1841.] 



Journal kept while travelling in Seistan. 



335 



governor was completely taken in ; the fort was given up, and Shah 

 Pussund immediately fled to it ; turned yaghee, (rebel,) and has since 

 successfully resisted every effort to reduce him seven or eight times ; 

 and twice in person Kamraun has blockaded Jorraine and Laush. These 

 repeated attacks have impoverished the rich valley ; but a few years of 

 quiet under Shah Pussund's rule, which is very popular, will render the 

 district more fertile and populous than it has been since the days of 

 Nowsherwan. The lord of Hak, (for such is the proper name of the 

 district,) is now about sixty years old ; in his person he retains none of 

 that beauty for which he was remarkable in his younger days, and to 

 which, if we may believe scandal, he was indebted for the title to the 



king's favourite. He is very 

 lame, which was originally oc- 

 casioned by a bullet wound in 

 the thigh in the battle of Khoo- 

 skh-i-Nukhood,near Candahar; 

 but principally from his having 

 been subjected to the torture of 

 the thanah when he was seized 

 at Herat. In this torture, the 

 victim's foot is fastened to a 

 thick wooden pin (driven into the ground) by cords drawn as tight 

 as possible over the ankle, a wedge is then hammered into the pin, 

 causing by the tightening of the string extreme suffering. It is said 

 that the ankle is broken, and that blood, (but this seems false) starts 

 out at the toes. 



The address of Shah Pussund is by no means prepossessing, and 

 there is a considerable awkwardness and formality in his manner, which 

 however wears off, particularly if he has become excited in argument, 

 when he speaks with great earnestness, using much gesticulation. 

 Though he has been so much among Persians, and speaks Persian flu- 

 ently, he appeared alway to avoid talking, if possible, anything but 

 Pushtoo. This seems a trifle ; but it is one of those trifles which has 

 contributed not a little to his popularity among his countrymen. An- 

 other now palpable cause of this popularity is, the simplicity and plain- 

 ness, which is the principal feature in his character. He despises show. 



