I spent the intervening hour in riding about the streets and roads on the outskirts of the city, where the palaces of the Amir and princes are situated, and where the officials and courtiers and others have their houses and gardens. This part, which lies to the north-west of the old city, is generally called Deh Afghanan, from a small village of Afghan people which lies in that direction; and here the roads are broad and well laid out, but at that time they were not metalled, and after rain or snow, the horses’ feet sank inches deep in mud and slush, and pedestrians had to walk warily. At the present time the principal roads round Kabul are metalled, and riding or walking is not the mud-besplashing process it once was. The people met with were unwashed and unkempt in appearance. Even those who were apparently high in rank, and came along the road on horseback, with five or six servants running beside them, looked as though they had washed their faces just before leaving the house, and had forgotten to wash their necks. The clean, fresh look of those who bathe regularly was missing, and, although I found afterwards that the better classes bathe but once a week or less, and the others once in a few months, it may, perhaps, be the dark sallow skin of the neck which gives the unwashed appearance. Also the dress of the people being part English and part Afghan, and their habit of putting on a clean shirt once a week only adds to the appearance of untidyness, and makes them look as though a good all-over scrubbing would do them good. The Amir was stopping in the Boistan Serai, a small palace built outside the gardens which surround the fortified palace of Arak, and alongside the Queen-Sultana’s palace, which is called the Gulistan Serai. Boistan and Gulistan both signify garden, the translation of the former being “place of scents,” and the latter, “place of flowers.” Kabul itself might be termed “boistan” in another sense, which a ride through its bazars would indicate. On my arrival, with the interpreter, at the gate of the palace, the captain of the guard there conducted us to an inner court, where we waited while the Amir was informed by the officer on duty that I was present; and on the Amir ordering that I was to be admitted, they conducted me into his presence. On entering the audience chamber I saw the Amir seated on the side of the couch he used as a bed. He was dressed in an English grey tweed suit, and on his head was the Afghan silk fez, with the royal diamond star at the side of it. The Amir suffered a good deal from gout, and preferred the side of his bed for sitting on, as being more comfortable than a chair, and also, if not feeling well, he was able to stretch himself on the bed, and rest himself, without the trouble of first getting up from a chair.