European women servants are not desirable in Kabul, for they require looking after too much, and are, besides, of little use except as companions for their mistresses. They are treated familiarly by the native servants and others they come in contact with, and form acquaintances which are not to their credit. Those who were brought to Kabul in the early part of my stay there by the wives of the English residents were mostly sent away in more or less disgrace, while the German nurse, who was taken up there by Mrs. Fleischer, left her when her services, for which she was engaged, were immediately required, and went to the present Amir’s harem and placed herself in the hands of his chief wife, saying that she wanted to become a Mussulman, and although Mr. Fleischer went to the Amir’s palace late that night to get the woman to return, if only for a day, or until the trouble was passed, the Amir said he could not use force to make her do so, but she could return for a time if she wished, and this the woman refused to do. Consequently Mrs. Daly had her hands very full looking after Mrs. Fleischer and the baby all that night and the next day unattended by any nurse. The German nurse eventually got a husband, which was apparently the chief reason of her apostasy, although at first it seemed likely to be a difficult matter, for when the Amir called together his attendants and asked who would marry her, her face had unfortunately been seen by them, and none volunteered. In this we see one advantage of the Afghan marriage custom. The Amir at last bestowed her on a Kafri officer, whose pay he raised, and a house was given them to live in. As there are no Christian churches or clergymen in Kabul, Mrs. Fleischer’s baby was christened by her husband, Mrs. Daly and myself standing as sponsors, and the Amir, in a _firman_, giving the child its name. Any written order of the king is called a _firman_. The English who formerly lived in Kabul were not unfortunate in having their social status at home fixed. One lady, the wife of one of the English _employés_, on stating that her father was a minister, had the admission promptly translated by the native interpreter as “the daughter of the _Prime Minister_,” and the other ladies had to keep up to this standard to prevent themselves being put down as nobodies; consequently it was a rather well-connected bevy who graced the Queen-Sultana’s court on occasions.