The Amir’s amusements were few and simple. He would stop for a few weeks in turn, at each of his summer palaces in the spring and early summer, to enjoy the air of the country and the scent of the flowers, of which he was passionately fond, and would eventually reach Baghibala, which is some four miles out of the city on the road to Paghman, and was his favourite summer palace, and would stop there until winter drove him back to the warmer city palaces. The Amir always had flowers in the room where he was, and in winter and spring when there were no flowers in Kabul, he had them sent from Jelalabad and other places which are at a lower altitude than Kabul and have a warmer climate. One day when I was with the Amir, he spoke of some flowers beside him, and taking one of them smelt it, and found it had no scent. The gardener was ordered to be sent for, and he came in with pale face and knees knocking against each other, for having no knowledge of the reason why he was wanted, he no doubt feared the most, and probably he was the same as others in having done more than he would care for the Amir to know. When the Amir looked up from his reading and saw the gardener, he asked why the flowers had no smell, and the gardener, at a loss to reply, could only lick his dry lips as he sought an excuse. The Amir, however, told him of a certain manure he was always to use, and bade him beware if the flowers had no scent the following year, and then told him to return to his work. Occasionally the Amir would drive or be carried out to the chaman (marshy plain) where duck shooting was obtainable, but during the last few years of his reign he was seldom equal to the exertion of doing so, for he suffered almost constantly from gout and its accompanying ailments. His indoor amusements were chess, of which he was so able an exponent that few in his court could compete with him, and his only other amusement was in listening to or telling stories, and joking with one and another of the officials, during the occasional free-and-easy hour following dinner, when the Amir became as one of those surrounding him, and gave himself up to jest and repartee, before again assuming the duties and dignity of the head of the State. One of the recognized members of his suite was the court jester, who was dressed, however, as others were, and not in cap and bells, whose duty it was to joke and make merry when the Amir was so inclined. The jokes and stories, and the gestures used to illustrate the stories were, however, always too broad for those who are delicately inclined. This may be the outcome of the want of women’s refining influence, for women, of course, are never present in such gatherings, and men mingle with men, and see no women except those of their own house. Jesters were also among the retinues of the princes; but, without the restraining influence of the Amir to keep them a little in check, the jokes of these men were not even fit for a barrack-room.