The barracks of the soldiers are unfurnished, that is, they have no beds, chairs, or tables, and the men sleep on the floor, excepting those who are fortunate enough to possess a charpai, or wooden bedstead, and for a dining-table they spread a coarse mat on the ground and sit on it while eating their food. Each paira (guard of seven men, including the havildar) carries its own cooking utensils, and it is the havildar’s duty to provide a chopper for cutting firewood and an iron plate on which to bake bread; the other utensils, which consist of a copper cooking-pot, a metal teapot, which is also used as a kettle, and handleless teacups, are provided by the men. As it is their custom to eat with their fingers direct from the pot, no knives and forks or plates are required. When off duty they laze about in groups, or sit and listen while one of their number strums the rubarb and sings, or else they tell stories. Many of the soldiers are inveterate gamblers, and although card-playing is strictly forbidden and severely punished when detected, it is very common among them, and leads to a good deal of crime, and I knew one man who shot himself because of his losses at cards. If their quarters are near a bazar, they stroll about there, and very often make themselves objectionable to the people, and generally show off as soldiers will when they have nothing better to do. The soldiers, however, do not have a great deal of time to themselves, for there are many guards which they have to mount and other duties on which they are kept busy. Their duties on guard are not tiring, and they do little but sit and sleep, except when they have to take their turn at sentry-go. They have passwords for the night, and the word is changed every second or third night. With those on guard round the Amir the password is different each night, and is strictly enforced. The various regiments are usually named after the tribe or country they come from, such as the Mohmundai, Jidrani, Jarji, Kandahari, Kohistani, Ardeel, ʾOud Khel. Then there are the sappers and miners, which regiment is entirely composed of Hazaras, and the artillery, which is called the toop khana. All the men of the army are Afghans, excepting the sappers and miners and the Kotwali (police) regiment, the latter being derisively styled by other regiments as “panch padar” (men with five fathers). The Amir’s horse-guards are called the “Rissala Shahi.”