the British, and, of course, suffered for it. A number of them, whom I met in Chitral just after the war was over, told me
that, had they known that we were so powerful, they never would have thought of fighting us. But they did not know, and both they and we had to suffer the consequence of their ignorance. I always think these chiefs are rather in the position of children. We do not want to beat them or cow them. We want them rather to grow up strong and vigorous, and, perhaps, to become eventually able to look after their own affairs themselves. But we have to keep them straight, and, when they run crooked, we have to punish them. To have an effective influence over them it is necessary that we should make our resources known to them, that they may be fully aware of the advantages of keeping on friendly terms with us, and the evil effects which are likely to follow from their going astray.
With Nizam-ul-Mulk I never found any difficulty in the discharge of my duties, and, as by his astuteness and common sense I was saved from the necessity of ever having to make any disagreeable demand upon him, when the British agency was subsequently withdrawn from Chitral to Mastuj, he kept repeatedly asking that it might be sent back to Chitral again, so that he might have a British officer at his side.
But while Nizam and his men interested themselves with what we did in India, I was no less interested in noting how they lived in Chitral, and one of the points which I most carefully observed was their system of government. This system is absolutely despotic. There could scarcely be a greater despot than a Mehtar of Chitral. Nominally, everything in the country—man, women, child, and beast—belong to him, and the whole of the land, and every house as well. He can take away one man's wife and give her to another. He can dispose of the daughters to whom he likes. He can give away a man's house or his land just as he wishes. And he can, of course, administer any sort of punishment that may please
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