Observations on the Structure of Bermuda

Ghazni itself, while Ho-sa-lo, the second capital, is certainly Mukkur, for Huen Tsang mentions its distinctive water-supply, a spring divided into many channels, by which Bellew camped in 1857.* The existence of walled cities in this essentially tribal area is of particular interest. The Kandahar-Ghazni-Kabul road is of great antiquity and it is clear that in the Kabul valley the tribal organization of the skirts of the hills, the Koh-i-Daman, coexisted with the royal capitals, merchant cities, and religious centres, of which Huen Tsang writes. He says that Tsao-kiu-tch'a had a king and that he was a devout Buddhist, and his statement is corroborated by the distribution of Graeco-Buddhist remains. The traditional tribalism of the region must, therefore, be considered, not as a thing apart, but as east around a well-found urban core, and, in a sense, dependent upon it. The towns as trade centres were polyglot and international. Round them lay the gardens and orchards of the old Tajik substratum. Beyond lay the dominion of the tribes, occupied with the maintenance of their traditional land, water, and grazing rights, and the inter-tribal balance of power, but jealously watchful as to their rights of taxation over the high road and its caravans. So it was, until recently, that the tribes of the Khyber took their toll of all merchants and travellers. So it is that the tribes of modern Afghanistan, though traditionally and characteristically republican in sentiment, look to Kabul and the Afghan Royal Family for leadership

Geography · Eurasian Exchange Networks · Islamic Studies and History · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East