1 APPEARANCE, MANNERS. AND CHARACTER. 557
2 dttongh wy nainm dcfilei. The nMd is' oAm aloi^ the bedi of
3 torrents, and 18 eoctmaely dangMWiB in the event of nddm &]]s of
4 rain itt the bills. In quiet tunes, the Khyberees have itetioiis in
5 different parts of the pass^ to collect an authorised toll on passengers,
6 but in timfle of trouble, thej are all on the alert If a single traveller
7 endeavours to make his way threi^gb* the noise of his horse's feet
8 sounds up the long narrow valleys, and soon brings the Khybeiees in
9 troops from the hills and rMvines ; but if they expect a caravan, th^
10 assemble in hundreds on the sirlr of a hill, and sit patiently* with
11 their muttlWock;^ in their iiunds, watcliiiin^ its approfich.
12 The Khyberees are lean, but muscular mt n, whh long gaunt faces,
13 high noses and cheek-bones, and black complexions. They wear,
14 in winter at least, dark-blue turbaus, and long dark4}iue tunics, sit-
15 ting close to the bmly, but reaching to the middle of the leg. They
16 wear n&ai sandals of straw, or the leaf of the dwarf palm ; carry
17 matchlocks, with a wooden fork attached to the barrel lor a r^t,
18 swoidis, and shfirt spears j and have altogether an appearance more
19 strange aud uncouth than any other Atghauns 1 ever saw.
20 In their valleys they have terraced houses, but in the mountains,
21 which diey chiefly inhabit m summer, they haye movealiile
22 huts of mat, like thxwe of the Upper Momunds. They come down
23 into the law hOk in winter, where tfaej chiefly live m caves cut
24 out of the endiy pwt of the hills* They sre extremely impatiant of
25 hfitrtt
26 Hiejr are exeeQcBt marksmen, and are ledconed good hill soldien,
27 tibouglh of no great account in the plain. They are often employed
28 in this sort of waxfiu:e» as &r ^em their oountiy as Kbte Kaungm In
29 the eastern atramily of the Fm^anb. They aiC!» hiywever, more di»>
30 poaed to^ondv than war, and will fill on the baggage of the army
31 diey bdkMig to, if they find it unguarded. It was thus- they behaved
32 to Shah Shujah in the heat of die battle of Eahpaun, and fay these
33 means lost him the day. . •
34 , ;On the wholes they are the graatest xobban among the A%hauns,
35 and I imagine have no faith or sense of honour, for I never heard of