In Kabul, as in most Asiatic cities, beggars of all degrees of wretchedness abound, and their appeals in the name of the Prophet for relief are both loud and incessant. Among them the “Kuttars” or strings of blind men are the most remarkable. The better to make their way through the crowded streets, as also to select proper persons for solicitation, a one-eyed lad is chosen as leader. He receives the contributions of the charitable, but only to hand them over to his companions: and his tattered habiliment, when compared with the more comfortable clothing, plainly shows that he can appropriate but little to his own benefit. The other figures belong to that numerous vagabond tribe who prefer a life of idleness to one of labour, and fit their profit in so doing. This sketch will recall to mind the story related by the barber in the Arabian Night’s Entertainments of his blind brothers companions beating each other mercilessly with their sticks, in the belief that they were chastising a thief who had introduced himself into their dwelling to rob them of their savings.