. This peg has a cleft in it, and a wedge is then
hammered slowly into this cleft, thus gradually tightening the cords
till they cut into the foot and cause its mortification.

In every village there are one or more matamkhanas, where the Shiahs
hold their annual mournings for the martyrs of Kerbela (Hasan and
Husein) at every Muharram. Under Afghan (Sunni) rule these ceremonies
were often interdicted, or at least restricted; but now they are
able to carry them on unhindered, and pray for the continuance of
British rule in consequence. These places form convenient centres
for the men to gather together and talk, and in them many of my
religious discussions have been held. They are all the more ready
to accept the Christian account of the Crucifixion and its meaning
(which is such a stumbling-block to the Sunnis), because they look on
the martyrdom of the two brothers at Kerbela as having a vicarious
efficacy for those who perform the memorial rites, and regard 'Ali,
the fourth Khalifa from Muhammad, as being indeed a saviour.

If we could have visited this valley in the days long before
the Christian era, when the first Aryan immigrants were passing
down from Central Asia into the Panjab, we should have seen it
covered with their settlements, and seen them engaged in the simple
Nature-worship depicted in the Vedas, which record this stage of
Aryan civilization. This region was probably much better watered and
more fertile in those days than it is now. Not only does geological
evidence point to a greater rainfall and vegetation, but as these
early immigrations were mostly of large bands of pastoral people,
moving with their flocks and herds, their families and household
possessions, and as they probably only gradually moved down the valley
into the plains below, they must have found more pasturage than the
desolate frontier ranges would now afford.

The Kurram Valley above described serves as a good example of an
administered area fairly well advanced in the civilizing effects of
a settled and just Government.

The independent tribes, on the other hand, go down the scale till
you find tribes, such as some sections of the Wazirs and Afridis,
who are utter barbarians, entirely devoted to a nomadic life of
systematic highway robbery.

A Political Officer was once seated, with a number of the head men of
some of these independent tribes, on the top of one of their rugged
mountains, from which you look down on Afghanist