A man who was in prison for some years described it to me. He and his father and some other relations were chained together, and so brought from a distance to Kabul, charged with some political offence, and put in prison there. It is very seldom that prisoners charged with such offences are tried at once, if at all, so they lay in prison for some years, and had no hope of ever getting out, for their relations and friends feared to bring the matter to the notice of the Amir in case they should themselves incur his displeasure. The room they were confined in was a small one, and they, with the other prisoners, were about thirty in number, and, when lying down at night, there was only sufficient space for them to lie in rows, side by side. Sanitary arrangements there were none, and at length typhus broke out, and one after another succumbed to it, his father and some of his brothers and cousins being carried out for burial among others. He himself was ill with the fever for weeks, but recovered, and when the disease at last stopped, there were only five of them left out of the original number. Other prisoners were, however, brought in, and the room was packed again very shortly, and some of these got the fever from time to time and died. At that time also, a number of prisoners were being secretly disposed of, and almost every night a man would be called from their number, and going away with his jailers, was never heard of again. This made the rest of them live in terror, for no man knew but what his turn might come the next night. Eventually the strain was too much for them, and they determined on revolt and escape, as death in trying to escape was no worse than sitting and waiting for it to come to them. So one night, about three o’clock, when the guard was known to be lax and most of the soldiers asleep, they got out of the room and made their way to the gate. Here the man on guard saw them and fired, dropping one man, but before he could reload, a huge Afghan who led the prisoners, took him across his knee and broke his back, and then seized the rifle and bayonet. The rest of the guard were roused by the noise, and a short fight ensued, and several of the guard being killed, the others fled; but some of the prisoners also suffered during the struggle. The door of the prison was now unguarded, and the prisoners escaped, but the guards who had run away had warned others, and they had not gone far along the streets before these were upon them, both in front and behind, and after a struggle they were overpowered and taken back to the prison. For this several were hanged, the big Afghan among them, and the rest had such heavy chains put on them that they could hardly move. It was not until several years had elapsed that the man who told me the foregoing was released; but eventually his friends brought his case to the notice of the Amir, and as there was no proof against him, and the governor who had imprisoned him