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112 camp among his soldiers, taking his meals in their presence. Love of horses was a passion with him; he procured the best at all costs from far and near, once even sending an army under his son and a French general to secure at an exorbitant price a celebrated one from his Pathan vassal at Peshawar. Possessing great powers of endurance, he was given to long journeys on horseback, surprise visits to distant parts of his dominions enabling him to check his governors in their reports as to revenue and other matters. His Court was brilliant with oriental pageantry, but personally he was free from pomp and show, and so scrupulously simple in his dress among his gorgeously clad sardars as to be distinguished among the distinguished; yet all feared him. Notwithstanding his apparent insignificant appearance, at first sight in strong contrast to the stalwart chiefs about him, he at once impressed and charmed foreign visitors by his superior mind, frank manners, and speech.