"مسألة الشرق الأوسط أو بعض المشكلات السياسية المتعلقة بدفاع الهند" [و‎‎١‎٩‎٥] (٦١٦/٣٩٤)

A PATHAN PROVERB 313
by stark and desolate hills, rising sometimes in sheer
precipices to a height of several hundred feet, whilst
other and loftier ranges fill in the background in
deepening shades of distant purple against the azure
sky. Besides the three chief positions which are per
manently garrisoned, small blockhouses have been
erected at numerous intermediate points, and on the
days on which caravans pass through, to and from
Afghanistan, the silhouette of a detached picket as he
rises to salute a passing officer, whom the keen Afridi
eye distinguishes at a thousand yards, stands out on
the hilltops on every successive coign of vantage within
probable rifle-shot of the road. For though the tribes
as a whole may be resolved to discharge loyally their
engagements to respect the peace of the road, it is well
never to forget the native proverb, that 4 4 the Pathan
is one moment a saint and the next a devil." If the
devil now but rarely breaks loose in the Khaibar Afridi,
it is probably due in no small measure to the fact that
we have been able to enlist the Afridi to exorcise him.
It was a bold experiment to place the political system
we have established in the ^independentterritory" under
the protection of tribal levies recruited on the spot.
The success which has attended these levies has not
been altogether uniform, partly because the quality of
the raw material varies considerably in the different
tribes. In the Samana country, for instance, a levy
has been raised called the Samana Rifles, and it was
intended that they should take the place of the regular
forces. But so far it has not been considered advisable
to withdraw the latter, and it is doubtful whether from
Fort Lockhart, at any rate, they will ever be withdrawn.
In Tochi and Wano minor posts are now held by the
North and South Waziristan Militias, but the chief