136 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPOUT. 



houses, twisting out into daylight and high-walled 

 lanes here and there, with dark offensive-looking 

 offshoots diving away off from them, and leading into 

 labyrinths of unfathomable filth. Street -fighting in 

 Herat would indeed be a ghastly business ! 



A state visit from our excellent friend the Gover- 

 nor was received in the afternoon. He was attended 

 by the Commander -in- Chief, the Assistant Com- 

 mander-in-Chief, several generals, brigadiers, and 

 other smaller folk. The uniform worn by these offi- 

 cers might be called fancy dress ; but it is so in all 

 oriental armies, and there was nothing extravagant 

 or unworkmanlike about the appearance of the 

 Herat military chiefs. They spoke courteously 

 and very plainly about their own immediate com- 

 mands. 



The next morning a return visit was paid to the 

 Governor, during which valuable presents were 

 offered, according to Afghan custom, but declined. 

 The peculiar feature of this visit was the introduc- 

 tion of a gigantic bouquet of roses a bouquet so large 

 that it had to be carried by two men, and set on the 

 floor ! Then followed a visit to the Commander- 

 in-Chief a pleasant- mannered and most intelligent- 

 looking man who received us in a room so high 

 above the level of ordinary rooms, that from the 

 open window we could look down on a parade of all 

 the troops in Herat, drawn up in columns on the 

 open ground below. iSTo one impressed me more 



