Lawlessness—Food: Raising cattle, sheep, fowls, etc.—Presents from princes and others—Famines in Kabul—Cholera—Moullah’s pilgrimage and preaching—Use of roofs of houses—Work and working hours—Amusements—Hindu dealers and old curios—Festival visits to Amir and princes—Europeans tried by jury—Letters, cost of postage—Interpreters 192 CHAPTER XIII SOLDIERS AND ARMS Clothing—Reviews—Drill—Uniforms of Amir’s bodyguard—Arms—Pay—Medals—Length of service—Substitutes—Barracks—Mode of life—Gambling among soldiers—Different tribes forming regiments—Thief tribe and regiment—Officers and promotion—Bands—Afghan anecdotes of incidents during war, 1879-81—Afghan army as a fighting machine—Condition of country for warfare—Illustration of one side of Afghan character 213 CHAPTER XIV TRADES AND COMMERCE Amir’s interest in mechanical tools, guns, etc.—Workshops—Consumption of fuel—Ustads and workmen—Pay of men—Trades, shopkeepers, and merchants—Produce of country—Exports and imports—Irrigation of crops and fights about water—Caravans and methods of carrying freight—Weights and measures—Mirzas and offices—Debt collecting—Hindoos and Hindoo money-lenders—Mint and coinage of country 229 CHAPTER XV GEOLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF THE COUNTRY Kabul valley once crater of volcano—Earthquakes—Kabul once a large lake—Mines outcropping, gold, lead, copper, coal, etc.—Rivers, and gold in them—Existence of kept secret for fear of trouble—Turkestan mines—The question of fuel for Kabul workshops—Local supply exhausted—Coal under the valley of Kabul 254 CHAPTER XVI RELIGION Suni and Shiah—Moullahs and their influence on the people—Jihads or holy wars—The Koran—Late Amir’s distrust of Moullahs—Holy men, fakirs, and holy graves—Madmen and reverence paid them as God-stricken—Sayid and Hafiz—Beggars and alms—Stoning to death for religious offences—Prayers—Punishments for not knowing prayers—Musjids—Ramazan and fastings—Haj—Afghan colony in Australia—Lawful and unlawful food—Plurality of wives 266 CHAPTER XVII POLITICAL SITUATION