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KANDAHAR IN 1879; 
 
 BEING 
 
 THE DIAKY 
 
 MAJOR LE MESSURIER, R.E., 
 
 BRIGADE-MAJOR R.E. WITH THE QUETTA COLUMN. 
 
 Reprinted, with Corrections 8? Additions, 
 fro/vi the Royal Engineers' Journal, 
 
 LONDON: 
 W. H. ALLEN & CO., 13 WATEELOO PLACE, 
 
 PUBLISHERS TO THE INDIA OFFICE. 
 
 1880. 
 
 (All rights reserved.) 
 

 
 LONDON : 
 PRINTED BY W. H. ALLEN AND CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE, S.W. 
 
 fr 
 
A'" 
 
 6' 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 CHAPTER I. Simla to Dadur: Method of 
 
 Transport, etc 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. The Lower Bolan to the 
 
 Gwaja Pass . . . . . . .29 
 
 CHAPTER III. Lake Lagowlee to Kandahar: 
 
 Description and Climate of District . 48 
 
 CHAPTER IV. Kandahar: its Fortifications, 
 
 Trades, etc., and Disposition of Troops 69 
 
 CHAPTER V. The Neighbourhood of Kan- 
 dahar: its Antiquities and Natural 
 Features 90 
 
 CHAPTER VI. Historical Notes of Afghan- 
 istan 107 
 
 CHAPTER VII. The Arghandab and the 
 
 Helmand 126 
 
 4G935 
 
IV CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 CHAPTER VIII. Cantonment Amusements . 144 
 
 CHAPTER IX. Equipment and Kit; Barrack 
 
 Construction 161 
 
 CHAPTER X. Trades and Manufactures of 
 
 Kandahar 179 
 
 CHAPTER XI. Sport and Game. The Khojak 
 
 and our Scientific Frontier . . . 206 
 
 CHAPTER XII. Old Kandahar: its Antiqui- 
 ties and Gold Mines .... 220 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. Tal-Chotiali Route ; Retire 
 from Kandahar ; Massacre of Envoy ; 
 and Return to Kandahar . . . 242 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. Return to India through 
 
 the Bolan and Indus Valley . . . 264 
 
I * * 
 
 '* * o *3 :> ' 
 
 > I ) > J 
 
 KANDAHAR 
 
 IN 1879. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Simla. Umballa. Lahore. Ferozepore. Siege Park. Mooltan. 
 Indus Valley. Sukkur. Biluch. Biding camel. Bations. 
 Baggage. Transport by rail. Transport by road. Mahomed 
 Bahim. Floods. Mangrani. Bobbers. Shikarpore. Camel 
 lame. Horse ill. Griffs. Humaoon. Jacobabad. Bur- 
 shoree route. Seaton's march. Heat in June. Humphrey's 
 march. The Desert. Burshoree. Noura. Band. Fazl Shah. 
 Bagh. Hajee ka Shahr. Dadur. Forage. Post Office. 
 Telegraph. Commissariat stores. Orders. Breach of faith. > 
 Forage. Communications. Necessity for railway. Indus 
 floods. Bailway routes. Line for military road. 
 
 Simla, Thursday, 14Uh Nov. Appointed Brigade- 
 Major, R.E., to the Field Force assembled at Mooltan 
 under command of Lieut.- Gen. D. M. Stewart, C.B., 
 by Adj.-Gen. No. ? of 11th Nov. 1878. Started my 
 
 1 
 
2 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 baggage and,three small hill tents to Umballa, via 
 
 Kalka^ engaging /our raules from the bazaar ; 95 miles 
 
 ; iprgl^'/^likate^Wnp' in charge of the chesnut waler 
 
 mare '* Julia,'* and Cyclops took the grey waler gelding 
 
 " Booby." Nickoo, one of my wood-cutters, a hill 
 
 man, took charge of the black Newfoundland, ' ' Rover." 
 
 The parting between Nickoo and his father-in-law, a 
 
 mason, and the other men I had employed for two 
 
 years in building the Highlands, as well as with the 
 
 women, was most affecting. Nickoo was born and bred 
 
 in Simla, and had never been off the hill. The men 
 
 were embraced ; some of the women were kissed on the 
 
 face, others on the hands, and all of them touched the 
 
 feet of the voyager with the greatest gravity; as he 
 
 passed through the gate a general wail was set up, 
 
 which at once influenced, though in a milder form, our 
 
 party on the lawn. Thoughts were naturally busy, as 
 
 K., M., and P. were there, and Mrs. S., whose husband 
 
 had already started for the front some three weeks 
 
 before. 
 
 Saturday, IQth Nov. Obtained my road and railway 
 warrants from King-Harman, the A.Q.M.G., for my 
 journey to Sukkur, via Mooltan; settled my pay 
 abstracts with Sampson, the Under Secretary, got last 
 pay certificates, and drew a round sum from Peterson, 
 at the bank, to settle bills, and carry me on till I might 
 join the force at Quettah. Arranged my dak by tonga 
 to Umballa for Monday. 
 
PREPARATIONS FOR THE START. 3 
 
 Monday, \Sth Nov. My dak put off, as the Viceroy 
 was leaving Simla and had cleared the road, so spent 
 what I considered a spare day in making final arrange- 
 ments for my family. 
 
 Tuesday, \9th Nov. Gave over charge of my duties 
 in the secretariat to Sampson, said good-bye to the 
 office, and went to the tonga office to find no carriage 
 available, as nineteen daks had been sent off the day 
 before, and already one despatch of all the horses had 
 been made in the morning ; however, one pair returned 
 by 1 p.m. j said good-bye to K. and M., and started with 
 my butler, De Souza. Journeyed famously, considering 
 all things, and reached Kalka at the foot of the hill 
 by 10 p.m. 57 miles. Dined at Lumley's, and by 11 
 was fast asleep in the dak gharrie en route to Umballa. 
 
 Wednesday, 20th Nov. Drove to BignelFs at 5 a.m., 
 found my servants, had a pipe, and turned in for an 
 hour. As soon as it was light I inspected the nags, 
 and found that both Julia and Booby had swollen 
 withers from the pack-saddles they had carried down 
 the hill, that Rover did not recognise me in my ulster, 
 and that the servants generally were done up. My two 
 colt foals, which I had bred from Julia, had been sent 
 over by Jackson from Dehra; but Mourad (four years) 
 had thrown himself the day before with his head ropes, 
 taking the hair off both knees, and cutting himself about 
 the legs in every conceivable direction. Ruby (three 
 years) was all right, but looking thin. Bought the ser- 
 
 1 * 
 
4 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 vants their warm clothes, and sent the horses off by the 
 mid-day train to Lahore ; no horse-boxes available, so 
 used a covered goods wagon. Dined with Mrs. M., and 
 left by the evening mail for Lahore ; Grant, the Director 
 of the N. E. system, being in the carriage. Rover, the 
 dog, causing no end of trouble, as he evidently did not 
 appreciate the bustle at the station, or the first-class 
 carriage as a kennel for the night ; Nickoo, the hill 
 man, being useless from his utter astonishment at 
 everything. 
 
 Thursday, 21st Nov. Arrived at Lahore at 7 a.m., 
 found my horses and kit, and had them tacked on to 
 the Mooltan train. Bought grass for the journey, and 
 was ready to take my seat. Met A., Mr. Chapman, 
 and others, and chatted away, having nothing further 
 to do at present, when a telegram was put into my hands 
 from Col. Sankey, from Jacobabad, saying that the 
 General wished me to go direct to Ferozepore and 
 arrange for the Engineer Siege Park Equipment. I 
 had not a moment then to lose, bundled my kit out of 
 the carriage, got the station-master to cut off the horse- 
 van, and give me my baggage back out of the break. 
 These being accomplished, I went off to Sandiford's 
 to breakfast; found Gen. Lumsden, the Adjutant- 
 General, in camp, showed him my orders, obtained a 
 copy of the sanctioned scale of equipment for a siege 
 park to accompany a second-class siege train, got my 
 warrants from MacGregor, the D.Q.M.G., to and from 
 
LAHORE. FEROZEPORE. 5 
 
 Ferozepore, arranged my dak, and telegraphed to the 
 officer in charge of the Arsenal inquiring whether the 
 Engineer Siege Park Equipment was ready. 
 
 Bought a small tent at Gillon's, and left my three 
 hill tents behind for sale. Started at 9 p.m. for Feroze- 
 pore 50 miles, and got to the travellers' bungalow at 
 7 a.m . on the 22nd. After breakfast drove to the Arsenal ; 
 saw Carstairs, who said that all the equipment had 
 been despatched to Mooltan, but this afterwards proved 
 to be a mistake, for on comparing the sanctioned equip- 
 ment with the indents that had been complied with, it 
 was found that Carstairs referred to the Field and not 
 Siege equipment. The new lists were checked off, and 
 arrangements were made to procure such of the articles 
 as were not to hand ; I telegraphed at the same time to 
 Surveyor-General to furnish such instruments and 
 material as were required to complete the list, and, to 
 save confusion, directed that all the stores I was after, 
 should be addressed to Lieut. Hoskyns, R.E., at Sukkur. 
 The despatches from the Arsenal were to commence 
 within three days, and I telegraphed the result to Col. 
 Sankey. On my return, at 3 p.m., to the bungalow, I 
 found that if I did not start at once I could not obtain 
 another dak for twenty-four hours, so there was nothing 
 for it but to leave without my dinner and make the best 
 of it. For five miles the road is open and very good, 
 then comes the Sutlej ; the ponies were changed for two 
 pairs of bullocks, and it took us three hours crossing, 
 
6 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 along heavy sand and across temporary bridges, the 
 distance of six miles between the permanent banks of 
 the river, and this too on the main road between the 
 capital and the arsenal of the Punjab. Reached Lahore 
 at 4 a.m. 
 
 Saturday, 23rd Nov. Got the horses and kit off in 
 horse-boxes by the passenger train; returned to Sandi- 
 ford's to breakfast ; reported progress to Adjutant- 
 General ; heard the result of the fighting at Ali Masjid 
 in the Khyber, and started by a goods train at 5 p.m. 
 to catch the mail leaving Mooltan for Sukkur on the 
 following morning. Delayed on the road, particularly 
 at Montgomery, the state of the traffic being such that 
 it took three hours to marshal the train before it could 
 run on to Mooltan. However, everything has an end, 
 though at daybreak on Sunday the 24th, it became 
 evident that we could not catch the Indus Valley mail ; 
 at the same time I wanted my breakfast, and time 
 slipped by so fast, and we went so slow, that it was 
 1 p.m. before the train ran in to Mooltan Cantonment 
 platform, it having taken nearly three-quarters of an 
 hour to whistle down the distant signal. Saw the 
 station-master, learnt that my horses and kit had gone 
 on in the morning, and, to my astonishment, that the 
 Indus Valley^mail time has been suddenly altered, so that 
 no mail would run southward till the following evening. 
 This, of course, would never do, so I asked permission 
 to go on by goods ; permission was given if I would 
 
MOOLTAN. SUKKUR. 7 
 
 start at once. This I agreed to, and ran over to an 
 hotel to get what I could, a cold curry and two cups 
 of tea, with such stores as I could buy, and I returned 
 to a position amidst the war material to await the de- 
 parture of the goods train. I had sent a message to 
 Hoskyns, and he came down, so the delay was not 
 altogether profitless ; explained to him what I had done, 
 and at last made a move ; we ran out to the junction, 
 and there waited an hour and a half for the engines to 
 wood; got to Samasata, I.V.R., at 11 p.m., managed 
 some dinner, and then waited half an hour for the man 
 to return with line clear from the Empress bridge. 
 
 Monday, 26th Nov. Arrived at Khanpur at 8 a.m., 
 had breakfast, and bought a large bottle of essence of 
 coffee (?) from a Parsee. Met Pudan, the Assistant 
 Traffic Manager, who told me we should have to wait 
 where we were, as a bridge had sunk some nine miles 
 further on. Got dinner at Reti, and arrived at Rohri, 
 on the Indus, at midnight. In all, after leaving Mool- 
 tan, I had progressed at about six miles an hour, or 
 camel speed, but it must not be forgotten that this 
 State line was opened before it was ready, or even pro- 
 perly stocked, to facilitate the movement of troops, 
 baggage, and stores towards the frontier. 
 
 Tuesday, 26th Nov. Crossed over to Sukkur by the 
 first boat, and as I was landing met Bolton, who kindly 
 offered me half his room at the Sind Horse Bungalow. 
 Met Wallace, and we all started off for our morning 
 
8 KANDAHAE IN 1879. 
 
 walk. After breakfast, visited the horses and servants, 
 and found that Nickoo had lost the poles of my small 
 tent, and, when we came to total up accounts, he had 
 lost his money and some of mine by having his pocket 
 picked at Lahore station. The commissariat officer, 
 Hobday, and transport officer, Tucker, were living in 
 the same bungalow, so I had but little difficulty in 
 obtaining what I wanted in the shape of provisions and 
 transport. Warm clothing was not to be had, and 
 deficiencies, it was said, were readily to be made 
 good at Jacobabad or Dadur ; one had no alternative 
 but to accept this promise. During the day I came 
 across Biluch, my old Shikari, who had brought by 
 train the riding-camel I had bought from Mahommed 
 Rahim, the brother-in-law of my old friend, the late 
 Mourad Khan of the Hubb. Biluch reported having 
 had a severe tussle with the camel in the truck, as the 
 beast took fright while the train was moving, and 
 burst his ropes, but fortunately at Sehwan he was 
 enabled to secure him afresh. 
 
 As regards the ration, it was to be drawn at the fol- 
 lowing scale per day : Fresh meat, 1 lb. ; bread, 
 1 J lb. or biscuit 1 lb. (whenever I might fall in with an 
 European regiment) ; rice or flour, 4 oz. ; sugar, 3 oz. ; 
 tea, -foz.; salt, f oz. ; potatoes, 10 oz. ; dhall, 4oz. ; 
 and rum (when I could get it), 1 dram. 
 
 For the servants, the allowance per man per day 
 was : Wheat flour or rice, 1 seer ; dhall, 2 chittacks ; 
 
EATIONS. TRANSPORT. 9 
 
 ghee, % chittack ; salt, -- chittack ; and for each horse 
 8 lbs. of grain per day. 
 
 As regards the weight of baggage allowed, an officer 
 may have : Camp equipage, 80 lbs; baggage, 80 lbs. ; 
 cooking pots, 10 lbs. j each follower, 10 lbs. ; each 
 horse, 10 lbs. stable gear so that for 1 officer, 5 ser- 
 vants, and 2 horses, the total weight would run out to 
 240 lbs. However, being alone, and having to make 
 my own messing arrangements, my stores alone added 
 considerably to the weight allowed. 
 
 Wednesday , 27th Nov. Met Call, who had arrived 
 with the Engineer Field Equipment. Busy during the 
 day in writing letters and making final arrangements 
 for a start. 
 
 There can be no doubt that although Government 
 were fully aware in the summer of what would be really 
 required of them during the cold season, no actual 
 steps were taken to hurry on the completion of the 
 Indus Valley and secure its full equipment of stock, 
 nor were the necessary instructions given to the Com- 
 missariat or Transport departments to make proper 
 preparations. The result is, troops hurried over a line, 
 and their baggage anywhere, stores blocking the stations, 
 and a river-crossing over the Indus at Rohri, which, 
 even after the work had been some time in hand, could 
 only pass about forty or fifty tons a day. Troops also 
 had been pushed on, carrying, in a measure, their own 
 supplies, but no warm clothing for the men or beasts 
 
10 KANDAHAE IN 1879. 
 
 which would have to pass Dadur and enter the Bolan 
 for the highlands of Baluchistan. The supposed 
 arrangement was that the Transport animals from 
 Sukkur should go to Dadur and be confined to the 
 plains, while hill-camels should be used for the Bolan 
 and beyond. The system of payment being by con- 
 tract, at Bs. 15 a month, for camels, and 13 for mules, 
 the contractors finding drivers, food, &c. This may be 
 said to complete the first stage. 
 
