SOLDIERS ON GUARD IN GARDEN OUTSIDE THE KABUL WORKSHOPS EATING FOOD 240 (_From a drawing by the Author_) GROUP OF KABUL MIRZAS (WRITERS, OR CLERKS) 248 THE SERAI AT JAGDALAK, ON THE ROAD FROM KABUL TO PESHAWAR 312 Transcriber’s Note: The final illustration was originally described as “The Serai at Ingdalak”, a place which does not exist. A few other minor typographical errors were also corrected. UNDER THE ABSOLUTE AMIR CHAPTER I ON THE ROAD Order of march—Soldiers and guards—Method of carrying goods by pack animals—Description of camps—Marches—Welcome given to Sirdar Nasrullah at villages and cities—Description of country passed through—Kandahar—Amir and the moullah who took refuge in the Kandahar Sanctuary. In the summer of 1895 the Afghan prince, Shahzada Nasrullah Khan, was the guest of the English Government for three or four months, and he had been entertained and _fêted_ and generally made much of while his visit lasted, and his return journey had been made pleasant by a stay in Paris, Rome, and Naples before going on by sea to Karachi and thence by rail to Chaman, the railway terminus close to the Afghan frontier on the Quetta side of Beloochistan. The Shahzada was met and entertained at the railway terminus by General Sir J. Brown, commanding the Quetta district, with other officers and officials, and afterwards rode on to his camp across the border, where he was joined by a multitude of troops and followers, who had been sent by the Amir to accompany him on his further journey. I had accompanied the Shahzada, as he was commonly called in England, on his return from London, and rode with him through Kandahar to Kabul, and when he set out from his camp early the following day I formed one of his retinue. It was near the end of October and late in the season, but the day we started was a very hot one, and grew hotter as we went on, and the multitude of horsemen who accompanied the prince caused clouds of dust to rise as they rode along and made it still more sultry and oppressive.