LIFE IX CEXTEAL ASIA. 271 



night. In the evening these faithful few make great 

 efforts, by trumpet and voice, to intimate that the 

 time for evening prayers has arrived, but the intima- 

 tion also means that their gardens are about to be 

 opened to the public. In one or two, portions of the 

 Koran may be read ; but the most usual amusements 

 are gossip, story-telling, bhang and arrack drinking, 

 opium and tobacco smoking, beating on the dol or 

 kettle-dram, praying, howling, singing, and dancing. 

 There the Eastern mind may be seen to perfection, 

 with its union of romance and meanness, of mystery 

 and grossness. Of course, as the night advances, 

 matters do not improve. The holy men become more 

 excited, less particular in regard to forbidden things, 

 and howl more. The dol sounds more furiously ; the 

 dancers (among whom, by this time, are women) 

 dance until they fall down from fatigue or intoxica- 

 tion ; and the stories become quite frightful when 

 they are not incomprehensible. 



In the cold season large numbers of Afghans and 

 Beluches come down to Kurrachee with horses for 

 sale, and encamp on the meidan or plain, close to 

 the Fairshed. Each caffilah, or small caravan, has its 

 horses picketed in a circle, within which they sleep 

 round a fire, and seldom with any other covering than 

 a large burnous, or sheepskin coat. The Afghans, or 

 Pathans, as they call themselves, are often large fair 

 men, with strong bodies and fleshy limbs. Some of 

 them have even light-coloured hair and eyes. They 



