AMONG THE AFGHANS.*
WE use the word " Afghans " for the miscellany of tribes which occupies the country between the frontier of Afghan- istan and British India. Here Dr. Pennell has spent fifteen years in the work of a medical missionary. Afghanistan itself is absolutely closed against missions ; even if it were not, it is probable that a more hopeful field for the enterprise would be found among the unsettled population of the debateable land which lies between the two dominions. These tribes are not Afghans proper, but they are closely akin to them, and present the familiar traits of Afghan character. Dr. Pennell has a chapter on this very curious combina- tion of good and evil. The opening words are these :— "Courage blends with stealth, the basest treachery with the most touching fidelity, intense religious fanaticism with an avarice which will even induce him to play false to his faith, and a lavish hospitality with an irresistible propensity for thieving." And much of the book is a practical commentary on these words. Here is a story which exhibits one of these strange combinations. Dr. Pennell had been escorted home by two tribesmen. They refused the money which he offered, and he sent them to be entertained by some one attached to the mission. They were found to have decamped next morning with their host's best clothes ! There can be no doubt that the medical mission is the best way of approaching these people. It is, indeed, a present:day form of the earliest preaching of the Gospel, and there are abundant proofs of its success. The wildest tribesman carries away from the hospital where he has been tended some kindly thoughts of the faith which shows itself in such works. What must have been the impression made on such a man when he saw in the Bann Mission Hospital the " Conolly Bed "I Captain Conolly was done to death in the cruelest way by the Amir of Afghanistan, and this was how his sister commemorated his death. It was "A Christian's Revenge," and the lesson does not fail of its effect in a country where society is lacerated with blood-feuds. This is but one of the many interesting topics treated in this volume. Among them we may mention "Morning to Night," the story of a day's work ; 'The Story of a Convert " ; and "My Life as a Mendicant," where Dr. Pennell and a companion went as Christian saddhus without a penny in their pockets, a practical way of entering into the Master's life. But the whole book is interesting in the highest degree.
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