usual in his own country, it did not satisfy the ruler; moreover, he, the Feringhi, was on horseback without permission, and therefore the Khan ordered him the following day into his presence.  Messengers the next morning were sent, who abruptly entered the Colonel’s house, and finding he would not willingly submit, dragged him before their chief.  He was asked, why he had infringed the customs of the country by riding on horseback in the city, and why he did not pay the recognised submission to the ruler of a free country?  The reply was, that the same compliment had been paid to the King of Bokhara as was customary in Europe to a crowned head.  And why have you presumed to ride on horseback within the city walls, where no Feringhi is allowed?  Because I was ignorant of the custom.  It’s a lie; my messengers ordered you to dismount and you would not.  ’Tis true, they did order me and I did not, but I thought they were doing more than their duty.  After this the King ordered him into confinement, where he now is.”

The courier, after giving us this information, remarked that he was penniless, and that as his business concerned the safety of a countryman, he hoped we would assist him.  Though we were not quite satisfied with the man’s story, we stood the chance of its being true, and furnished him with funds for the prosecution of his journey, for which, on our return to Cabul, we were kindly thanked by Sir Alexander, who informed us that the note from the Vakeel conveyed the intelligence of the failure of his endeavours, and that he had himself been put in confinement.

At the time of which I am writing both Dost Mahommed Kh[=a]n and his notorious son Akbar were prisoners at Bokhara; but the means taken by their friends to release them were more successful than those adopted by our politicals at Cabul.  It appears that the chief at Shere Subz had for some time been at enmity with his Bokhara neighbour, and, wishing to do Dost Mahommed a good turn, he picked out fifty of the most expert thieves in his dominions—­a difficult selection where the claims of all to this bad preeminence were so strong—­but the Shere Subz chief was from experience a tolerable judge of the qualifications of an expert rogue, and having pitched upon his men, he promised them valuable presents, provided they effected, by whatever means they might choose to adopt, the release of the Dost; hinting at the same time that if they failed he should be under the necessity of seizing and selling their families.  The thieves were successful, and at the expiration of a month the Dost was free.

If we could have interested the chief of Shere Subz in our favour by presents and fair words, might not the same means have been employed for the rescue of poor Stoddart?  The only way to deal with a ruffian like him of Bokhara would have been by pitting against him some of his own stamp.

The King of Bokhara has several times endeavoured to coerce the Shere Subz’s chief, but the instant a hostile force appears on his frontiers, the latter causes the whole of his country to be inundated, so that the invader is obliged to retire, and is by this stratagem kept at a respectful distance.