earliest childhood is taught by the circumstances of his existence and life to distrust all mankind, and very often his near relations, heirs to his small plot of land by right of inheritance, are his deadliest enemies. Distrust of all mankind, and readiness to strike the first blow for the safety of his own life, have therefore become the maxims of the Afridi. If you can overcome this mistrust, and be kind in words to him, he will repay you by a great devotion, and he will put up with any treatment you like to give him except abuse.” In short the Afridi has the vices and virtues of all Pathans in an enhanced degree. The fighting strength of the Afridis is said to be 27,000, but this estimate is excessive, judged by the number and size of their villages. They derive their importance from their geographical position, which gives them command of the Khyber and Kohat roads, and the history of the British connexion with them has been almost entirely with reference to these two passes.
There have been several British expeditions against the separate clans:—
(1) Expedition against the Kohat Pass Afridis under Sir Colin Campbell in 1850. The British connexion with the Adam Khel Afridis commenced immediately after the annexation of the Peshawar and Kohat districts. Following the example of all previous rulers of the country, the British agreed to pay the tribe a subsidy to protect the pass. But in 1850 a thousand Afridis attacked a body of sappers engaged in making the road, killing twelve and wounding six. It was supposed that they disliked the making of a road which would lay open their fastnesses to regular troops. An expedition of 3200 British troops was despatched, which traversed the country and punished them.
(2) Expedition against the Jowaki Afridis of the Bori villages in 1853. When the Afridis of the Kohat Pass misbehaved in 1850, the Jowaki Afridis offered the use of their route instead; but they turned out worse than the others, and in 1853 a force of 1700 British traversed their country and destroyed their stronghold at Bori. The Jowaki Afridis are a clan of the Adam Khel, who inhabit the country lying between the Kohat Pass and the river Indus.
(3) Expedition against the Aka Khel Afridis under Colonel Craigie in 1855. In 1854 the Aka Khels, not finding themselves admitted to a share of the allowances of the Kohat Pass, commenced a series of raids on the Peshawar border and attacked a British camp. An expedition of 1500 troops entered the country and inflicted severe punishment on the tribe, who made their submission and paid a fine.
(4) Expedition against the Jowaki Afridis under Colonel Mocatta in 1877. In that year the government proposed to reduce the Jowaki allowance for guarding the Kohat Pass, and the tribesmen resented this by cutting the telegraph wire and raiding into British territory. A force of 1500 troops penetrated their country in three columns, and did considerable damage by way of punishment.
(5) Expedition against the Jowaki Afridis under Brigadier-General Keyes in 1877-78. The punishment inflicted by the previous expedition did not prove sufficiently severe, the attitude of the Jowakis continued the same and their raids into British territory went on. A much stronger force, therefore, of 7400 British troops, divided into three columns, destroyed their principal villages and occupied their country for some time, until the tribe submitted and accepted government terms. The Kohat Pass was afterwards practically undisturbed.
(6) Expedition against the Zakka Khel Afridis of the Bazar Valley under Brigadier-General Tytler in 1878. At the time of the British advance into Afghanistan, during the second Afghan War, the Zakka Khel opposed the British advance and attacked their outposts. A force of 2500 British troops traversed their country, and the tribesmen made their submission.
(7) Expedition against the Zakka Khel Afridis of the Bazar Valley under Lieutenant-General Maude in 1879. After the previous expedition the Afridis of the Khyber Pass continued to give trouble during the progress of the second Afghan War, so another force of 3750 British troops traversed their country, and after suffering some loss the tribesmen made their submission. After this both the Khyber and Kohat Passes were put on a stable footing, and no further trouble of any consequence occurred in either down to the time of the frontier risings of 1897, when the Afridis attacked the Khyber Pass, which was defended by Afridi levies.
(8) For the Tirah Campaign of 1897 see Tirah Campaign.
(9) In the February of 1908 the restlessness of the Zakka Khel again made a British expedition necessary, under Sir James Willcocks; but the campaign was speedily ended, though in the following April he had again to proceed against the Mohmands, the situation being complicated by an incursion from Afghanistan.
See also Paget and Mason’s Frontier Expeditions (1884); Warburton’s Eighteen Years in the Khyber (1900). (C. L.)
AFTERGLOW, a broad high arch of whitish or rosy light appearing occasionally in the sky above the highest clouds in the hour of deepening twilight, or reflected from the high snowfields in mountain regions long after sunset. The phenomenon is due to very fine particles of dust suspended in the high regions of the atmosphere that produce a scattering effect upon the component parts of white light. After the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883, a remarkable series of red sunsets appeared all over the world. These were due to an enormous amount of exceedingly fine dust blown to a great height by that terrific explosion, and then universally diffused by the high atmospheric currents.
AFZELIUS, ADAM (1750–1837), a Swedish botanist, was born at Larf, Vestergötland, in 1750. He was appointed teacher of oriental languages at Upsala in 1777, and in 1785 demonstrator of botany. From 1792 he spent some years on the west coast of Africa, and in 1797–1798 acted as secretary of the Swedish embassy in London. Returning to Sweden, he founded the Linnaean institute at Upsala in 1802, and in 1812 became professor of materia medica at the university. He died at Upsala in 1837. In addition to various botanical writings, he published the autobiography of Linnaeus in 1823.
His brother, Johann Afzelius (1753–1837), known as Arvidson, was professor of chemistry at Upsala; and another brother, Per Af (1760–1843), who became professor of medicine at Upsala in 1801, was distinguished as a medical teacher and practitioner.
AFZELIUS, ARVID AUGUST (1785–1871), Swedish pastor, poet, historian and mythologist, was born on the 8th of October 1785. From 1828 till his death on the 25th of September 1871 he was parish priest of Enköping. He is mainly known as a collaborator with the learned historian, Erik Gustaf Geijer, in the great collection of Swedish folk-songs, Svenske folkirsor från forntiden, 3 vols. (Stockholm, 1814–1816). He published also translations of the Sämunder Edda and Herwara-Saga, and a history of Sweden to Charles XII. (of which a German translation was published in 1842), as well as original poems.
AGA, or Agha, a word, said to be of Tatar origin, signifying a dignitary or lord. Among the Turks it is applied to the chief of the janissaries, to the commanders of the artillery, cavalry and infantry, and to the eunuchs in charge of the seraglio. It is also employed generally as a term of respect in addressing wealthy men of leisure, landowners, &c.
AGAIAMBO, or Agaumbu, a race of dwarf marsh-dwellers in British New Guinea, now almost extinct. In his annual report for 1904 the acting administrator of British New guinea stated that on a visit he paid to their district, he saw six males and four females. The Agaiambo live in huts erected on piles in the lakes and marshes. Dwarfish in stature but broadly built, they are remarkable for the shortness of their legs. They live almost entirely in their “dug-outs” or canoes, or actually wading in the water. Their food consists of sago, the roots of water-lily and fish. The Agaiambo are believed to have been formerly numerous, but within the last few years have suffered from the raids of their cannibalistic Papuan neighbours. In features, colour and hair they closely resemble the true Papuans.
AGA KHAN I., His Highness the, (1800–1881), the title accorded by general consent to Hasan Ali Shah (born in Persia, 1800), when, in early life, he first settled in Bombay under the protection of the British government. He was believed to have descended in direct line from Ali by his wife Fatima, the daughter
