229 CHAPTER X. European visitors.—Dr. Wolf's prediction.—Jang Shia and Suni. —Dost Mahomed Khan's fears.— Prophesy and delusion— Delicacies of Kabal Rawash.—Chukri—Cherries.—Mulber­ ries.—Grapes.—Peaches.—Melons—Their cultivation.—Profu­ sion of fruits.—Ice.—Snow.—Takht Shah.—Khana Sanghi.— Glens. — Antiquities.— Ziarats. — Sang Nawishta.— Topes.— Sanjitak.—Shah Mahmud's revels and adventure.— Shahzada Ismael's fate.—Baber's tomb.—Masjit.—Grove.—Distribution. —Tank.—Trees and flowers.— Rana Zeba.— Hawthorns.— Weekly fair.—Serai.—Reflections.—Takht Jan Nissar Khan. —Hospitality.—Accidental interruption.— Liberality of senti­ ment.—Anecdote of Fati Khan.—Religious laxity.—Restriction at Bokhara.—Equality of Armenians.—Their intercourse with Mahomedans.—Liberal remark.— Indulgences.—Jews.—Charge of Blasphemy.—Punishment.—Reflections. SOME few days before my reaching Kabal it had been honoured by the presence of three English gen­ tlemen, Lieutenant Burnes, Doctor Gerard, and the Reverend Joseph Wolf. The latter had predicted many singular events, to be preceded by earth­ quakes, civil dissensions, foreign wars, and divers other calamities. An alarming earthquake did occur, and established his prophetical character, which considerably rose in estimation, when, about three hours after, a conflict took place between the Atchak Zai Afghans of the city and the Juanshirs, 230 DELUSIVE PROPHECY. who were celebrating the Mohoram, and wailing and beating their breasts in commemorative grief of the slaughter of the sons of Ali. Several lives were lost; the Suni population were about to arm in the cause of the Atchak Zais, Chandol was on the alert, and its ramparts were manned, while desultory firing was carried on. Dost Mahomed Khan, who had calmly sat during the earthquake, could not endure with the same fortitude the intelligence of an event, which, if it ripened into a crisis, would in­ volve the loss of that authority which was so dear to him, and had cost him so many cares and crimes to obtain. He became sick of a fever. Haji Khan Khaka, who had been previously unwell, but now sent a Koran as a pledge to the Juanshirs, in the expectation that the affair would bring on a general struggle, was appointed agent by Dost Mahomed Khan for the Shias of the city, and the Nawab Jabar Khan agent for the Siinis. These two com­ promised matters, or rather, suffered them to sub­ side, for no arrangement was made. The season was fruitful in forebodings and prophecies, for now another earthquake was foretold by one of the holy men, which was to complete the destruction me­ naced by the preceding one. On the appointed day half of the inhabitants of Kabal repaired to tents without the city, and when it had passed serenely over, returned in ridicule to their deserted abodes. Rawash, or the blanched stalks of the rhubarb- plant, was one of the delicacies of the bazars when DELICACIES OF KABAL. 231 I arrived in Kabal, and the lambs of the Lohani and Ghilji flocks formed another. Lettuces also abounded. Rawash lasts for three months, from the middle of April to that of July. It is much eaten in its natural state, simply with the addi­ tion of salt, and is largely employed in cookery with meat. It affords a grateful, acidulated relish, and is held to be particularly sanative. It serves a variety of uses, and dried, is preserved for any length of time. It also makes an excellent pre­ serve, by being first saturated in a solution of lime and then boiled with shirar, or the inspissated juice of grapes, losing, however, in this case, its charac­ teristic flavour. Rawash is more or less plentiful in all the hills from Kalat of Balochistan to Kandahar, and again from that place to Kabal. Attention is only paid to its growth by the inhabitants of Pagh- man, who supply the bazars of the city. They sur­ round the choicer plants with conical coverings of stones, so as to exclude light and air, and thereby produce that whiteness of stem so much prized. The unblanched plant is called chukri, and is also exposed to sale. More reasonable in price, it is nearly as well adapted for ordinary uses. Riwand Chini, or Chinese rhubarb, is a common drug at Kabal, and much employed by the physicians, who never suspect it to be the same plant which yields their rawash. The day of my arrival was distinguished by the presence in the bazar of cherries, the first-fruits of 232 FRUITS OF KABAL. the year; a day or two after apricots were seen, and in four or five days they were succeeded by mulber­ ries. Cherries, I observed, were of three varieties; and to the Emperor Baber is ascribed the merit of their introduction into Kabal, and to which he lays