The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-07-26 00:00:00

SIGNING THE TREATY WITH THE
AMEER.

One of our Correspondents in India writes to us (says
the Dally News of Monday) from Safford Sang.aandamak

"On the day that the peace was to be signed I went
over eerly to see Major Cavagnari, and I saw the
document, or rather both the documents, for there are
two copies—one for the Indian Government and the
other for the Ameer. In each case two pieces of
parchment had to be joined together, making a surface
of about five feet long by about two-and-a-half broad.
A line was drawn down the middle, on the left of
which would be the English version and the Persian
on the right. Major Cavagnari himself had written
out on both of them the English part, working
the night before till two in the morning. When I
entered the tent tbe Persian portion was being done.
Bukhtigar Khan was sitting on the carpet like an
Oriental letter-writer, working on one of them, while
Mime Mahomed Nabbi Khan, the Ameer's private
secretary, was flat onhis stomach,lying upon the face of
the other, on which he was busy with his kalum, or
reed pen. Close to him was Habib Ullah Khan, the
mastanfi, on his 'knees, with his own draft of the
Treaty, in Persian, before him, and in this position he
was watching closely every character that the Mirza
wrote. Major Cavagnari and Mr. Jenkyns were also
close at hand watching the other scribe, thus endea-
vouring to prevent any clerical error getting into the
Treaty of Gandamak.
"The two documents were got all ready, and by four
o'clock in the afternoon Major Cavagnari, with Mr.
Jenkyna and Bukhtigar Khan, had them in the
Ameer's tent, prepared for the ceremony of signature.
In addition to those just named, there were present the
Ameer, Daud Shah, the Sipah Saler ; Habib Ullah
Khan, the mastanfi ; and Mirza Mahomed Nabbi
Khan, the Ameer's private secretary. Major Cavignari
went over the English translation to the Ameer,
whose knowledge of the language is quite suffi-
cient to enable him to scrutinise the sense of
what is written. After this Bukhtigar Khan,
standing before the Ameer, read over the Persian,
the mastanfi and the Ameer's private secretary
standing behind and overlooking the document as it
was read. Being found all correct it was then given
to the Ameer for signature. The Mirza held the pens
and the ink, Before writieg on the treaty the Ameer
tried one or two of the reed pens, but did not find them
to his liking; he made a new one for himself, remark-
ing while doing so, that 'it is always best for a man to
make his own pen when he has anything particular
to write.' In addition to his signature, the Ameer
appended his seal. This is a common Oriental custom,
, and is done to all documents even to letters and busi-
ness transactions. A film of ink is rubbed on the seal,
and the part of the paper is wetted slightly where the
impression is to be made. The characters are
hollowed out on the seal, and the result is a
blackish grey ground with the letters left white,
or the colour of the paper whatever it may be, The
seal of the Ameers of Afghanistan is not much over
half-an-inch in diameter, and is round in form. It
contains the name of the Wall, or Ruler, in what may
be called the ' Touragh ' character, of which the
Saltan'e Cypher is an example. It may be worth
stating here that it was a primitive custom of a Turkish
menarch, when he had euch a document as a treaty to
sign, that a sheep was killed, and the Sultan placed the
front of his hand in the blood, and then transferred it
to the paper, thus very forcibly illustrating the phrase,
'Given under our band and seal.' The curious, and
at the came time interesting point. is that the present
Tottragh ' of the Sultans of Stamboul, with its intar-
weaved lines, in which the name of the reigning Sover-
eign is included, is a symbolic ornament derived from
the form of the hand, as it was originally stamped on
documents with blood. The two copies were at the
same time signed by Major Cavagnari, as the Pleni-
potentiary of the Viceroy, this character having been
given to him for the purpose of carrying on the nego-
tiations connected with the Treaty. The two copies
of .the Treaty
.of Gandamak were afterwards brought
back to Major Cavagnari's tent, where they were
rolled up and placed into a case which could be carried
on the back, slung by a strap, and at 2 a.m, next
morning Mr. Jenkyns started with them for Simla to
be ratified by the Viceroy."

A telezram from Simla states that Major Cavagnari
left Ali Kheyl on the 17th inst., and, it was expected,
would reach Cabul on the 23rd inst. On arriving west
of the Shutar Gardan Pass he was met by a detach.
meat of the A.meer's troops, sent to him as an escort.