JOURNEY FROM HERAT TO ORENBURG. 267 



on here eating his own dinner and feeding his own 

 horse at my expense. Here he found a high tone 

 of Mahomedanism prevailed, and, like a cur as he 

 was, he determined to try and effect the release of 

 his son hy joining in the cry against us ; and he 

 actually went and fabricated a lie, which he took 

 some trouble to spread, saying that Brutus had de- 

 sired him not to say his prayers on the road at least 

 to avoid doing so in my presence. JSTow this lie, if 

 it had been believed, might have caused the death of 

 myself and party. I can't say that I was not angry 

 when I heard of the creature's baseness, but I am 

 happy to say I did not show my anger ; but sending 

 for all the party, I asked them one by one whether 

 they had been in the habit of praying when I was 

 present, and whether Brutus had prohibited their 

 doing so 1 ? The fact is, that at the usual hours the 

 men dismounted and prayed as a matter of course, 

 whether I was present or absent. I then quietly 

 asked the creature whether I had fed him on the 

 road whether I had given him a horse when he 

 must otherwise have remained behind, and then 

 asked why he told such lies concluding by telling 

 him that I washed my hands of him for the future. 

 He has since been busy spreading this report, but 

 he is not believed. The country from Herat to the 

 crest of the hills is mountainous and picturesque, 

 but it has the defect (common to all Afghanistan) 

 of being destitute of foliage. From the crest of the 



