Some of the priests have gained a certain amount of reputation as healers of the sick; not by the administration of medicines, for that is a privilege reserved for the hakims and doctors, but by the employment of the “faith cure.” It is an axiom in the Mahomedan religion that to utter the name of God a great number of times is of inestimable benefit to both body and soul; also that if a part of the body be diseased, it is an efficient cure to bind on it the written name of one of the attributes of God, “the Merciful,” “the Compassionate,” “the Restorer.” The sick, therefore, go first to the priest for help, and by the payment of a fee obtain the written scroll. This is rolled up in silk or leather, or, if the patient be wealthy enough, is enclosed in a little cylindrical box of silver made for the purpose, and bound on the diseased part of the body. If the patient recover, great credit is given to the priest, and other sick people seek his aid. If recovery does not ensue, either the patient is resigned, considering that his “Nasîb” is thus written in the book of fate, or else by the payment of a larger fee he engages the medical skill of the hakims, or native physicians. Every patient with chronic disease of any kind who came to me had one of these little packets fastened by a string round his arm or neck. [Sidenote: The Evil Eye.] Many of the children, even those in good health, have similar charms fastened to them. I noticed that the Sultana, or her women, fastened one in a gold cylindrical box on the arm of the little Prince Mahomed Omar, soon after he was born. This was to protect him from accident or other evil. Sometimes, for the same purpose, a piece of string only, over which a few prayers have been recited, is tied round the child’s limb. This is done by the poorer people. Against the “Evil Eye”--which, as far as I could understand, is the eye of “envy, hatred, and malice”--something blue is a great protection. Men wear turquoise rings, children and woman turquoise ornaments or blue beads. When a man buys a new horse the servants at once fasten a blue bead or ribbon among the hairs of his tail. It is not necessary for the blue to be seen: it is just as sure a protection when it is hidden. The Evil Eye is a dangerous weapon, so many possess it, and it works silently and secretly. Paralysis, wasting, rickets in children, impotence, and sudden death, the illness of cattle and horses--all these are imputed to the evil eye. Just outside the house I occupied, after my return from Turkestan to Kabul, there was an open space with a small pond in the middle; this was a favourite playground for the boys of the neighbourhood. I rode through it as usual one morning on my way to the hospital. When I had finished my work and returned home again, my interpreter, who seemed rather upset about something, said to me-- “Sir, I very sorry you kill that boy to-day.” “What do you mean?” I said; “I’ve not killed any boy.”