text:  The former sovereigns of Affghanistan even the most firmly-established and the most vigorous had no other means of enforcing their commands than by employing the forces of one part of the nation to make their authority respected in another; but men who were jealous of their own independence as chiefs were not likely to aid the sovereign in any attempt to destroy the substantial power the importance or the independence of their class; and although a refractory chief might occasionally by the aid of his feudal enemies be taken or destroyed and his property plundered his place was filled by a relation and the order remained unbroken