1 m AHMED KHAUN HOOBZyK
2 treachery during the time 1 was at Poshawcr, niatic liim ]oud in liis
3 £eal for Shaiih Shuja's cause; and to draw off tlir pubhe attention
4 from his own proceedings, he affected great alann from the EngUsh,
5 and harangued against foreigners and their arts on oc casioiis. His
6 stratagems were, however, unsuccessful : his correspondence was dis-
7 covered, and he was a^aiu thrown into prison aljout the time I left
8 Peahaw^er. Tlie success of Mahmood's party procured him his
9 liberty for a time, but his own ill conduct, or his bad character, ex-
10 posed him again to suspicion, and he ended his days in a prison.
11 £ven when I saw him, he had jiut ■ii0bred a long imprisonmeiit, baft
12 th6 Klng^ in his distiest* had rdeased hhn, and endeavoaxed to lis-
13 gain his attadunent He had been restoied to his tank* and had ie>
14 odved great honoon firom the King ; but as he was afiaid of being
15 telied on to oofntribate to the support of the goirenment* he aUbcted
16 extKme poverty* I ibund him in a house which had gone to .ruin
17 'during Ilia long ctnifinenient ; it was at some distance fiom the town*
18 'and the hall where'he leoeiTed us^ opened on a neglected gudni
19 part of the roof had fidknin* andthewaUsy whidi seemed to have
20 been well finished, thou^ plain, bore evident maths of decay } 4hne
21 was no carpet, nor even ielts to sit on.
22 W« fimnd the Khaun seated, with four or five other p***""*- He
23 was dressed in th^ usual manner, and very pkin : He rose, and onne
24 forward to meet me ; and, on my holding oat my hands to rec^ve
25 him in the Ptnisn &shion, he declared in a rough voice that he was for
26 no Persian professions, and said something of A%baun siDoedtjr and
27 true friendship : He then seized me by tlie arms with a rude gripe,
28 and pressed me with great vehemence to his breast. We then sat
29 down, and the Kliaun, after inquiring about my health, and paying
30 the usual compliments, begar« to declaim against the Persians and
31 Persian refinements ; praised iiis own Ooloos, which he said was
32 l(X),UOU strong; and talked of the devotion of the Dooraunees to the
33 Kins' and royal family, and of the im possibility oi supplanting it.
34 The meaning ot this harangue appeared lo be, to make a shew of his
35 attachment to the King on so public au occasion { and, also to prove
36 It
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