Knight's cyclopædia of the industry of all nations, 1851 / [edited by George Dodd].

Date:
[1851]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Knight's cyclopædia of the industry of all nations, 1851 / [edited by George Dodd]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    37 AFGHii-NISTAN. The central table-land of Afghanistan being very arid, the natives adopt an ingenious mode of fonning aqueducts for irrigation, by •which the water of a hill or rising ground is brought out at its foot in a rivulet, to be dis- ; posed of at the pleasure of the farmer. Such aqueducts, called karezees, are made in the following manner. A well is made at the spot ■ ■where it is intended the water shall issue; : above it in the acclivity is dug another at the • distance of five to twenty yards, according to . cii-ci\mstances. The wells are continued at 1 distances generally equal, until the quantity I of water collected in them is deemed suiS- 1 dent, or until the depth of the wells becomes : so great that the expense exceeds the advan- 1 tage. If the acclivity is not very gentle, the 1 highest wells must be veiy deep, as theii- I bottom must be only slightly elevated above 1 the level of the water in the lower wells. All t these wells are then connected by means of 1 aqueducts made under the sm-face of the I groimd, through which the water from all of 1 them flows to the foot of the hill. , Afghanistan has great mineral wealth. • Gold, silver, and copper, are found in vai-ious ] parts; some of the iron found near Peshawur lis beheved to be nearly equal to that of i Sweden, and is largely exported to India, i Lead, salt, alum, and saltpetre, are also among : the natural products of the country. The grains cultivated are wheat, barley, i peas, beans, maize, rice, and some other grains i of Hindustan, as jowary, chima, musoor, bajra, I moth, moong, oord, and mm-hwa. The most (Common vegetables are carrots, tm-nips, I radishes, lettuce, cauliflowers, onions, garlic, I melons, and cucumbers, with a few others f from Hindustan. Madder is extensively grown con the central table-land; and turmeric, eassafoetida, and many other useful plants, grow c extensively. Forests are only found on the I Himalaya mountains and the Sufaid-Coh. 1 There are no woods on the table-land, and all •L.the trees found there are planted generally in r rows along the water courses and canals, and 1 around the orchards. The mulberry tree is yvery extensively cultivated; and among the f)fruit3 grown are apples, pears, cherries, pplums, apricots, peaches, quinces, and pome- ggranates. The most important of the domestic animals tare the sheep. There are two kinds, both with t the broad fat tail, which in some parts of the tEimack mountains is so large that a small f'cai-t or frame is put under the tail to support lit. These sheep yield two fleeces: the spring oor coarser fleece is used for carpets, grain- bbags, and other coarse stufis; the autumn or fifiner fleeco is manufactured into cloth, cloaks, AFGHANISTAN. 3« and mummuds or rugs. Goats are nearly as numerous as sheep; and some of them yield a fine and remarkably soft down, which grows at the root of the hair: the hair is long and usually jet black, but the down is of a shade more or less intensive. Horses, mules, and asses ai-e plentiful; camels and cattle less so. The cats of Kabool are distinguished by their long silky hair, and go under the name of Persian cats, though very few of them are found in Persia, and none ai-e exported from that country. These cats are exported in great numbers from Kabool, where the people encom-age the growth of the hair by washing it with soap and combing it. The chief ai'ticles manufactui'ed for export are silk, wooUen stufis, sword-blades, and fire- aiTQS, from Herat and Candahar. Elphinstone enumerates the following as the chief indus- trial occupations for home produce at Canda- har :—Jewellers, gold and silver smiths, book- sellers, bookbinders, stationers, makers of kul- lumdauns (a sort of inkstand and pen-case, of which every man who can write has one), seal engravers, sellers of armoui-, sellers of shields (these shields are of buifalo's or rhinoceros's hide), gunsmiths, sword-cutlers, polishers of steel, sellers of bows and arrows, sellers of glass ornaments for women, three descrip- tions of shoemakers, bootmakers, button- makers, silk thread sellers, gold wire and gold thread sellers, saddlers, farriers, painters, fruiterers, cooks, soup-seUers, tobacconists, druggists, perfumers, sellers of sherbet and of fuUodeh, confectioners, embroiderers, and people whose business is to sew ornaments on clothes of all descriptions, from jewels to spangles. As Afghanistan has no navigable rivers, the transport of merchandise is expensive, and the expense is increased by the want of roads, which are not met with in all Western Asia, from the Indus to the Straits of Con- stantinople. The conveyance of merchandise is therefore effected by beasts of burden. Camels are mostly used in the level countries, and mules or asses in the mountainous dis- tricts. Nearly all the land commerce exist- ing between India on one side, and Persia, Turkistan, and China on the other side, must be carried through Afghanistan. Of these lines of communication, the most northern goes by way of Loo-dianah, Lahore, Attock, Peshawur, to Kabool, on the way to Bokhara. A middle line leads from Lahore to the table- land, where it branches to Ghuznee and Can- dahar. A southern route reaches Candahar from the mouth of the Indus. From Candahar a route passes westward into Persia. An active commerce is carried on between