 Thursday, 28th Nov. Started my kit by camels with 
 the servants and horses to Mangrani, twelve miles 
 towards Shikarpore, and was about to start myself with 
 Biluch on the riding-camel, when a man came in and 
 said Mahommed Bahim (the brother-in-law to the late 
 Mourad Khan of the Hubb) had arrived and wanted to 
 see me. Found him about a mile out with his camels 
 which he had contracted with Government for, and 
 which were being inspected by Trevor, the deputy col- 
 lector, and Dick Cunynghame, the transport officer. 
 Had a long palaver, and finally took him back to 
 Sukkur and introduced him to Tucker, the transport 
 officer, who promised to look after him. At last, at 
 2 p.m., got under weigh, and in passing along the road 
 had full opportunity to see the ravages which had been 
 made by the last inundation floods. The bungalow 
 itself at Mangrani had gone, and remained only as a 
 heap of mud bricks with an odd beam or two and a 
 doorway here and there protruding from the mass ; 
 
MANGEANI. EOBBEES. 1 1 
 
 found my tent pitched, and dinner ready. Early to 
 bed, and slept soundly, although I was aroused now 
 and again by Rover, who chased the pariah dogs, as 
 they scented about for scraps. Woke again very sud- 
 denly by a dash made by Rover at someone in front of 
 the tent, and again over went my kerosine lamp in the 
 tent ; this I attributed to Rover, but in feeling about 
 to pick the lamp up, I found nothing near my bed, and 
 called out to the butler asking if he had not put 
 my box in the tent the night before ; when he said yes, 
 I became suddenly convinced that I had been robbed, 
 and Rover returning from his chase at the same time 
 confirmed the impression. Having struck a light I 
 woke Biluch, and we commenced a search ; the night 
 was pitch dark, it being 1 a.m., and the moon had set ; 
 shortly I trod on something hard outside, which proved 
 to be my pipe, then came my fuzee-box, which I then 
 remembered had been put on the box before I went to 
 sleep ; we continued our search, u ringing " round the 
 tent and came across my water-proof sheet which also 
 had been on the box. It was so dark and the jungle 
 so thick that it was decided to defer search till the 
 morning, and a closer examination of the tent showed 
 that, covered by the darkness and favoured by the noisy 
 creaking of the irrigation wheels, the thieves had 
 loosened the pegs at the back of the tent, and, in all 
 probability, at the moment Rover had been decoyed 
 away in front, the whole of the back of the tent was 
 
12 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 lifted up and the box extracted. I turned in again, 
 and roused the village at daylight, making a thorough 
 search in the neighbourhood, got all the head men out, 
 and promised suitable rewards. After about half an 
 hour a " view holloa " sounded from the right, and 
 there sure enough was the box, burst open, and the 
 contents pitched about in every direction. The men 
 were evidently after money, and I am glad to say they 
 missed it, as all the money I had was in a little hand- 
 bag on the ground close to the head of my bed. Some 
 of the kit was missing, and as half a loaf is better than 
 no bread, I gladly packed up what was left and returned 
 rejoicing. I reported the matter to Henderson, the 
 District Superintendent of Shikarpore, but my own 
 opinion is that the original thieves, not finding money, 
 scattered the things on the ground, and that the missing 
 articles were taken by labourers and camel-men, who 
 may have been passing that way in the morning. 
 
 Friday } 29th Nov. Journeyed on to Shikarpore, 11 
 miles ; put up at the Travellers' Bungalow, and there 
 met a sergeant who was returning invalided from 
 Quettah ; he gave a poor description of the road, and 
 strange to say, he remembered me at Chatham in 1866. 
 Government did not provide any very special accommo- 
 dation for his journey, and, although suffering severely 
 from rheumatism, he had to put up with a country 
 cart on creaky wheels and no springs. I gave him a 
 bowl of soup and packed him up as well as I could. 
 
SHIKAKPOEE. " GRIFFS." 13 
 
 The riding-camel turned out lame, and there was 
 nothing for it but to rattle Biluch back with it the 
 twenty-three miles into Sukkur, and let him get another 
 and catch me up where he could. No sooner was this 
 done, than the syce came to say that my grey, 
 " Booby/' was lame, which I found to be the case, and 
 next morning he could not move ; it proved to be severe 
 rheumatism. I halted for the day (30th, Saturday) and 
 applied hot fomentations, and also gave him three 
 bottles of native liquor for his meals. At the Shikar- 
 pore bungalow I met two of the most glorious griffs I 
 had ever seen, two young fellows going up to join, just 
 from England. It appears that they started their kit 
 all right from Sukkur, for the first march to Mangrani, 
 and later on in the afternoon they themselves set out 
 with absolutely nothing but the clothes they stood in, 
 and mounted on two tattoos, the weediest of the weedy 
 from the bazaar, and plain native saddles. The novelty 
 of their position, and their spirits, no doubt affected 
 them, for when about eight miles out, they met their 
 kit, and instead of sticking to it and driving it along, 
 they called out to their servants, " We are going on to 
 Shikarpore." This they did in a certain way, having 
 to drag their ponies along the last six miles, and when 
 they did get to Shikarpore night had well set in, and 
 they found no one to put them on their road. They 
 at last found the Post Office, and thence were deported 
 to the bungalow. They roused the messman up, got a 
 
14 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 bottle of bad beer, and turned in where I found them 
 the next morning like babes in the wood, shivering on 
 a charpoy and wrapped up in the purdah which usually- 
 separated the two rooms. 
 
 Sunday, 1st Dec. Started off with Smith and Wal- 
 dron of the 70th Regt. to Humaoon, the road breached 
 in several places, the mile-posts undermined and totter- 
 ing, and the pools of water everywhere drying up and 
 literally choked with fish. Shot two black and two 
 grey partridges and missed a hare. 
 
 Monday, 2nd Dec. Arrived at Jacobabad and went 
 to MacNeils, got in some supplies, pills, &c, to make 
 good my losses at Mangrani. The old house which 
 was built by Jacob had also suffered from the floods ; 
 the whole of the end of the upper story, in which 
 I had been accommodated (when Sir Philip Woodhouse 
 and Sir William Merewether made their tour in 1874) 
 had fallen in, and the whole place, more or less, looked 
 on the road to ruin. The mess, too, looked dingy, and 
 officers in all sorts of costumes were being entertained. 
 Met the Staveleys, who were staying at the big house, 
 and dined at mess. 
 
 Tuesday, 3rd Dec. Called on Gen. Baxter, and sent 
 my nags to be shod for the rough road through the 
 Bolan. Call was leaving with the Engineer Field Park 
 by a route the authorities were anxious to know more 
 of at this season of the year, so I elected to go on 
 with him. He had an escort of the 59th, and at 
 
JACOBABAD. BURSHOREE ROUTE. 15 
 
 about 2 p.m. I cantered on to overtake them. Hearing 
 such bad accounts of the road, I left u Booby " and 
 " Ruby " in MacNeil's care, to follow me hereafter if 
 it should be arranged that we pass next summer in 
 Kandahar. 
 
 This new route may be called the Burshoree one, in 
 distinction to that by Shahpore across the desert. It 
 was traversed by Sir Thomas Seaton at the end of May 
 1839, and is described by him in his book " Cadet to 
 Colonel." His report of the route at the time deals 
 with all the horrors of every imaginable hardship. 
 It passed by Rojan through Burshoree, Bagh, and so to 
 Dadur; and he gives in painful detail the sufferings 
 from want of water and long marches, with dry wells 
 at the end of the desert, incursions from Biluchee 
 robbers, when supplies ran short, burning winds, and 
 then the natural consequences quickly following, 
 cholera, sunstroke, brain fever, madness, and a very 
 high rate of mortality in its most shocking forms, 
 among all ranks, the thermometer ranging to 119 
 Fahr. in their tents. Notwithstanding the facts de- 
 picted, the author explains that he has failed to 
 describe in their true colours the horrors of this 
 march. 
 
 However, we were going at a cooler season, with 
 a certain provision of supplies and a certain quantity 
 of water ready at the limit of the desert on the north. 
 We turned off rather short of Rojan, passing by Mum- 
 
16 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 mal and crossing what was left of the inundation. 
 Here I shot a pintail (D. acuta) and a teal (Q. crecca). 
 One of the soldiers missed his footing and fell, blaming 
 the Amir in choice language, but admitting that such 
 a ducking was fair soldiering. We pitched camp 
 about three miles and a half beyond the water. 
 
 As regards the heat, stated above at 119 Fahr., 
 I think this must be under the mark, or it must 
 refer to what the thermometer stood during the night ; 
 for in an account by Major Bellamore of the expe- 
 dition under Lieut. Jacob, in June 1839, against Beejar 
 Khan, it is said that the thermometer in the hospital 
 shed at Shikarpore stood generally at 130 Fahr., and 
 that for several days it was 140 Fahr., and on one 
 day it reached the astonishing height of 143 Fahr., 
 the wind at midnight being like a blast from a 
 furnace. 
 
 In such weather, Jacob, with Lieut. Cory of H.M. 
 17th Eegt., were sent forth for the first time to pro- 
 ceed against the wild tribes of Eastern Biluchistan. 
 The party, two officers and 40 men, started from 
 Sukkur on 3rd June 1839, and although the men 
 were never directly exposed to the sun, yet in three 
 short marches one officer (Cory) and 15 men had 
 been struck dead. 
 
 Again, more recently, Humphrey, in the account of 
 his march during June and July 1872 up the Mulla 
 Pass via Gundava from Jacobabad, with rather less 
 
BUESHOEEE. 17 
 
 than 100 rank and file to strengthen Harrison's escort 
 at Kalat, narrates how he started on 26th June, 
 and out of the detachment on the morning of the 
 29th, 40 of the men were unable to move. Whether 
 the mcch would ever have been accomplished is 
 doubtful, had it not been that, on the 1st July, a 
 thunder-storm broke with heavy rain, which, though 
 it covered the plain with water, and interfered with 
 the progress of the camels, seemed to put new life into 
 the men. 
 
 Wednesday, 4*th Dec. We made a very early start 
 across the desert, some 26 miles, to Burshoree, to 
 which point water had been let run by an irrigating 
 channel from Bagh, some 36 miles above. The track 
 was desolation itself, bare of all vegetation except here 
 and there a bush of bastard indigo. The glare was 
 most painful, and the mirage was ever changing and as 
 deceptive as usual. At half a mile off the camels and 
 mules appeared to be wading in water, the reflection 
 being duly shown. Hills on the right, bushes on the 
 left, and water everywhere ; but for every inch of the 
 way, tramp, tramp, with nothing to relieve the eye, and 
 nothing to amuse one but a few sand-grouse (P. aven- 
 arius) . 
 
 As a half-way house there is a well with just the 
 least drop of salt water in the bottom, some fifty feet 
 below the surface. This even the followers would not 
 leave alone ; they managed to fish some up in a leathern 
 
 2 
 
18 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 bucket, and drank it greedily. We had taken as much 
 water as we could with us, and knowing well the length 
 of the march and the absence of water on the road, 
 there was no delay, yet we were one and all delighted 
 to reach Burshoree and assure ourselves that the pro- 
 mised water was a reality. Going as we did across its 
 shortest part, and well provided, and during a cool 
 month of the year, it requires but little imagination to 
 recognise as true the fearful hardships and agony men, 
 women, and children must have suffered in the hot 
 season, across this fearful put (desert) . Noor Mahom- 
 med is the head man, a Zemindar of Burshoree ; there 
 are about two hundred people, and, like the rest of the 
 province, the village pays tribute in kind (batai) to the 
 Khan of Kalat, who, it is said, receives one-third as his 
 share. 
 
 Thursday, 5th Dec. Marched to Noura, and thence 
 due west to Khasim-ka-joke. The canal water in the 
 small channels immediately after leaving Noura gave 
 great trouble to the camels, and if the route is to be 
 adopted all such ducts should be bridged temporarily. 
 The guide, too, was at fault, and had never been the 
 road when the water was out ; and the result was, that 
 when we got opposite the village, we had to go one 
 mile down stream before we could get a ford. The 
 impression left on one's mind by these marches was 
 that a route might either be found more to the west, 
 from Mummul across the plain and to the west of 
 
NOUKA. "FAZL SHAH." 19 
 
 Burshoree, clear of the water channels, or that we 
 should have kept to the east more on the direct line 
 of telegraph. This march in all was 18 miles. 
 
 Friday, 6th Dec. We passed through cultivation, 
 and the road chiefly ran along the tops of small banks 
 which had been raised round fields for retaining the 
 water. Shot a quail (C. communis) , and pitched camp 
 at Band, after a march of 11 miles; water in the canal 
 close to the site. 
 
 Saturday, 7th Dec. On to Bagh, 11 miles, a 
 " largish M town. Bought a pony on the road from a 
 man who had just ridden him from Mittree and was 
 bound for Band, in all about some 30 miles. Called him 
 " Fazl Shah" after his late owner, who said that the 
 pony had never been cleaned, got what he could to eat, 
 and had never had his saddle off. The result was 
 apparent when we came to strip him, for his withers 
 were raw and he had a great hole in his side. How- 
 ever, there and then, he was washed in carbolic, had 
 his mane and tail docked, a good blanket put on, and 
 a feed of grain, so that " Fazl Shah n was in clover at 
 last. Bagh is very dirty, like most other Indian things. 
 The bazaar was roofed in like the one at Shikarpore. 
 There is also a large tomb here, the pediment being of 
 unburnt bricks and the dome chunamed. I saw two 
 men in the stocks ; they had been in three months on 
 a charge of trying to steal the Khan's horses, and there 
 they would remain till they had paid a fine. This they 
 
 2 * 
 
20 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 could not pay, and were now dependent for their 
 raiment on charity and the bunniah (grain dealer) . 
 
 Sunday, Sth Dec. Across a plain the whole way to 
 Hajee-ka-shahr, 16 miles. Met a man from Khoras- 
 san, travelling in good state with his family on camels, 
 his guns all slung up behind the kajjawah (family 
 camel-saddle). He was anxious to know what we 
 should do with the Amir, and whether the play was 
 worth the candle. 
 
 Monday, 9th Dec. On to Dadur, our land of promise, 
 where warm clothing, forage, and goodness knows what 
 else besides, were to be had in profusion. The road by 
 the way we went, which is called the Thieves' road, is 
 20^ miles ; the first portion being across a level plain, 
 then through forest jungle, when it enters a winding 
 nullah among low hills of sandstone and clay, the 
 heavy rains washing the hill tops into all manner of 
 shapes, some left like large triumphal arches, and 
 others like tables, from under which the legs are gra- 
 dually dissolving. On emerging from the nullah, the 
 hills undulate somewhat and are covered with small 
 shingle. We then cross a plain, again turning slightly 
 to the left, to our camp at Dadur. The town itself is 
 nothing, and has been well described as stinking and 
 surrounded by a fetid ditch. The 15th Hussars, ad- 
 vancing by the Dera Bugti route, were in before us, 
 and, as a sample of what we were to expect, we were 
 told that if we wanted forage for the horses, camels, 
 
DADUR. POST OFFICE. 21 
 
 or mules, we must cut it ourselves as there was none 
 stored. This, after a long march, was trying; but I 
 soon picked up sufficient in the field, which Swindley 
 had cut with his men, to satisfy my nags for the night. 
 The troopers when cutting this field had a great battue, 
 and killed five jackals. During this march I rode 
 " Mourad," the colt, as " Julia " had sore withers. 
 
 Tuesday, 10th Dec. The 15th Hussars having to 
 march out and enter the Bolan, our party had to halt. 
 We heard a good deal that astonished us from the 
 officers as to the absence of all arrangement to meet 
 any single want. I sent " Julia " on with the regi- 
 ment, and the Farrier Sergeant promised to have her 
 all right soon. The colt did not like the parting, and 
 coolly burst his ropes and went off gaily on his own 
 account. This Call and I both thought the climax of 
 our ill-luck, and we both hoped so, the colt being 
 shortly brought back none the worse for his scamper. 
 But when we began to operate on our own behalf to meet 
 our own wants, our feelings rose, I must say, somewhat. 
 The Post Office, in the most helpless state of confusion, 
 letters all over the place, on the floor, in bags evidently 
 well out of sorts. The Telegraph, in the same room, 
 would take any message you liked, but could give no 
 receipts. A Political here, Biddulph, very willing to 
 assist, and ordered stores for us from a contractor; 
 then, of course, there was a delay because the man had 
 no scales. They would give us bhoosa (rice-straw bran) 
 
22 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 for forage, but we must manage to carry it away, as 
 neither bags, saleetahs, nor ropes were available. Prior, 
 of the Q.M.G/s Department, was here, and also did as 
 much as he could. He gave us all the orders to read. 
 These certainly were splendid, both as regards the beast 
 of burden and the individual, their food and clothing ; 
 but on the paper, like the orders themselves, our wants 
 remained. At last we got a field of karbee to cut for 
 ourselves, and returned to camp, doubting very much 
 whether we should get off the next day up the Bolan. 
 
