Where Did Jesus Die? — Page 148
? 148 themselves descended from the Jews; and in a history of the Afghans (by Neamat-ullah, translated by the Translation Society) written in the 16th century and lately translated from the Persian, they are derived from Afghan, the son of Jeremiah, the son of Saul, King of Israel, whose posterity being carried away at the time of the Captivity, was set- tled by the conqueror in the mountains of Ghor, Kabul, Candhar and Ghazni. They preserved the purity of their religion until they embraced Islam. 4. In the Civil and Military Gazette (November 23rd, 1898) was published a paper on this subject, in which the writer says: ‘They, the Afghans, trace their descent from Israelitish tribes. ’ After having mentioned that their names are Israelitish and that they keep the Feast of the Passover, the writer says: ‘Thus the Afghan may possibly be an Israelite, absorbed into ancient Rajput tribes, and this has always appeared to me to be the most probable solution of the problem of his origin. ’ Then he says that A. K. Johnston has quoted the following tra- dition: ‘When Nadir Shah arrived at Peshawar, the chiefs of the tribes in the Yusuf Zais presented him with a Bible writ- ten in Hebrew, and several articles that had been used in their ancient worship which they had preserved; those articles were at once recognised by the Jews that followed the camp. ’ 5. H. W. Bellews, writes:— The traditions of this people (Afghans) refer them to Syria as the country of their residence at the time