At the Court of the Amîr: A NarrativeGray, John Alfred
History
At the Court of the Amîr: A Narrative
Gray, John Alfred
'Abd al-Rahman Khan, Amir of Afghanistan, -1901; Afghanistan -- History
I found that a small rocky hill, or spur, at the foot of the mountains,
had been rounded at the apex into a cupola: the rock all around it
being cut away as a sort of trench, or moat, some twenty feet deep
and eight or nine feet across. On the top of the rounded cupola was,
apparently, a tiny temple, flat-topped, with a doorway on one side
flanked by pillars, which, to the best of my recollection, were Greek
in style. We got across the trench, or moat, and were able to examine
the structure on the top. Apparently, it was cut out of the rock. The
doorway was cut inwards for about two feet, and ended in flat rock.
Writing from recollection--it was in 1890 I saw it--I should say the
“temple” was about seven feet high and five or six feet square at the
base. The rounded cupola was, perhaps, thirty feet across. This they
told me was called “Rustom’s Throne.”
We then went to see the caves, which were near. They opened on the face
of the mountain. The largest--used then as a storehouse for grain--had
an entrance level with the ground, and a larger opening some twenty
feet higher up. It was, therefore, perfectly light inside. The roof
was domed and ornamented in the middle with a huge sunflower, treated
decoratively. The same style of decoration was repeated on the walls.
The other caves were smaller and dark.
I made sketches of the caves, and of Rustom’s Throne.
The next morning His Highness sent for me to see the Governor of
Haibuk, who had been wounded some time before by a bullet through
the roof of his mouth and upper jaw. After the removal of pieces of
necrosed bone, I suggested that a gold plate should be fitted into the
roof of the mouth. His Highness said there was a man in Kabul who had
been taught by an English dentist, Mr. O’Meara, how to take the model
of the mouth in wax: he could make a suitable plate, and, if necessary,
fix on artificial teeth. I was about to retire then, but His Highness
invited me to stay and drink tea, and a chair was placed for me near
him. He said he should much like to see my sketch-book, as he had heard
I had made a drawing of Rustom’s Throne. The Armenian at once galloped
off to my tent to fetch it. His Highness was much amused at some of
the sketches, particularly of one of the Armenian where he lay on the
ground in front of the fire--I had drawn it one evening in Mazar. He
said he looked as though he were--to put it mildly--suffering from
alcoholic intoxication.
As the Armenian was a Christian, and therefore not forbidden to drink
alcohol, this mild joke amused everybody except the Armenian, and the
more ashamed and angry he looked, the more they laughed. Of the other
sketches His Highness recognized whom they were meant for: but those
of Rustom’s Throne, the caves, and the sketch of the Khulm Pass, His
Highness admired so exceedingly, that I had to cut them out of the book
at once and give them to him. That is the reason I have to describe
Rustom’s Throne from memory.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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