 Wednesday, llth Dec. In comes the Heavy Battery 
 which shows Call that if he is to get off with his park 
 to-day, he must hasten his plans. We visited the 
 Commissariat ; stores were just coming in, and by 
 good luck I was able to buy two grey blankets (such 
 as are served to the soldier) at Us. 3.2.0 each, on payment. 
 These blankets, by the way, look nice, but still they are 
 not worth the money, and I doubt if they are as warm 
 as a country kamal (blanket). Payment was made, but 
 as for change, oh ! no, Commissariat had none. There 
 was also a tendency on the part of the officials to stick 
 by some of the things so as to create a store, but this is 
 evidently wrong when wants are not supplied. Talking 
 of this, the 15th Hussars cleared out eight hundred 
 camel-cloths; this was inconvenient for us, yet the 
 want of the 15th Hussars had been met, which justifies 
 the issue. 
 
 The orders left at Dadur for our guidance I have 
 
COMMISSAKIAT STOEES. 23 
 
 referred to as splendid. These, by the way, were 
 handed to us on several pieces of paper and discon- 
 nected; they desired, or rather laid down, that all 
 followers were to be clothed admitted, but where the 
 clothing? that all camels were to be protected by a 
 jhool (clothing) good again, but where the jhools ? 
 that so many days' provisions were to be carried 
 through the pass excellent, but where the rations or 
 forage? that all camps on being abandoned were to 
 be thoroughly cleaned a most natural precaution, 
 but where was the conservancy staff? while the de- 
 tailed instructions for the route through the pass itself 
 were meagre to a degree. If this state of things 
 existed on the 11th Dec, what may it not have been 
 a month before ? Hardly worse, but still bad enough 
 to ensure something being done by this time. Does it 
 still continue? Perhaps so. And will it be remedied ? 
 But of all the evils which beset the fair progress of 
 the Expedition, there is nothing to my mind so dis- 
 graceful as the breach of faith committed with the 
 camel-men. Whether wittingly or not, every man 
 with his camels was given to understand that when he 
 left Sukkur, he was to go to Dadur, and no further, 
 and that at that point the transport would be taken 
 up with hill-camels ; but although I believe the Poli- 
 ticals had promised hill-camels at Dadur, none were 
 forthcoming. All sorts of manoeuvres, persuasions, 
 and promises had to be resorted to, to get the camel- 
 
24 KANDAHAE IN 1879. 
 
 men to agree to go on with their camels into a pass and 
 up to lands of which they daily received adverse ac- 
 counts from the kafilas (caravans), on their way down 
 to the Indus with their yearly produce for sale. Now 
 we all know that a native will stand by the Sirkar 
 (Government) because he believes its word, but here 
 at the outset was a distinct breach of faith. Perished 
 with the cold and no clothing to be had, a certainty 
 that many of their beasts would die, and a great doubt 
 as to compensation ever being paid, and above all, the 
 men themselves going into a country they knew nothing 
 of beyond the fact that it was peopled by cut-throats 
 and robbers. 
 
 As far as Call was personally concerned, having to 
 carry forage for his animals, some 120 camels and 200 
 mules, besides rations for his servants and drivers, it 
 was necessary that he should obtain extra transport ; 
 20 more camels were promised, and these, as his final 
 arrangements were being perfected, were deliberately 
 handed over to A.-B., R.H.A. Remonstrance was in 
 vain, so there was nothing for it but to reduce his 
 equipment, and some twenty-five loads of Jones' 
 gabion bands were left behind, to follow as oppor- 
 tunity offered. All these drawbacks were a waste of 
 time, and it was not till 3 p.m. that I went on with 
 Call's mules towards the Bolan, while he himself re- 
 mained behind to load up and bring on the camels. 
 No guides were available, so we had to follow a track 
 
FOEAGE. COMMUNICATIONS. 25 
 
 and chance it. But can anyone conceive a more de- 
 plorable state of things, and this, too, especially at a 
 point 150 miles from Sukkur, a base on the Indus, 
 and at the entrance to a pass which led roughly 
 for another 100 miles to the desert further ahead at 
 Quetta. 
 
 As regards our communications with the rear, we 
 have heard the most distressing accounts of the Dera 
 Bugti route, and of the great hardships endured by all, 
 both man and beast ; others have also spoken of the 
 difficulties of the Shahpur-Phulagee route across the 
 desert, with water in wells limited in quantity, which 
 stunk again, and although the route by which we came 
 across the desert, via Burshoree, was fair and not ex- 
 traordinarily difficult, yet there are the old records to 
 show that any march of troops, in any direction, 
 across this plain of Kachhi would be fatal during the 
 hot months of the year. 
 
 So that where are we, and by what route and at 
 what period of the year, to get out again ? Now I do 
 not hesitate to say that so soon as the inundation 
 floods had subsided, the plan of the campaign being 
 fixed, and the fact that the advance on Kandahar by 
 the direct route through the Bolan was established, 
 Government should unhesitatingly, in face of every 
 obstacle, have laid a line of railway, at least to Dadur ; 
 and before two months had elapsed, the wisdom of 
 such a step would have been proved. The inundation 
 
26 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 floods, if you will look at the map, mean an overflow 
 of the Indus, over a low-lying tract between Kusmore 
 and the Munchur Lake, following the line of frontier 
 nearly, and inwards for a width of 25 miles, and alto- 
 gether some 200 miles long. The Kusmore Bund, 
 some 40 miles long, was made to keep out this over- 
 flow, but it suffices to say it does not fulfil its purpose. 
 This inundation is also augmented by the hill torrents, 
 Lehri, Nahri, Bolan, and Moolah, &c, and these com- 
 bined form a serious obstacle to the construction of 
 any permanent line. 
 
 As a commercial undertaking it can offer no pro- 
 spects, inasmuch as the exports from Kalat are con- 
 fined to certain months in the year, and then even do 
 not exceed more than 15 tons per diem. 
 
 The construction of a line must, then, depend on its 
 military importance, and three routes have been re- 
 commended : 
 
 The first from Sukkur or Shikarpore north, through 
 Garhi Hassan and Huda, across the Shum plain, skirt- 
 ing the hills through Lehri to Dadur, 180 miles. 
 
 The second a direct line from Sukkur through 
 Jacob abad to Dadur, 160 miles or less. 
 
 And the third from Sehwan through Gundava to 
 Dadur, 270 miles. 
 
 And thence on up the pass as far as practicable in a 
 direction common to all three routes. 
 
 Of the first, there is an objection in its greater 
 
NECESSITY FOR A RAILWAY. 27 
 
 length over the direct line, and moreover it crosses the 
 whole of the hill drainage and would, from its very 
 position, be open to attack and destruction from the 
 marauding bands in the Mari Bugti hills. It would 
 also still have to cross the inundation floods. 
 
 Of the direct line, the second, there is a saving in 
 length, and while still having to cross the inundation, 
 it would run parallel to the hill torrents. 
 
 Of the Sehwan or third line there is an objection in 
 its greater length, but it would skirt the floods and 
 escape them. 
 
 Of the three, the direct line seems the most appro- 
 priate j it would connect the towns of Shirkarpore and 
 Jacobabad with Sukkur, and have the advantage of an 
 embankment ready to hand with but slight alterations 
 for one-third of its length. 
 
 It would seem also natural that some of the kafila 
 (trade) routes through the higher lands or hills to the 
 north of Kachhi should be made good, so that, at all 
 events, men could be marched at any season, in mode- 
 rate comfort, till they were close to some spot where 
 the railway could be used (Mooltan) . There is such a 
 road, I believe, leading from Quetta and known as 
 the Tull Chotiali route, but which has been closed for 
 years by the malpractices of the tribes bordering it ; 
 but the time has come, with our troops in advance, 
 when these Pathans, whether Dumars, Kakars, or 
 Lunis, should be brought to their senses, and no 
 
28 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 longer permitted to follow the idiosyncracies of childish 
 wilfulness. However, there is always one satisfaction, 
 that whatever time may be wasted and opportunity 
 neglected at first, the deficiencies are made good in the 
 end, and the matter somehow rights itself. 
 
 My new riding-camel turned up to-day; Biluch 
 himself being rather done up, and, to my disgust, the 
 camel lame. It turned out that Biluch could not 
 satisfy himself of the excellence of the new camel till 
 the seventh day, and according to his own account he 
 came very slowly on the road ; but if he did not leave 
 Sukkur till the seventh, he must have been only four 
 days on the road, doing nearly forty miles a day for 
 four days. The animal's feet were completely blis- 
 tered, and no wonder; so I left him and Biluch to 
 follow me, Biddulph promising to look after them in 
 the meanwhile. 
 
29 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Lower Bolan. Kundilani. Kirta. Bibinani. Ab-i-gum. 
 Mach. Dozdan. Darwaza. Sir-i-ab. Prices. Quetta. 
 Baluchistan. Kushlak. Syud Yaroo. Haikalzai. Lora Abd- 
 oola Kila. Head- quarters. Gulistan Karez. The Gwaja 
 Pass. Gundawani. Spintaza. Pioneer Column. Advance. 
 Gwaja. System of transport. Local purchases. Service 
 uniform. 
 
 Our road up the Bolan was a mere track, winding 
 about, crossing and recrossing the stream. I rode 
 along with Abadie, and having nearly pitched head- 
 first into 12 feet of water, and then, running up 
 against a dead bank, we lost our way, and had to 
 wait till the moon rose before we could go ahead. 
 We got to Kundilani, 11 miles, at 9 p.m.; A.-B. 
 (Marshall R.H.A., came in after dark. Call, with 
 his camels, did not get in till 4 in the morning, and 
 the relief of getting out of Dadur was the only satis- 
 faction left to him. 
 
 In my uncle's report, in 1841, on Baluchistan and 
 
30 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 frontier matters generally, he calls this place Kohun- 
 dilan, saying that it is the best ground to halt at, and 
 that a tree marks the spot here it is, not much to 
 look at, standing beside the watch-tower, and evidently 
 not having grown much in the thirty-seven years which 
 have elapsed since the report was written. 
 
 Thursday, 12th Dec. On to Kirta, 12 J miles j the 
 pass varying in width and one mass of shingle, the 
 sides of the ravines being pebble conglomerate. At 
 Kundye there is a favourite spot for robberies, as the 
 pass is narrow, and numerous deep holes and caves 
 afford easy means of escape. At Kirta we found a 
 small fort, also a bunniah (dealer) who sold ghee, and 
 a store with wood and karbee (green fodder). Call and 
 I slept in an open stable, and found the warmth more 
 than we expected after living in tents. The water at 
 Kirta is obtained from small irrigating channels car- 
 ried off from the main stream at Bibinani above. The 
 gradient from Dadur to Kirta varies from 1 in 390 to 
 1 in 145. Kirta village is very small, and to the north 
 of it, some 12 or 13 miles, is supposed to be the strong- 
 hold of one of the Murree tribes of robbers. 
 
 Friday, \3th Dec. On to Bibinani, 9 miles; the 
 road passes the Kirta plain, which is very large and 
 open. A strong wind blew all day from the N.W., for 
 the purpose chiefly of carrying swarms of locusts on their 
 way. There was the head of a Gud (O. cycloceros) on 
 the watch-tower, a female, the male being called Khara. 
 
KIETA. MUCH. DOZDAN. 31 
 
 A very high wind ; and Rover was much disturbed by 
 the barking of the hyaenas throughout the night. 
 Wood was being collected. 
 
 Saturday, 14th Dec. Left at 9 this morning, went 
 N.W. for 9 miles to Ab-i-gum, where the river from 
 above disappears ; then on six miles to Much, the 
 colouring of the clays becoming much more marked, 
 the road very shingly. Here there is a telegraph office, 
 and a moonshee with supplies. 2,000 maunds of wood 
 at 1 rupee per maund, ghee 7 or 8 maunds, 1,500 
 maunds of grass, and 80 maunds of barley at 10 seers 
 for 1 rupee ; atta 700 maunds. Report said that one 
 sowar (horseman) with the post had been killed near 
 here to-day. 
 
 From Kirta to Bibinani the grade steepens and varies 
 from 1 in 49 to 1 in 147 ; while from Bibinani to 
 Much it runs from 1 in 24 to 1 in 75. 
 
 Sunday, 15th Dec. Shot a partridge (C. chukor). A 
 first-rate road could be made behind Much, upon the 
 plateau 50 feet above the river bed, from the mouth of 
 the Moki nullah to Sir-i-bolan, where a copious spring 
 of beautiful water rushes out of the bank. Some of 
 the 25th P.N.I, were pitched here, waiting for camels. 
 Then on towards Dozdan nullah, passing through a 
 very narrow defile termed the "zig-zags," the hills 
 rising perpendicularly; a spot that could be easily 
 held and defended by a few men against very heavy 
 odds. 
 
32 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 The road from Sir-i-bolan to Dozdan, or the Thieves' 
 nullah, is in many places not sufficiently denned, nor 
 is the halting- ground at Dozdan itself; and in the 
 absence of a guide, it is hard to tell which is the main 
 road to Quetta, and which leads to water 1^ miles oif. 
 In fact, I sent my own horses the wrong road, and on 
 the march took a wrong turn until shown the way by 
 some kafila men. 
 
 Monday, 16th Dec. Stragglers increasing ; two men 
 died during the night. Biting cold wind, and water / 
 frozen in the tent. The gradient from Much to the 
 head of the Bolan Pass varies from 1 in 16 to 1 in 90. 
 On emerging from the pass we entered a plain (called 
 the Chota Dasht) surrounded by hills, at the end of 
 which is Darwaza, a march in all of 8 miles from the 
 Dozdan halting-place. The well here had run dry, 
 probably owing to the strain upon it from the return 
 of the 15th Hussars, who had taken the wrong road 
 towards Mustung yesterday. The wind continued, and 
 we all felt bitterly cold. Our hands and lips became 
 badly chapped, and the natives could not understand 
 how their hands became gashed as if with a knife. 
 
 Tuesday, 17 th Dec. No water; and we were all 
 very much put to it, the horses particularly. Thermo- 
 meter outside tent 8 Fahr., and everything frozen 
 hard, tea, sponge, ink, &c, which, of course, is an ad- 
 vantage, as you can carry it open with your kit without 
 fear. Marched to Sir-i-ab, across the Dasht-i-be- 
 
DARWAZA. QUETTA. 33 
 
 dowlut, against a cutting wind 16 miles. Near Sir- 
 i-ab cultivation is seen, and irrigation is carried on by 
 means of karez, or channels cut underground with 
 shafts rising from them at every 30 or 40 yards. 
 Bought some dried lucerne at Us. 2 a maund (80 lbs.), 
 also six loaves of bread at 3 annas a loaf, and a sheep 
 for Us. 3.8.0. Slept in a deserted shed, and Call and 
 I were very comfortable. The conservancy arrange- 
 ments at all these camps are sadly deficient. March 
 16 miles. 
 
 Wednesday, ISth Dec. Marched into Quetta, 6J 
 miles. Called at the post-office. All letters had been 
 sent on ; why, I know not, except from the fact that I 
 was behind. Telegraphed to Nursingpore, and then 
 went up into the fort to see about the site where the 
 Engineer Park was to be pitched. Mainwaring in 
 command. Called at the Commissariat; no clothing 
 for camels to be had, so bought four kamals (blankets) 
 on my own account for them. The driver ill with 
 dysentery, so Nickoo had to look after their grazing. 
 Wind bitterly cold, and thermometer at 5. One night 
 we had it at 4, an unusual temperature for me, and I 
 simply could not get warm. But little to be got here, 
 and forage for one's horses at famine prices, green 
 lucerne dried being Us. 3 a bullock-load of, say, some 
 40 lbs, Report says that Yakoob Khan has been re- 
 leased by the Ameer, and that he is in front of Kan- 
 dahar with six regiments. 
 
