Deliverance from the Cross — Page 138
in the country of Arsreth, which is supposed to be identical with the Hazara country of the present day of which Ghor forms a part. It is also stated in the Tabcati Nasari that in the time of a native Shan Sabi dynasty there was a people called Bani-Israelin that country and that some of them were extensively engaged in trade with the countries around. 10 We are attracted at once to a country of vast importance in the present aspect of the East, and the more interesting to us as we find there a people who profess to be the Bani-Israel or descendants of the Ten Tribes, namely Afghanistan and the adjacent countries. 11 The prominent reasons for thinking that certain classes of the people of Bokhara and Afghanistan are of Israelitish origin are these: 1st. Their personal resemblance to the Hebrew family. Thus Dr. Wolff, the Jewish missionary says: 'T was wonderfully struck with the resemblance of the Youssoufszye (tribe of Joseph), and the Khybere, two of their tribes, to Jews'. Moorcroft also says of Khyberis: 'They are tall and of singularly Jewish cast of features'. 10 The Races of Afghanistan by H. W. Bellews, Thacker Spink & Co. , Calcutta, 1884. 11 The Lost Tribes by George Moore. M. D. , London, I 886, pp. 143-160. 138