It was late in the afternoon when I arrived at the Palace, and when I was called in to the Amîr the dusk of the evening had fallen. As soon as I entered the room, His Highness called my attention to a most picturesque evening effect that could be seen from his window. A brilliant gleam of light appeared between the clouds in the sky, the mountains could be seen shadowy but distinct; the middle ground was in deep shadow, and in the foreground were the Palace gardens and fountains lit by the light from the Palace.
His Highness read the translation of the lady missionary’s letter, and said, that at present the country was too unsettled in condition for it to be a suitable field for the efforts of an English lady doctor. When, however, Mrs. Gray accompanied me to Kabul, the lady might travel with her. His Highness spoke some time, and told me that in future, when I wished to see him, there was no need for me to write and make an appointment: he would receive me at any time, day or night. I got home at nine o’clock in the evening and wrote to the lady missionary, telling her as nearly as I could His Highness’s words. Mrs. Gray never went to Kabul, nor I believe did the lady missionary.
CHAPTER XXIX.
The Cholera.
Ramazàn. The outbreak of Cholera. Precautions. Notices in the bazaars. Rapid spread. European medicine. The overwhelming dread. Processions to the Mosque. Oriental fatalism. Exodus of the Court. The shadow of death. Cases. Removal of the Court to the mountains. Closure of the Workshops. The Armenian as an Inspector. The Prince’s chamberlain. Death of the Dabier-ul-Mulk. The mortality. An incident. Afghan appreciation of British motives. Arrival of an Englishman with thoroughbred horses. Dying out of the Cholera. Visit to Paghman. The soldiers in chains: their iniquities. Anger of the Amîr: his decision: the choice. An earthquake: the Amîr as a scientist. Illness of the “Keeper of the Carpets.” Arrival of Mr. Pyne and other Englishmen. Another visit to the Amîr. His Highness’s description of a Royal illness: the cure: the comment, and the other patient. Dinner from the Palace: the sealed dishes.
A Fatal Ramazàn.
Four days after this was Good Friday, April 15th, and three cases of cholera occurred in the town. It was “Ramazàn,” when good Mahomedans fast all day and eat enormously at night. Knowing as I did something of the careless nature of Asiatics: of the awful condition, sanitarily speaking, of the town of Kabul: of the insufficiency and impurity of the water supply: it seemed to me that the disease must spread with deadly rapidity.
The conjecture was only too correct.
The Europeans in Kabul readily understanding the serious condition of affairs, were easily induced to take suitable precautions, such as the avoidance of fruit and uncooked vegetables; the drinking of water only after it had been boiled and filtered; and the careful abstention from any kind of excess in either eating or drinking.
For the natives, I ordered to be posted about in the bazaars, notices in Persian advising similar precautions; and described a simple filter in which after water had been boiled it could be run through sand and charcoal; for sand and charcoal were both of them to be easily obtained in the town. I sent an inspector—my Burma policeman—with a band of soldiers to examine if the city scavengers did their duty, and to order the removal from the town of all filth that they could get access to. I brought forth all the barrels of disinfectant powder that the Hospital contained, but which was of necessity pitiably insufficient, and ordered its free use in all suspicious places.