, epistle in, 224 Richardson, Samuel, biography of, 239 Rise and progress of the silk manu- Rocks, the Pulpit, 141 Rose, on the beauties of a, 212 Royal George. plan of steerage cabins Ruins of Palmyra. 228 Serpents, method of rendering docile, 59 Seward, Miss, lines by, 178 worm, natural history of, 152 Singular mode of fishing in the Tyrol, Skeleton of the Duke of Buckingham, Slates, method of quarrying, 111 Soap, manufacture of, 13, 91 Spider, ingenuity of a, 176 Springhead, Kent, water-cress ground at, 137 Stained glass-windows, ancient, 17, 65 Steele, selections from, 5 Struggle between an eagle and sal- mon, 102 Study of Natural Philosophy, 211 Superciliousness and knowledge, 92 Tablets, various writing, 112 Thugs of India, account of, 131 marks of, 115 Toilette, materials for, 13, 91, 150, 183 True humanity, in what it consists, 237 Usefulness of self-denial, 130 Vanities of the world, farewell to, 15 Vegetation, in hot climates, 102 crow, 58 Wafer, preparation of, 62 charger, 155 Waterloo Westphalia, secret tribunals of 187 White-owl, structure of, 32 Willmott, extracts from, 184, 198, 215, Wind, caprices of the, 8 -resistance of plants to. 22 Water Tournament, 72 clock, construction of, 108, 109 Water-cress ground at Springhead, 137 Wolfe, General, death of, 209 Worship of the serpent in Egypt, 27 York Cathedral, stained glass window THE THE AFGHANS. ; But not their joys alone thus coarsely flow, To sport and flutter in a kinder sky.-GOLDSMITH. THE inhabitants of mountain districts have in all ages been distinguished by a boldness of character and intrepidity of conduct which have rendered them formidable or admirable, according as the soft civilities of life have been neglected or cultivated. If these important considerations be laid aside, we find that the habits and customs of men are greatly, if not altogether, influenced by the nature of the soil and climate which they inhabit. The rugged and intrepid mountaineer derives his character from that of his native hills: the warm and luxurious plains of the south impart indolence and inactivity: the cold and barren scenes of the north produce a brisk and persevering energy. If the reader will consult the map of Asia, he will find Afghanistan, a kingdom of considerable magniVOL. XIV. tude, between Persia and Hindostan. Its eastern boundary is the river Indus. It is bounded on the north by an extensive chain of snow-clad mountains, called Hindoo Koosh and the Paropamisan range *; on the west by Persia, with HERAT for its frontier town; and south by Beloochistan. It is situated between the twenty-ninth and thirty-sixth degrees of northern latitude, and the sixty-first and seventy-first of eastern longitude. This country is peculiarly inte resting at the present time, as being the seat of war between the Persians, favoured by the Russians, on one side, and the Afghans, assisted by the combined forces of Runjeet Singh and the British, on the other. The reader will probably remember that on a former occasion we gave an account of that extraordinary individual, Runjeet Singh, whose name and character have been for several weeks past objects of public interest in our journals† It is not of course our object to enter into the political question which at present agitates the Afghans. We The elevation of the mountains of Hindoo Koosh seems to be greater than that of the Andes. One of the peaks of this range has level of the sea. The Hon. M. Elphinstone found no diminution of been estimated by Lieutenant Macartney at 20,493 feet above the snow on this lofty range in the month of June, although in the neigh bouring plain of Peshawer the thermometer marked a temperature of 113° in the shade. propose to furnish a few interesting details respecting | them as a nation: the only remark necessary to be offered, is that, for the safety and stability of the British dominions in India, it has been deemed advisable by the British government in the east to lend assistance to the Afghans in repelling the incursions of their invaders. made for the maintenance of their mollahs, or religious doctors; but this neglect is common in Mohammedan states. Their mollahs are supported by individual donation, by salary or occasional gifts, and sometimes by religious foundations. These mollahs form a united body, called ulema, into which new members are admitted after a due course of study and strict examination. They are numerous, and often hesitate not to assert their rights by an appeal to arms; in which case they assemble in numbers often amounting to 3000; and although no match for the Afghan warriors in arms, yet they generally gain their point by their spiritual influence over the multitude. Some writers refer the origin of the Afghans to the Israelites, some to the Egyptians; but the more general opinion is that they are derived from the Hun and Scythian tribes, who in former times were compelled, by migration or conquest, to seek a new abode; and who gradually settled in the mountain districts between Persia and Hindostan ; a country in The chiefs of the Afghan clans are not hereditary. which they were not likely to be molested, on account Each chief, or khaun, is generally appointed by the of the sterility of the soil and the coldness of the king, but sometimes by the people. He is selected clime. They collected originally in toomans or clans, from the oldest family of the tribe, with a certain which continue to the present day. Many of their regard for age, character, and experience. The choice chiefs are celebrated in oriental history. In the tenth is often difficult, from the number of contending cancentury, the north-eastern part of the empire was didates, and generally not accomplished