seize me if he is able, provided _you_ keep aloof; the Meer
has tried that game before now, but did not succeed; on two separate
occasions he has visited my fort in an unceremonious manner, and with
hostile intent; but, gentlemen, there are two sides to a fort, the
inside and the out. I was in--the Meer was out, and I kept him there;
till, (suffering no other inconvenience myself than the deprivation
from riding for a few days,) by keeping up a constant fire on his
ragamuffins, I one fine day compelled him to beat his retreat:" and
so saying, he stroked his beard with much complacency, evidently
considering it and its owner the two greatest wonders of the
Toorkisth[=a]n world.

It may be as well to remark here, that in these valleys as throughout
Affghanist[=a]n in general, the forts are made of mud, the walls being
of great strength and thickness; they are built gradually, and it
takes many months to erect a wall twenty feet high, as each layer
of mud is allowed to bake and harden in the sun before the next is
superimposed. Now, as none of the chiefs possess cannon, except the
Meer Walli and Moorad Beg of Koondooz, it is almost impossible to gain
an entry into a well-constructed fort, except by treachery; and even
the few honey-combed pieces of small calibre possessed by the above
chieftains would not have much effect against the massive ramparts.

But the Uzbegs have a method of undermining the bastion, by turning
the course of some convenient stream right under the very base; this
gradually softens the lower stratum of mud, and diminishing its
tenacity, the whole fabric comes tumbling down from its own weight.
They also have frequently recourse to mining, but for either method to
succeed the defenders cannot be on the alert.

A man who had been engaged in an operation of the latter kind, by
which the fort of Badjgh[=a]r was once taken, explained to me the plan
adopted, which bears a rude analogy to the modern plan of mining under
the glacis to the foot of the counterscarp.

To-day a horseman came into our camp at about 3 P.M. with letters from
Bamee[=a]n; he had left early in the morning, and thus accomplished a
journey of fifty miles with the same horse, over two severe passes,
and through a succession of difficult defiles. On alighting, he tied
his horse to the branch of a tree, merely loosening the girths, but
not intending to give him food till the evening. The horses are
habituated to the want of any midday