Alexander Burnes, Cabool : being a personal narrative of a journey to and residence in that city, in the years 1836, 7, and 8 (1842)
G 7.16
Sir Alexander Burnes (1805-1841) was a Scottish explorer, political officer and diplomat. As an agent of the East India Company, he was an important player in the ‘Great Game’ – the struggle between the British and Russian empires to increase their influence in Central Asia during the nineteenth century. In 1833, his voyage to the previously inaccessible city of Bukhara captured the public imagination and earned him a gold medal from the Royal Geographical Society. His memoir of the journey, Travels into Bokhara (1834), was instantly popular, selling 900 copies on the first day.
“we were admitted to a formal audience by Ameer Dost Mahommed Khan, and I then delivered to him my credentials from the Governor-General of India. His reception of them was all that could be desired. I informed him that I had brought with me, as presents to his Highness, some of the rarities of Europe; he promptly replied that we ourselves were the rarities the sight of which best pleased him. … As we passed through the city some of the people cried out, “Take care of Cabool!” “Do not destroy Cabool!” and wherever we went in this fine, bustling place, we were saluted with a cordial welcome.”
Cabool, which was published after Burnes’s death, gives an account of his political mission to Dost Mohammed Kahn, Emir of Afghanistan. The objective of this posting was to facilitate the “opening the river Indus to commerce” by “establishing on its banks, and in the countries beyond it, such relations as should contribute to the desired end”. During his residence in Kabul, Burnes received a favourable impression of Kahn, and advised the Governor-General of India to support him on the throne. However, the British decided instead to reinstate the deposed ruler Shah Shuja, leading to the outbreak of the first Anglo-Afghan War. Burnes was killed in November 1841, when an angry mob besieged his house in Kabul. His death marked the beginning of Britain’s disastrous retreat from Afghanistan.
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