without conquered by a Khorassan chief; but the Afghans bloodshed. The meetings of the ooloos, or tribes, are themselves remained independent in their mountain called jeergas: each khaun holds his own jeerga, fastnesses. The family of this chief held the king- formed from the principal branches of his clan. dom for two hundred years ; but in 1159 the Afghans | Most decisions receive the consent of the whole clan, reconquered the country, and burned the capital of unless in matters of sudden emergency, when the the usurper. They were afterwards attacked by chief may at once decide. One principal object of Jenghis Khan, and the Mongol dynasty long occu- these meetings is the administration of justice, founded pied the plains, while the Afghans kept to the moun- upon a rude and simple code, and regulated by the tains. From 1405, after the death of Tamerlane, the Koran. This code is called pooshtoomvullee, the first Afghans enjoyed a long peace till 1506, when they principle of which is, that all crimes are to be regarded were attacked by Baber. The plains of Afghanistan as injuries to the persons only who suffer by them; were as usual conquered; but the Afghans themselves and the object of the law is either to obtain compenremained secure, by again resorting to the mountains. sation for the injury to the injured, or to regulate the In 1707 the Afghans became the assailants, con- amount of retaliation on the part of the latter. It quered Persia, and founded an empire which endured is deemed honourable for an individual to redress but a brief space; for the celebrated Nadir Shah of his wrongs by private revenge; but if he exceed the Persia overthrew it, conquered the Afghans, and in- measure thereof, he is amenable to the state. Among cluded their kingdom in his own. The life and ex- some of the tribes, however, a more justifiable system ploits of Nadir have been made the subject of an is gaining ground. excellent historical novel, by Mr. Fraser, called the Kuzzilbash. On the death of Nadir in 1747, an officer of the Afghan troop in the service of Persia, Ahmed Shah by name, returned to his own country, declared its independence, and founded the present monarchy. After the death of Ahmed the kingdom became a prey to internal dissension. Runjeet Singh seized several of its finest provinces, which he still retains, and defends by means of a large and well-disciplined army, under the management and direction of General Allard*. The population of Afghanistan includes Afghans, Tartars, Belooches, and Persians, amounting in all to about eight millions; one half of which number, the Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone thinks, includes AFGHANS. Although situated so near the Hindoos, the Afghans differ altogether from that people. Their features are harsh, and strongly marked. Their faces bronzed by the sun; their hair and beards long and uncut; their rude dresses of skins, all present striking differences between them and their Hindoo neighbours. The arts of life are less cultivated; the luxuries of Hindostan unknown; and justice is administered in a ruder and more primitive manner than among the Hindoos. But rough and unpolished as the Afghans may appear, they possess a proud martial spirit, a devoted attachment to their own wild liberty, a love of sobriety and of hospitality, and a general contempt for indolence and pleasure, which make them appear in a far more favourable light than the weak and treacherous Hindoos. The religion of the Afghans is strictly Mohammedan, but they tolerate other doctrines. No provision is * See Saturday Magazine, before quoted. Criminal trials are conducted before a jeerga, at which Mohammedan lawyers, called moollahs, are allowed to plead. The proceedings are opened with prayers: a Pooshtoo verse is then repeated, announcing that, although events are in the hands of Allah, man is allowed to deliberate. Since most crimes consist of acts of violence committed according to the allowed principle of revenge, the act is generally admitted. The jeerga has to decide upon its legality. There are certain grave forms, and a rude, but highly-admired species of eloquence practised, and Mr. Elphinstone says that the decisions are usually impartial, if not just. The mode of compensation is a very odd one; to understand which we must go into a few apparently irrelevant details. Although polygamy is allowed, yet the females are not subjected to that seclusion which prevails in most Mohammedan states. Hence the female sex is not so much degraded in this country as elsewhere in the east. But to every woman is attached a certain marketable value; and although attachments between the sexes are frequent, yet no man is allowed to marry until he has earned the purchase-money of his mistress. To do this is often attended with delays and difficulties, which impart a romantic cast to the affair, and form the theme of many a wild Afghan tale and song. When a man is sentenced to penal infliction, his sentence is to deliver to the family of the complainant a certain number of young women, who become part and parcel of the property of the injured man, and may be sold as such by him. Twelve is the usual number of young women to be awarded in case of murder, six with portions, and six without; the usual portion amounting to between seven and MONUMENTS OF ANTIQUITY. No. XX. eight pounds sterling. For cutting off a hand, an ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BIBLE FROM THE ear, or a nose, six women; for breaking a tooth, three for a wound in the head, one. If the complainant consent, the defendant may pay the value of the women in money or goods. The Afghans are fond of robust sports and athletic