“The English doctor wishes to speak to Amîr Sahib about that little affair at the Hospital.”
The General said, “For God sake don’t let him. I am not his master; I am his slave, his dog, his anything!”
So the matter ended.
While the Amîr was out shooting on the plains, one of the Page boys was thrown from his horse and the inner end of his collar-bone was dislocated upwards. His Highness on seeing the displacement said there was no need to send for the English doctor.
“Bandages,” he said, “are useless. Leave it alone.” He was quite right.
On April the 22nd, began the Mahomedan fast, “Ramazàn.” They fast for a month, neither eating, drinking, nor smoking during the day. Directly the twilight commences, however, that is when they can just no longer distinguish a white from a black thread, they commence, and go on pretty much all night.
Fortunately, the year had been very cool; cloudy, windy, and rainy, so that there was much less sickness than usual in the month. Generally both during and after Ramazàn there is a great prevalence of fever and bowel complaints. The first thing an Afghan does, when he breaks his fast in the evening, is to light the chillim and fill his lungs with tobacco smoke. It is a tremendously big dose, and often produces serious consequences, such as giddiness, vomiting, and insensibility. During the fast they brought a man to me one evening on a charpoy. He was a great big fellow, and they said he was insensible from smoking. He was dead. The dose of tobacco he had taken had been too much for his heart. As soon as I said he was dead, the brother and the other soldiers who had brought him were greatly upset. They wailed and wept aloud.
The Evening Durbar.
The first Durbar I went to after His Highness’s return from his shooting expedition on the plains was during the month of Ramazàn. The Durbar was, of necessity, held in the evening, at seven o’clock, and, the weather being fine, it was held outside the Palace, in the gardens.
For some reason or other His Highness, I could tell, was pleased with me. For instance, in addressing me, he used a familiar form of expression, such as one uses to a friend. He said, it was quite a long time since he had seen me. He enquired if the Hindustani assistants were working well, and congratulated himself that the year was cool and healthy compared with the last. He said he himself did not fast during Ramazàn: that there were duties a King owed to his people, for when a man fasts he has not that control over himself and his temper that a King, with life and death in his hands, should have. He said, “Ramazàn” should be called “Marazàn.”—“Maraz” meaning “disease.”