The Sun.
London, England, 1842-06-20 00:00:00

among the Affghans themselves, no less than ocular
proof at the present day, is the strongest presumption
of all. Elphinstone and Burnes, together with all
the enlightened men who have visited these countries,
speak consentaneously to the fact that the Affghans
claim their descent from the Israelitish stock, and
their persons, customs, and religious observances, and
ceremonies, are one and all emphatically Jewish.
The stamp of the " especial people" is palpably dis-
cernible upon them, even to the indiscriminate ob-
server, and among more remote branchings off of the
race; and, were it necessary, we could here magnify
our proofs into the measure of a book, confirmative of
the fact.

That the traditions, then, of Solomon's signet-ring,
and his marvellous powers as a magician, should be
familiar to every Persian and Affghan throughout the
East, is far from being a miracle: Instead of regarding
it as a legend of wonder, which the naturally prurient
imaginations of the East have caught—or a broad •
shadowing legend which has spread itself, by dint of
its own marvellous properties, we have here an
easy and palpable reason why, carried of yore hither
by the Jews themselves, it is to this day found and
and known in every hovel and haunt of Affghanistan.
But, perhaps, the most conclusive fact of the whole
we have to adduce is the following, which, based
upon the divine organizations of the Jewish economy,
substantiates the position. The Holy Land, had by
the Divine Being himself, been invested by solem;,
and unchangeable covenant, in " Abraham and his
seed for ever." From this high progenitor, Solomon
was the direct descendant, and consequently could
not, without breaking the most sacred law or obliga-
tion imposed by the Almighty upon the Jewish na-
tion, alienate, or by any means disjoin, a single frac-
tion from that land, which was to be solely and for
ever the inheritance of his own race. This conviction
appears to have- pressed so heavily upon some of the
religious critics who have dwelt upon the passage, that
they, with unanimous accord, state that the cities or
]and of Caubul, thus ceded from Solomon to Hiram
were " heathen" cities, and could not have belonged to
the " Promised Land." They knew very well, that
Solomon could not make a cession to any one, on any
score, of a single yard. arm's length of thatland, which
was pre-eminently styled " Holy," and which was
inalienably vested in him and his race. No form of
S.
then-existing law—no meeting of the Elde"..s in the
Gates—no solemnest decision or comp ct drawn up
either by him or by them, could 1:,-ossibly alienate a
tithe of the land to another. That the "land of
Caubul," therefore, and the cities forming it were
extra-Hierosolymite, or without the absolute
range of the Holy Land borders, is undeniably
certain. Moreover, the coincidence of opinion on
this point is a common matter, and the fact, as al-
leged, is subscribed to by the chief biblical authorities
who are admitted into the list of sacred critics. When,
hap-hazard, therefore, such an admission comes
unasked for, upon us, coupled with the foregoing cir-
cumstances, doubt as to the identity of the one
Caubul with the other, seems scarcely to admit of pre-
varication or incertitude.