 3 
 
34 KANDAHAK IN 1879. 
 
 Thursday, 19M Dec. Got some of my kit mended, 
 bought two warm blankets, and left some of my kit 
 with Chippindall. Camel-man very ill. Bought some 
 things at a Parsee's shop: soup Rs. 1.8.0. a dubba, 
 sardines (small boxes) 10 annas, candles six for a 
 rupee j so after all he has a conscience, for he might 
 have asked double, and we should still have had to 
 buy. Thermometer 9. 
 
 Quetta itself is a plain, fairly irrigated and sur- 
 rounded by hills, the fort being merely a mud excre- 
 scence, having one street as its principal bazaar, and 
 filled with ruffians of all sorts and sizes, which would 
 satisfy to the full any stage- manager in preparing a 
 grand melodrama of " Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves/' 
 The plain on which Quetta stands is like the others 
 level and surrounded by hills, on the foot-slopes of 
 which villages of mud houses surrounded by walls are 
 scattered about. Quetta itself has the advantage of 
 giving two good views : the one of Takatoo, a fine high 
 bold hill 10,500 feet high ; and Chiltan, something less 
 than 10,000. The soil generally is light and sandy 
 and very finely pulverised, indicating that, with proper 
 irrigation, these valleys would be highly productive. 
 The hills are apparently chiefly of limestone of diffe- 
 rent colours; sandstone, and in some places flint 
 layers, are clearly discernible with masses of conglo- 
 merate. The air is clear and cold to a degree beyond 
 what I call comfort, though if there is no wind it is 
 
BALUCHISTAN. 35 
 
 most exhilarating. The prevailing winds are westerly, 
 caused, it is said, by the air currents formed by the 
 heat of the Kachhi plain. A few trees are seen, and 
 then only in enclosures, mulberries chiefly ; and what 
 has struck me more than anything is the absence of 
 all natural tree growth over these extensive plateaux. 
 
 Baluchistan, which comes under the Khan of Kalat, 
 is about 80,000 square miles; and the government, 
 though vested in the Khan, is not as a rule administered 
 by him, two hereditary counsellors, the Sardars of 
 Sarawan and Jhalawan, being associated with him; 
 while there is another hereditary officer, the Wazir, 
 who represents the class from whom the revenue is 
 derived. The Sarawans, or the tribes " living above/' 
 claim on the day of battle the privilege of forming on 
 the right of their chieftain the Khan of Kalat 
 while the Jhalawans form the left, the Chief occupy- 
 ing in person the van of the army with his body- 
 guards. The Jhalawans bear a red standard, the 
 Sarawans a yellow, while the Royal Standard is 
 green, the union of the three colours forming the 
 national flag, which is borne at the side of the Chief 
 by some distinguished warrior of the day. The Sara- 
 wan and Jhalawan standard-bearers are hereditary 
 officers, and cannot be deprived of their right but by 
 the voice of the nation, while the right to carry the 
 national flag is retained only at the will of the Chief. 
 
 Friday, 20th Dec. Pitman, who is to lay the line of 
 
 3 * 
 
36 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 telegraph from Quetta onwards, breakfasted with me. 
 Obtained supplies and rations from the Commissariat, 
 and hired a camel-man and his son; the former re- 
 ceiving Rs. 15 per month, and his son Rs. 10 as my 
 personal servant, finding their own food. 
 
 Saturday, 2\st Dec. Left with Call and our escorts 
 for Kushlak, 11 miles; the number of camels dead on 
 the roadside rapidly increasing. The hills of this 
 valley are very curious, all in strata greatly contorted 
 and with a smaller and a lower range in front of all j 
 colours varying from light red through yellow to grey. 
 The thermometer at 4 again. High prices for forage, 
 which is scanty, still prevailing. 
 
 Sunday, 22nd Dec. Kushlak to Syud Karez, 13^ 
 miles ; a long dreary march, which certainly could be 
 improved both in alignment and condition with a little 
 attention. The curious colouring of the small hills 
 even more noticeable than on the day before. A de- 
 tachment of the Sind Horse posted at Syud Karez ; a 
 deserter was also brought in from the front, and news 
 that a sergeant of the 70th had been stabbed several 
 times by a Pathan at the Lora river. The Pathan was 
 shot next morning by six men, at six paces, with 
 Martini-Henrys ; and before being polished off, he was 
 anxious to know if the sergeant was dead ; and when 
 informed that there was no chance of the sergeant's 
 wounds proving fatal, the Pathan thought it was hard, 
 as his chances of happiness would be diminished in 
 
KUSHLAK. HAIKALZAI. 37 
 
 the next world. Thermometer 7. Had a touch of 
 fever and cold. 
 
 Monday, 23rd Dec. Ten miles' march to Hai-kalzai, 
 across a dead level plain the greater part of the way, 
 in the valley of Pishin. It was somewhere near here 
 that Gen. England, in advancing from Quetta, found 
 the pass held, and had to return. The plain has vil- 
 lages about, and some few of the labourers came out 
 with water-melons and eggs for sale. The grazing 
 here is good for camels, a small bush with a yellow 
 flower the wild sage, with a pleasant aroma. There 
 is a fort in the valley some little way further north, 
 Khushdil khan ki kila, at which, and in the neigh- 
 bourhood, the Politicals and Gen. Biddulph's column 
 seized some 18,000 maunds of barley and corn, which 
 was being collected for transport to Kandahar as 
 payment in kind (batai) to the Ameer. Thermo- 
 meter 12. 
 
 Christmas Eve, Tuesday, 24th Dec. One of the 
 soldiers got his flute out, and it had quite an effect 
 on the men, who had choruses and singing. We 
 marched during the day to a small nullah beyond 
 the Lora where there was water, and before starting I 
 inspected the fort at Hai-kalzai, which was being con- 
 structed under the Subadar of the 2nd Baluch Regt. 
 It is a plain mud wall with loop-holes and a ditch in 
 front. Wood and barley collected here, which I be- 
 lieve is to be handed over to the Commissariat. Met 
 
38 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 three sowars, who said their regiment, the 2nd Panjab 
 Cavalry, was within twenty miles of Kandahar. 
 
 Christmas Day, 26th Dec. Marched into Abdoola- 
 kila, Gen. Stewart's head- quarters, distance 9 miles. 
 Here Call and I had to separate, as I had to pitch in 
 the head- quarter camp, while he, with his park, were 
 a little on one side. Met Chapman, A.Q.M.G. ; Hills, 
 A.A.G. ; Farmer, of the 60th Rifles, who is command- 
 ing the escort ; Sibley, of the Commissariat ; Molloy, 
 Interpreter; St. John, Political; Tytler, Judge Advo- 
 cate ; and Finden, the Doctor. Rogers is here carry- 
 ing on the survey, and Savage is busy with his 
 telegraph. All dined at mess, and after dinner en- 
 joyed hot rum and water over a huge bonfire of trees 
 and wood, which Farmer's men had collected from the 
 Khojak the day before. Gen. Biddulph's camp close 
 by. The work at the Khojak, I hear, is progressing, 
 and that three of the guns were slid down a part of it 
 on the far side successfully during the day. Ther- 
 mometer 16. 
 
 Thursday, 26th Dec. Started, after breakfast, for 
 Gulistan Karez. Gen. Stewart and his staff and escort 
 taking it quietly, while the camels were taking the 
 camp equipage, &c. Two cavalry regiments are away 
 on the other side of the Khwaja Amram, one in front 
 of the Khojak, and the other in front of the Gwaja. 
 Gen. Biddulph will go by the Khojak, and Gen. 
 Stewart by the Gwaja as soon as his guns are up 
 
GULISTAN KAEEZ. GWAJA. 39 
 
 and Sankey has made the road practicable. This last 
 pass to the south, it is said, is in every way preferable; 
 and the troops will, I fancy, come eventually direct 
 to this from Quetta, and not round by Hai-kalzai as 
 we did. 
 
 Reports from the front have come in that there is a 
 difficulty about the water-supply at Iskankara, and I 
 have received orders just now to proceed as soon as I 
 can to go forward on the road through the Gwaja, 
 Iskankara, Konchi, Robat, and Hauz-i-Ahmed, with a 
 company of sappers and miners, with the object of 
 developing the water-supply and regulating the way in 
 which, at each camping -ground, it should be controlled 
 during the movement of troops, and also, if necessary, 
 to divert the line of march, and make the new route 
 fit for the movement of artillery. So here is Abys- 
 sinia over again ; and, among other things, there are 
 two Norton's tubes in the park, and for old acquaint- 
 ance sake I shall take them with me. 
 
 Friday, 27th Dec. 1878. Left Gulistan Karez with 
 the park and escort, the march being up a ravine of 
 very easy ascent for 8 miles, when water is reached ; 
 the geological formation is altogether different from 
 any we have hitherto passed, being slate, shale, and 
 what appears to be great faults of trap. At 3 miles 
 further Gundawani is reached, where the water rushes 
 over a very rocky and precipitous bed on the left bank 
 up a small ravine ; great signs of cultivation on the 
 
40 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 hill sides, and numerous small channels or ducts bring- 
 ing the water from the higher levels. In many places 
 these ducts are roughly built up of stones, and the 
 simplest trench serves to convey the water; such 
 courses naturally have to be made annually. Bought 
 two Sisi partridges in the pass from a man who had 
 netted them, for 2 annas. Rode on with Call to Spin- 
 taza, where we met Col. Sankey, Childers, Haslett, and 
 others, Col. Nicholetts and the Biluchis, and Col. 
 Hoggan with the 25th N.I. All have been hard at 
 work on the pass, and I must say the result is admir- 
 able, and that it is about the easiest road I have seen, 
 anyone being able to canter, if necessary, straight from 
 here to Gulistan without fear of a tumble ; and anyone 
 who sees the road will not believe that there could 
 have been obstructions of such a nature, before it was 
 touched, as to lead to its being condemned and the 
 Khojak accepted. The weather sensibly warmer. 
 
 Saturday, 28th Dec. Unable to go ahead, as a com- 
 pany of sappers could not be spared, and as all the 
 baggage animals had been ordered back to Gulistan 
 for supplies. Set to work on the water here, and with 
 some men of the 25th N.I. we have made one good 
 tank. 
 
 Met the General and Staff at Gundawani, and I 
 think that one and all have been most agreeably sur- 
 prised at the present state of the road. Lawrence is 
 coming through with a convoy of provisions for a 
 
GUNDAWANI. SPINTAZA. 41 
 
 depot at Gwaja, and Col. Sankey has had it arranged 
 that with the force at his disposal that is, 32nd 
 P.N.I., 25th P.N.I., 29th Biluchis, two companies of 
 Sappers, 59th Escort and Field Park he is to com- 
 plete and push on all engineering works, both for road 
 and water, as he thinks best for the general advance as 
 far as Hauz-i- Ahmed, where Gen. Palliser is with the 
 cavalry covering the advance of this column. There is 
 a report that Monteith, in exploring from Iskhankhara 
 for water, was fortunate enough to come across a large 
 lake behind a hill. When the inhabitants saw that 
 he went his own way, and would not listen to their as- 
 surances that there was no water within 20 miles, they 
 turned round and said if he would pay them they 
 would show water ; and sure enough they did, and of 
 such a supply that it will be of great value. There is 
 also a report that water in wells is plentiful three miles 
 west of Konchi ; if so, there is one difficulty settled. 
 The plan giving Sankey power to go ahead and work 
 his own way with the regiments for work at command 
 is a sound one, and will settle many misunderstand- 
 ings as to the position of the Commanding Engineer 
 and his officers. The more work and responsibility 
 we have the better, and the more credit will be our 
 share. 
 
 At Spintaza, on the 29th December, orders were re- 
 ceived that all camels were to be sent back for supplies 
 to Gulistan Karez; when this order was obeyed we 
 
42 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 were more or less helpless, and quite bargained for a 
 halt of some days at this spot in the hills. But next 
 day, 30th December, brought a stunner, duly com- 
 municated from head- quarters by Savage to Dickie on 
 the Gwaja Kotul, to the effect that the head- quarters 
 would move to Gundawani on the 31st, and that, con- 
 sequently, it was necessary that our advance should 
 leave Gwaja on the 1st. Oh ye gods and little fishes ! 
 all we could do was to laugh regimental and supply 
 camels all gone back, saleetahs, ropes, and gunny bags 
 all gone, and stranded in a pass with a limited supply 
 of provisions. Of course messages were sent to and 
 fro, stating what we wanted as the least possible ; and 
 a bland reply came back saying it seemed impossible to 
 supply us with what we wanted, and that we must not 
 only clear out, but also take seven days supplies in 
 addition. The joke was increasing; not only were 
 there no provisions for us to take, but we heard that 
 the camels of the 25th N.I. had been sent back from 
 Gulistan to Arambi Karez for other provisions. How- 
 ever, the order to clear out was imperative, and, like 
 the Davenport Brothers, the trick was done ; and one 
 is inclined to remark with them, " It is very wonderful 
 how we do it, but we do ! " 
 
 However, our difficulty was solved somewhat as fol- 
 lows : The General sent us forward 120 of the head- 
 quarter equipment, 117 were promised us loading up 
 at Gulistan for the 32nd, with a fixed clause that 
 
PIONEER COLUMN. ADVANCE. 43 
 
 nothing more could be produced from the rear. We 
 remembered, however, that Lawrence had passed 
 through the day before with a convoy to Gwaja of 
 220 camels, and these were at once demanded to be 
 back at Spintaza by daybreak on the 31st ; and when 
 day dawned we were gladdened to see that 171 of these 
 had arrived, and that a god-send, in the shape of 
 another convoy of 107 camels, under Sergt. Hyne of 
 the Commissariat, had overrun their stage in the night 
 and come on to our camp. All these were appro- 
 priated, and by leaving some of the reserve ammuni- 
 tion of the 29th N.I. under a guard, we were enabled 
 to move with a show of decency, and, at the last mo- 
 ment, crammed 29 loads of grain on to the camels 
 going out. Our good luck still held to us, for on the 
 march we met 53 camels from the Engineer Park 
 returning, and with these we picked up the 29th am- 
 munition and sent a few to help Col. Fellowes and his 
 regiment, the 32nd. By the evening of the 31st we 
 were thus enabled to send back word that the advance 
 working column had cleared from the pass, and was at 
 Gwaja preparing to move on by next morning. Here, 
 however, the mortality among the beasts increased, 
 and we were sorely put to it. Every available camel 
 was carefully checked off; those of the 59th escort 
 were taken, and at one time we had decided to appro- 
 priate the 200 mules of the Field Park. 
 
 There can be no doubt but that our system of trans- 
 
44 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 port is wrong. The Commissariat or Transport Ser- 
 vice is supposed to supply all wants j but in a campaign 
 like the present, where a large column streams away 
 from the base, Sukkur, for miles into strange countries 
 like Baluchistan and Afghanistan, where the camel- 
 men are uncertain of what will become of them, where 
 the cold nips them, where the beasts die wholesale, I 
 am inclined to think that certain frontier regiments 
 could be arranged with beforehand, so that, by making 
 all their own plans for regimental carriage and a cer- 
 tain number of days' supplies, the strain on the central 
 establishment would be greatly lightened. Many will 
 say this will never do, but personally I should be in 
 favour of its adoption 'take, for instance, the Biluchis 
 (29th B.N.I.) . When the regiment was ordered on 
 service Government might say, You are entitled to 
 400 camels ; what sum do you require to purchase 
 your equipment ? Rs. 50,000. What advance do you 
 require to keep you going in supplies? Us. 10,000. 
 Very well, Col. Nicholetts, here are two cheques for 
 you. Maintain your transport, for on it depends your 
 movement to the front; and when the campaign is 
 over, yield your account, sell your camels, debit all 
 officers at a rate of Rs. 15 per month for every camel 
 used for private carriage, and remember that Govern- 
 ment holds you responsible for an efficient and eco- 
 nomical result. Such camels would be as distinctly 
 marked as the men themselves, and by each command- 
 
SYSTEM OP TKANSPORT. 45 
 
 ing officer seeing that his camels were fed and clothed 
 as well as his own horses, the transport would be far 
 more efficient and the mortality considerably less, and 
 the relief to the central staff both in supervision and 
 accounts would be appreciable in the highest degree. 
 In the event of the camels so arranged for regiment- 
 ally being required for general duties, a credit might 
 be given to the regiment at so much per beast per day. 
 But any general demand on a regimental establish- 
 ment should only be exercised under the most pressing 
 need ; for when the camel-men are detached from the 
 masters they recognise they lose heart, their beasts are 
 not fed, and mortality at once increases. It is ridicu- 
 lous to say that in this campaign the accounts will not 
 be in the most hopeless confusion ; for as all beasts are 
 obtained under a contract, and advances have been 
 made by the different regiments employing them, in 
 many cases without the original documents under 
 which they were engaged and paid for being forth- 
 coming, many will naturally receive money twice 
 over, and others will probably go without their due. 
 All trace also will be lost of an accurate return of 
 the beasts that die, and compensation will not be fully 
 meted out. 
 
