a “strict economy” was to be observed, and Burnes’s mission was to travel with far less pomp and many fewer presents than that of Elphinstone: Burnes in fact had only a single pistol and one telescope to give to Dost Mohammad. In the light of lingering Afghan memories of the lavishness of the gifts given by the last Embassy to Shah Shuja, these instructions did not bode well for the success of Burnes’s mission.
