A. Hamilton

“ There is relief, too, from the burning sunshine in the cool, lofty passages: shady, thronged and tortuous they extend in endless succession for mile after mile. The roof of the bazaar is a rude contrivance of undressed beams upon which there is a covering of beaten clay. Behind each stall is an alcove in the wall serving as home and office to the keen-visaged merchant who presides. In this little recess, piled upon innumerable shelves, rammed into little niches or strewn upon the floor, are the different articles which his trade requires. ”

“ China is the principal source of the tea supply, but of late a certain amount has found its way into Bokhara from the gardens of India and Ceylon. It is before the steaming samovars that the crowd of prospective purchasers is apt to be thickest. Beyond the bazaar boundaries are the wonderful relics of a bygone grandeur—imposing buildings and mosques, touched with the glory of the sunlight and capacious enough to contain within their courtyards 10,000 people at one time. ”

“ Each carries, as a rule, two pistols, a sword, rifle and many knives, their swagger and overbearing disposition causing them to be hated by the wretched population. The position of the city to-day as between Russia and India is rather that of a woman whose wares are put up to the highest bidder. It is not particularly partial to the rule of the Amir, to the overtures of Russia or to the influence of India. ”

“ The spring is genial and, as the fields become green, flowers appear on the plain. Rain falls irregularly and only for a few days, but the bane of the climate is the dust which comes up with the westerly winds. In summer the heat is less than that which prevails at Kabul and Kandahar. The severity of the winter months entails as a rule heavy mortality among the people, the lack of fuel being the principal cause of the deaths. ”

“ Distant hills extend in low ranges of bare rock. The country skirting them is a waste of stone and scrub, in the possession of wandering Ghilzais whose flocks of goats, sheep and camels share the pastures with wild deer, wolves, foxes and hares. The black-hair tents of these nomads of the desert, pitched in the sheltered hollows of its surface for protection from the keen westerly wind, impart to the scene its sole sign of human habitation. ”

“ But if you should cut them out of my dominions they will neither be of any use to you nor to me; you will always be engaged in fighting or other trouble with them, and they will always go on plundering. As long as your Government is strong and in peace, you will be able to keep them quiet by a strong hand, but if at any time a foreign enemy appear on the borders of India, these frontier tribes will be your worst enemies. You must remember that they are like a weak enemy who can be held under the feet of a strong enemy, as long as he is strong ”

“ The Afghans are a fruit-loving people; in certain districts fruit, both in its fresh and preserved condition, forms the staple diet of a large section of the population throughout the year. A rapidly growing export in fresh and dried fruits exists with India. Indeed, so important has this industry become that, in the country round Kandahar, a marked increase in the number of orchards and fruit gardens has taken place within the last five years, the presence of the railway at New Chaman and its extension to Nushki making the exportation of fresh fruit not only practicable but profitable. ”

“ These underground rooms are so small that the men at work are compelled to crouch over their knees, while customers, who bring articles for repair, sit in the street. In the copper bazaar, where domestic utensils are to be found, there is the ceaseless tapping of countless hammers, as the men, assisted by boys who ply the bellows or feed the furnace with charcoal, wield their tools upon long-necked vases, hubble-bubbles, kettles, cooking pots, water-bottles with delicate handles and graceful spouts, stoves, plates and copper boxes of all shapes and sizes. ”

“ This contingency, which is liable to arise at the outset of a war with any foreign power, imposes upon the Government of India a thankless burden, in no way lessened by the proposal of the Amir to create in Kabul an Afghan Staff College, and the determination of the Imperial Government to avoid insistence upon what is, by no means, an unreasonable precaution. As matters rest at present unless change is introduced the preposterous conceit, which distinguishes the Afghans, is destined to receive an unwelcome shock. ”