1 9
2 IK INTRODUCnOM.
3 the river was covc?red with thick copse-wood of tamarisk, mixed with
4 a tree like a willow, about iwcnty feet high: at a distance from the
5 river^ it was bare, except for scattered tufts of long grass, and here
6 and there a date tree. The country abounded in game of all kinds;
7 The weather was delightAil duniig chut staj ; the thermometer, when
8 «l file lomti wat A SB* at-miMiae: thaie were slight fioste ia.^
9 ni^t, but die days vrme nther warn.
10 We were detained tfaoa long at Monltaini hy the ntemity ci- piuv
11 cfaMUig and hiring eundai and of obtaining eoneot intelligence <^
12 tfie.Sing of CSaiibal'a motiona, aa well aa of wndang for » Miehnian-
13 danr* from His Majesty, to accompany-tlie miaaion after it enteied
14 the lands of the Afghaim tribes. We were alao occupied in change
15 ing the camels vhidi we brought from Hindoatan» for thoae o£ the
16 country, in making warm clothing for the Sepoys, and in procuring
17 horses to mount many of our attendantSt ■*^H'"g to the CUItom of
18 the country we were about to enter.
19 The principal events of our stay were our meetings with the governor
20 of the province. Tlie natnc of tliis personage was SeralVaua Khaun,
21 and as his government wa^ in India, he ha<i l lie title of Nabob. He was
22 ©t an Ai^imun family, of the royal tribe of Suddozye, but his ances-
23 tors had so long been settled in Moultaun, that he had lost most of
24 the chamcteriatica of hia nation. He aeema to have been aeised with
25 • fMHiie at aoon aff faeheeid of 'the approodi of the miaaioD, and the
26 whole of hia bduvnonr to the end, was nuuhed with BDapidon and
27 diatnJat He ahut the gpitea oif the dly ^^ainat na, and allowed none
28 of dormen oribUowecatoentetyWithooteBqweaapeniiiadon* He alao
29 doubled his guards, and we hefffd fiom good authority, of debatea in -
30 hia council, whether it wet moat probable that we ahould endesvour
31 to surprize the city, or dut we ahoiild procure eoesaioii of it to us
32 from the King. He, however, agreed to visit me on the 15th of De-
33 oember, and a veiy laige tent waa pitched Ibr hia reception. One end
34 * An officer appointed to iMciff* Hid do tins banonn to Midi goeito as ibm IDagigiAm
35 19 dww^attCQtioii to.
36 Digitized by Google