After spending some hours with the Amir, I asked permission to leave, and as I stood up to go he told me I was to come to him the next day, and very often after that, for he wished to see much of me. His asking me to come often was another mark of extreme honour, and showed that I enjoyed great favour, and there is nothing an ambitious man in that country covets so much as being allowed often in the Amir’s presence, and there is a good deal of scheming done to be able to do so. For one thing, it is a sign of the highest favour and confidence, and for another all men regard that man as one to be fawned on and flattered; and although he may be hated by the envious, he is also feared, and becomes a man of consequence. The next two months or so I spent in the Mihman khana (Guest-house), occupying myself in preparing a scheme for the development of the resources of the country, which the Amir had asked me to write. He was good enough to give me very high praise for it, but very few of the proposals embodied in the scheme were carried out. I also rode a good deal about the surrounding country, and through the bazars of the city, for there is little else to do as a means of recreation. Kabul is situated in the midst of a large valley, surrounded with mountains at distances varying from fifteen to twenty miles. The small ranges of hills, which rise up out of the plain here and there, give a broken-up appearance to the country, so that the whole of the valley is not discernible except from a height. One of these ranges, the Sher Darwaza (Lion of the gate), is immediately south of the city, and on the west rise the Asman Heights. Between the two the Kabul river flows, coming from the south-west. Along the crest of the heights is an old wall, mostly in ruins, and built in the usual way of mud and stone. It follows the undulations of the summits, and running down to the pass through which the river flows, it rises up again and winds along the heights on the opposite side. Formerly, the wall crossed the river by means of a brick bridge, but there is nothing to be seen of the bridge now except the ruined abutments. This wall was built many years ago as a protection against the raids of the wild tribes inhabiting the country south-west of Kabul, who frequently fell upon the city in great numbers, putting the people to the sword and carrying off all the loot they could get, including women and cattle, both of which are looked upon in much the same light in Afghanistan. The country round Kabul is well cultivated, and as there is little rainfall irrigation is resorted to for watering the crops. Trees have of late years been planted along most of the roads leading from the city, and some are to be seen in the walled-in gardens which dot the plain here and there, but on the hills round about the absence of trees and vegetation makes them look very bare and desolate by contrast.