He received us with courtesy and invited us to
enter and see the fort. This, after taking all precautions and posting
sentries, we did. It was the best specimen of Afghan architecture I have
seen. In this very fort Lieutenants Fowler and Edwards were confined in
1895, when the prisoners of Umra Khan. The new chief showed their room
which opened on a balcony, whence a fine view of the whole valley could
be obtained. There are many worse places of durance. The fort is
carefully defended and completely commands the various approaches.
Judicious arrangements of loopholes and towers cover all dead ground.
Inside the walls galleries of brushwood enabled the defenders to fire
without exposing themselves. In the middle is the keep, which, if
Fortune were adverse, would be the last stronghold of the garrison.
What a strange system of society is disclosed by all this! Here was this
man, his back against the mountains, maintaining himself against the
rest of the valley, against all his kin, with the fear of death and the
chances of war ever in his mind, and holding his own, partly by force of
arms, partly by the support of the British agents, and partly through
the incessant feuds of his adversaries.
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