the English and their allies, and capable of keeping the country quiet; and that the English would retire as soon as peace was restored and the Ameer was enthroned. It was intimated, however, that Candahar would be placed under a separate government; and in pursuance of this policy the Sirdar, Shere Ali Khan, a cousin of the late Ameer, was appointed to the control of that district, with the title of Wali. This chief was a firm friend of the late Ameer, and had served under him as an ambassador to the Russian General Kaufmann, as Regent of Cabool, and as Governor of Candahar.

The tribes renewed their harassing activity with the opening of spring. Captain Showers, of the Punjaub infantry, was killed, while traveling between Chappa and Quetta; Lieutenant Thurlow, of the light infantry, was shot near Jagdalak. In return, the British swept the hills near Gundamuk and Jagdalak, thus clearing the ground between Jelalabad and Cabool. Fort Battye was attacked on the night of the 26th of March, with heavy loss to the British, although the assailants were repulsed. A fine of 10,000 rupees was imposed upon the tribes implicated in this attack, half of which was paid immediately. General Stewart set out from Khelat-i-Ghilzai for the advance upon Ghuznee April 8th. On the 19th he had

R.Ra

JOMOOLTAN

Carra

Bagh Sangsa Mitan Kote CUT CHShahpur

CUNDAVA

Sutlej

BAHAWULPOOR

reached a point about twenty-five miles from Ghuznee without having inet with any opposition, when his further advance was opposed near the village of Nani by a force of 15,000 Afghans advantageously posted among the hills flanking the road. While General Stewart was preparing to attack them, a body of 3,000 of them, armed only with swords, rushed vigorously down upon the British forces. They were repulsed after a contest of an hour's duration, leaving half their number on the field, when the whole enemy's force fled, abandoning the strong positions they had held. They could not be pursued for lack of cavalry, but General Stewart immediately entered Nani, and on the next day occupied Ghuznee without opposition. On the 23d his forces had another engagement with a body of about 6,000 men a few miles from Ghuznee, in which the enemy were routed with a loss of 400 men. General Jenkins was attacked at Charasiah on the 25th, and kept on the defensive till reenforcements came up, when the enemy were routed. A force sent into the Maidan district destroyed the towns of the hostile chiefs without opposition. The villages were spared under orders from General Roberts that they should not be burned.

Attention had for some time been directed toward the movements of Abdurrahman, the

ers.

claimant for the throne, whose pretensions were believed to be supported by the Russians; he had called upon the chiefs to rally around him, and was supposed to be marching into the country with an increasing number of followA communication was brought from him to the British on the 19th of April, professing his readiness to submit to the English. He hoped, he said, that he would not be suspected on accouut of his long residence in Russian territory, and he denied that he had received any aid in men or money from the Russians. The people of Afghanistan and Turkistan gladly welcomed him, and he was confident of the suffrages of the country. He also sent messages to his countrymen in Cabool, warning them that opposition to the English would only injure their interests and his own, suppressed the rebellion in Badakshan, censured his cousin Islack for writing letters designed to inflame the people against the British, and dismissed his army, saying he had no hostile intentions. He was understood at this time to be undisputed master of the territory north of the Hindoo Koosh. A mission, consisting of two native gentlemen on the staff of Mr. Lepel Griffin, the British civil agent, was sent to him from Cabool and was received by him with distinction. The Sirdar bore himself, it was said, frankly and courteously toward the envoys, and discussed business in a sensible and practical way. An offer was made him to recognize him as Ameer of Cabool, to which he deferred a reply till he could consult with his chiefs; but he addressed a letter to the chiefs, expressing his thanks to God that an opening was made to friendship between himself and the British, and a hope that a satisfactory arrangement would be effected. Abdurrahman replied to the British propositions about the first of July, in a note the tenor of which was such as for the time to raise doubts of his sincerity. He took no notice of the fact that Candahar had been formed into a separate province under a separate governor, which had been insisted upon by the British in all their communications, but, both in his note and in a circular which he issued to the country, cited the terms which had been offered by the government without mentioning this important reservation, and claimed that he was entitled to rule the same territory that his grandfather, Dost Mohammed, had governed. The negotiations were nevertheless continued with him by the Marquis of Ripon, the new Viceroy of India, with ultimately a satisfactory result.

