AMIR’S SUMMER RESIDENCE—INDIKKI PALACE
For audiences of a semi-private character, as well as for all Durbar matters of a public nature, Abdur Rahman frequented the Durbar Hall, situated beyond the moat in the gardens of the Erg Palace. It is a long, lofty building with pillared verandah, corrugated iron roof and twelve spacious windows on each side, curtained after the European fashion. Two rows of white columns, placed at regular stages down the floor of the building, support an elaborately carved ceiling, ornamented with stencilled plates beaten out of empty kerosene tins. It is 60 yards in length and 20 yards in breadth. The decoration is Oriental, but in the upholstery there is a mingling of the influence of the West with certain fashions of the East. The eastern entrance admits through a big double doorway and portico to the Durbar chamber, which is usually the scene of any festivities that the Amir may provide for the delectation of his Court or the entertainment of his guests. At such a moment the floor is carpeted with English carpets and the aisles of the hall are occupied by long tables, each place being set with a cane-bottomed wooden arm-chair, European cutlery and Indian napery. The illumination proceeds from two electric arc lamps, their dynamo worked by a portable engine which is brought from the workshops for the occasion. The building lies east and west across the garden and, at its western extremity, there is the Amir’s Guest House. This comprises, on the ground floor, a large hall, which opens into the palace gardens and three smaller rooms. A stone staircase, with wooden balustrade, leads where there is a second apartment, on an upper floor, lighted by many double windows and giving upon a terrace.
In addition to a summer palace at Indikki, regarded by the late Amir as a convenient place of banishment for his sons when occasion for their punishment occurred, there is the Shah Ara Palace. This was used for the reception of the Dane Mission, and is generally employed in all state ceremonies. It is situated in a spacious garden, where stands during Ramazan a Durbar tent, in which the Amir fulfils his religious duties. For audiences with the Amir at this palace the invited guests assemble in a similar tent, whence they are conducted to the throne room. The floor of this apartment is decorated with Persian carpets; and a row of chairs, arranged along one wall, is confronted by two carved cupboards. In the centre of the room is a polished table and near the entrance there is a smaller one, circular and marble-topped. The Durbars held in this palace are of interest because they constitute one of the few occasions upon which the Amir of Afghanistan receives and speaks with Europeans.
MAJOR CLEVELAND, I.M.S., PHYSICIAN TO THE AMIR OF AFGHANISTAN
Invited to the particular reception now described were Major Cleveland, the physician of the Amir, and Mrs. Cleveland; Mr. Finlayson, the architect; Mr. Thornton, the superintendent of the leather factory; the Misses Brown, European medical attendants attached to the Harem; and Mr. Donovan, of the Ordnance Department. The audience had been arranged for noon, and after some little pause, during which the guests were placed in their order of presentation, Habib Ullah sent in to inquire whether he should shake hands with the ladies. Upon receiving a reply in the affirmative he strode into the room, attended by Mahommed Suleiman Khan, his private secretary, Azim Ullah, the Court interpreter, and several pages.
Morning dress appeared to be the order of the function—Mr. Finlayson wearing a frock-coat, Mr. Donovan a blue serge suit, Major Cleveland a blue uniform with sword and no belt. The ladies adopted calling costumes. The Amir, appearing in his official attire, had donned a black frock-coat, with a single-breasted waistcoat, a white shirt and a pair of light grey trousers over patent boots. He wore a turned-down white collar and a stiff butterfly tie, which it was the privilege of the private secretary to adjust from time to time. Upon his head he wore a black astrakhan cap; the left hand was gloved with brown kid, the glove for the right hand being carried. His clothes were well cut and he was very carefully groomed. Smaller in stature than his father, to whom he bears a marked facial resemblance, his attitude is no less dignified, although his manner is much milder than that which distinguished the late Abdur Rahman. In speaking, Habib Ullah suffers from a slight impediment of speech, the result of an attempt against his life when, as a child, some one endeavoured to poison him. In appearance he is of a light complexion, with heavy features which are adorned with a slight beard and moustache. He is broad, rather clumsily built, with a marked tendency to stoutness. Neither in his face, nor in such evidences of capacity as he has shown, does he reveal the truculent ability of his immediate predecessor upon the throne.