At the Hospital the work was getting rather overwhelming. I was not strong yet, but if I appeared at the Hospital at all, I had to see everyone. At the hundred and twentieth or thirtieth patient the backache came on horribly. If I did not go the patients crowded round the door of the Hospital and said, “When is the Doctor coming; ask him to come for God’s sake.” What could I do? I was obliged to go. If I had been strong I should have enjoyed it, but the overwork delayed my recovery, and I became much depressed. I thought of resigning and coming away, but I knew His Highness was not yet well, and in addition he had just then the annoyance of finding evidence of intrigue and swindling among some of the higher Officials: heavy fines were imposed, and there were extensive alterations in the higher appointments. I did not want to add to his annoyances by resigning; but to my last day I shall never forget the weary drag of that and the immediately succeeding time. On Friday, the Sabbath, I went for a ride with the Armenian. We rode east from Kabul past the Bala Hissar, where Cavagnari was, and round the huge marsh or lake that lies in the middle of the Kabul Valley. All around were the mountains, and between them and the lake were fields of clover, stubble where corn had been, gardens, trees, and fortified country houses. The lake is in some parts very deep and in others shallow. Here the rushes grow thick, making a cover for huge numbers of wild duck that flock to Kabul in the autumn and winter. A great deal of the land about the marsh belongs to His Highness’ sister. We passed her country house--a fort. We saw also the tomb where the Amîr’s father is buried. At the extreme east of the lake, near the village of Bîni Hissar, the road took us a little up the foot of the mountain. I pulled up a few minutes to admire the view. In the foreground, on the margin of the lake, was one tree coloured golden-yellow by the autumn: near it were others still green. Beyond were brown rushes and the lake. Further, on the opposite bank, the trees, massed together, were tinted all shades of green, brown, and yellow. Then rose up the hazy purple mountains, range beyond range, dim and shadowy in the distance, and above, the blue of the sky flecked here and there by little white clouds. I was charmed--but I could not rouse any enthusiasm in the Armenian. Like most Orientals he looked upon an afternoon ride as an unnecessary and laborious nuisance; still he would not consent to my going alone. In the autumn and winter the Amîr and the Princes ride duck shooting through the shallow parts of the marsh.