when they do not weary us by their sameness. We may, therefore, pass rapidly onwards to the period that succeeded Mr. Elphinstone's mission. The defeat of Shah Sujah has been already mentioned as following after the departure of the English envoy, whom he had received with kindness and treated hospitably. The unfortunate prince made several successive attempts to recover his lost sovereignty from his usurping brother Mahmood, but they all terminated in his defeat, and subsequent captivity in the Vale of Cashmere. This delightful region, the scenic beauties of which form the constantly-recurring theme of Eastern poetry, could not minister tranquillity to the mind of the exile, or remove from his thoughts the remembrance of past greatness. The advance of two bodies of Seikhs and Afghans from different directions procured him liberty, and induced him to pay a somewhat compulsory visit to Runjeet Singh at Lahore. After having been the object of that sovereign's hospitality for a time, the unfortunate Shah soon discovered the reason of this venal hospitality. He had brought with him from Afghanistan the famous diamond, known by the name of Koh-in-noor," or "the mountain of light," and this treasure Runjeet Singh determined to obtain. The negotiation was conducted on both sides with true Oriental subtlety, and the Seikh chieftain scrupled not to surround the dwelling of his guest with guards, and even to deprive him of the necessaries of life. At length moved by the offer of immediate assistance, and the promise that three provinces should be added to his dominions, Shah Sujah agreed to part with the Koh-in-noor. His faithless host. made a show of performing his promise, and organized an expedition to Peshawar, but finding the difficulties greater than he anticipated, Runjeet Singh gave up his design, and returned again to Lahore, whither he was soon after followed by Shah Sujah.

The wretched monarch now perceived that he had

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been miserably duped; day by day fresh articles of value were extorted from him, until at last he contrived to send his family into the British dominions, and even meditated a flight thither himself. His own pen records his sufferings at this juncture from the jealous precautions of the monarch of Lahore. "Seven ranges of guards were put upon our person, and armed men with lighted torches watched our bed. When we went as far as the banks of the river at night, the sentinels upon the ramparts lighted flambeaux until we returned. Several months passed in this manner, and our own attendants were with difficulty allowed to come into the presence. No relief was left but that of our holy religion, and God alone could give us assistance." *

Finally, however, he effected his escape, and after staying some months with the friendly Rajah of Kistawar, whom he nearly ruined by engaging him in various unsuccessful adventures, the fugitive repaired to Loodhianah, where he met with a most hospitable reception from Captain Ross, the British Resident. The hardships of his journey are described by himself as severe beyond measure. He traversed the rugged mountain passes of Thibet, where, he says, "the depth of the eternal snows was immense. Underneath the large bodies of ice the mountain torrents had formed themselves channels. The five rivers watering the Punjaub have their rise here from fountains amid the snows of ages. We passed mountains, the snows of which varied in colour, and at last reached the confines of Thibet, after experiencing the extremes of cold, hunger, and fatigue."

During the residence of Shah Sujah at Loodhianah fresh commotions arose in Afghanistan. The rebel brother of the exiled prince, Mahmood, owed his elevation mainly to the efforts of a chieftain named Futteh Khan, who afterwards exercised under the usurper the

Kaye's War in Afghanistan.

important functions of vizier. The father of this dignitary numbered among his concubines a woman of the Kuzzilbash tribe, whose son, Mohammed, was afterwards destined to play a most prominent part in the history of his country. Such a fate, however, could hardly have been anticipated from the earliest passages in his adventurous career. The offspring of one, whom his highborn brothers on the father's side considered a barbarian and a slave, Mohammed found himself at that father's decease degraded to the lowest rank in the paternal household. He subsequently became the attendant of Futteh Khan, whose favour he obtained by killing one of the minister's enemies in the open street.

In a short time the despised Kuzzilbash distinguished himself by deeds of less questionable valour, and was allowed to occupy a higher grade among the brothers of Futteh Khan.

