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king of Persia did not give him the slightest assistance excus-
ing himself due to the treaty with the English which he had
made in 1857. A. D. and so gave a flat refulsal. Furthermore
Abdul Ghafar Khan, the English representative at Meshad wrote to
Amir Dost Mohamed Khan, informing the Amir of the neutrality
of the Shah towards this struggle over Herat. The Amir had
managed to convey the reply of the Shah and the English repre-
sentative's letter to the beseiged Sirdar Sultan Ahmed Khan, and
sent these communications to the Sirdar at Herat. The Sirdar sent
a reply to Amir Dost Mohamed Khan in these words of the Persian
verse. "What if we have no pilot for our ship! We have a God,
and need no pilot!"
Despite the fact that the rigours and distresses of the siege
increased, the Sirdar did not give in the slightest degree in his re-
solve and purpose, and continued to defend the city. Overcome with
grief, the princess Nawab Dokhtar, the daughter of Amir Dost Mo-
hamed Khan, who was the witness of this tragedy died during the
eighth month of the siege overcome by the strife between the close
members of the family. The sad death did produce a certain amount
of steadying effect upon the conflict. The bier of the princes was
carried out of the city, with the permission of the Amir and accom-
panied by the lady's small son Abdullah Jan, was buried with the
expression of grief of her relatives at Guzargah. After the usual
ceremonies for the dead, and the return of young Abdullah Jan to
the city the siege continued. Lack of food and other difficulties of those
beseiged brought great distress upon the people. It is related that
during those days, Sirdar Sultan Ahmad Khan personally distributed
food and eatables to the people at the four corners of the
city every week, and used to encourage the people to resist, till the
stores became empty. All that remained were the animals, and the
distress of the people was extreme, so that the Sirdar himself struck
by the tragedy of the death of his wife, died after about a month
and a halth. Once again the battle subsided and once again the
gateway of Herat was opened and he was buried, all the Sirdars
taking part in the ceremony except the Amir; and the honour for
the dead was fully manifested by the lines of soldiers on the road.
Roughly two thirds of characters agree with a modern printed edition of the same text. Much of the disagreement is editorial, not misreading. Treat the transcription as a finding aid and read the page image before quoting. How this was measured.