Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-06-02
RULER OF THE AFGHANS.


RULER OF THE AFGHANS.
Man Who Tries to Do Many Things Be.
sides Governing His people,.
A short stout man, who wears q
gray frock coat when visiting, likes
afternoon tea. plays a remarkably
good game Of bridge, does not hesl-
tate to sit down at the piano and sing
song for the entertainment of par
ty, and after dinner has been known
to speed the parting friend with
long and animated conversation or
the doorstep-this Is one side of the
character of Habib-Ullah Khan, Amir
Of Kabul Seeker after Gods Health
and Lamp Of the Congregation and
the Faiths.
He did all these things when visit
| ing India in the early part or last
year. says the London Daily Mail. He
seems to have created the impression
in some minds that he was the Asiatic
counterpart of the German emperor
He told various people whom ne
met that he was the best smith ir
lAfghanistan, the best carpenter, the
best drill sergeant. Then he claimed
| to be able to preach a better sermon
than any Mullah, and as matter OF
| fact led 100000 people in prayer al
Delhi-surely the largest prayer meet
ing on record. He speaks seven OF
eight languages; he plays cricket; ne
has acquired a liking for the motor
car and he seems to think very highly
of his own powers as a doctor.
Then, too, he apparently knows
how to enjoy himself at a race meet
ing, and when he makes bet, ne
pays on the spot If he loses. When he
was in India an attendant stalked
solemnly behind him, carrying vast
cashbox full of money, from which
disbursements were made, when nec-
essary. He Is said to be a good
sportsman, but when he plays cricket
with his attendants the Amir appar-
emily wins. 1t might perhaps be risky
for opponents to make a better show
| ing.
A slight inpediment in his speech Is
associated by tradition with an an
cient palace intrigue to poison him
when heir apparent.
His left hand has but four fingers
due to a gun accident some four years
ago. He might have been one-arm.
ed man had it not been for the skill
of a British doctor who went from
India and cured an injury which
seemed likely to develop into morti-
hcation Of the arm.
When in India his outspOkenness
and cheerfulness seem to have made
him a general favorite. AS the sun
set he would stop his train at way
side station land invite any humble
loiterer of the Faith to say his pray
ers with the king of Afghanistan.'
He wanted to know everybody
views and wanted to inspect every
thing that seemed likely to be usefu
In his homeland. He stopped an ar
nv sergeant's wife to discuss with he1
her preferences and ideals, and he
made the chemical lecturer at hos
pital which he visited explain the
| properties Of carbon dioxide in rela'
ton to combustion.
Rut on the other hand he would moi
waste any time in inspecting a little
gathering Of warships that had beer
arranged for his special benefit-the
| British navy cannot go through khy'
ber Pass. Perhaps this explains the
fact that he preferred to hurry off tc
the races rather than witness "battle
practice"
Two things seemed rather to cast
shadow over him. II hope you don
mind the bagpipes!" a neighbor asked
him at one of the innumerable ban
quets.
Not at ALL" he answered: Il have
them at Kabul. "But"-with sac
smile-"they don't stand so close be-
hind my chair"
Then too the joys of railway trave
did not appeal to him. In anticlpa'
ton of his vicit to famous shrine
monorail was built to carry him tc
the sanctuary in a bejewelled roya
car. He looked at the monorail, ne
looked at the car, and then ordered
landau.
The amir Is the son of one who was
| a slave girl before she became one o'
the queens of Afghanistan.
His harem in Kabul is not so large
as that maintained by his father. An
gus Hamilton says that when the
amir came to the throne three wives
were divorced in order to keep the
spirit of the Koran law, which for
bids the maintenance Of more than
| four wives.
MANY slaves of prepossessine
charms. we are told, are taken into
the harem from time to time and
added to the number of his concu-
bines. But the queens appear to eX-
ercise a strict censorship in regard to
the type of slave. The hapless woman
|
who becomes a favorite and eXcites
the admiration fthe amir "is gener-
ally removed"
One queen, it is recorded, has kill
ed with her own hands three OF her
slaves and personally chastises her
erring handmaidens, purposely disfi-
CURING any whose physical attractive
ness might charm the amir"
The four wives of the amir occupy
positions which are graduated to a
recognized scale. The first wife
draws an allowance of one lakh OF
rupes annually; the second wife re-
ceives eighty thousand rupees, the
third wife forty thousand rupees, the
fourth wife twenty thousand rupees a
year"
! One rather gathers that the domes-
tic life of the amir is not untroubled
and that the influence Of his wives Is
not cast on the side of peace and
quietness.