General Stewart assumed the supreme command of the British forces in Afghanistan at the beginning of May, while Sir F. Roberts retained his divisional command.

The change in the political character of the British Government resulting from the election of a Liberal Parliament involved as a necessary consequence a modification of the policy toward Afghanistan. Lord Hartington explained

in the House of Commons, June 7th, that the instructions which had been sent out to the new Viceroy of India, Lord Ripon, in reference to this subject, had two objects in viewto bring the actual military operations to a close as soon as possible, and to leave, on withdrawing from the country, an event which it was hoped would take place in the fall, something like a prospect of a settled government.

Orders were sent to General Stewart early in June to withdraw his forces with the least possible delay compatible with the health of the troops, and he was instructed that it was desired that Cabool should be evacuated not later than the 31st of October. Orders were also given for the return to India of the surplus staff, and the stores and ammunition which might not be required. A brigade was dispatched from Candahar at the beginning of July to proceed to Girishk and support the Wali, Shere Ali, against Ayoob Khan of Herat, who was reported to have arrived at Farah with his whole force. A mutiny broke out among the Wali's troops, and the disaffected regiments seized the artillery, and drove the Wali with his faithful soldiers across the river. A reënforcement of British troops came up, recaptured the artillery, and dispersed the mutineers, a part of whom went to Herat, while the rest fled to their homes. The Wali withdrew nearer to Girishk.

Abdurrahman, after a considerable delay in crossing the Hindoo Koosh, came into the occupied territories in July, and was recognized by the representatives of the British Government as Ameer at a durbar held at Cabool on the 22d. On this occasion, Mr. Lepel Griffin, on behalf of the British Government, repeated the assurances that had previously been giver that the armies would shortly withdraw from northern Afghanistan within those frontiers which were described in the treaty that had been made with the ex-Ameer, Yakoob Khan, and said: "We trust and believe that your remembrance of the English will not be unkindly. We have fought you in the field whenever you opposed us, but your religion has not been interfered with, the honor of your women has been respected, and every one has been secure in the possession of his property. Whatever has been necessary for the support of the army has been liberally paid for. Not a single complaint has been made by any Af ghan of any soldier, English or native, belonging to her Majesty's army." In connection with this event Lord Hartington made a statement in the British House of Commons to the effect that it was not yet prudent to speak with too great confidence as to the nature of the arrangements that had been made, for Afghan politics were so uncertain that it was not possible to feel that the troubles in the country were yet at an end; that the question of Candahar and of the new frontier remained in statu quo, and were to be independently and separately considered; and that the negotia

tions with Abdurrahman had been continued after some persons had advised that they be broken off, through the firmness and prudence of Lord Ripon.

The main body of the troops of Ayoob Khan having crossed the Helmund, reached Hyderabad on the 23d of July. On the 27th of the same month, this force, estimated to be 12,000 strong, attacked a body of three regiments of native infantry and 730 British troops at Kushk-i-Nakhub, and routed it after an engagement lasting four hours. The British and Indian troops fled in disorder, pursued and harassed at every point by the enemy, having lost 1,100 men (about half their original number), two guns, the colors of the Sixty-sixth Regiment and the Bombay Grenadiers, and nearly all their ammunition. They suffered

even more during their flight, for they took a road on which they could get no water, and had no food. The loss of the enemy was also very heavy, and was described by the natives as "almost fabulous." Ayoob Khan was afterward driven back to a point between Candahar and Chamar; Candahar was put into a condition of defense; General Phayre advanced with a body of troops upon Chamar; and General Roberts marched from Cabool August 8th with a force of 10,000 men for the relief of Candahar. Ayoob Khan proceeded to intrench himself three miles from Candahar. The withdrawal of the British troops from Cabool was completed the 11th of August, after a meeting of General Stewart and Mr. Lepel Griffin with Abdurrahman. Mooshk-i-Alam, the spiritual chief of the Afghans, bound the turban -the

