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
An open door led from the lobby at the top of the steps into a long
corridor, curtained and carpeted, but otherwise empty. At the end was a
door, to enter which we ascended three steps. We now found ourselves in
a large room at right angles to the corridor, and lighted by a window
at the end. Towards the other end of the room a thin crimson silk
curtain was stretched entirely across. The room was furnished very like
an English drawing-room. A carpet was on the floor, curtains by the
windows, pictures on the wall, and several tables by the side of the
wall, on which were vases, candelabra, and china ornaments. In nearly
the centre of the room there was standing on the floor a large and very
ornamental glass candelabrum, about six feet high. There were three or
four little Page boys in the room, about nine or ten years of age.
As we entered, a voice from behind the curtain pronounced the usual
Persian salutation of welcome. It was the Sultana speaking. She had
a deep, musical voice. I bowed and advanced. A chair was placed for
me near the curtain, and tea and cigarettes were brought. After I had
tasted the tea, Her Highness requested me to smoke. Accordingly, I lit
a cigarette, and I heard from behind the curtain the bubble of the
chillim. The Sultana then commenced describing her symptoms, but the
Hindustani Priest-doctor had an imperfect knowledge of English, and
he asked that an Interpreter might be sent for. A messenger was at
once sent for the Armenian, who presently entered saying, with a bow,
“Salaam, Aleikoum.” He took his stand near me.
The Sultana raised the curtain sufficiently to pass her hand
underneath, and I examined the pulse. It was rapid (133), and weak. I
perceived that she was lying on a couch--and that the hand was white,
and was that of a young woman. I described the use of the clinical
thermometer, and handed it to her. When she returned it to me the
indicator marked a temperature of 105 degrees Fahr.
She complained of cough, and with some little difficulty I managed, by
asking her to stand, to listen to the sounds of the chest through the
curtain, using a straight wooden stethoscope. Not knowing the height of
Her Highness, I nearly struck her in the face in endeavouring to find
the position of the chest, and she cried out: however, she laughed when
she heard of my difficulty.
She had bronchial catarrh: there were no morbid cardiac sounds; and she
had Malarial fever. I enquired as to the history of the illness, and
the habits of the patient, and heard that she was accustomed to inhale
tobacco-smoke from the chillim pretty much all day; and that in order
to procure sleep she was accustomed to take sixty grains of chloral
nightly!
I advised the cessation of smoking for a time, and the Sultana laughed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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