officers each commanding and exercising a certain number of men dressed in a national uniform and paid by the state. It was composed of the immediate followers of the King, and of those of the great chiefs, attached to them from various considerations of family, or hope, or gratitude; and of portions of the tribes, as the Aimáks, Moghuls, Hazáras, under their native chiefs. Almost every man of rank had retainers, who attached themselves to him to share his good fortune, and his consequence depended on their bravery and number. Every leader had his standard, which marked his rank, the highest being that of the túgh, a standard surmounted by the flowing tail of the mountain cow, an object of great ambition, and granted only to a few. Round these standards they marched to battle, and round them they rallied, if broken. They had no uniform dress. Each wore that of his tribe or country, or such as he fancied.

Besides these greater leaders, there were independent warriors (Ekkeha) who joined the service, either alone, or with a few followers, as volunteer soldiers of fortune, some of whom rose to eminence.

The fighting men were in general Tartars, chiefly belonging to Túrki tribes, or descended of tribesmen, with some Persians and Aimáks. They consisted almost entirely of cavalry. The old inhabitants of Kábul, whether of the cities or plains, seldom adopted the trade of arms, but remained shopkeepers or peasants. A Tájik is sometimes, but rarely, mentioned as engaged in war.

The army gradually changed its form in progress of time. When the first generation of conquerors died away, local levies became common, and regular bands of mercenaries were formed. The earlier troops, having little or no pay, depended for their support chiefly on plunder, and the leaders looked to the command of dis

Fortresses.

tricts. There was nothing like a standing force. The army was composed of local troops, with a few mercenaries raised on the spur of the occasion.

When the royal army took the field, it was generally arranged in three divisions; centre, right wing, and left; with an advanced guard and reserve, and some flying pickets around. The household troops were generally placed in the centre, and officers of experience named to the command of each division. Their arms were the sabre and dagger, sometimes the bow and arrow, and the spear or mace. There were already some companies of matchlock-men in the army, who seem always to have been trained mercenaries. Cannon had also begun to be used; but they were heavy and unmanagable, used chiefly in sieges or in distant cannonades. Shír Shah seems to have been one of the first who brought them with effect into the field. In regular battles, the guns were frequently connected together by chains, or ropes of bulls' hides, which served as breast-works, behind which archers and matchlockmen were placed, to prevent the irruption of cavalry between the guns, especially during the rather long intervals between the discharge and re-loading of the ponderous ordnance.

The fate of an action being generally decided by the sabre, plate and chain armour, and shields, were in use, with helmets, and sometimes chain-cloth coverings for the horse.

Their fortresses derived their strength from their situation on steep hills or grounds difficult of access, and from the height and thickness of their walls. They were sometimes regularly attacked by sap and battery, sometimes by mines, and defended by countermines. Night surprises, however, and assaults by scaling-ladders, were the most common modes of attack. Sometimes blockade was resorted to, and lines of circumvallation drawn round the place.

The country had few large cities; Kábul, Kandahár, Large cities. Ghazni and Pesháwer were the chief. The amount of their population is uncertain. The smaller towns and villages were numerous, as the peasantry did not live in scattered dwellings, but in villages surrounded by walls; as a refuge for themselves and their cattle, in case of any sudden attack, or against the rapacity of marauders. The larger towns were inhabited by tradesmen and artisans, merchants, shopkeepers, the guardians of mosques and religious foundations and their dependents, public and private teachers, and labourers. The streets were narrow and dirty; the exterior of the houses mean, any attempt at elegance being reserved for the interior. The houses of the more wealthy were built in one or more squares, opening within into a court or parterre surrounded by piazzas.

The principal buildings were the mosques and the tombs of the kings or holy men, and probably a few of the palaces of the kings. Some of the bazars were built at considerable expense, and with some elegance, and were frequently arched over, and closed at night by gates. There were also caravanserais, of which the large court within was surrounded by small apartments, usually with an upper story, and sometimes having a flat roof, in which merchants and traders could be accommodated, with their goods and cattle, on arriving from foreign parts.

The kingdom of Kábul was inhabited by many dif- Inhabitants. ferent races of men, and was composed chiefly of hillcountry, with some rich plains. The greater part of the inhabitants of the hills were tribesmen, in a great measure independent and supported by their flocks. The peasantry and shepherds of the lowlands were in general Tájiks, the descendants of the old inhabitants of the country, and used the Persian tongue. They cultivated various grains, and reared some cattle, but

Administration of justice.

were much exposed to be plundered by the tribes of the surrounding hills.

As to the administration of justice, there was, properly speaking, no regular court of justice in the country, except that of the Kázi could be considered as such, which, however, was confined to questions of marriage, dowry and others arising out of the Muhammedan law. The jágírdárs, and under them their collectors, and, in the royal domains, the collectors or other officers of government, decided in all questions, civil and criminal. There was little form. The parties appeared in person to state their own cases; and inquiries followed, liable to much partiality and corruption. The lower officers could fine and inflict corporal punishment to a certain extent. The powers of life and death, and of inflicting larger fines, were reserved to the higher officers alone.

But while the officers of government administered equity, according to usage or their ideas of right (for laws of enactment, except those of the Koran, there were none), in the plains or what may be called the conquered country, the tribes that wandered over and pastured the large mountain tracts, or partially cultivated the richer valleys and cattle lands, were little visited by the Sovereign's officers, but maintained, in a great degree, their independence. They made some annual payments as tribute, and preserved their ancient usages and customs. Each had its acknowledged chief, and a council of the principal men of the leading families, who managed its affairs and decided controversies.

The most difficult cases were such as related to blood-feuds, which, however, were left to the revenge of the injured family, according to the principle of retaliation of the Muhammedan law; and when the price of blood could not be fixed, or was refused, the prosecution of private revenge frequently occasioned assassinations and feuds for several generations.

The religion of the country west of the Indus was Religion. the Musulman. This may be called the legal religion of the country, though, properly speaking, there was no establishment. The Muhammedans have no stateestablishment of their religion, which, however, they consider as the only true faith, and as not given to them only, but to the whole world. They have no order of priesthood; as in patriarchal times, every father of a family is its priest. Everywhere, indeed, mosques, often of great magnificence, have been built for public use, and endowed often with extensive lands for their support, and that of the servants of the mosque. But this has been done by private piety, and not by the state, which makes no general provision for the celebration of religious services, or the extension, or purity of religious instruction. Yet, in no country does religion present itself more to the eye of the observer, or seem more deeply and habitually to influence individuals of every rank. Every mosque has its guardian, generally some descendant of the founder. The faithful are daily summoned five times to prayer by the voice of the moizzin from the minaret of the mosque. Some Múlla, or man of supposed piety, acts as Péshnamáz, by reciting the stated prayers, the congregation repeating them along with, or after him, and carefully following him in all the bendings and humble prostrations which he makes at the proper parts of the service, towards the kibleh, which marks the position of Mekka. He is qualified for his office by no imposition of hands, or other ceremony, but owes the preference he enjoys, to his piety, the favour of the guardian of the foundation, or the silent adherence of the people. His office confers, or implies, no supernatural effusion of sanctity, or of spiritual gifts. He may quit his situ ation at will, and return, like any other man, to the business of the world.