Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/251

Rh ZOOLOGY.] AFGHANISTAN 233 Saffron is grown and exported. The castor-oil plant is everywhere common, and furnishes most of the oil of the country. Tobacco is grown very generally that of Kan dahar has much repute, and is exported to India and Bokhara. Two crops of leaves are taken. Lucerne and a trefoil called shafted form important fodder crops in the western parts of the country, and, when irrigated, are said to aflord ten or eleven cuttings in the season. The komal (Prangos pabularia) is abundant in the hill country of Ghazni, and is said to extend through the Hazara country to Herat. It is stored for winter use, and forms an excellent fodder. Others are derived from the IIolcus sorghum, and from two kinds of panick. It is common to cut down the green wheat and barley before the ear forms, for fodder, and the repetition of this, with barley at least, is said not to injure the grain crop. Bellew gives the following statement of the manner in which the soil is sometimes worked in the Kandahar district : Barley is sown in November; in March and April it is twice cut for fodder ; in June the grain is reaped, the ground is ploughed and manured, and sown with tobacco, which yields two cuttings. The ground is then prepared for carrots and turnips, which are gathered in November or December. Of great moment are the fruit crops. All European fruits are produced profusely, in many varieties, and of excellent quality. Fresh or preserved, they form a prin cipal food of a large class of the people, and the dry fruit is largely exported. In the valleys of Kabul, mulberries are dried, and packed in skins for winter use. This mul berry cake is often reduced to flour, and used as such, forming in some valleys the main food of the people. Grapes are grown very extensively, and the varieties are very numerous. The vines are sometimes trained on trellises, but most frequently over ridges of earth 8 or 10 feet high. The principal part of the garden lands in vil lages round Kandahar is vineyard, and the produce must be enormous. Open canals are usual in the Kabul valley, and in eastern Afghanistan generally ; but over all the western parts of the country much use is made of the karez, which is a subterranean aqueduct uniting the waters of several springs, and conducting their combined volume to the surface at a lower level. Elphinstone had heard of such conduits 30 miles in length. ANIMAL KINGDOM. As regards vertebrate zoology, Afghanistan lies on the frontier of three regions, viz., the Eurasian, the Ethiopian (to which region Biluchestan seems to belong), and the Indo- Malay an. Hence it natu rally partakes somewhat of the forms of each, but is in the main Eurasian. MAMMALS. Monkeys are stated by Mr Bellew to exist in Yusuf- zai, and perhaps extend to some other districts north of the Kabul river ; but no species has been named. Fclidcc. F. catus, F. chaus (both Eurasian); F. caracal (Ear., Ind., Ethiop.), about Kandahar; a small leopard, stated to be found almost all over the country, perhaps rather the cheeta (F. jubatits, Ind. and Eth.); F. pardiis, the common leopard (Eth. and Ind.) The tiger is said to exist in the north-eastern hill country, which is quasi- Indian. Cnnidce. The jackal (O. aureus, Euras., Ind., Eth.) abounds on the Helinand and Argand-ab, and probably elsewhere. Wolves (C. Bengalcnsis) are formidable in the wilder tracts, and assemble in troops on the snow, destroying cattle, and sometimes attacking single horsemen. The hy.vua (//. striata, Africa to India) is com mon. These do not hunt in packs, but will sometimes singly attack a bullock : they and the wolves make havoc among sheep. A favourite feat of the boldest of the young men of southern Afghanistan is to enter the hytena s den, single-handed, muffle and tie him. There are wild dogs, according to Elphinstone and Conolly. The small Indian fox (Vulpes Bcngalcnsis) is found; also V. flavesccns, common to India and Persia, the skin of which is much used as a fur. Mustelidce. Species of Mungoose (Hcrpcstcs), species of otter, Mustcla erminra, and two ferrets, one of them with, tortoise-shell marks, tamed by the Afghans to keep down vermin ; a marten (M. flavigula, Indian). Bears