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and its effect was heightened by the stillness and solitude of the streets, at the early hour at which we used to set out. A little before sunrise, people began to assemble at the mosques to their morning devotions. After the hour of prayer, some few appeared sweeping the streets before their doors, and some great men were to be seen going to their early attendance at court. They were always on horseback, preceded by from ten to twelve servants on foot, who, walked pretty fast, but in perfect order, and silence: nothing was heard, but the sound of their feet. But, when we returned, the streets were crowded with men of all nations and languages, in every variety of dress and appearance. The shops were all open. Dried fruits, and nuts, bread, meat, boots, shoes, saddlery, bales of cloth, hardware, ready-made cloaths, and posteens, books, &c. were either displayed in tiers in front of the shops, or hung up on hooks from the roof. Amongst the handsomest shops were the fruiterers, (where apples, melons, plums, and even oranges, though these are rare at Peshawer, were mixed in piles with some of the Indian fruits); and the cook-shops, where every thing was served in earthen dishes, painted and glazed, so as to look like china. In the streets were people crying greens, curds, &c., and men, carrying water in leathern bags at their backs, and announcing their commodity by beating on a brazen cup, in which they give a draught to a passenger for a trifling piece of money. With these were mixed people of the town in white turbans, some in large white or dark blue frocks, and others in sheep-skin cloaks; Persians, and Afghauns, in brown woollen tunics, or flowing mantles, and caps of black sheep-skin or coloured silk; Khyberees, with the straw sandals, and the wild dress, and air of their mountains; Hindoos, uniting the peculiar features and manners of their own nation, to the long beard, and the dress of the country; and Hazaurehs, not more remarkable for their conical caps of skin, with the wool, appearing like a fringe round the edge, and for their broad faces, and little eyes, than for their want of the beard, which is the ornament of every other face in the city. Among these might be discovered a few women with long white veils, that reached their feet, and some of the King's retinue, in the grotesque caps, and fantastic habits, which mark the class to which each belongs. Sometimes a troop of armed horsemen passed, and their appearance was announced by the clatter of their horses hoofs on the pavement, and by the jingling of their bridles. Sometimes, when the King was going out, the streets were choaked with horse and foot, and dromedaries bearing swivels, and large waving red and green flags; and, at all times, loaded dromedaries, or heavy Bactrian camels, covered with shaggy hair, made their way slowly through the streets; and mules, fastened together in circles of eight or ten, were seen off the road, going round and round to cool them after their labour, while their keepers were indulging at an eating-house, or enjoying a smoke of a hired culleeaun in the street. Amidst all this throng, we generally passed without any notice, except a salaum alaikum from a passenger, accompanied by a bow, with the hands crossed in front, or an

application

application from a beggar, who would call out for relief from the Teringee Khauns, admonish us that life was short, and the benefit of charity immortal, or remind us that what was little to us was a great deal to him.'

During the stay of the embassy at Peshawer, an alarming rebellion against the King of Caubul was undertaken by Shauh Mahmood; and the King's minister, Akram Khaun, who was known to be on good terms with the English, was singularly unsuccessful against the enemy. Before the first alarm created by the bad news was over, a Hindoo letter-carrier was seized in one of the passes on the way to Caubul; and a report was spread that he was charged with a treacherous correspondence between the English and the rebels. This story was accompanied by a rumour, that the King of Caubul meant to give up to plunder the quarters and property of the embassy. The whole town was consequently in a ferment; people were running up and down in all directions, getting their arms in order, and lighting their matches; and a great mob angrily assembled at the gates of the caravanserai. The gentlemen of the embassy continued to sit quietly in the hall, and to receive company: but Captain Pitman silently doubled the guards, and took other measures of defence. At length, the King's minister made a visit to the ambassador, which put an end to any suspicions of disloyalty: the crowd dispersed; and the English, after having being threatened with massacre, became the hope of the nation. Meanwhile, the strength of the rebels continuing to increase, and also the poverty of the King's exchequer, he was advised to hoist the royal standard, to quit Peshawer, which was indefensible, and to march for Caubul. This determination, being taken, necessarily interrupted the negotiation, and decided the embassy to return. An application was made by the King of Caubul in his necessity to the British for a loan of money: but the ambassador thought that his powers did not extend to the making of such advances. In our judgment, however, there would have been more statesmanship and magnanimity in granting them; since, at an expence which would not have doubled the cost of the embassy, the throne of Caubul would thus probably have been secured to a friendly sovereign, who would have indemnified the government of Calcutta by the cession of some frontier-province. Even if the money had been expended in vain, it would have secured cessions of claim, which future opportunities might have changed into valuable rights.

On the 14th of June the embassy began its retreat by another road, through Chumkuny, along the Caubul river to Acora, and thence to Attock, a fort near the junction of the

Caubul

Caubul and the Indus. Many persons were seen crossing the river, or floating down the stream, seated astride on the inflated hides of oxen; a contrivance which was used in these countries, as Arrian observes, in the time of Alexander. Above Attock, are rapids which interfere with navigation; and to the east of Attock the region assumes a Hindoo character. The embassy had now descended the higher lands, and quitted their European climate for the more sultry atmosphere of the low districts.