The great vizier at this time was the virtual governor of the kingdom. Immersed in luxury and sloth, Mahmood Shah dreaded his power, and seldom ventured to question the propriety of his measures, or call him to account for his actions. Relying on the careless character of his sovereign, Futteh Khan, accompanied by Dost Mohammed, presumed to march upon Herat, then under the government of a brother to the reigning king. The fierce retainers of the vizier seized the prince's person, plundered his treasury, and even broke into the harem, on which occasion Dost Mohammed tore the jewelled wristband belonging to a lady who was the near relative of his sovereign. She immediately forwarded the rent garment to the prince royal, Kamran, who, being already on unfriendly terms with the vizier, swore to avenge the insult in a most summary manner.

Dost Mohammed escaped, but Futteh Khan, being made prisoner, was first blinded, and then literally hacked to pieces in the presence of the tyrant whom he had raised to supreme power. The victim uttered no entreaty, and

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bore with unshrinking fortitude the series of barbarous outrages to which he was subjected. One ruffian cut off his ears, another his nose, while the rest severed his fingers and arms from the mutilated and bleeding trunk. At length Summurdar Khan cut off his beard, the highest insult that could be offered to an Oriental, who considers this appendage as the type of manhood, and the symbol of honour. Then, and then only, the unfortunate chieftain, losing the fortitude he had hitherto maintained unshaken, sank subdued beneath the insults of his enemies, and burst into a violent paroxysm of grief. He did not long survive this last indignity, for another savage, yielding to the impulses of compassionate cruelty, terminated his tortures and his life by the blow of a sabre.

Thus fell the head of the Barukzye tribe, formerly an insignificant sept, but the members of which had of late been gradually drawing into their hands the power once exclusively possessed by the royal clan of the Suddozyes, the heads of whom were Shah Sujah and Shah Mahmood. The latter, or rather his ferocious son, Kamran, flattered himself that the death of Futteh Khan would lead to the ruin of the obnoxious family, and recover for the royal house some portion at least of the influence they had lost. He soon discovered his mistake. Dost Mohammed and his powerful brothers marched upon Cabool, drove thence the grandson of the king, and seizing the chief instigator of the barbarities committed on Futteh Khan, deprived him of his eyesight, but spared his life. From that period the Dost remained master of Cabool, while Mahmood and Kamran were obliged to content themselves with the territories in the vicinity of Herat. Two brothers of the Barukzye race ruled over Candahar and Peshawar, and, although independent of Dost Mohammed, acknowledged, in conjunction with the other chiefs of their tribe, the superior abilities and farsighted sagacity of the once despised Kuzzilbash.

The ruler of Cabool was distinguishing himself both as a statesman and soldier, but his youth had been disgraced by intemperance, and his active spirit fettered by his ignorance of the commonest rudiments of knowledge, He now determined to reform these errors of the past. He learned to read and write, confessed publicly the faults and mistakes of earlier days, studied attentively the Koran, and in accordance with its dictates abstained scrupulously from all intoxicating liquors. As a magistrate, he showed himself patient, humane, and just. The meanest peasant had access to the Sirdar's presence, where he found an attentive listener and an upright judge, while the common people, always acute observers of the virtues and defects of their rulers, used subsequently the proverbial saying, "Is Dost Mohammed dead, that there is no justice?'

They

Among a turbulent race like the Afghans internal peace and tranquillity are rather the exception than the rule. The haughty and warlike chiefs could ill endure the yoke of one who, though not naturally cruel, repressed their disorders with severity, and diminished their individual influence in every possible way. had recourse to Shah Sujah, who, weary of inaction, consented once more to try his fortune in a struggle for the crown. He had already attempted an inroad into his former dominions, but the enterprise proved an utter failure, and his army disbanded itself at Skikarpoor. The next expedition in 1832 seemed likely to end more favourably. He subdued the Ameers of Sindh, obliged them to acknowledge his supremacy, augmented his troops to 60,000 men, and with this force, the greater portion of which had been drilled and organized by an IndoBriton, named Campbell, marched resolutely to attack Candahar. The ruler of that place had invoked the aid of his brother, Dost Mohammed, who, arriving with a small but determined body of troops, defeated the Shah, and compelled him to take refuge in flight.