afghanistanthe government’s policy. His claim for compensation for wrongful impris
onment and the loss of property in the Kalat uprising was also dismissed.
In 1842 Masson returned to England to pursue his case for compensation
with the Board of Control, but he never received any redress and ended up
living on a meagre pension. He eventually published a revised version of
his memoirs but his criticism of individuals and government policy upset
many high officials. He was, after all, a commoner and a deserter, and in
the eyes of the Establishment he had no right to attack his ‘betters’. Given
the way he had been treated, Masson’s occasional bitter outbursts in his
published work are more than justified. In the end, though, Masson had the
last laugh for his Narrative of Various Journeys in Balochistan, Afghanistan,
the Panjab, and Kalât became a standard reference work for ‘politicals’ on
India’s Northwest Frontier.
Masson’s achievements were mostly overlooked during his lifetime
yet they far outweigh those of Burnes, Wade, Elphinstone or Auckland.
Masson’s published work as well as his surviving journals and papers are
still an essential source for the history of Afghanistan during a crucial
period in the country’s political life. His account of the inner work
ings of Dost Muhammad Khan’s court are as important as Elphinstone’s
for they provide considerable insight into complex tribal and political
inter re lationships. His unpublished journals and papers also contain
wideranging information about Afghanistan’s geography and peoples.
As for Masson’s knowledge of Afghanistan, this was equal to any of his
The Buddhist stupa (reliquary) and vihara (monastery) at Gul Darra in the Logar Valley.
One of many Buddhist monuments documented by Charles Masson.