The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-03-19

its ancient Inhabitants may nave been con-
temporaneous with the patriarch Abraham
deserts OF Mesopctama There seems to
be no reason to doubt. that Alexander the
Great encamped in Herat in the famous cam
paign which Xenophon describes in his
Anabasis, and that it occupied a certain Oriental
magnifcence contemporaneous with that period
OF Grmco romance when the names of Bacchus,
Semiramis and Hercules became so fulgent as to
shine down through the centuries to the present
day. In the East there exists tradition that
the Afghans are really the offspring of the lost
tribe Of Israe-a tradition to which color is lent
by the remarkably strong Jewish type of feature
that characterizes the Afghan race-and that it
was that Israelitish tribe which gave outward
splendor to HERR as city. Whatever truth
there may be in all this, it is certain that Herat
rose its battlements in the mists of antiquity,
and that where the trading provindah now leads
his camels through its tortuous, narrow streets
to-day Aryans lived and died who have since
given their cognomen to a conspicuous division
of the human race.
While Herat possesses immense interest histor-
ically, it occupies a geographical Importance of
such nature as has for many centuries made it
the central point for furious fighting among
tribesmen and nations. Again and again it has
been made the focus for Persian fury and ambi-
tion and it is only by continual hard fighting
that it now remains in the hands of tho Ameer
of Afghanistan. When England obtained, by
intrigue, chicane, and hard fighting, the dofhi-
Herat as one of the points dappui from which
an enemy might threaten that dominance, and
hence it became the fashion to name the city
''The Gate of India" Situated picturesquely
upon spur Of the Hindoo Koosh range, and
surrounded by bewildering network of deeply
irrigated ce-felds-so bewildering that cavalry
operations are made impossible with any free
dom of action-Herat is at the same time
powerfully fortified artifcially. Recent Rus
sian travellers have averred that nowhere
6 r. n nal 1iZat cd 0f1f
SO thoroughly or on SO vast scale as it has been
IN the valley of Herat, where the waters of the
Herri- Rood are utilized to the utmost extent.
This state OF circumstances naturally makes
Herat valuable basis of supplies for any army
that may be fortunate enough to obtain posses
sion OF it. 1t is, therefore. wonder that Herat
has become singularly important point of GEN.
trail Asian commerce. roads forking from it into
Persia, to Kabool, to Kandahar, to Beloochstan,
and northward through the Merv oasis and
Turkistan. more especially that part of Turk
istan which is known as Bokhara. The city is
nearly quadrangular, with faces about mile
long, and the high inner wall of defense
is pierced BY four gates, pointing to-
it has communication. Thus. for instance,
the great gates in the celebrated walls
of Delhi were known as the Lahoree gate, the
Cashmere gate, and SO on. The stupendOus
earthwork upon which Herat is bnilt has been
the wonder Of modern times, being, according to
Sir Henry Rawlinson, the great English au-
thority on Eastern matters, $50 feet in width at
the base, fifty feet high crowned by wall
twenty five feet high and fourteen wide at the
base, and supported by no fewer than $50 circu-
lar towers, which again are protected by ditch
forty-f five feet wide and fifteen in depth. There
have been disputes about the true strength of
the fortress. In 1916 General Ferrier, Of the
British army, gave it as his opinion that the
place was only an immense redoubt which a
European army could reduce in twenty days, but
it is significant fact that, in 1897 with the as
sistance of two English engineer lieutenants, the
Heratees successfully held at bay for ten months
a Persian army of 50. 600 men, supported by fifty
pieces of artillery, which were in many cases.
directed by expert Russian officers.
The mosques of Herat are made exceedingly
picturesque by blush tessellated tiles, the
bazaars are rich, and swarm day and night with
motley groups of men draws from every part of
central Asia. Afghanistan and India; and bear
ing in mind all these facts, together with the
fortuitous geographical position of Herat it is
no wonder that tho famous city is coveted both
~ Russia and England. It possesses the unen-
viable reputation Of being one of those cities so
happily situated by nature that it must become
perpetually the object of every powerful nation
placed in its vicinity