Chapter I: Front Matter

UNDER THE ABSOLUTE AMIR

[_Frontispiece._]

UNDER
THE ABSOLUTE AMIR

BY
FRANK A. MARTIN
FOR EIGHT YEARS ENGINEER-IN-CHIEF SUCCESSIVELY TO THE AMIRS ABDUR
RAHMAN AND HABIBULLAH, AND FOR THE GREATER PART OF THAT
PERIOD THE ONLY ENGLISHMAN IN KABUL

_Illustrated by the Author’s Drawings and Photographs,
and by other Photographs_

LONDON AND NEW YORK
HARPER & BROTHERS
45 ALBEMARLE STREET, W.
1907

CONTENTS

PAGE

CHAPTER I
ON THE ROAD

Order of march—Soldiers and guards—Method of carrying goods
by pack animals—Description of camps—Marches—Welcome given to
Sirdar Nasrullah at villages and cities—Description of country
passed through—Kandahar—Amir and the moullah who took refuge in
the Kandahar Sanctuary 1

CHAPTER II
ON THE ROAD—_continued_

Method of fishing in the rivers—Route through Khilat and
Mukur to Ghazni and distance from Kandahar—Cold and snow on
journey—Ghazni—Robberies and murders on roads before Amir Abdur
Rahman’s time—Villages and cultivation _en route_—Arrival in
Kabul and reception of Sirdar Nasrullah by Amir 16

CHAPTER III
KABUL

The Mihman khana or Guest-house—Description of hamams
(Turkish baths)—Description of people met with on roads
and streets—Amir Abdur Rahman—Description of palace and
audience chamber, and his reception of me—Situation of Kabul
and description of country around—Kabul city, its bazars,
streets, and filth—Water-supply and drainage systems—Sanitary
arrangements—Pariah dogs and crows scavenging city 33

CHAPTER IV
KABUL—_continued_

How streets are governed—City magistrate—Robberies and
murders—Bazar shops—Style of palaces and better-class
houses—Climate of Kabul 47

CHAPTER V
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS

Belief in the supernatural—Dress of men—Complexion—Character
of people—Description of various tribes—Languages and
schools—Feuds between families—How holidays are spent by the
people—Singing and musical instruments—Games and amusements 58

CHAPTER VI
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS—_continued_

Superstitions, fairies, and devils—A curious
legend—Astrologers—Children singing prayers on roofs to avert
calamity—Different foods in use—Smoking and tobacco—The Amir’s
chief physician—Snuff—Method of keeping warm in winter—How time
is kept—Weddings of different classes—Funerals 78

CHAPTER VII
AMIR ABDUR RAHMAN

Form of government—Abuse of authority—Amir’s food and drinking
water and taster—Soldiers and horses always ready for
flight—Amir’s habits—Amir’s amusements, attendants, etc.—Amir’s
feelings towards England—Amir’s views on Afridi rising and Boer
War—Amir’s stratagem 98

CHAPTER VIII
AMIR ABDUR RAHMAN—_continued_

Amir’s sons and his treatment of them—Princes and their duties
and durbars—Food supplied by Government to members of royal
family—How officials are paid—Civil and Military titles—Court
life and officials—Law courts—Amir’s lingering illness,
death, and burial—Rumours of rising—Fears of populace—Burial
of household treasures—Plots to get body—Coronation of Amir
Habibullah—New Amir’s promises of Reform—Amusements 120

CHAPTER IX
PRISONS AND PRISONERS

Kotwal and Kotwali (magistrate and police court)—Policemen as
thieves—Description of prisons—Description of how prisoners
are treated and their irons—The old well in Bala Hisar—The spy
system—Cutting a man’s throat—False reporting—Fanah (wedge)
tortures 142

CHAPTER X
TORTURES AND METHODS OF EXECUTION

Amir’s iron rule—Hanging by hair and skinning alive—Beating
to death with sticks—Cutting men in pieces—Throwing down
mountain-side—Starving to death in cages—Boiling woman to soup
and man drinking it before execution—Punishment by exposure and
starvation—Scaffold scenes—Burying alive—Throwing into soap
boilers—Cutting off hands—Blinding—Tying to bent trees and
disrupting—Blowing from guns—Hanging, etc. 157

CHAPTER XI
LIFE OF EUROPEANS IN KABUL

Life in Kabul—Houses and gardens—Guards and danger from
“Ghazis”— Allowances given wives—Servants and swindling 173

CHAPTER XII
LIFE OF EUROPEANS IN KABUL—_continued_

Lawlessness—Food: Raising cattle, sheep, fowls, etc.—Presents
from princes and others—Famines in Kabul—Cholera—Moullah’s
pilgrimage and preaching—Use of roofs of houses—Work and
working hours—Amusements—Hindu dealers and old curios—Festival
visits to Amir and princes—Europeans tried by jury—Letters,
cost of postage—Interpreters 192

CHAPTER XIII
SOLDIERS AND ARMS

Clothing—Reviews—Drill—Uniforms of Amir’s
bodyguard—Arms—Pay—Medals—Length of
service—Substitutes—Barracks—Mode of life—Gambling among
soldiers—Different tribes forming regiments—Thief tribe
and regiment—Officers and promotion—Bands—Afghan anecdotes
of incidents during war, 1879-81—Afghan army as a fighting
machine—Condition of country for warfare—Illustration of one
side of Afghan character 213

CHAPTER XIV
TRADES AND COMMERCE

Amir’s interest in mechanical tools, guns,
etc.—Workshops—Consumption of fuel—Ustads and workmen—Pay
of men—Trades, shopkeepers, and merchants—Produce of
country—Exports and imports—Irrigation of crops and fights
about water—Caravans and methods of carrying freight—Weights
and measures—Mirzas and offices—Debt collecting—Hindoos and
Hindoo money-lenders—Mint and coinage of country 229

CHAPTER XV
GEOLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF THE COUNTRY

Kabul valley once crater of volcano—Earthquakes—Kabul once
a large lake—Mines outcropping, gold, lead, copper, coal,
etc.—Rivers, and gold in them—Existence of kept secret for
fear of trouble—Turkestan mines—The question of fuel for Kabul
workshops—Local supply exhausted—Coal under the valley of Kabul 254

CHAPTER XVI
RELIGION

Suni and Shiah—Moullahs and their influence on the
people—Jihads or holy wars—The Koran—Late Amir’s distrust
of Moullahs—Holy men, fakirs, and holy graves—Madmen
and reverence paid them as God-stricken—Sayid and
Hafiz—Beggars and alms—Stoning to death for religious
offences—Prayers—Punishments for not knowing
prayers—Musjids—Ramazan and fastings—Haj—Afghan colony in
Australia—Lawful and unlawful food—Plurality of wives 266

CHAPTER XVII
POLITICAL SITUATION

Amir’s policy in killing off leading men of country to ensure
his son’s reign—Dwindling revenue—Why Amir could not meet
Lord Curzon in India—Russian encroachment on frontier—Russian
influence in Kabul—Afghanistan a menace to Russian approach
towards India—Afghan rule cheapest means of keeping unruly
tribes in order—Policy to keep the Afghans well armed—Sympathy
with English justice and government—Influence of British Agent
on the people—Why railways are not wanted in Afghanistan—Reason
rich mines are left unworked—Seaboard wanted by Amir on
Beloochistan coast—Internal policy of Amir Abdur Rahman 289