are two : a black one, probably Ursus torquatus; and one of a dirty yellow, U. Isabcllinus, both Himalyan species. Ruminants. Capra agagms and C. mcgaccros; a wild sheep (Ovis cydoccros or Vigiwi] ; Gazclla subgutturosailiese are often netted in batches when they descend to drink at a stream ; G. dorcas, perhaps; Ccrvus Wallichii, the Indian barasingha, and. probably some other Indian deer, in the north-eastern mountains. The wild hog (Sus scrofa) is found on the Lower Helmand. The wild ass, Gorkhar of Persia (Equus onager), is frequent on the sandy tracts in the south-west. Neither elephant nor rhinoceros now exists within many hundred miles of Afghanistan ; but there is ample evidence that the latter was hunted in the Peshawar plain down to the middle of the 16th century. Talpidce. A mole, probably T. Europcca; Sorcx Indicus; Erinaccus coUaris (Indian), and Er. auritus (Eurasian). Bats, believed to be Pliyllorhinus cincraccus (Panjab species)^ Scotophihw Bcllii (W. India), Vesp. auritus and V. bzrbastcllus, both found from England to India. Rodentia. A squirrel (Sciurus Syriacits?) ; Mus Indicus and M. Gerbcllinus; a gerboa (Dijnis tc turn ?) ; Alactaga Bactriana; Gcrbil- lus Indicus, and G. crythrinus (Persian and Indian); Lagomys Nepal- ensis, a central Asian species. A hare, probably L. rvjicavdatus. BIRDS. The largest list of Afghan birds that we know of is given, by Captain Hutton in the J. As. Soc. Bengal, vol. xvi. p. 775, scqq.; but it is confessedly far from complete. Of 124 species in that list, 95 are pronounced to be Eurasian, 17 Indian, 10 both Eurasian and Indian, 1 (Turtur risorius) Eur., Ind., and Eth.; and 1 only, Carpodacus (Bucanctes) crassirost-ris, peculiar to the country. Afghanistan appears to be, during the breeding season, the retreat of a variety of Indian and some African (desert) forms, whilst in- winter the avifauna becomes overwhelmingly Eurasian. KKPTILES. The following particulars are from Gray: Lizards Pseudopus cjracilis (Eur.), Argyrophis Horsficldii, Salca Horsfiddii,, Calotcs Maria, C. vcrsicolor, C. minor, C. Emma, Phrynoccphalus Tidcdii all Indian forms. A tortoise ( T. Horsfieldii) appears to be peculiar to Kabul. There are apparently no salamanders or tailed Amphibia. The frogs are partly Eurasian, partly Indian. And the same may be said of the iish ; but they are as yet most imperfectly known. DOMESTIC ANIMALS. The camel is of a more robust and compact breed than the tall beast used in India, and is more carefully tended. The two-humped Bactrian camel is sometimes seen, but is not a native. Horses form a staple export to India. The best of these, however, are brought from Maimana and other places on the -Khorasan and Turkman frontier. The indigenous- horse is the yabu, a stout, heavy-shouldered animal, of about 14 hands high, used chiefly for burden, but also for riding. It gets over incredible distances at an ambling shuffle; but is unfit for fast work, and cannot stand exces sive heat. The breed of horses was improving much under the Amir Dost Mahommed, who took much interest in it.. Generally, colts are sold and worked too young. The cows of Kandahar and Seistan give very large quan tities of milk. They seem to be of the humped variety, but with the hump evanescent. Dairy produce is important in Afghan diet, especially the pressed and dried curd called krut (an article and name perhaps introduced by the Mongols). There are two varieties of sheep, both having the fat tail. One bears a white fleece, the other a russet or black one. Much of the white wool is exported to Persia, and now largely to Europe by Bombay. Flocks of sheep are the main wealth of the nomad population, and mutton is the chief animal food of the nation. In autumn large numbers- are slaughtered, their carcases cut up, rubbed with salt, and dried in the sun. The same is done with beef and camel s flesh. The goats, generally black or parti-coloured, seem to be a degenerate variety of the shawl-goat. The climate is found to be favourable to dog-breeding. Pointers are bred in the Kohistan of Kabul and above Jalalabad large, heavy, slow-hunting, but fine-nosed and staunch ; very like the old double-nosed Spanish pointer. There are greyhounds also, but inferior in speed- I. 30