The guards of sepoys given to the European servants of the Government are called guards of honour, but they have also to report all that the European does, where he goes, who visits his house, or his servants, and all pertaining to him. This is principally to find out if he is a spy, and sending reports to the Indian Government, but it also enables the Amir to find out what manner of man he is. The guard is a necessary one, to prevent Europeans being attacked by fanatics, or ghazis, as they are called, of whom there are plenty about, and from whom there is now more danger of attack than when the late Amir was in his prime. These fanatics care little, provided they kill a Feringhee, whether they themselves are killed the next moment or not, for they are then sure of Paradise, and the houri, and the rivers of milk, etc. I was attacked by one of them one afternoon in the workshops, while I was squatting on my heels, directing some masons below me, who were putting in the foundations of a furnace. The ghazi came behind with an empty 9-pounder iron shell in each hand, and threw one at me with all his force from close behind; he aimed at my head, but fortunately I stood up at the moment he threw the shell, and received it between the shoulders instead of on the head, and the edge of the shell struck me about half an inch from the spine. The force of the blow took all power from my body for a time, but the sepoy with me—there was but one of the guards with me that day, strangely enough—seized the man before he could throw the second shell, and pinioning his arms, got him on the ground, while the workmen gathered as if by magic, and kicked and beat the ghazi so roughly that he was soon in a semi-conscious condition. I afterwards sent for the captain of the regiment on guard in the workshops, and had the man made prisoner, and put in the guard-room there, pending the Amir’s orders. He was punished by being kept for six months with his hands chained together with a stick between, so that they should remain about twelve inches apart, and the punishment included being kept in prison for life. To try and kill a Feringhee is not a very great crime among Mussulmans, and the man’s friends very nearly succeeded in getting the sentence annulled a year or so later, but I used the influence I had, and their efforts were not successful. For some days after being attacked I was unable to move about much, and paralysis was feared, for the spine was injured a little; but Mrs. Daly, the lady doctor, attended me with so much care and skill that I was soon going about as usual, though for a year or two the place was tender. The Amir sent his own hakeem (doctor), with many expressions of sympathy, to examine my hurt. He came for three days to inquire how I progressed, and then rejoined the Amir at Paghman, where he had moved his court, to escape the cholera, which broke out the day I was injured. There were other attempts, but none where I escaped so narrowly, and