[12] MS. Correspondence.—In another letter Malcolm says: “Had I to do with men of sense and moderation I should not fear, but I have to deal with a race that are possessed of neither.” The necessity of adopting in all his negotiations the most flowery language, somewhat puzzled him at first; but in time he fell into the right vein of discourse. On one occasion, wishing to demonstrate the advantages of simplicity of style, he produced a copy of an Indian treaty, when the Meerza, after reading two articles of it, declared that he would “give in his resignation to his sovereign rather than that such a document should be copied into the records of the office over which he presided.”
[13] These treaties, which have never been officially published, are printed for the first time I believe in the appendix to Vol. I., “Life of Sir John Malcolm.”
[14] There was a considerable trade in horses; but rather through than from Afghanistan. The animals were brought from Balkh and Toorkistan, fattened at Caubul, and sold in India.
[15] “Five or six cafilas of this indigo leave the Derajat annually, which on an average consist of seven hundred camels, each carrying eighty Tabrizee maunds. These come into Persia by the route of Candahar and Herat.”—[Mahomed Sadik’s Answers to Captain Malcolm, 1800-1 (MS.).]
[16] And even this obligation ceased to be recognised by Ahmed Shah, who paid the Douranee horsemen for their services, alleging that their lands had been bestowed upon them as a free and unencumbered gift. In Zemaun Shah’s time they held pay-certificates, available when they were called out on active service, and realised, if they could, the amount due to them by means of orders on Cashmere, Mooltan, and other outlying provinces.—[MS. Records—Rawlinson and Malcolm.]
[17] Or, more strictly, for every parcel of land demanding the services of a single kulba, or plough; from which the division of land, and the assessment founded upon it, took its name.
[18] To an elaborate report on the revenue system of Western Afghanistan, especially as affecting the Douranee tribes, drawn up by Major Rawlinson in 1842, I am indebted for much valuable information, which will be found incorporated with subsequent portions of the narrative.
[19] The authority for this, according to Malcolm’s informant, was the Caubul records. Forster, who travelled in Afghanistan in the reign of Timour Shah, says that his entire army did not exceed 30,000 men, nor his revenue a million of our money. How these men contrived to pay themselves, may be gathered from a passage in Forster’s Travels, which is worth transcribing: “This day a body of Afghan cavalry encamped in the environs of Akorah, and overspread the country like a swarm of locusts, devouring and destroying wherever they went. It seemed as if the land was invaded; they entered in a violent manner every village within their scope, and fed themselves and horses at the expense of the inhabitants. Such expeditions afford these hungry creatures almost the only means of subsistence; for when inactive, they are often reduced to such distress by the blind parsimony of their prince, that their horses, arms, and clothes, are sold for a livelihood.” The same writer, speaking generally of the Afghan army, says that he “felt a sensible disappointment at seeing it composed of a tumultuous body, without order or common discipline.”
[20] And even the character of Futteh Khan was at that time very little understood and appreciated. He was described to Captain Malcolm as a man of influence, but of low, dissipated habits, who spent all his time in drinking wine and in smoking bang. It should be mentioned that Prince Ferooz, Mahmoud’s brother, was associated in this enterprise. He became master of Herat, whilst Mahmoud pushed on to Candahar.
[21] The Kuzzilbashes, of whom frequent mention will be made in the course of this narrative, are Persian settlers in Afghanistan; many of whom are retained in the military service of the state.