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In 1809 the reigning Ameer of Afghanistan, Shah Soojah-ul-Moolk, was dispossessed of his throne and an exile. Runjeet Singh, the Sikh ruler of Punjaub, plundered and imprisoned him at Lahore, and obtained from him the famous Koh-i-noor, the great diamond which is now among the crown jewels of Great Britain. Eventually Soojah escaped from Lahore and became a pensioner of the East India Company.
"In the year 1809 a treaty of amity and concord was concluded between the British government and the late Maharajah Runjeet Singh, the conditions of which have always been faithfully observed by the British government, and were scrupulously fulfilled by the late Maharajah.
From this well we had a good view of the temple, which was covered with gold by Runjeet Singh, and presents a gorgeous and dazzling appearance. In close vicinity to this temple is a mosque built by Arungzebe to annoy the Hindoos.
Read last night a very interesting report by Captain Wade of his mission to Runjeet Singh in 1827. Received a box from the Duke with a circular note saying the King is not well enough to see him before Tuesday.
He immediately caused the palace of the King of Cabul to be invested, and ransacked from top to bottom. But for a long while all search was vain; at last a slave betrayed the secret; the diamond was found concealed beneath a heap of ashes. Runjeet Singh had it set in an armlet, between two diamonds, each the size of a sparrow's egg."
There is in the Indian Museum another remarkable specimen of native furniture namely, a chair of the purest beaten gold of octagonal shape, and formed of two bowls reversed, decorated with acanthus and lotus in repousée ornament. This is of eighteenth century workmanship, and was formerly the property of Runjeet Sing.
"The same friendly relations have been maintained with the successors of Maharajah Runjeet Singh by the British government up to the present time.
Not only was Afghanistan itself seething with treachery and intrigues from one end to the other, but the Sikhs in the Punjaub, our nominal allies, had, since the death of Runjeet Singh, become disloyal and out of hand.
I told him all that had been done upon that subject, and of the present to Runjeet Singh, and the navigation of the Indus, with all which he seemed much pleased. I said I would send him the secret letters, and get together information that would bring the whole state of India before him as concisely as possible.
Their turbans are not large, but are very high and flattened in front. No scissors ever touch either hair or beard. Their arms are bows and arrows or muskets. Men of rank have very handsome bows, and never pay a visit without being armed with them. Almost the whole Punjab belongs to Runjeet Sing, who in 1805 was only one among many chiefs in the country.
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