A hostage is a person given and held under the laws of war, as a pledge.
For instance, if this report is true about the Ameer, it means that he has asked that they shall give into his hands certain important leaders of tribes, whose lives and liberty are very precious to the Afridis. These people to be held by him until the war is over, as a guarantee that he will receive his compensation for helping them to fight the British.
NATIVE SOLDIERS IN INDIA.
Hostages are always persons of high rank, and persons whose lives are so precious that their people will not allow them to be sacrificed.
The giving of hostages is therefore considered the most binding form of agreement between savage peoples.
In this instance, however, the story that the Ameer demanded hostages does not appear to be true.
A later despatch says that the messengers sent by the Afridis and Orakzais were turned back at Jelalabad, and ordered to leave the country.
The principal request they had to make of the Ameer was that he would give them ammunition; bullets, gunpowder, and cartridges.
The fact that the Ameer sent them back without granting them an audience has convinced the British that he is sincere in declaring himself friendly to that nation.