Under the absolute Amir

by Frank A. Martin

Another case which further shows the vengeful character of the people is that of a man who murdered a boy, and was handed over to the relatives for execution or forgiveness. The mother of the boy resisted those in favour of blood-money, and insisted on the man’s throat being cut, as he cut her son’s, and when this was done, she, in the frenzy of her vengeance, actually drank the blood as it flowed from the man’s throat.

The amusements of the people are simple, and would lead one to suppose them rather simple-minded, if one did not know them. For instance, in the early evening, when work is over, the people will flock in summer-time to the public garden, where plots are laid out with flowers, each plot having one kind of flower only, carrying with them their singing-birds in cages, and will sit round these plots until nightfall, contentedly enjoying the scent of the flowers and the cool evening breeze. They sit there quietly, and for the most part silently, and there is no noise beyond the pit-pat of the slippers of those going and coming on the garden paths. At one or two corners of the garden walks are tea-sellers, with a little crowd of people squatting round drinking tea out of the small handleless cups commonly used, and taking a pull at the chillum (pipe similar to a hookah) now and then.

On Fridays (the Sundays of the Mussulmans), and on holidays, many people go off walking or on horse or donkey, when, in many cases, they ride two together on one animal, and sometimes three, to the gardens in the country, taking food and cooking-pots with them; and there they will wander round the gardens until midday, content to be amongst the trees and flowers. Then they cook their food, and after eating that, they lie about and chat, or doze the afternoon away, and when evening begins to gather, they get their belongings together, and start off home again, having had a glorious day’s outing, according to their own statement. They are easy to please in this way, and anything which brings them fresh air, sunlight, flowers, and grass or trees, and no worry or duty, and, if possible, a little to eat and drink while enjoying it all, is a day’s tamasha to be talked over and retailed to others, and dreamt about until the next opportunity comes.

When other means of amusement fail, they sit together on the roof of the house, or in some quiet spot near by, where there may be a tree to shade them, and one of them plays the rubarb, which is something like a mandoline, and sings Persian love-songs. Out of half a dozen men there is usually one who can play and sing, and their songs sound best at a little distance, for if close by the nasal intonation is not prepossessing, while the contortions of the mouth and face in bringing out the tremulous and prolonged high notes rather fascinate one, and the song is forgotten in watching them and waiting for the breakdown, which seems momentarily imminent. There are others of their stringed instruments which resemble the banjo in shape, but all are called “rubarb.” The music has little change about it, and differs from ours in not being composed of different airs, but in being of bars of four to six beats, which are repeated over and over again. It sounds very monotonous, and is a little trying, until one gets used to it, and then, on a still summer evening, the rubarb in the distance has rather a soothing sound in its monotony, if one happens to be reclining in an easy-chair, smoking and resting after dinner. But if one is busy writing, or is absorbed in calculations, or anything of that sort, the monotony of the sound is very trying, and produces a desire to make a change at any cost, even if a shot-gun is necessary to effect it.

The people are like the rest of the Orientals, and do not look upon exercise in any form as an amusement, and therefore, are not in the habit of dancing as a means of recreation and pleasure, but they have, instead, properly trained dancing-girls to do so before them. The services of the dancing-girls are requisitioned only on festivals and weddings, or when some wealthy man gives an entertainment to his friends on the occasion of a visit from one of the princes or some high official person.

The dancing-girls are accompanied by men with musical instruments who form the orchestra, and among the instruments is the inevitable tom-tom or drum, which is played by being struck with the fingers or the hand, and not with drumsticks. The life of the dancing-girl is a hard one, for the dancing they practice is exhausting, and induces a good deal of perspiration, and the girl is clad in light flimsy muslin, while the nights even in summer are chill, and all doors and windows are open to the breeze. Consequently, she catches cold and gets fever and continues to get it, for she must practice her profession whenever called upon, so that it is not a matter for surprise that these girls mostly die of consumption. The dancing-girls in Kabul are Hindustanis, from the Peshawar and Delhi districts, while some are the offspring of former dancing-girls and the men of the country. Although much has been said about the Oriental dancing-girls’ poetry of motion, and I have seen many others in different parts of India, their action during the dance appears very studied and wanting in grace, even with the best of them, and none that I have seen are to be compared with our own principal ballet-dancers for grace of movement.

Among wild Afghan tribes, such as the Jidrani and others, knife-dances are indulged in. About fifty men arrange themselves in a circle with four or five more in the centre, who beat tom-toms and tambourines, and play on stringed instruments. The dance commences by the men springing forward towards the centre of the circle and back again, flashing their knives about over their heads, and singing in time to the music in a low tone, but gradually the music, singing, and dancing become louder and quicker, belts and turbans are thrown off to allow of greater freedom of movement, and the knives flash more rapidly, until at last the men seem in a very frenzy, and the dancing becomes a series of wild leaps in the air, knives are thrown up and caught again, and the singing changes to a chorus of wild yells. When the dance has reached its most frenzied point, it suddenly ceases, and then there is a loud clapping of hands by the dancers, and all is over.

They have another wild dance which resembles some strange rite of worshippers round a fetish. Two or three men with tom-toms sit together, and the dancers arrange themselves in a large circle round them, but instead of facing towards the centre of the circle as in the former dance, each man faces the one in front of him. When the tom-toms begin, they spring forward a step and stop momentarily, then spring forward again on the other foot, and so continue, but during each spring they turn violently half round to right or left as each foot advances, and the sudden twist they give their bodies sends their turbans or caps flying after the first few steps. In a little while, when they begin to warm up to the dance, they do a whole turn in the air during each spring forward, and, as this is continued, the dancers become more and more energetic, until their hair, which is worn long and cut straight round the shoulders, stands out like a mop being wrung out as they spin round. Their arms, being also extended at the same time, the whole effect, as they spin round more rapidly and violently and the tom-toms beat quicker, is exceedingly quaint.

Some of the people, mostly soldiers, go in for swordstick combats. The swordsticks are similar to the English ones, with basket guards, but the combatants carry small round leather shields in addition, which are held in the left hand, and not partly on the forearm, as is usual with larger shields. Some of the men are very expert in this exercise, but they do very little guarding by means of the swordstick, and catch most of the blows on the shield, for this allows of a quicker return stroke. They are also much in favour of leaping back to avoid a leg-cut, leaning forward as they do so to get in a down-stroke at their adversary’s head.

In the late spring of each year, the “Jubah” takes place. The jubah is a fair combined with sports, and is held on a level strip of plain under the Asman heights south-west of the city. Here they have horse races, but the races are arranged on the spur of the moment between one man and another, and are not agreed on beforehand to determine the best of several horses over a fixed course. Food and toy-stalls are erected along the slopes of the hill, and all Kabul and its children turn out for the three days the fair is held. On these occasions the people put on their best clothes, and the children are particularly gaudy in their coloured velvet coats and caps. The children’s toys are very quaint in appearance. The dolls are made of stuffed rag, and are dressed in Afghan fashion, and represent both men and women, not children, while others represent demons. Then there are small windmills fixed on the end of a stick, and wooden whistles, and many other curiously shaped articles, all gorgeously coloured, which children love. There is also a Turkestani tight-rope walker dressed in a gaily coloured fantastic costume, who fits up two long poles with a rope between, both poles and rope being very solidly made and very firmly fixed, and gives displays thereon.