 I would even extend the Commissariat dealings in a 
 great measure to regimental purchases, particularly 
 when, as in the present case, supplies in sufficient 
 quantities are not immediately available to an ad- 
 
46 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 vancing column; and if they were, the Commissariat 
 staff is not pushed forward in sufficient strength or 
 with adequate means to purchase. Regiments, in 
 many cases, could meet their own wants ; and as soon 
 as a detachment encamped with money in hand, a 
 market would be established at once. Each campaign 
 undoubtedly has its own peculiar conditions, but diffi- 
 culties would be lessened if each commanding officer 
 had the power to meet his own wants. 
 
 Here, as one party advancing, we have had most im- 
 perfect information, indifferent intercommunication, 
 and, as far as I can learn, no officer of the Quarter- 
 master-GeneraFs Department, and no one of the Com- 
 missariat or Transport Departments until the last few 
 days. There is a happy-go-lucky appearance about the 
 whole thing, and a ridiculous want of uniformity in 
 everything. Accoutrements of one regiment don't as- 
 similate with those of another, and, in the matter of 
 dress, the uniform is decidedly u irregular." Take the 
 few men of our own corps here we all have helmets, 
 some with spikes and some without, some with leathern 
 chin straps, others with brass all with hair growing 
 promiscuously where it will, shading off from black to 
 white. Col. Sankey has a suit of corduroy and H Field" 
 boots, a Paget blade with inlaid handle; I have a suit 
 of brown cloth and brown boots with canvas tops, a 
 cavalry sabre, and hunting spurs; Call wears a suit 
 of brown canvas cloth, black lace boots, and black 
 
SERVICE UNIFORM. 47 
 
 gaiter- tops, and a regimental sword; while Childers 
 is in khakee. The officers with the sappers, again, have 
 helmets with wadded covers, khakee blouses, but their 
 legs and feet are fitted with different patterns of 
 trousers, and boots of varying colours ; and Browne, 
 whom I met yesterday at the Glo Kotul after the scrim- 
 mage, had a suit of puttoo on and a terai wide-awake 
 hat; Savage wears his patrol jacket and red stripes 
 with puttees bound round his legs, and St. John 
 appears in a suit of Bedford cord. The sword-belts 
 and fittings vary with the fancy of the owner; but 
 there is no reason why some simple working suit should 
 not be designed, and one serviceable set of arms, to be 
 worn by one and all. 
 
48 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Lake Lagowlee. Poisonous shrub. Konchai. Water-supply. 
 Shah-pasand. Hauz. The first village. Melmanda. The 
 enemy. Cavalry scrimmage. Afghan uniform. Arms. 
 Takht-i-pul. DehHajji. Khusab. View of Kandahar. Kit. 
 Climate. Enter Kandahar. 
 
 Wednesday, 1st January 1879. Happy new year to 
 all. All busy starting; Haslett and his company 
 marching straight on Konchai to develop the water- 
 supply, and the other company, with Barton, marching 
 with the rest of us to Lake Lagowlee, some 11 miles 
 from Gwaja. Col. Sankey stayed behind to see Gen. 
 Stewart ; and Call with the park had to stand fast, as 
 his camels had been taken to get the troops off, his 
 escort of the 59th remaining also. Our route lay over 
 a plain covered with boulders and broken by nullahs, 
 following, for a short distance, the Kandahar kafila 
 road. We passed a group of four kibitkas, the first 
 
LAKE LAGOWLEB. 49 
 
 we had seen ; these are formed out of branches bent in 
 a curve and stuck in the ground, and then the frame- 
 work is covered with a thick coarse camel-hair cloth, 
 most neatly pinned together with large thorns, and 
 fixed to the ground by short ropes and pegs. In these 
 domed tents, men, women, children, and animals all 
 live together, and they suit the climate, being warm to 
 a degree. The guide then led the column by a short 
 cut, which was all well enough till we approached our 
 journey's end and entered sand-drifts or dunes, along 
 which we have skirted up to this station or camp with 
 no signs of their ceasing. They are, apparently, drifts 
 from the westward, and undoubtedly are rapidly ex- 
 tending, the several groups of hills becoming gradually 
 swallowed up in the great glacis of sand which now en- 
 circles them. The road we took was far too heavy for 
 the guns, and although it was 3 o'clock, I had to 
 go out and survey a fresh line for the troops follow- 
 ing us. 
 
 Lake Lagowlee itself is about 4|- miles due west 
 of the ninth mile on the kafila road from Gwaja to 
 the part of the country called Konchai. When we 
 visited it there were two oval-shaped pools, each about 
 400 paces long and 80 wide, separated by a sand-ridge, 
 leaving a narrow gut of water between the two. In 
 one, the nearest, the depth varies from 6 inches to 
 2 feet, and the other had steeper sides running in 
 depth from 2 feet to probably 10 or 15 in the middle. 
 
 4 
 
50 KANDAHAE IN 1879. 
 
 The banks all round were regularly trodden in by the 
 sheep and camels watering from its vicinity. Flocks 
 of sand-grouse also were observed, and some few blue- 
 rock pigeons. Riding home fast at sunset, I came 
 across a camel in convulsions, and the sepoy told me 
 he had just eaten of a bush which looked like bastard 
 indigo with a small hard grain. Seven also were lying 
 down, apparently dead, in the jungle ; and before long 
 we felt somewhat nervous as to our chance of moving 
 next day. To give an idea of our carriage and its 
 casualties, out of 609 camels that performed this march 
 we found next morning 35 dead from the poisonous 
 shrub, 8 lost on the road, and 21 sick and incapable, 
 or say 10'per cent. 
 
 Forty-nine camels came in during the night with 
 provisions for the Biluchis, and we went on our way 
 rejoicing. The troops followed the new route, due 
 east, till they struck the kafila road, and I went on 
 with Lawrence, striking a straight line for Konchai 
 hills. We passed over two or three sand-ridges only, 
 and then passed on to some plains more or less broken 
 with small hills, but no stones, and affording galloping 
 ground the whole way till we also struck the kafila 
 road, about 3 miles from the edge of the hills. 
 
 Thursday, 2nd Jan. 1879. We had some little diffi- 
 culty in finding the camping- ground, for as we rounded 
 the hill the sand-drifts appeared again ; but after pass- 
 ing over a plain for about 3 miles, we saw the sapper 
 
POISONOUS SHRUB. WATER-SUPPLY. 51 
 
 camp at the foot of some hills on the left. Two of the 
 regiments pitched in the plain by the two wells, and 
 the 25th P.N.I, went up to the sapper camp so as to 
 use what supply might have been stored or found in 
 the hills themselves. The wells in the plain were about 
 150 feet deep, with a yield, apparently, of about 800 
 gallons each j they were well dug and neatly wattled 
 and cased inside. The plan of drawing the water is 
 to exhaust the supply and store it in a mud-tank close 
 to the well, and from this store-tank to draw it off into 
 troughs for the cattle ; when the well fills again the 
 process is repeated. Up in the hills the sappers were 
 hard at work doing what they could to enlarge the 
 clefts in the rocky gorges and increase the store, but 
 the result was not very great. One guide led us an 
 awful dance up one of these gorges to show us a large 
 supply, but it turned out to be nothing but a pool 
 some 7 feet by 5 feet with 3 feet of water in it. More- 
 over it was at least 2 miles from where troops could 
 pitch, and inaccessible to all but men on foot, goats, 
 or donkeys. Report came in later in the evening 
 that other water in pools had been found, and I have 
 no doubt that with a little arrangement and search, 
 some 20,000 gallons could be secured in the twenty- 
 four hours. All these hills must have little pools of 
 water here and there, enough for moderate wants, but 
 nothing in sufficient quantity for a large detachment 
 even. 
 
 4 * 
 
52 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 Friday, 3rd Jan. Late last night, when writing of 
 our movements to the General behind us, a letter came 
 in from Browne, saying that he recommended one 
 column, BiddulpVs, moving on Gatai, and ours turn- 
 ing northwards to Lashkar and Fath-ulla Kila, as he 
 could provision us more easily there from Spin Bal- 
 dock; and Sankey decided that we should march on 
 Lashkar, informing the General of the reason, and ex- 
 plaining that this would take our column out of the 
 direct line on Hauz. We did not like this at all, it 
 placed us a march more out of the way, and would 
 prevent our being at Takht-i-pul as arranged, on the 
 4th. However, at about 7 miles out we cleared the 
 sand-hills, and Hauz itself, which is distinguishable by 
 a very peculiarly shaped hill, stood straight before 
 us; no difficulties appeared in the way, so Sankey 
 decided to abandon Lashkar, make for Hauz or Shah- 
 pasand, according to the original programme, and 
 risk it. 
 
 I may here note that these names are all confusing, 
 as far as guiding one to a particular spot in any 
 locality. Konchai, for instance, is a range of hills 
 and a district, and may represent any spot within an 
 area of 10 square miles. Shahpasand, which is said 
 to be 4 miles south of Hauz, is pronounced by many 
 to be the same as Hauz, while Hauz itself is really a 
 domed tank at the foot of a gorge in a district called 
 Shahpasand. The end of our march was difficult, and 
 
SHAHPASAND. HAUZ. 53 
 
 we got mixed up in a lot of nullahs, but there was 
 nothing at this season of the year to stop any troops, 
 and for the last mile the route lay along the bed of a 
 nullah with high steep banks. As we marched in, 
 other troops arrived from the north, and these turned 
 out to be Gen. Palliser's column from Lashkar itself, 
 with the cavalry and two guns of Marshall's battery. 
 
 Saturday, 4dh Jan. Orders were given for an early 
 start, and the route lay past the Hauz tank, up the hill 
 and across a saddleback or kotal into the plain beyond. 
 This has been the sort of thing ever since we left 
 Quetta. Plains broken by hills more or less bare 
 and rocky, the plains being but very slightly culti- 
 vated, with very few habitations of any sort or descrip- 
 tion, the fields being confined to very narrow strips 
 along the watercourses, while the rest of the plain sup- 
 plied great quantities of bush, having a smell like 
 wild sage, and which the camels had to feed on 
 whether they liked it or not. On this march we 
 passed some habitations having more the appearance 
 of a village, a mud wall encircling it, and certain 
 buildings of mud domed over, which, I imagine, are 
 the grain stores. 
 
 We were passing through the Mala valley ; the halt 
 had been sounded ; the horses had been taken out of 
 the guns for watering, while the officers were eating 
 whatever bread or chuppatie they had with them. All 
 of a sudden there was a general stir, and in a few 
 
54 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 minutes it was known that the 15th Hussars on ahead 
 had exchanged shots with the enemy. I had the saddle 
 changed to " Mourad/' and made the best of my way 
 to the front ; the Afghans had gone clean through the 
 Korkurra Kotal and not defended it. When Luck 
 and his men got through and on to the plain beyond, 
 some 300 of these ruffians formed up and charged 
 down yelling on the squadron, both parties approach- 
 ing one another as fast as they could till within about 
 200 yards, when the enemy fired, turned, and bolted 
 in every direction. The ground here was all broken 
 and rough, and after a stern chase the order was given 
 to halt, and the men dismounted, giving a few volleys 
 from their carbines. The baggage of the detachment 
 was found, and one man caught. Our guns had fol- 
 lowed the cavalry, and the infantry at first stood fast 
 by the baggage, but the order was sent back for them 
 to advance. The position being about 150 sabres of 
 the 15th Hussars and 1st Punjab Cavalry, with some 
 of the Staff, on one side of the Korkurra Kotal j 
 and the 2 guns, the infantry, and baggage, on the 
 other, in the Mala valley, 2 miles at first probably 
 intervening ; but the cavalry were all on the move 
 forward, and the distance separating us from the main 
 body rapidly increased. 
 
 The enemy's horsemen were seen on the hills ahead, 
 and then disappeared from view ; the whole character 
 of the plain changed ; rolling downs or hills covered 
 
CAVALRY SCRIMMAGE . 55 
 
 with stones, like those encircling Nagpore, took the 
 place of the ordinary smooth plain, and as the enemy 
 popped over the ridges into the valleys beyond, the 
 cavalry in pursuit were doing much the same thing in 
 rear. Walk ! Trot ! Halt ! the scouts were all out, and 
 it seemed useless pursuing these phantoms, more espe- 
 cially as guns had been heard in the hills, which was 
 taken as showing that Col. Kennedy was being resisted 
 in his passage at the Ghlo Kotul. A turn to the right 
 was then decided on, direct to the Ghlo Kotul, then 
 came Walk ! Trot ! Draw swords ! and the pace in- 
 creased to a smart canter, the ground being still very 
 stony and undulating. There was need for speed, for 
 a lot of horsemen could be distinguished ahead, issuing 
 from this gorge and trending off to our left behind 
 other hills. 
 
 We must have gone 3 miles at a pretty stiff pace, 
 and the horses were getting blown, when in front of 
 us, and a little to the right, came some 200 horsemen, 
 which were at once pronounced to be of the enemy's 
 cavalry ; they seemed to hesitate and then move on, 
 until whatever hesitation they may have had seemed to 
 vanish, for they fired and then galloped off. Luck and 
 his men soon got mixed up with them ; but at a little 
 distance it was impossible to distinguish them from 
 our own native cavalry, and when close they could 
 only be known by a peculiar fur cap, like a small bear- 
 skin with a red scollop of cloth in front over the fore- 
 
56 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 head. Their postins were the same as those worn by 
 the native cavalry, the carbine was slung, they wore 
 swords and long boots, and the very horse accoutre- 
 ments were in the same style as our own cavalry. The 
 whole scene can be described, or, rather, best imagined, 
 as a scrimmage, knots of men and single horsemen 
 circling and pursuing in every direction, with here and 
 there a prisoner standing beside the man who had cap- 
 tured him, and now and again a heap of clothes on the 
 grass to mark the spot of some Afghan who had ful- 
 filled his days. 
 
 Cease firing ! and Fall in ! soon sounded, the run- 
 away horses were caught, and we were just thinking of 
 moving campwards, when of a sudden, out of the 
 same gorge, issued a mass of horsemen, who gradually 
 formed up. The column grew, and seemed so dense 
 that we all felt the real tussle was about to begin ; 
 doubts arose as to who these horsemen could be; 
 bugle-calls were sounded to get a reply or recognition, 
 but the fresh column stood fast, and at length it was 
 suggested that a volley would have a good effect, the 
 order was actually given to dismount and fire (in fact, 
 two of the native cavalry sowars did fire), when one 
 or two of the horsemen were recognised as English 
 officers. 
 
 Another mistake fortunately remedied, and explana- 
 tions soon followed. The party proved to be Kennedy's 
 cavalry, who, with two of the guns of A-B., R.H.A., 
 
CUBIOUS MISTAKES. 57 
 
 had been driving the Afghans over the Kotul into 
 our face. 
 
