wealthy Kervanbashis, who managed with their numerous camels the transportation between Meshed, Bokhara, and Kandahar. The merchant from Lohani and Kabul most likely conveyed his own caravans to Herat, but the merchants of Bokhara and Meshed were compelled to employ the Herat forwarders; and that Herat had always served as a channel of communication between the north, south, and west, is proved by the description given by the historians of the past of the splendour of its bazaars, of which, it is true, there now remain but miserable ruins.

"Nature and man have co-operated in establishing the importance of this place. You are well aware of the fact, gentlemen, that all the conquerors of India of bygone days have passed through Herat, have marshalled their armies there, and allowed them to rest at Herat in order to prepare them for the change of temperature in the southern latitudes. To this very day, this traditional highway to India is preferred to the route over the Hindoo Koosh and Kabul, not only by armies and caravans, but by solitary travellers, such as the pilgrims to Mecca. The pilgrim allows three months for his journey from Herat to Karachi-a long stretch of road, frequently deficient in water; and yet he prefers it to the mountain road running more to the east, a road which, of all the conquerors of India, was attempted only by

Baber and his courageous companions in arms. I wish to call your attention to the additional circumstance that almost every conqueror of India, advancing from the north to the south, had secured the possession of Merv, and of the oasis on the lower course of the Murghab, before he proceeded to attack Herat. Timur did not invest the city on the HeriRud until he had reduced the Turkomans about Merv, and placed them under his banners. The same thing was done by Sheibani, the prince of the Uzbegs, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, when he first took Merv, and subsequently Herat. Nadir Shah, too, has proceeded in the same manner; and it is quite remarkable that Russia, which is also advancing from the north to the south, is pursuing the identical policy, planting her banner on the ruins of Merv, after having subjected the three Turkestan khanates and reduced the Turkomans; and, in order to be quite consistent in acting up to the example set by a Timur and a Sheibani, she now approaches the frontiers of Herat, with the view, as may be imagined, of obtaining possession of the city on the Heri-Rud, and getting into her hands the important central point which is indispensable to the further pursuit of her ulterior plans.

"But as this event has been instrumental in bringing about the recent conflict between England and

Russia, and I am fully determined not to discuss politics in this hall, I shall abstain from speaking here about Russian claims to Penjdeh, and the intended frontier line from the Zulfikar Pass over Akrobat, extending south of Penjdeh. I shall instead advert to the fact that, as far as historical memory goes back, the district of Badghis has always formed a component part of the province of Herat, and was not, at any time, presumed to be a part of either Merv, Meshed, or Nishapur respectively. Even during the period of the splendour of Herat, under Sharukh Mirza and Hussein Mirza, Badghis had a governor of its own, entirely independent of Merv and Meshed; and the same was the case under the Sevfides, who, as is known, followed the Timurides and the Uzbegs in their rule. The conditions of such a frontier lie in the nature of things, for there, where the Badghis ceases, begin the sand regions of the Turkoman steppe. Nature herself has drawn here the precise line of demarcation, and Penjdeh, as well as Akrobat, being situated within the lines of the cultivated soil of the north-western offshoots of the Paropamisus, they belong to Badghis, and are part of the district of Herat such parts as are, so to say, the keys of the routes along which the main highway can be reached without any trouble. The acquisition of Herat is only a question of time

and that of a very short time-with the Power that happens to get hold of the said points, for, considering the disfavour with which the Tchihar-Aimaks and the Hezares are viewing the Afghan régime, it will be an easy matter for a well-regulated European Power to conciliate the sympathy of these populations, and, sustained by their goodwill, to obtain possession of Herat."

CHAPTER VIII.

RUSSIA'S CHANCES OF CONQUERING HERAT.

HAVING demonstrated the importance of Herat as a starting-point for armies, caravans-nay, for single travellers, on a march towards India, I may now proceed to sketch briefly the chances Russia enjoys for her future schemes upon that town, supposing, as I do, that nobody expects her remaining in Penjdeh or in Pul-i-Khatun, and that these two points will form but the last station of her advance towards the south.

But, first of all, we must point to the facilities Russia will acquire through her immediate neighbourhood with the Tchihar-Aimaks, tribes living under the unsettled rule of the Afghans, and who, even with the most peaceful dispositions, can hardly avoid becoming causes of frontier troubles and sundry dissensions. The Russians, located at Penjdeh, and taking particular care of their Sarik subjects, will very soon find fault either with the Jemshidis on the Khushk, or with the Hezares and