Hilly Country

not passable for

or laden Camel

SKETCH PLAN OF COUNTRY FROM

THE HELMUND TO CANDAHAR Showing lines of advance of Sirdar Ayoob Khan and Scene of Battle at Kush-ki-Nakhud and lines Retreat of General Burrows force.

urmawak

ble line of"

Mt.

MAIWAND

RIVER

Sirkur

STENLE

URSE

HELMUND

bbaza

Skirt

Wills

Ayooh's Lines of March

ob.

KUSHKI-MAK

Sungbur

March

Bala Khana

Khak-i-Chopan

Gumbaz-i-Surkh

N DY

Kila Sidal

Skirt of Hills STERILE PLAIN NO WATER ------ Amates of 1 nes of Retreat of

Atta

Force

KokeranHOANDAHAR
Old City

ja Bilind Baba

Hill

RIVER TARNAK

Candahar

RIVER DORT

Range

Cabool

350 m.

ARGHESAN RIVER

20 24 23 32 36 40

Afghan equivalent for a coronation-upon the new Ameer's head.

General Roberts arrived at Candahar on the last day of August, having marched 318 miles in twenty-three days, including two halts. His force had suffered from the desertion of the Afghan and Hazara drivers, in consequence of which heavier labor was entailed upon his troops. He attacked the position of Ayoob Khan at nine o'clock on the morning of the 1st of September, and gained a complete victory, after a battle of four hours ending in a total rout of the Afghan forces. The nature of the ground prevented his officers from realizing the extent of their victory, but, while General Ross, commanding the extreme left, was still expecting to have to attack a first position, the advance, after a short halt to replenish

HUSSELL & STRUTHERS. ENG S, N.Y.

ammunition, showed that Ayoob's camp was deserted. Thirty-two pieces of artillery were taken, including the two guns which had been captured July 27th at Kushk-i-Nakhub. The British loss was 40 men killed and 228 wounded, while the loss of the enemy was estimated at 1,200 men out of a total force of 12,800. General Haines, in a dispatch from the Government, of October 7th, acknowledging General Roberts's report of this action, complimented him on his clear and able record "of one of the most complete and successful military operations of modern times," commended the discipline and behavior of General Roberts's troops, and expressed the desire to bring to the notice of the Government the quick military appreciation of the situation shown by General Roberts, the excellent dispositions made by

him, the admirable manner in which his orders were carried out, and the gallantry of his troops. General Phayre did not reach Candahar in time to take part in the battle. He entered the city on the 7th of September, and found it presenting a desolate appearance. The streets were deserted, the shops were shut, and but few of the inhabitants were to be seen about. An extraordinary change, however, took place on the next day. The people returned to their homes, the shops were opened, and supplies were brought in from the surrounding country where they had been hidden during the siege. Generally the people found their property intact as they had left it, only a few cases of depredations having been brought to notice. It was now evident that Ayoob Khan had altogether failed to induce a general rising in western Afghanistan. His emissaries had traversed the whole country, entreating the people to rise and exterminate the infidels, with only slight success. After the battle be fore Candahar, Ayoob Khan retired to Herat with a body of horsemen, and was reported early in October to have reached that place, after having left governors at Farah and SabzApprehensions were still current that he would be able to foment troubles at Candahar, and the people around that city were still agitated, and continued to neglect their crops and their trade in consequence of rumors that he intended to make another attack. The defeat of Ayoob Khan caused great satisfaction to the Ameer, and had a quieting effect at Cabool and in the surrounding country. A body of troops was sent to Maiwand, the scene of the disaster to General Burrows of Kushk-i-Nakhub, to bury the bodies which had been left on the field. It found evidence to confirm fully the reports of the magnitude of the Afghan losses in the battle that had taken place there. The evacuation of Cabool was accomplished quietly, and the troops marched back toward the Indian frontier without suffering molestation. Peimar Kotal was evacuated on the 12th of September, when Shalozan became the most advanced post of the British. It was decided to recognize the Turis, a powerful tribe in the Kuram Valley, as independent of the Ameer, and to evacuate the valley. A considerable force was left at Candahar, and it was decided to retain a strong division of troops there for the winter.

war.