After having left Rawil Pindee on the 12th of July, which is a rainy season, a singular accident was incurred. On one occasion, the rear-guard and some gentlemen of the mission were cut off from the rest by the sudden swelling of a brook, which had not been a foot deep when they began to cross; and the water came down with such surprising violence, as even to carry away some loaded camels that were passing at the time. It rose ten feet within a minute. "Nothing could be grander than this torrent,' says the author: such was its force that it ran in waves like the sea; and rose against the bank in a ridge like the surf on the coast of Coromandel.'Near Banda was discovered a remarkable building, which seemed at first a cupola, but, when approached, was found to be a solid structure on a low artificial mound; the height, seventy feet; the circumference, one hundred and fifty paces. It is built of hewn sand-stone: steps lead to the massy pile; and pilasters of great simplicity, which support a cornice, decorate the basement and encircle the whole. Nothing of the Hindoo character appeared in this architecture, which struck the beholders as a Grecian mausoleum: an engraving of it is annexed.

The Hydaspes was passed at Jellalpoor in detachments between the 22d and 26th of July: but the rest of the journey back to Delly is not circumstantially related, the country hav ing been already described by other European travellers.

To different individuals of the mission, distinct cares, or tasks, were assigned: one took sketches; another botanized; one mineralogized; and another collected and epitomized the documents of literature. All these separate contributions of remembered or recorded remark have been thrown into a common stock, classed under appropriate heads, and digested into a regular geographical description of the country, which succeeds to the introductory narrative of the journey accomplished by the embassy. The excellent map of Mr. Macartney deserves peculiar approbation.

The first book of this formal survey is intitled a Geographic Description of Afghaunistaun. The situation and boundaries

of

of the country are defined, and an account is given of its mountains, one of whose peaks, from a measurement taken by Lieutenant Macartney, appears to be 20,500 feet above the level of the sea. None of the Andes attain this height. A third chapter is allotted to the rivers; which have rather the character of torrents, and which, as they fall down a surface steeply inclined, are mostly fordable during the greater part of the year. A fourth chapter treats of the natural and political divisions of Afghaunistaun; and a fifth of the climate. It appears that every where the coolness cf the weather is as the elevation of the soil; and that to have ascended up the mountains to a higher level is, both for the surrounding climate and the produce, equivalent to moving northwards or southwards from the tropics. It would deserve calculation to ascertain with how many degrees of latitude a mile of elevation corresponds. The westerly winds are prevalent throughout the Afghaun country, and are cold, while the easterly winds are hot. A pestilential wind called the Simoom sometimes invades this region: it has a peculiar smell, and blows only for a little while, but frequently stifles. When a man is caught in it, says the author, it generally occasions instant death; the sufferer falling senseless, and blood bursting from his nostrils. This wind probably consists of a peculiar gas, perhaps of the same which forms the surraub: when chemistry has ascertained its composition, the remedy will no doubt be devised.

Chapter vi. treats of the animals, vegetables, and minerals. Most of the European trees are common, yet the date flourishes, notwithstanding the cold; and so do camels. Lead, salt, and salt-petre are very abundant.

The second Book gives a general Account of the Inhabitants of Afghaunistaun; and first of their origin and early history. They are here deduced from the mountains of Ghore, and are supposed, previously to their having embraced the Mohammedan faith, to have been addicted to the religion of Boodh. Sir William Jones advanced a rash theory of their descent from the Jews, which is here satisfactorily refuted in the concluding note. Of the divisions and government of the Afghaun nations, we have an account in the second chapter of this book. Clanship is established among them, as in most pastoral nations: but a high independent spirit animates the chiefs of families. Mr. Ephinstone observes: To an old man of the tribe of Meeankhail, I was urging the superiority of a quiet life under a powerful monarch, to the discord, the alarms, the bloodshed attending the present independence. The old man replied with great warmth: We are content with

6

discord,

discord, we are content with alarms, we are content with bloodshed; but we will never be content with a master.' Mr. E. thinks that this feudal independence of the gentry affords good materials for the construction of a free national constitution; and he seems inclined to prophecy the regeneration of the East from the future institutions of Afghaunistaun. Marriages, the condition of women, the state of moral restraint, and similar connected topics, occupy the third chapter. Polygamy exists only among the rich. The funerals have the usual Mohammedan forms.

Chapter iv. is allotted to the education, language, and literature of the Afghauns: this language is called Pushtoo, or, according to Tiefenthaler, Puqtoo, and is an original tongue, least dissimilar from that of Curdistan. In the Göttingen Transactions for 1804, M. Tychsen has inserted a dissertation De Afganorum Origine; and in Adelung's Mithridates a very short vocabulary is given, which may be much extended by the help of the document E inserted in the Appendix to this volume. The Persian alphabet is employed: but, as it is deficient in some sounds peculiar to the speech of the Afghauns, several additional points or marks have come The best of their poets is Khooshhaul, who was Khaun of the Khuttuks, a tribe situated to the east of Peshawer. His life was spent in a struggle with the Great Mogul, Aurungzebe; and his poems are intended to animate his countrymen to the defence of their independence: 'One poem begins thus:

into use.

"Come, and listen to my story,

In which both good and evil are displayed.
It contains both precept and example,
Agreeable to the understanding of the wise.
I am Khooshhaul, the son of Shahbauzkhan;
Descended from a race of warriors.

Shaubauz was the son of Yeheia Khaun,
Like whom there never was another youth.
Yeheia Khaun, of Acora,

Who was a Sultan at the sword.

He was both gallant at the use of the sword,
And a master of archery with his bow.
Any enemy that appeared against him

Soon found his place in the tomb.

He had both the sword and the board;
Both courage and courtesy.

[blocks in formation]

His companions

Were men of spirit, who sported with their lives;
And in all transactions they were sincere.

They

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