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K. C. Temi>\e— -Route of the Tal CliotiaU Field Force. [No. 4, 



however, to which they are disinclined, they would not obey even the 

 sovereign o£ their choice but with I'eluctance ; moreover they are always 

 impatient to see him replaced bj^ another from whom they hope to obtain 

 greater advantages. Each subdivision of a tribe is, according to its numeri- 

 cal force and extent of territory, commanded by one or more sirdars. 

 These chiefs may be compared to the dukes and barons of the middle ages 

 in France, the more powerful to the knights bannerets, and those having 

 autliority over only a few families to the esquires who in time of war 

 enrol themselves and their men under the orders of the chief that inspires 

 them with the greatest confidence and can pay them best.* The 

 most poweii' ul amongst them are caressed by the sovereign who attaches them 

 to his interests much more by the concessions he makes than by the fear 

 he inspires. Ordinarily and with a view to preserve a nominal authority 

 over them, he remits the wliole of the taxe.s and imposes in their stead the 

 obligation to furnish a contingent of troops in the event of war being 

 declared against him by his neighbours. This wretched system gives too 

 much power to the Sirdars. The sovereign* is at tlieir mercy, and it is the 

 ambition of these men that gives birth to the numerous civil wai's in 

 Afghanistan ; for they are constantly in revolt." 



Such being the state of civil government in the Amir's Territory, the 

 only difference to be observed in the Independent Territory is, that the 

 local Sirdar, or whatever other local chief happens at the time to be the most 

 powerful, is absolutely uncontrolled even by the semblance of superior power. 

 The above-mentioned independence of the Sirdars and their impatience of 

 superior control is to be observed in numerous instances even in the Khana 

 or rulers of villages, being of course more pronounced in Ya'ghista'n than 

 in the Pisliin and other portions of the Amir's Territory. To give an 

 example. In the Pisliin the ruins of a village called Satad Sa'lo or 

 UnuMZAi were passed. It had been but recently destroyed by a more 

 powerful neighbouring village called Satad Paind in a quarrel between the 

 two Khans. The Urumzais had to fly altogether out of Afghan Territory 

 across the Belo'cli Border to Khu'shla'k where they settled. They ap- 

 pear to have been hunted across the Border by the other village without 

 any attempt at interference on the part of the neighbours. Again not far 

 from this last were two villages, Old and New Ma'likya'u, the old village 

 having been deserted on account of an internal dispute and a new site 

 selected a few miles off. The same thing was to be observed at a place | 

 called Wabia'gat in the Bo'eai valley, where an evidently lately ruined i 

 village called Old Wabia'gai was passed. I was informed it had become 

 so about five years before on account of an internal squabble. Like the 



* The very remarkable parallel to be observed politically between the Afghans 

 and the Mainotes of Greece I have elsewhere pointed out. J. U. S. I. of India, 188ft 



