The immediate retinue of Shah Shoojau was composed ot attendants wearing the extraordinary and fanciful costumes here depicted. To each class separate duties were assigned, and when the King appeared in public, a strong body of them in addition to the usual guards were always in attendance. Those having caps with imitation antelope horns at the sides cleared the way in front, others dressed entirely in scarlet and bearing standards of the same colour with the ends tucked into the back of their waistbands to prevent their flapping, moved in lines parallel to his Majesty-the rest either ran alongside or followed in the rear. This form and ceremony so hateful to the Afghans was the King’s foible, and sometimes carried to an absurd extent. Mahomed Shah Giljee, who held the office of Chief Executioner, was, as is usual in all despotic states in Asia, one of the household, but the exercise of his duties was rarely required of him, for among his many faults Shah Shoojau cannot be tasked with bloodthirstiness. He had indeed in former years followed the example set him by his competitors for the throne, and rid himself of his enemies when they were in his power, many of his after troubles would have been spared him. The occupation of Ghufoor, the Mutilator differed from that of his comrade inasmuch as he never destroyed life, while the other's blow was always fatal. The punishments he inflicted were cutting off noses, ears, &c., Moola Shukoo, the Prime Minister suffered the latter penalty, when long since he had incurred the King’s displeasure, and this circumstance afforded a fertile theme for ridicule to the discontented about the Court but little calculated to elevate the representative of Majesty.