Evening star., 1901-11-14

| CONTINUED From seventeenth PaSet-
1 is described like that of "a feast OF honey
J and spices after a long fast Ameer Abdur
! Rahman was an infieXible and uByielding
| ruler and all his policies were severe. Ia
| bib Ullah's cemency and beneficence shine,
| therefore, in the clear light of contrast.
| His Predecessors Strenuous Life.
/ From the records of Abdur's life made by
foreign visitors to Cabul and an ingenious
| and quaint autobiography by the late
| ameer there was abundant room for i'm
| provement. That the austere old ruler
| died natural death is one of the most sur
prising events of the past fifty years. His
! life was a sequence of uphill battles with
/ other claimants to the throne and relent-
| less severity toward those he subdued
| Every day of the year he was for Abdur
/ and no one else. At the beginning of his
| career he was put in prison for drinking
wine and smoking India hemp. He won
! and lost half dozen thrones or governor
| ships. In each one of a hundred battles
| he fought with his soldiers until the time
| came either to run away or to seize the
/ fruits of victory. He knew nothing of Sc
curity until under the shelter of the British
! government in India he was firmly estab-
! lIshed on the Afghan throne which drunk
| en- father had lost years before.
| Lord Roberts achieved great deal of
| his fame in a campaign against Mahomet
| Jan, who led a rebellion in Afghanistan.
| When Mahomet Jan was put to death his
| followers paraded the highways singing
| songs against Abdur, one of which the
! ruler heard as follows:
Since Abdurrahman has been Installed at CabuI,
mans faith in man has vanished.
lie, lie massacres Ghazs in heaps by treason ,.
| The warrior of God and martyr, Mohamet Jan, has
gone from this world
| The ameer had him slain.
| He captured by treachery."
| Getting down from his elephant in the
| bazaar at Jelelabad, the relentless ameer
sent for the author. Bystanders produced
| the rebel in fear and trembling. But for
| once the warrior did not resort to war
measures. He began instead the most calm
| inquiry into the matter, asking the poet,
Why am accused of treachery?'
Afghan's Chief Soldier.
But Abdur was not often so graciou. At
one of his public dinners an excited native
rushed through the circle Of guests and
Frustrated himself before the ameer.
''Sahib.' he gasped, "the Russians are
ccmingr'
To Abdur the Russians were the scourge
of God. But he did not fear them.
From what direction?" he asked calmly.
From yonder HILL
Then. climb that tree and watch until
they come said the lord of the feast.
The native ascended to the topmost
branches and hung there until he fell to the
ground dead
In the autobiography-trans by Sui
tan Mohamet Khan. the secretary of state
Abdur states simply.
II am always ready as a soldier on the
march to q battle, in such manner that
could start without any delay in case OF
emergency. The pockets of my coats and
trousers are always filled with loaded re-
volvers, and one or two loaves of bread for
one days food; this bread is changed every
day. Several guns and swords are always
lying within reach of my hand. and sad
died horses are always kept ready in front
of my office, not only for myself, but for
all my courtiers and personal attendants,
a. the door of my durbar room. I have also
ordered that considerable number of gold
coins should be sewn into the saddles OF
my horses when required for journey, and
on both sides of the saddle are two re-
viewers.
Prophecy Through Dreams.
THE more I see of the people of other
nations and religions running fast in the
pursuit of progress the less l can rest and
sleep; the whole day long I keep on think
ing how / shall be able to run the race
with the swiftest, and at night my dreams
are just the same. There is saying that
the cat does not dream about anything but
mice. l dream of nothing but the back
ward condition of my country and how to
defend it, seeing that this poor goat, At
ghanistan, is a victim at which lion from
one side and a terrible bear from the other
side staring and ready to swallow at
the first opportunity afforded them.
My courtiers know, for example, that
years before the question of marking out
the boundaries of Afghanistan was mooted
l had dream. that was published at that
time and distributed throughout the whole
country. This dream was interpreted by
the astronomers to mean that the bounda-
ries of Afghanistan should be so marked
out by me that an end would be put to the
everlasting forward policy of my neigh
bors, who used to keep on creeping nearer
every year: Many other dreams Of mine.
like this. all of which l told my courtiers,
have come true, and they have seen that
the boundaries have been marked out, and
am still alive. to the sorrow of those who
seem so anxious to put an end to me- as
they circulate false reports about my death
once week. l did not think that any man
died so many times they have killed me
in their imagination"