Although Kandahar has long ceased to be the seat of government, it is nevertheless by far the most important trade centre in Afghanistan, and the revenues of the Kandahar province assist largely in supporting the chief power at Kabul. There are no manufactures or industries of any importance peculiar to Kandahar, but the long lines of bazaars display goods from England, Russia, Hindustan, Persia and Turkestan, embracing a trade area as large probably as that of any city in Asia. The customs and town dues together amount to a sum equal to the land revenue of the Kandahar province, which is of considerable extent, stretching to Pul-i-Sangin, 10 m. south of Kalat-i-Ghilzai on the Kabul side, to the Helmund on the west, and to the Hazara country on the north. Although Farah has been governed from Kandahar since 1863, its revenues are not reckoned as a part of those of the province. The land revenue proper is assessed in grain, the salaries of government officials, pay of soldiers, &c., being disbursed by "barats" or orders for grain at rates fixed by government, usually about 20% above the city market prices. The greater part of the English goods sold at Herat are imported by Karachi and Kandahar--a fact which testifies to the great insecurity of trade between Meshed and Herat. Some of the items included as town dues are curious. For instance, the tariff on animals exposed for sale includes a charge of 5% ad valorem on slave girls, besides a charge of 1 rupee per head. The kidney fat of all sheep and the skins of all goats slaughtered in the public yard are perquisites of government, the former being used for the manufacture of soap, which, with snuff, is a government monopoly. The imports consist chiefly of English goods, indigo, cloth, boots, leather, sugar, salt, iron and copper, from Hindustan, and of shawls, carpets, "barak" (native woollen cloth), postins (coats made of skins), shoes, silks, opium and carpets from Meshed, Herat and Turkestan. The exports are wool, cotton, madder, cummin seed, asafoetida, fruit, silk and horses. The system of coinage is also curious: 105 English rupees are melted down, and the alloy extracted, leaving 100 rupees' worth of silver; 295 more English rupees are then melted, and the molten metal mixed with the 100 rupees silver; and out of this 808 Kandahari rupees are coined. As the Kandahari rupee is worth about 8 annas (half an English rupee) the government thus realizes a profit of 1%. Government accounts are kept in "Kham" rupees, the "Kham" being worth about five-sixths of a Kandahari rupee; in other words, it about equals the franc, or the Persian "kran."