Communication was had during the campaign between the different divisions of the army by means of the heliograph, the operation of which was very satisfactory. Messages were transmitted by it nearly as quickly as by the electric telegraph, as was shown by the fact that a dispatch from General Stewart announcing the result of an engagement on the 22d of April, was received at the India Office, London, on the next day. Since signals may be transmitted by heliograph, if necessary, over the heads of the enemy, to stations which may be few and far between, its operation is not

dependent upon the keeping open of any route, and can not be interrupted by the appearance of a hostile force between the stations. A heliograph with a mirror having a diameter of ten inches-the ordinary size is capable of reflecting the sun's rays in the form of a bright spot to a distance of fifty miles, where the signal can be seen without the aid of a glass. To set up the instrument, the operator, having chosen his position on a hill, looks through a spot that has been cleared from his mirror by scraping away the quicksilver, to the station he wishes to signal. He then sets up in front of the mirror a rod bearing a movable stud like the fore-sight of a rifle, so that the stud shall be on a line with the clear spot in the mirror and the distant station. All that is afterward necessary is so to manage the reflections that they shall fall upon the stud, when it is certain that they will reach the station aimed at.

Sir F. Roberts in February gave the following explanation of the executions which had taken place at Cabool under his orders in November and December, 1879: "Before November 12th about seventy-three men were executed; one, the city kotwal (magistrate), and six other men convicted of dishonoring the bodies of the officers of the embassy, seventeen for attacking escorts and having property of the embassy in their possession, and forty-nine for proved murders of camp-followers and implication in attack on the Residency. Since November 12th nine were executed on conviction of attacking the Residency. Up to December 15th fifteen more were sentenced to death for killing wounded soldiers as well as for implication in attack on the Residency."

Mr. Lepel Griffin made an address at a dinner given to him at Simla, in which he spoke hopefully of the settlement that had been made at Cabool, saying that "the Ameer was rapidly creating a stable administration, and his position was much strengthened by Ayoob Khan's defeat. The Cabool policy inaugurated by the Conservative Government had been energetically carried to a conclusion by the present Viceroy. He attached no importance to the criticism that the Ameer was a protégé of Russia. Shere Ali was ruined through ignorance. Abdurrahman possessed complete knowledge, and those who knew Russia best would like her least. The criticism on the withdrawal from Cabool was as foolish as it was unworthy of Englishmen. Sir Donald Stewart could not have supported General Roberts, and it was well known that General Roberts would meet with no opposition before reaching Ghuznee. To have left an army at Cabool would have made the Ameer unpopular with his subjects. As to the talk about annexation, he could only thank God that the destinies of the country were not yet intrusted to crack-brained enthusiasts, who fancied it high and imperial policy for the Government to drag its coat through Asia for a barbarian to trample upon."

