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
As we were coming out I found there were two other enclosures in the
fort beside that containing the Amîr’s pavilion. Next to the Amîr’s
garden was the large enclosure of the Harem serai. It is not etiquette
to walk past the door of this if you can get to your destination any
other way. I had to enter this enclosure once, but that I will speak of
later.
Next to the Harem serai was a quadrangle containing the official
quarters of the Princes. Each Prince has also an establishment in the
city, where are his servants, and horses, and his harem. Besides these
enclosures there is the Treasury, the Amîr’s private Stores containing
valuables of all kinds, silks and diamonds, carpets, and wines: a row
of cook houses or kitchens: quarters for the court officials and pages;
and barracks for the garrison. The fort, though seemingly strong, and
no doubt useful in case of a sudden riot, is completely under the
control of the fort on the summit of the Asmai mountains.
CHAPTER IV.
AFGHAN HOSPITALS.
The first attendance at an Afghan Hospital. Its arrangement. The
drugs and instruments. The Patients. An Interpreter presents
himself. Dispensers. Marvellous recovery of the Page boy. Its
effect. Buildings near the Hospital. The Durbar Hall and Guest
House. The Sherpûr Military Hospital. Lord Roberts and the Sherpûr
Cantonment. Adventure with an Afghan soldier. Arrangement of the
In-patient Hospital. Diet of Patients. Attendance of Hakims.
Storekeepers and their ways.
[Sidenote: The Out-patient Hospital.]
The next day Mr. Pyne set to work to get the pieces of machinery
removed from their cases and put together. Followed by a sergeant
and a couple of soldiers of the guard he bustled about vigorously,
issuing rapid orders in a mixture of English and broken Hindustani, and
Persian, which compound language his workmen soon learnt to understand.
I had received no orders as to attending patients, but hearing
from Pyne that there was a City Hospital I rode off with my guard
to see what it was like. I found the Hospital was situated in the
row of Government buildings erected outside the Erg Palace on the
wide poplar-fringed road running between the city and the Sherpur
cantonment, which was made by the British and called by them “The Old
Mall.” These buildings skirt the gardens outside the Erg Palace on the
south and east. Like most of the buildings put up under the direction
of the Amîr, they are better built than most of the other houses in
Kabul. Though only of one story they are very lofty, with thick walls,
and have glazed windows. The buildings do not open into the street but
into the gardens, access to which is obtained by the big gateway on the
east side, where we left our horses when we visited the Prince, and by
a similar gateway on the south.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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