claim in his memoirs. Apricots are of very nume­ rous varieties, as are the mulberries; and all exist in profusion. Parties visit the gardens about the city, and each paying a pais, or the sixtieth part of a rupee, have liberty to shake the trees, and regale themselves at discretion during the day. Some of the varieties of mulberries are of excellent flavour, and to enhance its zest, rose-water is by some sprinkled over the mass, with fragments of ice or pounded snow. The first grapes which ripen are called Kandahari, from having, perhaps, been ori­ ginally brought from that place; they are black, and of large clustered bunches, the grapes much varying in size. They appear about the end of June, and continue until the end of July, when they are replaced by the many varieties for which Kabal is famous, until the close of autumn, following each other in due succession. In June, also, apples are first brought to the bazars, and in July they become plentiful, with pears. In the beginning of August peaches ripen in Koh Daman; they are very large, but I think not well flavoured; indeed, I question whether any of the fruits of Kabal equal in flavour the analogous varieties of England. Quinces, with musk, and, water-melons, usher in the autumn; and ASL-SUS.—ICE. 233 the latter are certainly fine fruits; while their enor­ mous consumption is such, that to raise them is the task of the agriculturist. The Sadu Zai princes did not disdain to derive profits from their royal melon- fields, nor is Dost Mahomed Khan ashamed to imitate the precedent. He has his palez, or me­ lon-fields, prepared and tended by forced labour, and the inhabitants of the contiguous villages are taxed to furnish, from the neighbouring wastes, their respective proportions of the plant asl-sus, or liquorice, which is employed in the formation of the beds and trenches, and which abounds. Besides all these fruits, there are walnuts, al­ monds, pistas, figs, and pomegranates, although the two latter kinds are not so esteemed as those of warmer countries. It is scarcely possible that Kabal can be surpassed for the abundance and variety of its fruits, and, perhaps, no city can pre­ sent, in its season, so beautiful a display of the deli­ cious treasures supplied by nature for her children. Of the many luxuries of Kabal, ice must not be for­ gotten ; like fruit, it is abundant, and so cheap as to be within the reach of the poorest citizen. It is used to cool water, sherbets, and fruits; and even a cup of buttermilk is scarcely thought fit to drink unless a fragment of ice be floating in it. During winter large blocks of ice are deposited in deep pits, lined with chaff; matting, for a depth of some feet, is placed over them, and the whole is covered with earth. Another method of obtaining ice is by 234 TAKHT SHAH. directing water into a prepared cavity, and allowing it to freeze. The process is renewed until a sufficient quantity of the congelated mass is accumulated, when it is overspread with matting and soil. Snow is alike preserved, and its square crystalized heaps sparkle during the warm months in the shops of the fruiterers and confectioners. I made many excursions in the environs, and examined the various interesting objects they pre­ sent. On one occasion I ascended the hill Koh Takht Shah, to inspect the building on its summit, mindful that Baber had described it as the palace of an ancient king. I found a substantial erection of about thirty-five feet in length, and eighteen feet in breadth, with a height of about eleven feet. On the western front is a small arched entrance, leading into an apartment of about eleven feet square, crowned with a dome. Four niches were inserted at the angles of the walls, and three others in the respective sides. A little below, on the face of the hill, there is believed to be a cave, which has its opposite outlet at Fatiabad, at the head of the Jelalabad valley, and by which Zakom Shah, an infidel king who resided here, escaped from the vengeance of Hazrat Ali. Baber appears to have related the tradition of the country connected with the spot, but there can be little question, from the existence of the domed chamber, that the Takht Shah, or King's Throne, as it is called, is a sepul­ chral monument of the middle ages. It is rudely ANTIQUITIES. 235 composed of unfashioned stones, and the chamber has been lined with cement. Connected with it, and extending along the summits of the range, and of its ramifications, are parapet walls of masonry. We ascended the hill by the Kotal, or pass of Kedar, leading from the ziarat of that name into Chahar Deh, on the descent of which is another object of curiosity.