Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1879-11-01
Kabul and its People.
AN uNATTRACI1vE CAPITAL AND TIS REPUISrvK
pKNIZENS.

AN VNAITkAC11VE CAPITAL AND IIS REPUISIVE
DENIZKNS.
TFrom the London Standard, Oct Ill
The diversified crowds of people that surge
through the streets OF Kabul agree In a way.
At night, when the narrow bazaars are a-glow
with the reflected light Of OIL in little metal
wick-lamps, ignited cotton floating in earthen-
ware saucers. or the woOd-fireS OF the cooks,
the Ferghanee has no objection to sit side by
dab OF the cooks shop; and on the same plat
form, with the seething flesh-pot in the centre,
containing little Jumps Of meat skewered upon
a stick, representatives or twenty different
Mohammedan nationalities, are content to sit
together upon terms OF equality, and afterward
to exchange the hookah and the national love
song, and the romance Of chivalry and theft.
Our native agents who have lived in Kabul,
representing the government of india In a fitful
fashion, have limited at crimes being frequently
committed in the baZaarS; and as the Kabuli
eyes, her height, her olive skin, her long black
hair, and her gallantry, though never for he,
love t toT washing Il Is easy to see how such a
become hot-bed also for assassination and
eounter-assassination. The Kabulis have no
known police, and it is believed that the inhabi-
tantS would object to the Introduction of con-
scieDtfous individuals Of that class, because
they would interfere with ancient prerogativas
Troops are employed as revenue collectors at
different times of the year, and as they collect
revenue for themselves as well as for tue state,
the kabuli cherisheS hatred toward all revenue
collectors unless he happens to be one himself.
Sanitation is not even dream with the inhabl-
fants. There are four principal roads, which
are from so to 40 feet broad, and these are con-
Sideied the handSomeSt streets. One Is the Great
Bazaar, or Charcutta, composed of One-story
mud houses, which have verandaS slightly ele-
Vated above open cutters, opening full upon the
streets. These yerandaS become shops in the
daytime, and are stored with specimens of all the
furs, silks, and wool and hair cloths that Cen
trail Asia produces. In the evening, three or
four cronieS sit on mat In almost every shop
of n 1nv In tl,nf,
their skull-caps. and smoke and tell stories till
midnight. Another great bazaar, leading from
the Western Gate to the Bala Hissar is monopo-
lized by cooks and butchers. Heads and car
cases are suspended there In plenty. but no trace
OF the unclean animal. the pig, is observable.
1t IS in this bazaar. by oil-ght, that some of the
most picturesque-looking rutfians in the world
may be seen. Observe this one. A man over 6
feet high; his head cOnical-shaped the jetblack
hair close cut, almost to the bone; his face long,
sallow, and fringed with grizzly black whiSkers,
the eye small, black and keen; the nose arched
and thin; the mouth cruel and compressed; the
chest and arms to the elbows bare; the body en-
velOped in a tattered blue shirt reaching beneath
the knees; bare, SCARED legs; the feet treading
on grass sandals which are held on by the toes.
That is Kabuli beggar, and most arrant
villain he is, for, maugre his rags, he conceals a
knife, like the rest Of his amiable countrymen
and will use it with the rage of wolf If he is
tempted. The cooks are glad enough to toss a
kabOb or two to gentlemen of his class.
Inc Ocner Two rOadS nave no particular cnar-
acter1Stics, excepting that they are great deal
broader than by far the larger portion Of Kabul.
OFF these four principal roads numerous dark
and filthy lanes, twisting for quarter of mile
at time, and not more than three feet broad.
shoot at frequent intervals. The f1at-roofed
houses in them are made of mud thickly mixed
with straw, and the apartments are dark square
holes, much worse than the much-decried shan
ties of the Galway peasants. Men, women and
children sleep together, and never change their
garments till these drop off. Frequently cattle
and fowls are to be found crowded into these
apartments, together with the human inmates.
Such places are dangerous to all strangers. Not
even an unusual parish dog could stray into
one of them, for he would be worried by hun
dred Jealous big boned, hungry ours. In the
last British attack on Kabul, Afghans who pre-
ferred dying like poisoned rats in hole" re-
treated to their tortuous streets and lanes, and
many good life was lost in hunting them out.