know them best, know them least, and the more logical the mind of the
student the less he is able to understand of the subject. In any case
among these able men who diligently collected information and observed
the state of feeling, there were none who realised the latent forces
that were being accumulated on all sides. The strange treachery at
Maizar in June was a flash in the pan. Still no one saw the danger. It
was not until the early days of July that it was noticed that there was
a fanatical movement in Upper Swat. Even then its significance was
disregarded and its importance underrated. That a Mad Fakir had arrived
was known. His power was still a secret. It did not long remain so.

It is, thank heaven, difficult if not impossible for the modern European
to fully appreciate the force which fanaticism exercises among an
ignorant, warlike and Oriental population. Several generations have
elapsed since the nations of the West have drawn the sword in religious
controversy, and the evil memories of the gloomy past have soon faded in
the strong, clear light of Rationalism and human sympathy. Indeed it is
evident that Christianity, however degraded and distorted by cruelty and
intolerance, must always exert a modifying influence on men's passions,
and protect them from the more violent forms of fanatical fever, as we
are protected from smallpox by vaccination. But the Mahommedan religion
increases, instead of lessening, the fury of intolerance. It was
originally propagated by the sword, and ever since, its votaries have
been subject, above the people of all other creeds, to this form of
madness. In a moment the fruits of patient toil, the prospects of
material prosperity, the fear of death itself, are flung aside. The more
emotional Pathans are powerless to resist. All rational considerations
are forgotten. Seizing their weapons, they become Ghazis--as dangerous
and as sensible as mad dogs: fit only to be treated as such. While the
more generous spirits among the tribesmen become convulsed in an ecstasy