Among the Celestials : vol.1 / Page 228 (Color Image)

0228	Among the Celestials : vol.1

188 AMONG THE CELESTIALS. [CHAP. VII.

my journey from Peking. The talk turned on

India, and I was astonished to find how well

acquainted M. Petrovsky was with that country.

He showed me with pride many volumes by the

best English writers on Indian subjects, and

the most recent parliamentary Blue Books on

the country. The annual parliamentary report

on the " Material and Moral Progress of India "

was one which he took in regularly, and admired

much. He had known the present Amir of

Afghanistan, Abdul Rahman, at the time he

was a refugee in Samarcand, and he knew the

names and a good deal of the personal history

of most of the leading men in Kashmir. On

the Central Asian question he spoke very

freely, and said that we English always sus-

pected the Russians of designs upon India,

but that in reality nothing was further from

their minds.

When I returned to the serai from my visit

to the consul, the Afghan Aksakal eyed me

closely, to see if there were any signs of a

scrimmage with the Russian, and when I told

him that M. Petrovsky was coming on the

following morning to return my visit, he

seemed relieved. I said I should want the

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