furiously about, quite regardless of everybody else, shouting with excitement, reaching far out of the saddle to hit the ball, running into each other, and enjoying themselves thoroughly.
In camp, and on the march, these men used often to talk over British officers, and I was astonished to note the keen interest they took in everything a British officer did, and whatever he did was always reported in exaggerated terms. Men would come in who had seen the British officers at Gilgit, or at the posts on the road between Chitral and Gilgit, and they would be questioned closely as to what they were like, and what they were doing. If they had done anything to the satisfaction of the Chitralis, these impressionable people would become excessive in their praises of the officer. If the officer had done something to offend them, they would unreasonably denounce him. Chitralis are always in extremes, never in the middle. They are a people eminently needing and liking a leader. They hate—and this is a very common characteristic of Asiatics —to have to act for themselves. They want some one to tell them what to do, and they will be only too glad to follow him. In the recent campaign they got in a huff with the English, and rushed off in their extreme impulsive way against them. They thought they saw in Sher Afzul a man who could lead them ; they swarmed round him, begging to be led. Such people it ought not to be difficult for us to deal with. They have no inherent love of fighting merely for fighting's sake, as the Afghan tribes have. They fight when their country is attacked, and they fight in a desultory, half-hearted sort of way, in the usual fratricidal struggles for the throne which regularly occur on the death of a Mehtar. But they would much prefer stopping at home, eating fruit in their shady orchards, playing polo, and watching dancing. And as long as their old and cherished customs are not interfered with, and as long as they are not too much worried to carry loads and furnish supplies, they will remain contented.
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