 Some of the Afghans had died hard, and from the 
 nature of their clothing and head-dress it was difficult 
 to get at them satisfactorily, or make any impression 
 with the sword. The head-piece is of dyed sheepskin, 
 with the wool outside, covering a large felt skull-cap, 
 and the amount of clothes they had on showed that 
 the climate was severe. The Afghans were fine fellows 
 and showed the utmost contempt for death ; and con- 
 sidering the circumstances under which they serve, 
 with short pay and promises, and the hopeless task 
 they are undertaking, their pluck is to be admired. 
 The carbine is a percussion muzzle-loader, similar to 
 ours, with a native stamp upon the locks ; their am- 
 munition was about 0*475, but too small for the bore, 
 with four drachms of native powder in a paper car- 
 tridge. Their swords were also of native manufacture 
 and as sharp as steel should be. 
 
 The curious mistakes during the day are worth 
 noting, for they were made by one and all : in the 
 first place the Afghans themselves, on issuing from the 
 Ghlo Kotul, saw the 15th Hussars and Punjab Cavalry 
 in front of them and at first set them down for their 
 own cavalry coming on from Kandahar; then the 15th 
 K.H. took Kennedy's men for the enemy; and in- 
 stances could be given in which individuals nearly 
 suffered for their want of knowledge of the men in 
 
58 KANDAHAE IN 1879. 
 
 whose vicinity they remained. One man of the 15th 
 was out as a scout, and actually, for a time, did *5#fc 
 flanker to a party of the enemy ; and in the evening 
 Gen. Palliser, Sankey, and myself at first thought we 
 had run on the main body of the enemy when we 
 were close to our own men. Towards sundown the 
 General, Sankey, and myself, with six 15th troopers, 
 made for the camp, not knowing quite where it was, 
 and after going up and down hills and ravines, we 
 came to a village and asked the way. While our 
 horses were drinking, some mounted scouts appeared 
 on the hills above, then more and more, till we pru- 
 dently jogged off at a trot. As we emerged from this 
 ravine, we came full in view of a large body of men 
 drawn up, and at once felt we had come on the main 
 body of the enemy. Then the guns were recognised, 
 and we cantered along the bed of the river till we 
 found our own people, who had come up with the bag- 
 gage and the guns, assembled waiting orders to camp 
 for the night. 
 
 Meantime the enemy got so bold as to come down 
 the slopes overlooking the river, and the guns were 
 sent forward to give them a shell or two, and some of 
 the cavalry in support. The enemy opened a general 
 fusilade, and it was very evident that their main body, 
 some 1,200 strong, were within two miles of our front ; 
 forward went the 25th and 29th Biluchis, and file- 
 firing continued till darkness set in. The rain began, 
 
CURIOUS MISTAKES. 59 
 
 and a cutting wind sprang up, which soon turned into 
 a dust-storm. The troops were withdrawn, picquets 
 and sentries put out, all turned in as we stood, booted 
 and spurred, and so ended the affairs of Ghul Kotul 
 (the Thief's Pass Ghlo being the plural) and Takht-i- 
 pul. Lucky as ever small detachments everywhere ; 
 Col. Kennedy, with cavalry and guns, on one side of 
 the Ghlo Kotul in the Mala valley, driving men before 
 him; Palliser, with his baggage and infantry, in the 
 Mala valley, his cavalry obstructed in the Korkurra 
 pass, and then chasing the fugitives into the plain 
 beyond, his guns following and eventually sticking, 
 without an adequate support, within 2 miles of the 
 main body of the enemy ; the cavalry then wheeling, 
 go some 4 miles more to their right, attracted by the 
 sound of firing in the next pass ; and, finally, at night- 
 fall, the General and two officers, with six troopers as 
 an escort, nearly lose their way with a chance of being 
 cut off from their camp, assembled in a river-bed a 
 mile to their left. On p. 60 is a sketch. 
 
 Palliser had killed about 20 and made 4 prisoners 
 with the cavalry; Col. Kennedy with his guns had 
 killed about 10 ; and, from report afterwards, the 
 guns and infantry must have killed and wounded 
 about 70 during the dusk at Takht-i-pul; say, in 
 round numbers, 100 men, with casualties on our side 
 of 4 severely and 6 slightly wounded, showing very 
 clearly that the fire-arms and ammunition of the Af- 
 
60 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 
 
 \pgSS I or Pass t 
 
 MALA VALLEY A J 
 
 Jtaz&s about 3 pdUfmi inc/v 
 
 v Ccurofry Scrimmage' 
 
 % \ Artillery and Jnfaniry engaged/. 
 
 x iPastiicm*a dusks. 
 
 A A. Kennedy's advance. 
 B B. Palliser's advance. 
 
 C. Palliser's baggage and infantry. 
 
 D. Palliser's camp at night in Dora river bed. 
 
 E. Main body of Afghans. 
 FFF. Cavalry pursuit. 
 
 G G-. Cavalry, 15th Hussars and Native Cavalry, 136 
 sabres, turning back towards sound of guns. 
 
 HHH. Afghans issuing through the Kotul and re- 
 treating towards Deh Hajji. 
 
 ghans were not efficient. The enemy, during the 4th, 
 had decided to come forward and reconnoitre the 
 passes with a view of making a stand at both, little 
 thinking we should move from Shahpasand j the result 
 was their reconnoitring parties met ours at both places, 
 
DEH HAJJI. KHUSHAB. 61 
 
 and no general engagement ensued. The defeat they 
 sustained being quite sufficient, and causing their force 
 to decamp from Takht-i-pul during the night through 
 Deh Hajji to Kandahar. 
 
 Monday, 6th Jan. Marched ahead to Deh Hajji, 
 about 13 miles j the plains seeming to be more culti- 
 vated, and the habitations more grouped as villages. 
 The domed roof of mud appears, and the irrigating 
 cuts leading the fertilising waters increase. These 
 cuts or canals vary in size, and are a fearful nuisance 
 to our baggage-camels, and impede progress greatly. 
 
 Tuesday, 7 th Jan. Orders were given for us to 
 march and pitch camp on some spot between the two 
 rivers, Arghesan and Tarnak. Gen. Palliser to go by 
 the northern route towards Mund-i-hissar, and Gen. 
 Fane to go by the more southern, leading towards 
 Khushab. This order was changed on the line of 
 march, and both columns, with Gen. Stewart's head- 
 quarters, were told to move by one line on Khushab, 
 where Gen. Stewart pitched camp. The two brigades 
 under Fane and Palliser were moved still further for- 
 ward across the Tarnak river, and of all the marches 
 we have had, this beat all; the road or path was 
 through fields under irrigation, with canal-cuts and 
 ponds of muck everywhere. However, we jogged 
 along, making the best of our way, camels down here, 
 mules over there, ponies stuck in another direction ; 
 and at about 4 p.m. we crossed the last kotul, and there 
 
62 KANDAHAK IN 1879. 
 
 lay Kandahar, 8 miles off, apparently a large city 
 walled in with mud curtains and bastions, and en- 
 vironed by suburbs which extended to within a mile 
 of where we were; the hills round about and beyond 
 being most picturesque and characteristic, one imme- 
 diately behind the city being like a large camel's hump 
 stuck up in the air. My camels did not come in till 
 9 o'clock, and then my kit was wet through, one camel 
 having died and another having fallen into one of the 
 first nullahs on the line of march. The wind was 
 uncommonly cold, and altogether Kandahar was not 
 agreeable that night. However, by some chance, the 
 sowar that I had sent back to head- quarters with the 
 newspaper correspondent's telegrams, returned with 
 some letters for Sankey, Childers, and myself, enclos- 
 ing Christmas and New Year's cards, sweet-smelling 
 sachets and good wishes, with one card which had a 
 peculiarly reviving effect two robins over a nest, one 
 with a hat and one with a cap, and " Christmas comes 
 but once a year" as a motto. So, with a hope that it 
 would be all right to-morrow morning, we rolled our- 
 selves up and went to sleep. 
 
 There is one thing of which we are all convinced 
 the further we go the less we want, and the greater 
 the desire to pitch away anything superfluous. I see 
 that Fraser has dealt with the subject of personal 
 equipment, and given scales to suit different expedi- 
 tions ; but I am inclined to think that for every-day 
 
CLIMATE AND CLOTHING. 63 
 
 life (till the things are worn out) two suits of clothes, 
 with four sets of under- clothing, suffice ; the one suit 
 a rough working suit of Khakee cloth, the other a 
 cloth suit of regimentals, with such cloaks or coats to 
 wear over the suits as the climate demands. I manage 
 somewhat as follows : I wear a flannel banian and a 
 flannel shirt, a leather waistcoat to cover the hips and 
 back, and a Khakee cloth suit ; this, as yet, is not too 
 much for the sun in the middle of the day. When I 
 come in I seize my kurjins (large saddle-bags carried 
 on the camel), open one side, in which there is a 
 banian and a shirt, pair of socks, and suit of regi- 
 mentals and boots, and put them on, washing or not 
 as the case may be, then on with a thick ulster and a 
 pair of huge leggings of felt covered with waterproof 
 and woollen gloves. I am then ready for dinner, ac 
 cording to the bill of fare. My bed is a sack of felt 
 with waterproof sheet underneath, blankets and my 
 ulster above me. I take off all but my banian and 
 shirt, put on flannel trousers and a loose, soft dress- 
 ing-gown, and turn in, my clothes just taken off form- 
 ing the second pillow. But the cold at times was so 
 great that I could not keep warm, and I began to 
 arrange other wraps, when I remembered a fearful- 
 looking machine, encased in striped flannel, which my 
 wife had packed away, to be worn under my coat when- 
 ever I got rheumatism ; this was an india-rubber hot- 
 water bottle. Out it came, and I had it filled, and 
 
64 KANDAHAE IN 1879. 
 
 into bed it went, and of all the comforts that any poor 
 shivering devil ever had, that water-bottle excels, for 
 not only does it warm my feet and make me khush 
 (happy) , but it gives me hot water ready to wash with 
 at any moment I turn out for the march. 
 
 As the hot weather approaches, cloth for wear will 
 have to be abandoned, and we shall have to sleep out- 
 side all our sacks and blankets ; but at present we 
 want a fairly thick suit for the day, a cloak for the 
 morning and evening, and a set of wraps, cloaks, or 
 mufflers for the night, the grande toilette taking place 
 at the time your baggage arrives in camp, during 
 afternoon or evening. A large washing-basin to act as 
 a bath on occasion completes the kit, such basin being 
 fitted with a light wicker-work case or lining to lift 
 out, and when placed aside offers a handy receptacle 
 for soap, brush, scissors, &c, towels, baccy, cap, slip- 
 pers, &c. The basin, when holding the wicker case 
 for a journey being covered with a leather cap strapped 
 under the rim. The butler has his pony, u Fazl Shah," 
 on which goes his bedding and another set of kurjins, 
 one holding his own kit, and the other the kitchen. A 
 most modest arrangement, but one that would not 
 stand by for very long when you cannot get grub or 
 clothing or anything from the rear, where nothing to 
 speak of is to be obtained on the road for man or 
 beast, and where there is nothing apparently ahead 
 of you. 
 
CLIMATE. 65 
 
 In fact, the last stage of our journey is worse than 
 the first, the country itself being the most God-for- 
 saken, although the Ameer persists in calling the 
 government God-appointed. I never have seen such 
 a country, plain after plain as void of vegetation as it 
 is possible to be, and the mountain-ridges that break 
 through them and bound them more and more rocky 
 and rough, with a howling desert of sand on your left 
 hand, leading to, and coming from, goodness only 
 knows. The climate, though bitterly cold, is most in- 
 vigorating; no aches and pains, no tiring with bard 
 work; your hands not only chapped, but chopped in 
 gashes, which turns one's attention to inventing a sub- 
 stitute for buttons ; a feeling at times that, do what 
 you will, you cannot get warm ; the air so dry that, 
 touch what you will your hair, your coat, your horse, 
 or anything it crackles with electricity ; an appetite 
 at all times, and yet readily appeased; but little 
 thirst, and a general feeling that if there is nothing, 
 we can do very well without it. How the horses 
 feel I cannot say, they seem all right and frisky; 
 but the camels beat you altogether. They die by 
 hundreds, it is true, but plenty remain, and forage 
 for them for many stages there has been absolutely 
 none. I believe now they are grazing somewhere 
 6 miles off. 
 
 I have no time to write this in any form but a diary, 
 dotting down what strikes me when time offers, either 
 
 5 
 
~-..>- v 
 66 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 in the early morning or at night, by the dim nicker of 
 a candle, muffled up to my eyes, and with thick gloves 
 on. Here, it is true, we have left the severe cold 
 behind, and that the weather for the time of year is 
 most temperate ; we have ice of course ; our level 
 above the sea is only 3,500 feet, but the people say we 
 ought to have 2 feet of snow, sleet, and other little 
 pleasantries ; but if a wind by any chance rises, we all 
 begin to shiver and our teeth to chatter as if we were 
 crossing a snowy range. The post has just come in, 
 and I have received letters from Simla, dated Decem- 
 ber 14th, and papers of the Pioneer, dated 20th, say 
 twenty- five days in transit. The parcels they say are 
 coming ! and I believe it, for Nicholson yesterday 
 received a cheese ! By this time, however, it will 
 have gone, so we must look forward steadily for the 
 next post. 
 
 Wednesday, 8th Jan. The troops were ordered to 
 move through Kandahar city and camp on ground to 
 the north-east, waiting till Gen. Stewart and Gen. 
 Biddulph came up from Khushab and headed us. We 
 were all drawn up by 10.30 a.m. ; Gen. Stewart had 
 arrived, and we were waiting for Gen. Biddulph. 
 During this halt I had a pleasant little gallop of 
 about 12 miles round through one pass to the Tarnak 
 river, and then along its edge to the Mund-i-hissar 
 pass, to see if a fair route could be marked for camels, 
 so as to avoid, if possible, the irrigated lands. During 
 
ENTRANCE INTO KANDAHAR. 67 
 
 this ride I ran across Fulford, who was coming in with 
 the 2nd Division baggage. 
 
 This Mund-i-hissar road was far better than the 
 kafila road we followed ; it avoided to a great extent 
 the irrigated land on the east of the Kotal, and gave a 
 much better run in to the Cabul gate over the plain 
 to the west of the ridge than the road by which we 
 made our triumphal entry by the Shikarpore gate 
 from the Khushab Kotal. The fields and irrigation 
 channels on our line are a source of great annoyance 
 and delay. The distance itself was further than thought 
 for, as what was generally considered to be 3 turned 
 out to be 7 miles in a straight line. 
 
 As we approached the city the number of Afghans 
 increased, and latterly the road was fairly lined with 
 them, the ramparts and bastions being crowded. The 
 entry was made by the Shikarpore gate to the south, 
 and continued past the covered -in cross roads in the 
 centre of the city as far as the Arg or Citadel square. 
 Then a little parleying, and right-about turn back to 
 the cross roads, and left turn out at the Cabul gate ; 
 the whole place was shut up, no shops open, and there 
 was little to impress one in any way, the main streets 
 being flanked by an open ditch, a few trees and shops, 
 all of one story, with verandahs, projecting within 
 some 3 or 4 feet of the ditch; the cross roads in 
 the centre are domed in, and the dirty look about 
 everything was quite Eastern. The baggage had to 
 
 5 * 
 
68 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 go round the city, and altogether we had rather a 
 rough time of it, but few of the tents appearing till 
 9 p.m., and dinner, for want of fire- wood, was not to 
 be thought of. However, I got hold of the back of a 
 fowl, and never knew that so much could be made of 
 that part before. Both divisions pitched their camps 
 on the north-east side, at the foot of the sloping glacis 
 of the hills ; but we were wrong altogether, there was 
 no grazing for the camels, no forage, and we did not 
 get our water as pure as we might, for after passing 
 first in close proximity to a graveyard, it swept through 
 and round the city and then came on to us. 
 
69 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Citadel. Fortifications. Commissariat. Medical organization. 
 Kegimental system. Abyssinia. Supplies. Fanatics. Fines. 
 Civil government. Pay abstracts. Post Office. The city. 
 Bakery. Cook-shop. Smithy. Strength of columns. Quetta 
 column. Distribution. Movement by small forces. Compo- 
 nent parts. Camels. Carriage of rations. 
 
