p. xvi, as it is painful to hear the way in which Englishmen,
who, with their wide imperial interests, should be better informed,
mispronounce common Indian words and names of places which are in
constant use nowadays in England as much as abroad.

Nothing is recorded which has not been enacted in my own experience
or in that of some trustworthy friend. In Chapters XIII. and XIV. it
would have been unwise to give the actual names, so I have put the
experience of several such cases together into one connected story,
which, while concealing the identity of the actors, may also make the
narrative more interesting to the reader; every fact recorded, however,
happened under my own eyes. In Chapter XXII., the night adventure of
Chikki, when he met an English officer in disguise, was related by
him to me of another member of his profession, and not of himself.

I wish to thank the Church Missionary Society for allowing me
to reproduce some articles which have already appeared in their
publications, notably Chapter XX. and part of Chapter IV. I tender
my best thanks to Major Wilkinson, I.M.S., Major Watson, H. Bolton,
Esq., I.C.S., and Colonel S. Baker, for some of the photographs which
have been here reproduced; and to Dr. J. Cropper for his kindness in
reading the proofs.

We are at present engaged in building a branch dispensary at Thal,
a place on the extreme border mentioned several times in the text,
where the medical mission will have a profound influence on the
trans-border tribes, as well as on those in British India. This will
be known as the "Lord Roberts Hospital," as that place was at one
time of the 1879-80 campaign the headquarters of his column.

The Author's profits on the sale of this book will be entirely
devoted to the building of the hospital, and carrying on of the
medical mission work at Thal.

T. L. PENNELL.

P. and O. s.s. "China,"
Gulf of Suez,
September 24, 1908.

CONTENTS

Chapter I

The Afghan Character

Pages

Paradoxical--Ideas of honour--Blood-feuds--A sister's revenge--The
story of an outlaw--Taken by assault--A jirgah and its unexpected
termination--Bluff--An attempt at kidnapping--Hospitality--A midnight
meal--An ungrateful patient--A robber's death--An Afghan dance--A
village warfare--An officer's escape--Cousins 17-30

Chapter II

Afghan Traditions

Israelitish origin of the Afghans--Jewish practices--Shepherd