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20 FIRS^ DISCOURSE. THE TAXES OF LAMGJIAN<br />
Lamghan 1<br />
dencies of Ghazrra ;<br />
.<br />
'ANECDOTE VI.<br />
is a city in th& district oftSind, one of the depen-<br />
and at this present time one lofty mountain<br />
f separates its inhabitants from the heather^ so that they live in<br />
constant dread 'of the attacks and raids of the unbelievers. Yet<br />
the men of Lamghan are of good couragb, hardy and thrifty, and<br />
combining with their hardiness no small truculence, to such a<br />
degree that they think nothing of lodging a complaint against a<br />
tax-gatherer on account of a maund of chaff or a single egg;<br />
while for even less than this they are ready to come to Ghazna<br />
to complain of exactions, and to remafri there one or two montfis,<br />
and not to return without having accomplished their object. In<br />
short they have a strong hand in obstinacy, and much back-bone<br />
in importunity/<br />
Now in the reigri of Sultan Mahmud Yamimid-Dawla (may<br />
God illuminate his proof!), the heathen one night attacked them,<br />
and damage of every sort befel them. But thrse were men who<br />
could roll in the dust 2 without soil ;<br />
and when this event happened<br />
several of their chiefs and men of note rose up and came to the<br />
court of Ghazna, and, with their garments rent, their heads<br />
uncovered, and uttering loud lamentations, entered the bazaar<br />
oPGhazna, went to the King's Palace wailing and grieving, and<br />
so described their misfortune that even a stone would have been<br />
moved to tears. As their truculence, impudence, dissimulation<br />
and cunning had not yet become apparent, that great minister,<br />
Ahmad-i-Hasan of Maymand 3<br />
, took pity upon them, and forgave<br />
them that year's taxes, exempting them from all exactions, and<br />
bidding them return home, strive more strenuously, and spend<br />
less, so that by the beginning of next year they might recover<br />
their former position.<br />
So the d6putation of Lamghanis returned with great contentment<br />
and huge satisfaction, and continued during that year<br />
in the easiest of circumstances, giving nothing to any one 4 .<br />
When the year came to an end, the same deputation returned to<br />
present another petition to the minister, simply setting forth that<br />
in the past year their lord the grtat minister had brightened their<br />
country by his grace and clemency and had preserved them by<br />
1 Or Lamaghan. See B. de Meynard's Diet. Gtogr. deja Perse, p. 503 ; Favet d^<br />
Courteille's Mtm. de Baber, ii, pp. 120-121.<br />
2 See the Editor's note on<br />
Actj^<br />
on \ p. 1 of the text. This expression appears<br />
to denote extreme cunning and resourcefulness, as though 6ne should say" to wash with-<br />
out water." An attractive if bold emendation would be ijj,jj^ dpjl^j ^)(j ^o,<br />
"shamelessly evadeci their obligations."<br />
3 See n. 8 on p. 14 supra. ,.<br />
4 This is Mirza Muhammad's explanation of the expression jj^lju j>& ->'<br />
c-