 Thursday, 9th Jan. 1879. We were all rather late in 
 turning out. Dirty clothes were changed, and a ge- 
 neral tubbing ensued; but by noon air were again busy. 
 Some of us went over the citadel to see what there 
 was, and what arrangements could be made for quarters, 
 for hospitals, arsenal, engineer and commissariat store- 
 yards. The whole place had been gutted, doors smashed 
 in, and every little ornament had been destroyed by a 
 rabble. The buildings were scattered about anyhow, 
 small courtyards and large, gardens and squares, 
 magazines and arsenal, a succession of mud walls, 
 
70 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 low doors, underground passages, and filth and ordure 
 of every description in the greatest profusion, large 
 tanks of stagnant water, muddy ditch, and a stench 
 pervading which made one sick. 
 
 As for the fortifications, the section or profile was 
 all right (had the works heen in repair), and consisted 
 of a ditch 25 feet wide and generally 10 feet deep, 
 with means of filling it with water at pleasure, then 
 an outer wall 10 feet high and about 18 inches thick, 
 then a chemin des rondes 18 feet wide, then a main 
 parapet 20 feet high, average 15 feet thick in the 
 centre, provided with a 6-foot wall on top, and an in- 
 terior way of 30 feet clear, when the houses began. 
 The material mud built up in layers with chopped 
 straw, which might have stood battering-guns for a 
 length of time; in fact, some of the artillerymen 
 doubted if any impression to speak of could have been 
 made. 
 
 However, from the state of disrepair everything was 
 in, the outer walls were assailable at many points by a 
 regiment of infantry covered by two guns I was 
 going to say almost without scaling-ladders. The 
 gates themselves could have easily been blown in by 
 a single shot from a 9-pounder ; and for the matter of 
 that, a good climber could have got up the gate some 
 14 feet high and over the top, the space between the 
 gate and the arch being open and unprotected. The 
 street-fighting would have been serious, but the main 
 
THE FOETIFICATIONS. 71 
 
 walls commanded the city, and each quarter, when 
 once the walls were clear, could have been dealt with 
 separately. The defence would, of course, depend upon 
 the garrison and the quality of their fire-arms; but 
 against 1,500 men, such as Mir Afsool was supposed 
 to have, armed with carbines (percussion) and indiffe- 
 rent ammunition, I could see nothing to prevent four 
 columns of infantry and eight guns taking the whole 
 place by assault, and clearing the city from one end to 
 the other within twelve hours. The arg or citadel is 
 defended by walls of much the same profile as the 
 city, but at the east and west the houses abut abso- 
 lutely against the walls. There are also huge breaches 
 in the citadel walls ; and, moreover, the arsenal and 
 magazine are overlooked by some of the city house- 
 tops. A shell or two pitched into it would have blown 
 the place to pieces, for powder was stored in such quan- 
 tities and so scattered about on the ground that an 
 explosion must have been looked on as a natural 
 consequence. 
 
 Bisset started off to make a general report on the 
 water-supply. Childers, Maxwell, and Jerome set at 
 work surveying ; Haslett, Barton, and Hill, with their 
 companies of sappers, commenced knocking down par- 
 tition walls, filling in debris, and executing works 
 necessary for the different departments about to be 
 located in the citadel. I have sent to the Editor of 
 the " Royal Engineer Journal " plans of the city, &c., 
 
72 KANDAHAB IN 1879. 
 
 with sections of the walls, lately issued by the Q.M.G/s 
 department from surveys in 1839, the dimensions and 
 distribution being generally correct. 
 
 Friday, \0th Jan. The Commissariat seemed all 
 behindhand; we can only get our rations in driblets, 
 and the yard is \\ miles off, and if you send a servant 
 for your rations, you may at once bid good-bye to him 
 for the day. 
 
 Depending on the Commissariat for a daily ration is 
 a farce ; one day you can get a little wood, another 
 day you can get rice instead of flour, other days you 
 can get nothing ; and if barley is issued for the horses, 
 ten to one whether the bhoosa (chopped straw) or dried 
 lucerne is not withheld. If you get a month's sup- 
 plies and a fortnight's for your followers, the drawback 
 at once presents itself, how are you to carry them ? 
 The prices one has to pay are startling, and the forage 
 of dried lucerne for one horse costs as much as Rs. 2 
 per day. Dried fruits and sweetmeats, water-melons 
 and carrots are in abundance here ; but this does not 
 hold good for even the first stage out of Kandahar. 
 
 I see by the " Pioneer " that Archibald Forbes, in 
 an article on military medical organisation, condemns 
 the system of regimental carriage, and prefers the 
 consolidated system. This consolidated system, it is 
 said, exists in the home army as well as on the conti- 
 nent of Europe, and a deduction is drawn, that out of 
 a personnel of 293, and carriage of 128 camels, no less 
 
MEDICAL OKGANIZATION. 73 
 
 than 172 of the staff and about 60 camels could be 
 saved by following Dr. Innes' scheme ; the calculation 
 being made as for a force of 11 separate regiments and 
 batteries. This may be all very well for a corps or 
 regiment having a fixed number of officers and sur- 
 geons, and a certain quantity of stores, whether the 
 men are sick or not, and, as far as I understand Dr. 
 Ker Innes' scheme, it is to avoid duplicates of stores 
 and doctors where they are not wanted, and place them 
 in field, base, and depot hospitals instead. I am quite 
 sure Dr. Innes knows what he is writing about, but I 
 still think that, with certain frontier regiments invad- 
 ing countries like Baluchistan and Afghanistan, the 
 regimental system, as I have said somewhere before, 
 is the best and cheapest, and for the matter of that, to 
 a certain extent, for the Commissariat also ; the only 
 conditions being that the commanding officer is re- 
 sponsible for the maintenance of his transport, and 
 that all purchases for man or beast are made by a 
 regimental officer on the responsibility of the com- 
 manding officer. 
 
 Many of the soldiers in these frontier regiments are 
 from the bordering country, and purchases in this way 
 could be made and whole regiments fed while the Com- 
 missariat stood thinking about it. By the Commis- 
 sariat I mean the whole Department thinking of the 
 prices they are to pay, what they will issue it for to 
 the troops, the amount they want forward, how much 
 
74 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 is coming up, and who is to make the purchase. In 
 some cases regiments have been ahead of the Com- 
 missariat, and the result is that seven days' supplies 
 have had to be taken on at a time, carriage and fol- 
 lowers necessarily increased, and much that the country 
 was prepared to deliver up in retail has been lost to the 
 troops in advance. 
 
 In Abyssinia it was quite the other way ; we had to 
 depend on the Commissariat and not the country, all 
 stores being brought across the sea. These were daily 
 sent forward from one point, Zoulla, the base; the 
 transport, it is true, broke down, and the supplies 
 could not come on, but the grand crash was staved 
 off, till the Dalanta plateau, within 14 miles of Mag- 
 dala, was reached. The supplies for Abyssinia had 
 been collected at home first, and the success of the 
 movement depended on the transport; this, fortu- 
 nately, held together till just at the end, and the army 
 had accomplished its purpose. In this expedition 
 adequate supplies have not been collected at Sukkur, 
 or at the large towns en route ; we are, to a very great 
 extent, dependent on the country, and, unfortunately, 
 many of the regiments have been from time to time 
 ahead of the purchasers. In fact, the rapid advance 
 has thrown our machinery out of gear, and the remedy 
 would be to revert at once to a regimental system of 
 purchase or bazaar. Camels and ponies could also have 
 been bought in driblets to fill up vacancies. 
 
SUPPLIES. FANATICS. 75 
 
 It is said that the Commissariat has only four days' 
 supplies for Europeans and seven days' for Natives, 
 which certainly is nothing very great, remembering 
 that there are only some 8,000 fighting men at Kanda- 
 har out of the 12,000 or 13,000 which form what is 
 known as the Quetta Army. 
 
 As St. John was riding in the city to-day a fanatic 
 fired a pistol right in his face, but, luckily, without any 
 evil result ; the Nawab Gholam Hussain rendered his 
 assistance at once, and the man was secured by some 
 of the soldiers who were about. Very much at the 
 same time Lieut. Willis of E-4, R.A., while standing 
 at a shop, was stabbed over the right nipple by another 
 fanatic, who at once ran a tilt through the crowd, 
 wounding three more of the soldiers, when he was cut 
 down by Hervey of the 1st Punjab Cavalry and a 
 Duffedar. There is no doubt there are lots more of 
 these bloodthirsty ruffians about in the city and in the 
 surrounding villages, and the sooner the Politicals make 
 every one of them give an account of himself the 
 better. Such catastrophes cannot, however, be avoided 
 in the East, and single instances may be expected at 
 any place and at any moment. These fanatics may or 
 may not have belonged to the Ameer's army, for some 
 regiments had been disbanded when the Mir Afsul 
 fled towards Herat. Jerome, when out surveying, was 
 more than once insolently hustled by men in uniform, 
 who were squatting in the villages. 
 
76 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 Saturday, 11th Jan. The man who shot at St. John 
 was hung to-day in the city from a gallows made ont 
 of scaling-ladders. He was tried by a military com- 
 mission, and condemned to be hung at the place where 
 he made his attempt. His body was afterwards car- 
 ried off in a dooly and buried by our own people, and 
 the natives have no trace of the spot j so his friends 
 at all events cannot make a shrine of the grave. Many 
 have said that a heavy fine should have been imposed 
 on the city for these outrages, but I don't agree ; for, 
 in the first place, the majority in all gatherings of 
 natives are decidedly peaceable and inoffensive ; and, 
 secondly, such a fine would have fallen on the bun- 
 niahs or merchants, who form at least one-fourth of 
 the city population, and who themselves live in daily 
 dread of the roguery and villainy of the Pathans. 
 Had such a fine been levied, it should have been 
 used as a means for disarming the neighbourhood 
 a certain time given and a certain rate quoted for 
 every fire-arm produced towards liquidation of the 
 fine. 
 
 A civil government has now been established, and 
 the Nawab Gholam Hussain has been appointed Civil 
 Officer or Governor. Gen. Nuttall has been given 
 military command. St. John is left as Political, and 
 Bisset has been appointed Garrison Engineer. The 
 country is, of course, gradually settling down, and 
 supplies are being produced ; but it will take a con- 
 
CIVIL GOVEENMENT. 77 
 
 siderable time and some strong measures before a man 
 can go about unarmed with safety. 
 
 Monday, ISth Jan. All very busy trying to get 
 some money. The pay arrangements are defective; 
 last pay certificates and vouchers which are sent back 
 (a month's journey) to be paid into different agencies, 
 are returned on the merest pretext, the proverbial red 
 tape being tied up more tightly than ever. The trouble 
 that is caused to anyone on service by such action 
 should be thought of. Here we all were, having had no 
 time to even draw the abstracts, with the certainty 
 that after three months we should get them back for 
 alteration, if by any luck the post to and fro escaped 
 looting. Last pay certificates and such-like are pre- 
 cious documents, and one is somewhat chary of regu- 
 larly going up a tree in sending such papers by an 
 uncertain post. However, we all went in freely for 
 advances to pay servants and to re-stock. Most of us 
 in the natural order of things being overdrawn at our 
 agents in India, will have to pay 10 per cent, on all 
 withdrawals until the balance agaiust us is met. 
 
 Cornwall has come up, and has a post-office ; we get 
 six letters at a time. But I hear that there is such a 
 block of parcels, &c. behind, that delivery will not take 
 place till some two months hence ; so my tin provisions 
 and fur clothing will come in useful for the following 
 winter. 
 
 Confidence is gradually being restored, and shop- 
 
78 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 keepers are returning to the city. The appearance is 
 busy, and would please one much if the dirt and stench 
 could be lessened. 
 
 Call and I, having an hour to spare, trotted off on 
 an exploration and sight-seeing generally. The streets 
 were fairly crowded, but there was an absence of any- 
 thing really characteristic of the local trade to send 
 away as mementoes. The pos tin-makers were at work, 
 the copper-smiths were hammering away and turning 
 out ewers and salvers of grotesque shapes ; but friend 
 Cornwall would have remonstrated at such bulky things 
 being sent back by post. We got some shoes of 
 leather turned up at toes and trodden down at heel, 
 green and stamped, which were rather neat; and I 
 purchased a lot of silver coins from a money-changer, 
 who said they were Persian and three hundred years 
 old. I hope so. We also obtained some stamped silk 
 handkerchiefs from Bokhara, but everything else seemed 
 to come from Bombay or Birmingham. Fruit-sellers 
 abounded, and bakeries and kabob shops occurred at 
 every 100 yards. 
 
 Being rather hungry, we stopped at a good-looking 
 bakery, with a kabob shop next door. Beyond the 
 bakery was the flour-store, the flour being loose at 
 the back ; there were three open vats, one containing 
 water, and the others empty and used for mixing the 
 dough ; a fourth vat contained salt and water. The 
 dough, after preparation, is placed in an empty box in 
 
THE CITY. A BAKERY. 79 
 
 the front shop, where the kneaders, preparers, and 
 bakers are sitting. 
 
 There are five men at work. No. 1, with his back 
 to the store door, has the dough on his right, which he 
 takes out with his right hand, rolls into a ball, and 
 weighs it against a stone weighing half a pound. No. 1 
 then dabs the balls on to a board at his left. No. 2, 
 on the left of No. 1, rolls and kneads and flattens 
 them out, finally pitching them across to No. 3 oppo- 
 site, who further flattens them and ornaments them 
 with his finger-nails and throws them to the left of 
 No. 4 and opposite to No. 1. No. 4, who is sitting 
 (facing in the same direction as No. 3) over the oven 
 mouth, takes the bread or nan and flops it on to a wet 
 pillow, and then, with the wet pillow in his hand, leans 
 down and dabs the bread against the inside of the 
 sloping roof of the oven. By the time No. 4 has 
 dabbed on six of these breads, the first bread has 
 been baked, and it is then very neatly hooked out with 
 an iron hook and shovel in miniature, the hook catch- 
 ing the bread and the shovel loosening it from the 
 wall ; No. 4 slides the baked bread down a board to 
 the front of the shop, where No. 5 sits and sells them 
 either by retail, at 8 pies a-piece (1 penny), or by the 
 lot, as quickly as they can be turned out ; the lots are 
 then carried away and hawked through the bazaar. 
 The whole arrangement is about one of the neatest and 
 cleanest I have ever seen in an Eastern city. 
 
80 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 The cook-shop is next door, and we ordered some 
 kabobs. The meat is finely mixed and minced with 
 dumba fat, the cook sits in front of his tray of char- 
 coal, over which this minced meat, run on to skewers, 
 is roasting, and his man stands in front in the street 
 fanning the flame. Behind the cook are some onions 
 ready sliced, on his left are some spices in open earthern 
 trays. When the kabobs are ready, the cook rings a 
 bell, the baker is summoned, and down a baked bread 
 comes hot from the oven. The cook takes the bread 
 and doubles it, laying the hot kabobs inside, and deftly 
 whips the skewers out, leaving the meat inside in the 
 neatest way. Onions are added, a little spice and salt, 
 and dinner is served with another ring at the bell. 
 Six such kabobs cost an anna ; so that Call and I ate 
 and enjoyed our meal ljd. a head. 
 
 We also saw some horses being shod by the natives 
 with a very close shoe and huge hob-head nails ; the 
 old hoof was first cruelly broken off with pinchers, then 
 roughly pared with a huge sickle-knife ; a likely shoe 
 was selected, and eight nails driven, four on each side, 
 the shoe being, to my eye, a great deal too small, and 
 placed too far back. Oh no, the smith said ; it was all 
 right, and laughed at the shoes on my own nag as 
 being useless on stony ground. The nails were not 
 bent over the hoof as ours are, but neatly curled round 
 by gentle taps from a small hammer ; a rough rasp is 
 then used, and the toe of the hoof is rapidly rounded 
 
STRENGTH OF COLUMNS. 81 
 
 off till it comes fair back to the shoe. A plan of shoe- 
 ing I should be sorry to adopt ; but these men have 
 been at it for centuries, and I suppose tradition is 
 everything. 
 
 I have said before that there were only about 7,000 
 or 8,000 fighting men of ours effective at Kandahar 
 when the entry was made into the city on the 8th. 
 The papers, I see, give the total strength of the force 
 in the field against the Afghans as follows : 
 
 Quetta Army Europeans. . 3,380 Total 12,590 
 Peshawur 7,544 16,364 
 
 Kurram 1,816 5,776 
 
 12,740 34,730 
 
 These figures were given shortly before the outbreak 
 of hostilities, and do not include the Bombay and 
 Madras reserves at Sukkur and Mooltan. 
 
