of provisions that we could not live on Affgh[=a]n pay; we have,
therefore, entered the service of the foreigner; but had we received
the same wages we now get from you, we should in our own service have
been gentlemen." Here the orator made a pause, but soon imagining from
my silence that his speech was unobjectionable, he boldly continued;
"but there is one powerful argument in favour of the Ameer's service,
_he_ always allowed us on the line of march to plunder from every
one; we have been brought up in this _principle(!!)_ since we were
children, and we find it very difficult to refrain from what has so
long been an established practice amongst us: we are soldiers, sir, and
it is not much each man takes; but the British are so strict, that
they will protect a villager or even a stranger:" this last sentence
was evidently pronounced under a deep sense of unmerited oppression.
"But," continued he, "look at that apricot orchard on the right, how
ripe and tempting is the fruit; if we were not under your orders,
those trees would in a moment be as bare as the palm of my hand." But
I remarked, "would not the owners turn out and have a fight; is it not
better to go through a strange country peaceably and making friends?"
"_They_ fight," answered my hero; "oh! they are Uzbegs and no men,
more like women--one Affghan can beat three Uzbegs." I was not quite
satisfied how far the vaunted pay and discipline would prevail over
the natural lawless propensities of _my army_, and in order not to try
their insubordination too much, I conceived that a compromise would be
the wisest plan, and giving them a few rupees, I desired them to make
the most they could out of them. Off they went highly delighted with
the results of the interview, clapping their orator on the back,
crying out _sh[=a]bash, sh[=a]bash, bravo, bravo_, and evidently
believing the gift of the rupees as entirely due to the eloquence
of their comrade. They are a simple people with all their savage
characteristics, but it is very sad to contemplate a whole nation as a
race of systematic plunderers.

In the afternoon the chief of M[=a]ther called to pay his respects,
bringing a present of fruit and sheep's milk; the latter I found so
palatable, that I constantly drank it afterwards; it is considered
very nutritious, and is a common beverage in Toorkisth[=a]n, where the
sheep are milked regularly three times a day. Goats are very scarce,
cows not to be seen, but the shee