ross the street. The only way to get to the village supply of
water was to go from house to house down to the bottom of the street,
and in order to do this without exposure, doors had been made, while
by common consent they had agreed not to shoot while getting their
supplies from the stream at the bottom. My host went on to show me
sundry holes in his door and in the wooden panels of the windows,
which the bullets of his neighbours across the street had penetrated,
and said: "It was behind that hole in the door there that my uncle
was shot; that hole in the window was made by the bullet which killed
my brother." Pointing to another Afghan who had come into the room
and seated himself on the bed, he said: "That is the man who shot my
brother." On my remarking upon the peace and goodwill in which they
appeared to be living at the present time, he said: "Yes, we are good
friends now, because the debt is even on both sides. I have killed
the same number in his family." After a faction fight of this kind,
the fatalities on both sides are added up, and if they can be found to
be equal, both sides feel that they can make peace without sacrificing
their izzat (honour), and amicable relations are resumed, it being
thought unnecessary to investigate who were the real instigators or
murderers. If, however, one side or the other believes itself to
be still aggrieved, or not to have exacted the full tale of lives
required by the law of revenge, then the feud may go on indefinitely,
until whole families may become nearly exterminated. The avenger will
go on waiting his opportunity for months or years, but he will never
forget; and one will always remember the hunted look and the furtive
expression and nervous handling of the revolver and cartridges which
mark the man who knows that one or more such avenger is on his track.

A Political Officer in the Kurram Valley was once visiting a chief
of the village of Shlozan, who, like all chiefs, had a high tower,
in which he would seek security from his enemies at night. His host
took him up into the tower, after carefully seeing that a window
in the upper story was shut. The officer, thinking he would like
a view of the country round, went to open it, but was hurriedly
and unceremoniously pulled back by the chief, who told him that
his cousin had been watching that window for months in the hope of
having an opportunity of shooting him there. The officer made no
further attempt to look out