The position of Abdurrahman at the close of

the year was not yet considered wholly secure, and his authority was little felt outside of the district which was under his immediate control. A correspondent of the London "Times," writing from Candahar on the 24th of October, spoke of the extreme indifference which prevailed there as to what was passing at Cabool, and as to what was the position of the new Ameer, and represented that Abdurrahman's rule was still hardly more than nominal at Ghuznee, that the tribes south of Ghuznee were quite beyond his influence, and that at Candahar itself the feeling was hostile to him. Ayoob Khan, who was again at Herat, endeavoring to obtain means to make another advance against the British, and retrieve the losses he had suffered before Candahar, was a rival for the allegiance of the Afghans not to be despised, and combinations were talked of between his forces and the partisans of Yakoob Khan, and the disaffected tribes, which, if they could have been carried out, would have made him really a formidable competitor for the supremacy. The efforts of Ayoob Khan were not, however, attended by results encouraging to his cause. He sent messengers to Meshed to ask assistance from Persia without success, and excited discontent at Herat by his arbitrary conduct in exacting taxes which he had levied in advance in order to secure means to push forward his military preparations. His force at this time consisted of three complete regiments, all of which had served with him in his expedition against Candahar, sixteen field-guns without horses, and two heavy pieces of artillery. This force even could not be depended upon, for in November the regiments which had been defeated at Candahar refused to serve any longer, and returned to their homes. Notwithstanding the signs of weakness in his actual position, a strong feeling was believed to exist in his favor among the Pathan population, and apprehensions were entertained that, in case the British should entirely withdraw from the country, a rising would take place in his favor, with great danger to the authority of Abdurrahman. Some hopes existed that a way might be found to induce him to acquiesce in the British policy, and with this object the father-in-law of Ayoob Khan, who had accompanied General Roberts on his march from Cabool, went to Herat, designing to express the attachment of the people to him, but at the same time intending to advise him to enter into negotiations with the British. Abdurrahman was also said to have made overtures to Yakoob Khan in order to persuade him to acknowledge his authority, and to have even sent him a present of money.

The Wali of Candahar received permission from the Viceroy, on the 29th of November, to retire to India with his family. The fact was the subject of much speculation and of conflicting interpretations as to its meaning. The correspondent of the London "Standard" in Candahar said that the Wali's intention of proceeding to India was not in any degree due to a

hint from the British authorities as to the expediency of such a step. The Wali himself said that the disposition of the people toward him had entirely changed since the fighting at Shirpoor, and that he was so disgusted at their hostile attitude, notwithstanding all the efforts he had made to benefit them, that he felt compelled to abandon any further effort to gain their goodwill. In consequence of the long hesitation of the British in declaring any definite policy, the Pathan population, who would have accepted their rule had they shown themselves determined that it should be permanent, were now declaring with great unanimity for Ayoob Khan.

AFRICA.* The area of Africa, according to the new volume of the "Bevölkerung der Erde," published by Behm and Wagner (vol. vi, Gotha, 1880), was in 1880 estimated at 29,909,444 square kilometres † (= 11,548,519 square miles), and the population at 205,679,000. New planimetric calculations have been made by these editors of all the large countries of Africa, and thus new and more accurate statements of the areas can now be given. The latest information that could be gathered from official publications and the accounts of travelers and missionaries in regard to population, make but slight changes in the figures published in 1878. The table on page 10 exhibits the area and population of the principal divisions and subdivisions in 1880, according to the new volume of the "Bevölkerung der Erde."

The most important among the recent territorial changes in Africa is the annexation of the kingdom of Medina to the republic of Liberia. The area of Medina is not exactly known; its population is estimated by the Government of Liberia at about 700,000, and the total population of the republic is therefore supposed to amount now to about 1,400,000. (See LIBERIA.)

The Italian commercial firm, R. Rubattini, took, in 1880, actual possession of the territory of Assab, which had been purchased in 1870 from some chiefs of the Danakil. It is therefore now regarded as Italian territory. Including the small islands of Omm el Bachar and Ras er-Raml, this territory contains fifteen square kilometres.

(For an account of the British, French, Spanish, and Portuguese possessions in Africa, see GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE, SPAIN, and PORTUGAL.)

The government of the Cape Colony, after the conclusion of the Zooloo war, undertook to disarm all the native tribes. The Basutos protested against the application of the disarmament to themselves, pleading special reasons for the exemption, without avail. agitation followed, which lasted through several months, and ended in the Basutos begin

An

*For a full account of the religious statistics of Africa, see "Annual Cyclopædia" for 1879, n. 15.

+1 square kilometre 0-836 English square miles.