Show across afghanistan n I 1 W 7 A 1 aa I AS I 1 alm motor car of trant trans atla asla expedition prepared by the th national aAl society Wati hington t D C Q RAVELING along a route made twenty TRAVELING famous by alexander the great twenty two and a halt half centuries ago the trans asla asia expedition has just crossed isolated afghanistan from west to east cost the expedition with which the national geographic society Is operating cooperating co found the caravan tracks lu in poor condition for wheeled vehicles in many places but even the worst stretches were traversed with relative ease by the special cars equipped with a band drive in place of rear wheels the three major stops la in afghanistan were made at herat metropolis of the western purt part of the kingdom kandahari Kan dahar in the south and kabul the capital in the east to locate distant herat on the world map an american may start in known cnown territory at knoxville tenn A line drawn due east will almost bisect herat seventy miles from the western afghan border no one knows how long herat has baa been dominating the broad plain in which it Is situated remains ot of buildings over the plain by were ancient to the ancients alexander the great Is credited with the building of the herat walls walla if that Is a fact herat Is at least two thousand two hundred and fifty years old A sort of hub for caravan routes leading to many parts of central asia and one of the so called doorways to india by land herat has been a tempting plum tor for rulers of nearby countries and imperial strategists of the eastern hemisphere bent upon annexing portions of southern asia to their domains herat often besieged and taken As a result its 25 foot wa walls IS surmounted by towers have withstood many bledes but it also has often fallen before attack in the thirteenth century genghis khan and his horde of mongols swept down upon the city leaving only a half hundred of its hundreds of thousands of inhabitants alive and these survived only because they feigned death one hundred and fifty years later tamerlane no less merciless nearly duplicated the annihilation lation the persians frequently took herat and remained in control for many years at a time today persian blood flows in the veins of about one half of the beratis He Ile in 1837 some persians set out to take herat after a siege of ten months the beratis IIer He atis with the help of british forces defeated the persians herat then became an independent city but in 1861 a quarrel between the rulers of herat and afghanistan resulted in the cites passing of the latter despite frequent revolts and attacks herat continues to rank with the greet cities of central asia frequent rebuilding of the city within the walls lias has brought little change to its people and dally daily life no railroad approaches pro aches nearer than 80 miles the telegraph key has never clicked within the cites walls unsightly tinclent ancient graveyards outside the walls have been put in order new defense works have been built and a new extension of the city with broad streets flanked by modern shops Is rising outside of the north wall but the original moat 45 feet wide and 16 feet deep still Is there today as it was centuries ago inside the walls beratis live in low mud and sun dried brick buildings as did their ancestors the streets are mere passageways eways they are playgrounds tor for children and stages for debate by bewhiskered men some of the streets are covered to keep out the sun one chronicler was not far wrong when he compared them with rabbit warrens hard route to kandahari Kan dahar south and east of herat the e expedition e X 19 encountered difficult terr terrain a over which few motor cars have passed many swift streams had to be forded corded and three mountain ranges crossed the only major river encountered the helfand Hel mand had bad to be crossed by means of an ancient ferry the transfer of the lie 21 cars trailers and trucks across the helmond consumed two days to kandahari Kan dahar important trade center of southern afghanistan caravan roads converge from several gateways into persia from turkestan Turk estan from herat and kabul in afghanistan and from and india geography has given it trade value for two millenniums the town lies on a level plain between two rivers the barnak and ar ghan dib to the north and northeast lie barren hills bills but south and west of f the city the plain Is irrigated by numerous canals and Is highly productive and thickly settled this irrigated land about kandahari Kan dahar Is one of the best fruit growing regions of the middle middie east peaches apricots grapes figs melons and pomegranates grow to perfection fruits both fresh and dried make up prominent items to ID the cites exports A ditch and a mud brick wall extending tor for more thau than three miles surround kandahari Kan dahar outside the east kate gate Is a large caravansary where are often to be found huge stores of wool and other products destined for india kandahari Kan dahar shows its trade lepor import tance and the cosmopolitan character of its inhabitants in its bazaars hindu afghan persian and merchants handle bandle goods from europe aa central asia turkestan Turk estan and india the hindu merchants predominate and are shipping agents BB as well their outgoing caravans carry in addition to wool and dried fruits evil smelling asafetida tor for the drug trade indifferent nt tobacco madder for the outside worlds paint tubes and dye vats vata silk and cleverly carved prayer beads for devout moslems from java to morocco the dwelling houses house s of kandahari Kan dahar are built of sun dried brick with ith flat roofs most bloat of them are small and of one story but the houses of the wealthy merchants have bave upper floors and are by high walls A few have spacious courts and elaborate fountains and gardens plenty of sunni mosques the afghans belong to the sunni branch of mohammedanism a rival creed to that of the accepted by the persians there are ISO sunni mosques in kandahari Kan dahar and not one ablah mosque although many of the tha city dwellers from outside afghanistan are topping the towns skyline Is the lofty dome of the tomb of ahmad shah Durra nl which may be seen by the traveler r while he Is still far from the outer wall kandahari Kan dahar dabor Is in the same sam e latitude as dallas texas but beca because use it Is surrounded r 0 u n d e d b by y d deserts e s e r t s ai and n d m mountains 0 u n I 1 its t s climate Is more near nearly y c comparable om p a e t to 0 that of the drier portions ot of northern mexico there Is little rainfall anil and in summer the temperature rises to most uncomfortable oble heights east and north of kandahari Kan dahar better roads were encountered than those of eastern afghanistan and the expedition had little difficulty in reaching kabul it found that the ambitious modern capital city which former king Amanul amanullah lab had almost completed on the outskirts of kabul before his visit to the united states in 1928 28 Is now DOW deserted governmental activities as during past centuries are carried on oa in old kabul kabul big and busy kabul Is one of the three of the least lown known capitals in the world today the others are lhasa capital of tibet and rind riad capital of the newly recognized country in central arabia kabul granted the trans asia expedition permission to enter but customarily tom to it hangs out no welcome signs to visitors distinguished or otherwise the afghan capital like the rest of the asian monarchy of which it Is the largest city asks little from the outside world and would like the attitude reciprocated yet kabul Is far from crude or primitive it has electric lights from a hydroelectric power plant telephones many automobiles but few roads machine shops munitions works works and factories for making soap shoes and cloth nil all built under english supervision its tanneries canneries tann eries established through the operation cooperation co o of outside experts are sources of especial pride kabul itself is it a busy city of about people one can only guess at the population because the single effort at a census tailed failed before the innate exclusiveness of the afghan rather than tell their names and ages so many kabul residents either cither left the city or hid away that business was disrupted and the census was abandoned dabuls flat root roof dwellings rise in sweeping tiers from the banks of the kabul river to sun parched foot foothills buts feet above the sea higher than the peak of mt ML mitchell Ml loftiest loft iest of the appalachian chain the peaks of the hindu kush three times as high jut into the skyline not far away hence its winters are cold and its summers wild mild piano players and phonographs give the ear an inkling of the home life of Afghani stans capital a home life which Is screened from the eye by interminable mud walls probably nowhere in the east Is the seclusion ot 0 women more complete than in kabul the extent of mans walls Is the bar barl ometer of his social station when a western men idea finally reaches the kabul home the impact often leaves a strange anticlimax the story Is told of one wealthy Kabul Ka bullan laa who would have nothing less than a grand piano in his home after many months it arrived but minus a bench for the player all right said the purchaser im accustomed to sitting on the floor saw oft off its legs leas I 1 r |