NOTES ON AFGHANISTAN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 36, 10 July 1885, Page 4

NOTES ON AFGHANISTAN.

,. -...In Major Raverty's intereßting " Notes on Afghanistan," the Powandahltribos — those fighting nomad traders who ply their calling' between tho highlands of Afghanistan :aud ' the Indian; plaioB — aro dealt with at length and their origin explained.; They bring down : carpets, furs, silks,, leather, drapery, drugs, Russian coins, dried .fruits, ami animals from Bokhara, Khiprosan, : Khiva, and 'other ;eotuitries, to Binpose of them m the various Indian towns which they ' frequent. They assemble' with their families and worldly goods m the autumn near the banks of thp Gumul river, inarch eastwards towards 1 the valley of the Indus, and on emerging from the, pasßf-s pitch their black' hair tents' in iin various-parts of the Derahjat. Thore tji^y leave. their r fami]ies and tho spare oamt-ls and flocks, w'ith~ a few men to j take charge of them, while they tUctnselves make their way 4b fall pafts of In „dia, some even .reaching such distant places as, Calcutta and DeccaC : Having, purchased goods for thtir return 1 joiir-' u«y— -such as broadcloths, rherinoes, calicoes, and othftr'piec* '-goods ; te«, coffea, sugars'; copper iron, aiid bruss : utensils, and many other articles eb tainahle m India — they reach Dnrahjat in,th« Bpring, and return much ihthe same order as they arrived, precautions bein^ duly -taken ety route against the hostility, of the Karlarnis and \Vazhri«", who watch every opportunity ;of plundering merchants.