exercises. They are devotedly attached to hunting in all its forms; some of which are peculiar to themselves. One mode is, to form a large circle, and drive all the game up to a central point, where it is slain. The attum is a violent noisy dance, in which both sexes delight. Playing at marbles, hopping, jumping, &c., are favourite games; and as they delight in feasts and convivial enjoyments, they generally play for a feast, and the loser has to entertain the conqueror. They often pit cocks, quails, and other animals against each other, for a similar stake. With all the wildness and turbulence of a young and free nation, the Afghans are nevertheless as active in mind as in body. They delight in stories and tales, especially the rude poetry of their warriorchiefs, which celebrates the exploits of the clan. The reading of poetry is a distinct occupation in many of the towns. They possess few works that are more than a century and a half old; and all of them are said to be imitations of the Persian writers. It happens unfortunately that the Afghans regard the Persians as heretics, and will not resort to Persian colleges and schools. Their own schools are numerous, and they teach the rudiments of oriental learning, which is widely diffused. Their language is peculiar: it is called pushtoo. The Afghans venerate birth and long descent: no man is considered a true Afghan who cannot trace his origin through at least six generations. Hence every man is provided with a long list of ancestors, whose mighty deeds he dwells upon with great complacency. These people are devotedly attached to the pastoral life. One division dwells in houses; another in tents. They shrink from the exercise of trade and manual labour; and regard those who exercise it with contempt. The fixed habitations of the lower orders of Afghans are rudely built with unburnt bricks, and roofed with wood. The palaces of the higher orders are on the Persian model, though inferior: their chief ornaments are all Persian. The Afghan costume is peculiar. It consists of close tunics, and wide mantles of sheepskin, or coarse woollen cloth, for the lower ranks, and velvet, silk, and fine shawl-cloth for the higher. Boots are everywhere worn; and it is considered as a mark of disrespect to their associates to appear without them. The dress of the ladies consists of jackets and pantaloons, both of velvet, silk, or shawl-cloth. Gold and silver ornaments, as well as precious stones, are not un common. Their food is simple, consisting chiefly of pilaus of mutton and broth: their drink is butter-milk or sher bet. They also use tobacco. Fruit and vegetables are remarkably cheap among them; and in the absence of animal food, the consumption is great among the lower orders. When a sheep is slaughtered it is usual for its owner to make a feast among his neighbours and friends; and the guests are often valued in proportion to their story-telling abilities. The diet of the rich is chiefly an imitation of that of the Persian nobility, where the food, often ornamented with gold and silver leaf, is presented on trays of the same material. In conclusion, we may observe that the Afghans are so named by the Persians. Their national name is ALKAI, and they will own no other. The Hindoos call them PAtans. ALTARS AND INCENSE. THE altar of sacrifice was generally of a cubical form among the Jews and Egyptians. We have already given an engraving* of the form in which the bloody sacrifice was offered to the deity, bearing testimony to the great extension of that mighty and important truth which Natural Religion could never have discovered, "without shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin." In this kind of sacrifice a portion of the blood was necessarily sprinkled upon the altar; it thus became hallowed, and we find that it was used in the form of consecration prescribed for the high priests under the Levitical law. And thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon the garments of his sons with him: and he shall be hallowed, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him. (Exod. xxix. 21.) In the Levitical law we find that great importance is ascribed to the actual sprinkling of the blood upon the altar; for that law was designed constantly to remind the chosen people of the blood of that Great Atonement which was to be made once for all on Calvary, to expiate the sins of mankind. The life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. (Lev. xvii. 11.) The burnt offering, or holocaust, was different from the bloody sacrifice; it was not expiatory, but an act of homage or gratitude, as appears from the directions given at the consecration of Aaron. Thou shalt also take one ram; and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram. And thou shalt slay the ram, and thou shalt take his blood, and sprinkle it round about upon the altar. And thou shalt cut the ram in pieces, and wash the inwards of him, and his legs, and put them unto his pieces, and unto his head. And thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the altar: it is a burnt offering unto the Lord: it is a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the Lord. (Exod. xxix. 15—18.) The act of homage is clearly distinguished from the act of expiation, in the sacrifice prescribed for rulers who had been guilty of an involuntary crime. When a ruler hath sinned, and done somewhat through ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord his God concerning things which should not be done, and is guilty; or if his sin, wherein he hath sinned, come to his knowledge; he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a male without blemish: and he shall lay his hand upon the head