Bridport, Beaminster, and Lyme Regis Telegram and Dorset, Somerset, and Devon Advertiser. — 1879-08-01 (Bridport, Dorset, England)

THE KHYBER PAM ANT) THE AFREEDEE AFGHANS.— The Khyber Pass is part of the Afreedee country. The Afreedees are a powerful Afghan tribe, numbering at least 23,000 fighting men. They are at present friendly to the British, and are subsidised to the extent of about a lac of rupees a year. The Afreedees are a fine athletic race of highlanders. lean but muscular, and with a springy step which marks their mountain origin. They generally wear a coarse home-manufactured cotton shirt of blue, loose trousers, closing in tight at the ankles, neat sandals' of straw, and a scanty turban placed jauntily on the head. They are generally armed to the teeth. A huge Khybery knife, a brace of pistols with old flint locks, a powder-horn, a cartridge-ease, a flint and steel, a long matchlock, a bottle of water, and a snuff-box form the ordinary kit of the Khyber warrior. They are, like all Afghans, of the Mohammedan religion of the Sunni sect, with the exception of a small section who are Shia Muslims, but their moral status comes far below that e. the religion they profess. Ruthless robbery and treacherous murder are to the Afreedee the very salt of life. He is trained in crime from his very infancy, and expertness in thieving is the sole characteristic which leads to distinction among them, and is a virtue which maidens seek in their future husbands, and which mothers fondly look for in their new-born babes. It has been truly said that every Afghan boy, at his very birth, is consecrated, as it were, to crime. As soon as the youngster learns to walk, a hole is dug in the wall similar to those made by burglars, and the lad is encouraged to pass backwards and forwards, whilst the dedghted spectators shout out, " Glhal shah ! Ghal shah I OW ahah , "Be a thief De a thief I De a thief r) )3roilghL up horn his earliest childhood amid scenes of treackery and revenge, the Afreedee resists all attempts to civilise him, and it is remarkable that even years of service in an Indian regiment work little or no change in his moral being. Most probably he closes his military career by suddenly disappearing with his Enfield rile, and when the deserter is safely lodged in his native village, he will have the impertinence to send his compliments to his commanding officer. The cruel assassin of the lamented Earl Mayo was an Afreedee of the Khyber Pass His SUMS was Shere Ali. He killed a man named Ryder, outside the walls of the city of Peshawar, to avenge a blood feud, and WILK transported to the Andamans, where he cruelly assassinated the Viceroy of India to satisfy his private revenge. He was a handsome man, aa fair as a European, with light blue eyes and brown beard; he was a great favourite with Europeans, but he had the heart of an Afreedee, a heart which knew how to avenge but Dever to forgive.—Sunday at Home.  CIVILISATION! r. Sir Bartle Frets oonaiders the preeent war to be one for the advance of civilisation.' " Vide &Wit New Wer Correspondent. - •  - 'Tie a noble thing when a an can bring The strength of a resolute will, sir. Calmly to bear—just anywhere— For the lightning of human ill, sir. But the giory lies with him who tries. On sonic virgin spot of creation, Without bluster or brag, to unfurl the flag Of "advancing Civilisation And in Zululand, with its "golden sand" (I've cribb'd that last from Heber). There's plenty of room to use the broom Of a civilising sweeper. If the duet you raise, there's a heap of ways For escaping condemnation— You have but to plead the urgent need Of advancing Civilisation. Now the properest plan—for an Englishman— Is to start as "Bible importer ;" But if this won't do with the base Zulu, Then—civilise him with slaughter! And you needn't feel that the verb "to steal" Describes your annexation: Oh, no—oh not It can't be so— You're advancing Civilisation! Eaters you essay the part to play Of Afric's Alexander. Be sure you've got upon the spot A--oompetent commander! Or, it. quite clear, Sir Bartle Frere With ail your moderation, In that balmy clime you'll be some time Advancing Civilisation !—Funny Polka.