The record-union., 1897-08-22
WHERE EMPIRES MEET.
THE RAMPANT ALONG THE
ROOF OF THE WORLD.
Some characteristics of the Tribes
men of the HiIls-A Possible
Remnant of the Lost Tribes of
IsraeI-A Glimpse of the Pa
mfrs.

| Hindoo Koosh, and properly pertains
| to that Afghan realm which was the
militant part of the old Empire of Iran.
1t was in SeiStan that Saum, the Peh-
| Iva, son of Neriman, dWelt and ruled,
| and his mightier son, Zal, and his
| grandson, Rustem, the mightiest of all.
1t was the boast of the latter that he
| bore a sword and mace of Cabul. The
| latter dread city set at the
mountains scraped feet" lies just over
| the range from Chitral. just to the
south lies Swat, whose picturesquely
entitled ruler gave to the world one
of it's most familiar nonsense questions.
| Beyond Swat lies the Khyber Pass, III
whose name resides more than a half
century of stirring IndoAfghan his
tory. Then if to them are added the
| indubitably Semitic features, names
and rites of the mountain tribesmen,
| the Abrahams, Isaacs and Jacobs
which make up their nomenclature, the
tales of Canaan and of the Persian ex-
lie which throng their familiar legends,
suggestions of romance are borne back
to some of the most impressive eras of
recorded time.
All borderlands seem turbulent. Per-
| haps the little buffer State is doomed to
| be ground to powder between it's giant
neighbors. But a hard flint pebble may
| do much mischief to the upper and
neither millstones. Chitral and Swat
and Waziriland and Kafrstan are prop
| erly bOrderland between India and
| Afghanstan, and naturally belong to
| the latter. But Afghanistan is not
the neighbor India breads. Slowly but
| surely Russia has been making her
| way to the Roof of the World" and
now from the desolate nights of the
Pamira she looks, or is supposed to be
| looking, with longing eyes toward the
fertile Indus Valley Wakhan, Ros-
han and Shignan and other minor
States lie at her feet, and then the long
slopes of the Hindoo Koosh and India.
These hillside States must form the
British vantage ground on which TO
make the stand, if it ever must be
made, against the northern foe.
RIVALS IN CHITRAL.
Chitral, indeed, is the one border
State which touches the Russian from
tier and also the Chinese. 1t is tie
apex of the British Indian wedge, driv-
en- to the heart of the continent, to
| AiASNS tAAC epiNCS VI lNO OltlcL lIGpcIidl
wedges driven home TO the same goal.
The Russian advance first drew atten-
ton to it, or something more than mere
| attention Captain Younghusband,
travelling in that region, suddenly came
upon a Russian military force under
the famous pioneer of conquest, Cap
tain Grombchevsky. or his colaborer,
Captain Yonoff. The latter had act
| ually come through the passes of the
Hindoo koOsh and advanced down the
! slopes. On meeting the British par
! ty, the Russians made mighty show
of innocence, as though merely travel
ing for health and pleasure, and so by
an easy circuit moved back to their
own land.
But the incident set Simla and Cal
cutta to thinking. and Downing street
as we'll. Chitral was closely watched.
Every murder of a Mehtar was taken
into account. And when a series of
such tragedies made the throne seem
| unstable, and the Kahn of Jandol
planned to conquer it, and the Ameer
of Afghanistan prepared to seize both
Chitral and Jandol, and Russia was
| deemed ready to seize them all, the
gods OF things as they are began To
consider the things that are to be- A
| British force was sent to Chitral to
make a permanent garrison and keep
| the throne secure. A highway was
opened up from Peshawar up which
the loyal legions of the Sikhs and Pun
Jabis could hasten, should need be. to
guard the passes. And a subsidy was
settled on the Mehtar, thus making
him vassal of the British Indian EN-
pire.
So stands the case to-day. the present
eruption being no more than a protest
of the more unruly Chitralis against the
British overlordship. And so it comes
| that once more
| The silver throated clarion blows
| Across the Pathians reedy fen.
ana the high sleeps of Indian SHOWS
Shake to the tread of armed men
But it is and will be only a. sIitt1e
war" The masses of the tribesmei of
| the hills are loyal to the British under
restraint of circumstances. if not
through heartfelt love They are all
| Pathans, save the nondescript Kafrs
and have the well-known characteristics
of the Pathan race. The old story that
they are Greeks, descended from a. COL
ony planted by Macedonia's Madman. u
| is to be dismissed. Sonnet races of the
| Greek forms, in implements and weap-
| ons, may be discerned, but of Greek
types of body, face or mind not one.
More plausible by far is the self
| cherished legend of Hebrew origin. The
| Semitic type is Enthusiastically evident
d They call themselves Children of Israel
They observe many of the peculiar rites
OF the Mosaic law. They keep the Year
| of Jubilee, with it's release of debtors
and redistribution of the land They
/ wear the historic garb of Israelites
| Their names are echoes from the roll
call of the Pentateuch. Ages of Moham-
] mechanism have destroyed many Hebrew
/ practices, and made them as fanatical-
| ly loyal to the Prophet as any tribe in
Islam. Yet he who studies them can
| scarcely doubt the truthfuIness of their
| boast, 1--WE have Abraham for our
| father
AMONG THE PATHANS.
j The Pathan type is distinctly different
| from that of any other Hindoo nation
4 ality. You can pick out a Hindoo crowd
hunhesitatingly and unerringly. He is
| big and bony. He walks with a long
easy stride that seems slow, but covers
i the ground swiftly. His cheek bones
are prominent, his lips full, his nose
aquiline His skin is swarthy. but not
Il brown. like that of the Hindoos further
| south AS the men grow old. especial
| ly among the well-to-do classes, they
dye their boards a bright red, in order
that the grayness of age may not be
| visible. Many of them have naturally
fair hair and boards and light blue
eyes In their clothing blue and white