of the goat, and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before the Lord: it is a sin offering. And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out his blood at the And he shall burn bottom of the altar of burnt offering. all his fat upon the altar, as the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings: and the priest shall make an atonement for him as concerning his sin, and it shall be forgiven him. (Lev. iv. 22-26.) It is of importance to observe that this distinction between the bloody sacrifice and the burnt offering which is so clearly made in the law revealed by Moses; and which so forcibly intimates that the former was the type of some future great and consummating sacrifice, is not found in the ritual of any heathen nation. In the contest between Elijah and the priests of Baal, the latter confounded the two together, for they shed their own blood round about the altar they had erected to their pretended deity, when they found that prayers were of no avail. p. *See Saturday Magazine, Vol, XIII., 149. Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under. And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made. And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked. And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them. (1 Kings xviii. 25-28.) The altar of burnt offering differed in shape from the simple sacrificial altar; the latter, as we have seen, was of stone, unwrought by human hands, but the former was commanded by Moses to be made simply of earth. An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. (Exod. XX. 24.) The altar of burnt offerings erected by Solomon in the court of the temple was brasen, and of great capacity, but it was insufficient for the great sacrifice which was offered at the solemn dedication of the temple. Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered unto the Lord, two and twenty thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord. The same day did the king hallow the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord: for there he offered burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings: because the brasen altar that was before the Lord was too little to receive the burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings. (I Kings viii. 63, 64.) Differing in many respects from tnose we have described, was the altar of burnt offering, for the construction of which Moses gave the most precise and particular directions, because it was always to accompany the tabernacle. And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be four square: and the height thereof shall be three cubits. And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: his horns shall be of the same; and thou shalt overlay it with brass. And thou shalt make his pans to receive his ashes, and his shovels, and his basons, and his fleshhooks, and his fire-pans: all the vessels thereof thou shalt make of brass. And thou shalt make for it a grate of network of brass; and upon the net shalt thou make four brasen rings in the four corners thereof. And thou shalt put it under the compass of the altar beneath, that the net may be even to the midst of the altar. And thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with brass. And the staves shall be put into the rings, and the staves shall be upon the two sides of the altar, to bear it. Hollow with boards shalt thou make it: as it was showed thee in the mount, so shall they make it. (Exod. xxvii. 1-8.) This altar was to be for the burnt offerings of the nation, but that of earth was probably permitted for the use of separate tribes and private families. Indeed, one of the most signal marks of the divine wisdom which dictated the law to Moses, is that he has made provision in his ritual not only for the nomade state of the Israelites, collected into one congregation while wandering in the desert; but also for the very different condition in which they would be when settled in the Promised Land. Utterly inconsistent as the two states of society are, we find that ample directions are given for both conditions of the Jewish polity; it is inconceivable that human reason could have sufficed to accomplish this double task, and we must therefore humbly recognise in it proofs of "the wisdom which cometh from above." The altar of incense differed from the altar of burnt offerings in its dimensions and its covering; it height, and it was overlaid with pure gold instead of was only one cubit in breadth, and two cubits in brass. heads of families, were permitted to make sacrifices The inferior priests, and in some cases the and offerings, but among both the Egyptians and the Jews, the privilege of burning incense was reserved for priests of high rank. The Egyptian priests engaged in this task are generally represented as wearing a leopard's skin, to which, from various indications on the monuments, we are led to conclude that peculiar sanctity was attached. However that may be, it is perfectly clear from all the records, both pictorial and historical, that greater importance belonged to this solemn act of homage, the offering of incense, than to any other function of the sacerdotal office. It was on account of the reservation of this privilege to Aaron, that Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, rebelled against Moses, and accused him of claiming exclusive sanctity for himself and his brother. They rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord? (Numbers xvi. 2, 3.) Moses was struck with consternation at their im piety, but he finally consented to the test which they had so madly demanded. He permitted them to perform the act of homage which had been expressly |