der's attention will be
directed to such considerations and reflections as arise by the way. It
will therefore be convenient to make a digression into the question
of the supply of arms to the frontier tribes, while a hundred rifles,
probably a representative hundred, are piled in the main street of the
camp at Ghosam.

The perpetual state of intestine war, in which the border peoples live,
naturally creates a keen demand for deadly weapons. A good Martini-Henry
rifle will always command a price in these parts of Rs.400 or about
25 British pounds. As the actual value of such a rifle does not exceed
Rs.50, it is evident that a very large margin of profit accrues to the
enterprising trader. All along the frontier, and from far down into
India, rifles are stolen by expert and cunning thieves. One tribe, the
Ut Khels, who live in the Laghman Valley, have made the traffic in arms
their especial business. Their thieves are the most daring and their
agents the most cunning. Some of their methods are highly ingenious. One
story is worth repeating. A coffin was presented for railway transport.
The relatives of the deceased accompanied it. The dead man, they said,
had desired to be buried across the frontier. The smell proclaimed
the corpse to be in an advanced state of decomposition. The railway
officials afforded every facility for the passage of so unpleasant an
object. No one checked its progress. It was unapproachable. It was only
when coffin and mourners were safe across the frontier that the police
were informed that a dozen rifles had been concealed in the coffin, and
that the corpse was represented by a quarter of "well hung" beef!

I regret to have to state, that theft is not the only means by which
the frontier tribes obtain weapons. Of a hundred rifles, which the
Utman Khels had surrendered, nearly a third were condemned Government
Martinis, and displayed the Government stamp. Now no such rifles
are supposed to exist. As soon as they are condemned, the arsenal
authorities are responsible that they are destroyed, and this is in
every case carried out under European supervision. The fact, that
such rifles are not destroyed and are found in the possession of
trans-frontier tribesmen, points to a very grave instance of dishonest
and illegal traffic being carried on by some person connected with the
arsenal. It need hardly be said that a searching inquiry was instituted.

Another point connected with these rifles is that