, 1886-08-18
WILD sowARs OF AreAsNIsrAN.

WILL oOWAHo Or trG1bNtS AN.
Scraps from the Diayy Of 'Cyollst ThonAas
demonstrating Expsrissoss
Like all Oriental. these Wild sovvars
are, above all things, fatalists. They
pin their faith implicitly on Kismet, and
time and again, ~ we recline on the
carpet which the head man Of the vii
lage sprsad for u out In the open, they
reminded-me, with impressive gesture:
ASahib, 1t has been u Kismit to brave
md overcome the dangers Of tho dasht-i-
naumid together" Queer specimens Of
humanity ara these wild sowars OF south
east khoranan. A person attempting
to analyze their character finds himsekl
confronted and bewildered' by the most
contradictory traits.f Ono minuts you
are impressed with 1 charming nAivete
of speech and manner that inducesa you
to classify them with little children IN
whom there is no guile, only to Be ruddy
awakened from your illusion the next
minute by detecting them intriguing
darby against your purse, or discussing
some deep-laid scheme to make you b.
ieve they are rendering you services Of
i~ncalculable value.
Hint that you are aware of their evil
intrigues, and the next minute finds
them off their horses, kneeling toward
Mecca. repeatedly touching their fore
heads to the ground, while their deep
fetched signs of 1Allahln seem to be sin
cere as the prayers Of dying man.
Brimful Of guile as are these fellows, it
is the guile of children, after all. No
European is yer deceived by their theat-'
rical and transparent tricks. Even while
praying, heads are ever and auon turned
and eyes rolled to ascertain whether
these hypocriticai proceedings are pro-
ducing the desired effect OF removing
your supposed suspicious concerning
their honesty. Although / found the
ameer's sowars Of some service in guild
ing me across the desert, simply because
they knew more OF it than l did, as q
general thing they were found far more
picturesque han useful, and their pres
presence was generally more a~ggravating
than ~consoling. isiI ifs ~. ..lu.
On the evening Of the first day, a. VIZ
crossed the frontier into A~fghanistan, /
happened to be wheeling leisurely along
some distance ahead Of three sowars,
who. as usual, were riding lazily along
together, commenting on the amount of
backsheesh they were likely to receive at
the end Of the journey, and forming
fresh schemes for making me think that
/ should never get across the desert alive
without their valuable assistance, ! be-
came suddenly conscious of their fog
ging their tagged steeds into a gallop to
overtake me. Soon, with no small
amount of shouting and Gathering Of
arms, they rode up. and with solemn
countenance motioned me to stop.
Judging from the expression of deep
concern which they had all three as
sumed, one would think we were on the
brink of some great danger. Burr
rather Cbrother), said the one who
usually acted as spokesman, with much
solemnity, as they came up and dis
mounted. 4Burr-rather, this is Afghan
istan.r5 well, what Of it," 1 replied,
well aware by their manner that they
were up to some new dodge to try and
scare me into thinking myself deeply in
debted to their protecting presence. For
answer, they all three drew their fingers
tragically across their threats, and de-
l~iberately proceeded to load up their
whole imposing armament, which, up to
now, they had neglected to load. Be-
tween them they carried two double
barrelled shot-guns, six ancient horse
pistols, and three curved Persian swords,
beside sundry knives and daggers.
While engaged in loading up the fire.
arms and examining the respective
edges of the latter, they were constantly
cycling me in the most ridiculous man.
ner to see II / was duly impressed by the
proceedings. 10
Seeing, 1 suppose, that / viewed the
ludicrous performance with more amuse-
ment than satisfaction, and thinking
that, perhaps, ! didn't quite comprehend
the situation, the leader Of the sowars re-
peated his former Information of Burr
rather this is Afghanistan," referring to
his comrades for confirmation. ~Oh,
Afghanistan," assented the other two
worthless, tapping their weapons signih-
cantly, and repeating the highly inter
est 'ug pantomime Of cutting their own
throats. Around us for many . league
the level plain, studded with clumps Of
wild thyme that made the warm atmos-
phere quite oppressively heavy with its
perfume, stretched away to the east,
north and south; the calm hush Of the
desert was unbroken by a single sound,
and the solitude was unrelieved by the
sight of a single living creature beside
ourselves. The sowars stopping and
putting their weapons in fighting order
with such o~stentation, the moment we
had crossed the imaginary boundary
aws ano.La~ ~ 49, hr;r,ian, idsssa
that had found it's wav ;nto their
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