 As great doubt and difference of opinion existed as 
 to the actual number of this force (Quetta army), I 
 have been at some trouble in getting the real state 
 from the details submitted to the Adjutant-General. 
 It may be interesting, in the first place, to give the 
 distribution of the Quetta army, as decided on at Kan- 
 dahar, when the 1st Division (Stewart's) was to march 
 northwards towards Kelat-i-Ghilzai ; the 2nd Division 
 (Biddulph's), westward towards Girishk; the Kandahar 
 Garrison (NuttalTs) to stand fast ; with the position of 
 those in rear, say, on 13th of January 1879. 
 
 6 
 
82 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 The distribution was as under : 
 
 1st Division. General Stewart. 
 
 Cavalry. Gen. Fane; 15th Hussars, ,8th B.C. (3 
 troops), 19th B.C. 
 
 Artillery. Gen. Arbuthnot ; A.-B., R.H.A., D.-2, 
 G.-4, 11-11, R.A., 4 guns. 
 
 Engineers. Col. Sankey ; Engineer Field Park, 4th 
 and 9th companies Sappers and Miners. 
 
 Infantry. 1st Brigade, Gen. Barter; 2nd-60th, 
 15th Sikhs (wing), 25th N.I. 2nd Brigade, Gen. 
 Hughes; 59th (wing), 3rd Goorkhas (head-quarters 
 and wing) . Divisional ; 12th Kelat-i-Ghilzais (4 com- 
 panies) . 
 
 2nd Division. Gen. Biddulph. 
 
 Cavalry. Gen. Palliser; 1st P.C. (1 troop), 2nd 
 P.C., and 3rd Sind Horse. 
 
 Artillery. Col. Le Mesurier; I.-l, No. 3, Moun- 
 tain Battery (4 guns), and 11-11, R.A. (2 guns). 
 
 Engineers. Lieut. -Col. Hichens; Engineer Field 
 Park, 5th and 10th companies Sappers and Miners. 
 
 Infantry. Gen. Lacy; 70th, 19th B.N.I. (wing), 
 29th Biluchis. Divisional, 32nd Pioneers. 
 
 Kandahar Garrison. Gen. Nuttall. 
 Cavalry. Major Maclean; 1st P.C. (5 troops). 
 Artillery. Col. Collingwood; E.-4, R.A., 5-11 and 
 6-11 (heavy). 
 
 Engineers. Capt. Bisset. 
 
THE QUETTA COLUMN. 83 
 
 Infantry. 59th (wing), 26th B.N.I. (6 companies), 
 12th Kelat-i-Ghilzais (4 companies) . 
 
 While among those behind were 
 
 The two Ordnance Field Parks, No. 2 Mountain 
 Battery at Chaman and Quetta; No. 3 Mountain 
 Battery, 2 guns, Pishin ; 13-8 and 16-8 Siege Train, 
 with 8-11, and Engineer Siege Park Equipment be- 
 tween Sukkur and Dadur. 
 
 8th B.C. (2 troops), Pishin; and 1 troop, Quetta. 
 
 15th B.N.I. (4 companies, en route), 19th B.N.I. 
 (wing), Quetta; 30th Jacob's Rifles, Quetta and Kelat; 
 1st Goorkhas (en route), 3rd Goorkhas (wing en route), 
 26th B.N.I. (2 companies), Chaman; 1st P.I., Pishin; 
 with small detachments at different posts along the 
 line. The numbers are shown in the table given on 
 the next page. 
 
 The first thing that struck me was the small number 
 in any one body; but those who have been on the 
 march for the last two months will now understand 
 and thoroughly endorse the words of Major Hough 
 in his report on the foreign campaign (Preface, 
 p. xix.), " We were obliged to move our small army 
 by separate columns, and at times by small detach- 
 ments," and confirm his opinion as to the ' f utter im- 
 practicability of a large invading army reaching India 
 and the inutility of a small force." 
 
 The total, however, 14,025, including sick, has a 
 singular interest at the present moment, as it agrees 
 
 6 * 
 
84 
 
 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 Europeans, Effec- 
 tive .... 
 Europeans, Sick . 
 Natives .... 
 Sick . . 
 
 Total 
 
 1st 
 Division. 
 
 1,993 
 43 
 
 2,189 
 156 
 
 4,381 
 
 2nd 
 Division. 
 
 886 
 
 4 
 
 2,149 
 
 104 
 
 3,143 
 
 Kandahar. 
 
 720 
 
 34 
 
 1,115 
 
 125 
 
 1,994 
 
 En route 
 
 and 
 
 along line, 
 
 381 
 
 172 
 
 3,306 
 
 348 
 
 4,507 
 
 Total. 
 
 3,980 
 253 
 
 8,759 
 733 
 
 14,025 
 
 Public followers . 
 Private 
 
 4,412 
 707 
 
 1,334 
 753 
 
 5,119 
 
 2,087 
 
 1,100 
 406 
 
 1,506 
 
 *2,729 
 346 
 
 3,075 11,787 
 
 9,575 
 2,212 
 
 Guns | 22 | 12 | 18 | 12 | 64 
 
 Ammunition, 200 rounds per rifle, 100 per carbine, and 256 
 rounds per gun. 
 
 Tents . . . . 
 Horses . . . . 
 Elephants . . . 
 Bullocks . . . 
 Ponies and Mules 
 Camels .... 
 
 416 
 
 274 
 
 217 
 
 329 
 
 1,564 
 
 991 
 
 456 
 
 15 
 
 621 
 
 294 
 
 78 
 
 278 
 
 1,182 
 
 509 
 
 364 
 
 26 
 
 231 
 
 3,930 
 
 2,251 
 
 1,322 
 
 *5,282 
 
 1,036 
 
 3,305 
 
 15 
 
 2,159 
 
 1,130 
 
 12,785 
 
 * Includes 1,000 Surwans and 3,600 camels of the Commissariat. 
 
 with the number of men reported by Rawlinson, in his 
 article on the Afghan crisis in the December number 
 of the " Nineteenth Century/' to have been employed 
 by Russia in her late tentative demonstration against 
 the Afghan frontier ; and further, the number in the 
 1st Division, 4,381, again corresponds with the force 
 
COMPONENT PAETS OF FOECE. CAMELS. 85 
 
 of 4,000 reported in the same article to have started 
 from the Caspian during the summer through the 
 Akhal and Tekkah country to Merv. These coinci- 
 dences enable one very fully to realise the difficulties 
 of a march in Central Asia. 
 
 Analysing the table and straining the question as 
 you will, there is only one result, viz., that for every 
 fighting man you must have one follower and one 
 camel. This may seem an over-estimate, but it is 
 not so, for the followers are not in excess, and camels 
 are known to be deficient. 
 
 The mortality amongst these beasts of burden must 
 not be overlooked. From calculations roughly made, 
 I do not hesitate to fix this for the last two months at 
 40 per cent, per month ; and should any bad or severe 
 weather occur, this percentage of deaths will increase 
 to 50 per cent, per month and above. Such, in plain 
 words, means that if we have 12,000 camels at work, 
 others must be forthcoming at a rate of 1,500 a week. 
 This deficiency cannot altogether be met locally, and 
 India must be looked to for support, remembering at 
 the same time that the further we go the larger will 
 be the number to be despatched to cover the addi- 
 tional losses among the relief camels themselves. 
 
 Hough mentions that in the last expedition 33,000 
 camels died, and he states definitely that 1,300 out of 
 3,100 died on the march from Peshawur to Kabul, 193 
 miles. Bullocks and the second line of waggons might, 
 
86 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 I think, be dispensed with, and the ammunition should 
 be carried on camels. 
 
 To give you an idea of our wants, the force being 
 taken at 14,000 men, the rations for Europeans for one 
 day require 
 
 5,300 Loaves, or 25 camel-loads of flour. 
 
 265 Sheep, or 
 
 25 
 
 
 
 meat. 
 
 Rice 
 
 4 
 
 )> 
 
 
 Sugar 
 
 3 
 
 a 
 
 
 Tea 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 Salt 
 
 1 
 
 }} 
 
 
 Vegetables 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 
 100 gals. Rum, or 
 
 3 
 
 a 
 
 
 and if wood is carried, as it has been on many marches, 
 some 50 camels more, giving 128 total. 
 
 The rations for native soldiers and followers for one 
 day require 
 
 Flour 183 camel-loads. 
 
 Dhall 22 
 
 Ghee 11 
 
 Salt 4 
 
 Wood 275 
 
 Total 495 
 
 Forage also for horses at 8 lbs. gram and 8 lbs. 
 bhoosa (chopped straw), for ponies, mules, and bul- 
 
CARRIAGE OF RATIONS. 87 
 
 locks, at half of the above rates must be taken and 
 require 
 
 500 maunds gram, or 165 camel-loads. 
 
 500 bhoosa, or 200 (owing to its bulk) . 
 
 Total 365 
 
 The camels must also be fed and clothed, and had 
 this been attended to from the first we might have been 
 better off. 2 seers gram and 2 seers bhoosa is the 
 very lowest ration, and requires 
 
 650 maunds gram and 650 maunds of bhoosa, 
 or, say, 450 camel-loads, and an allowance of 15 camels 
 for the 15 elephants would complete it. So that, if we 
 carry our rations complete for man and beast for one 
 day with us, we want 
 
 128 camels for the Europeans. 
 
 495 Natives. 
 
 365 horses, ponies, mules, and 
 
 bullocks. 
 465 camels and elephants. 
 
 1,453 camels in all. 
 
 I have said my figures were taken from several re- 
 turns in the Adjutant-General's possession, and the 
 result has only been arrived at after very careful 
 check. The figures may be accepted as generally 
 correct, and I will now give the effective strength or 
 
88 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 state of some of the regiments taken promiscuously 
 from the papers. 
 
 15th Hussars (Swindley). 17 officers, 361 men, 15 
 sick, 393 total. 564 public and 120 private followers, 
 419 horses, 47 tents, 157 ponies and mules, 252 camels, 
 12 bullocks. 
 
 19th B. Lancers. 9 officers, 447 men, 22 sick, 478 
 total. 449 public, 60 private followers, 486 horses, 
 tents, 233 ponies and mules, 158 camels. 
 
 A.-B.,R.H.A. (Macfarlane). 7 officers, 125 men, 
 36 sick, 168 total. 301 public, 46 private followers, 
 
 6 9-pounders, 190 horses, 19 tents, 139 camels, and 
 66 bullocks. 
 
 G.-4,R.A. (Campbell). 6 officers, 134 men, 22 sick, 
 162 total. 220 public, 20 private followers, 6 9-poun- 
 ders, 16 tents, 215 camels, and 60 bullocks. 
 
 4th company Sappers and Miners (Haslett). 2 
 officers, 8 Europeans, total 11 j 108 Natives, 4 sick, 
 total 112 ; public followers, 105; private followers, 15; 
 horses, 4; tents, 21; mules, 37; camels, 52; bul- 
 locks, 36. 
 
 2nd-60th Rifles. 21 officers, 585 men, 18 sick, 624 
 total. 371 public, 64 private followers, 8 horses, 69 
 tents, 20 mules, 318 camels, 14 bullocks. 
 
 12th Kelat-i-Ghilzais. 7 officers, 2 sick, 502 men, 
 106 sick, 617 total. 310 public, 29 private followers, 
 
 7 horses, 48 tents, 20 mules, 191 camels. 
 
 The above do not include the men at the depots or, 
 
CAEEIAGE OF EATIONS. 89 
 
 of course, the additional recruits lately sanctioned for 
 the native regiments ; but I have taken the strength 
 as represented by the numbers under march, and 
 what the General could count upon if any of the 
 above were required for any particular service at 12 
 hours' notice. 
 
 Tuesday, \Ath Jan. Olivier joined us yesterday 
 from Quetta. Paid up servants and camel-men, laid 
 in a stock of provisions and dried fruit for the road. 
 
90 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Momun. Alteration in rations. Robat. Village requisitions. 
 Akhoond Ziarat. Shahr-i-safa. Tirandaz. Tut. Pulsingi. 
 Kelat-i-Ghilzi. Gun. Inscription. The Fort. Reconnoitring. 
 The mails. " Bhoosee." Reported gathering. Jezails. The 
 Ghilzais. Marching back. A Chappao. Southern wood. 
 Snow. Biluch. Camels. Maximum load. Spring. Wild 
 fowl. Return to Kandahar. 
 
 Wednesday t 15 th Jan. Willis of the Artillery died 
 this morning from the effects of his wound. Nuttall 
 was left at Kandahar. Gen. Biddulph marched to- 
 wards Girishk with the 2nd Division,, and Gen. Stewart 
 marched to the old ruins 1 of Momun, about 10 miles 
 off, with the 1st Division. Sankey and Childers had 
 invested in three camels, at Rs. 100 each, and had 
 hired a native to lead them. Dickie of the 4th com- 
 pany transferred to 2nd Division in charge of the 
 signallers. 
 
ALTERATION IN EATIONS. 91 
 
 The rations for Native troops and followers were 
 altered to-day, giving -| lb. meat to the soldiers, and 
 ^ lb. meat to the followers in lieu of ^ lb. of atta. 
 This is a wise step, for there are plenty of sheep about, 
 though many at this season are in lamb. The ghee 
 ration was also reduced, for the reason that there is 
 much fat in the sheep, and the principle of such a re- 
 duction is fair and advantageous ; but it has not been 
 maintained, inasmuch as for many days followers did 
 not get their meat ration, and had to be content on 
 the reduced allowance of flour and ghee. The shoe 
 evidently begins to pinch, and the want of camel-car- 
 riage, added to the fact that we have outstripped our 
 own convoys of provisions, is forcing itself strongly to 
 the notice of all. The route from Kandahar to Kelat- 
 i-Ghilzai is very fairly described by Bellew in his book 
 at pages 207-220 and 442-445. 
 
 Thursday, lQth Jan. Marched to Robat, some 7 
 miles. 
 
 The system of village requisitions is now being put 
 in force. Bought two large felt coats for Rs. 6.8. for 
 the syces; they are said to be waterproof, and the 
 syces say they are very warm. At starting this morn- 
 ing the newly-purchased camel which brought on 
 Childers' kit was not to be found. 
 
 Friday, 17th Jan. Marched to Akhoond Ziarat, a 
 biting cold wind blowing all day, and the camels have 
 suffered; 200 are reported to have died; 65 also of 
 
92 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 the cavalry brigade in front of us are reported dead. 
 The place is comparatively pretty ; a small town, with 
 its mosque, overlooked and sheltered by high, scarped 
 hills. 
 
 Saturday, Y&th Jan. Marched 12 miles to Shahr-i- 
 safa, or the city of which there is no trace. Arrived 
 in camp after dark, as I had had to look after a work- 
 ing party on the road, Haslett being at work with his 
 company on another part of the road in front. The 
 water all along this march is very brackish and strongly 
 impregnated with nitre. The river Tarnak is exceed- 
 ingly dirty, and its volume at this point is considerably 
 less than at Khushab, owing, no doubt, to the nume- 
 rous watercourses led from it for irrigation. 
 
 Sunday, \Qth Jan. Marched to Tirandaz, and then 
 turned up a ravine to the west to camp, 12 miles. A 
 brick pillar of some height set in lime is here, and 
 marks the spot where an arrow, shot by Ahmad Shah 
 Durani from a neighbouring hill, fell. 
 
 Monday, 20th Jan. Marched past the village of 
 Tut (the mill of the mulberry- tree), some 2 or 3 miles 
 13 miles in all a long march for camels, as the 
 ravines were more frequent, and much of the land was 
 irrigated. Heard from Firebrace, in London, dated 
 13th December, good going; and these mails must 
 have been delivered in Kurrachee direct, and come on 
 by special dak. Had a party at work on the Julaogir 
 pass, and arrived in camp very late. The camel-thorn 
 
KELAT-I-GHILZAI. 93 
 
 is said by Bellew to be a variety of Hedysarum, and 
 called by natives Khar-i-Shutur ; the camels eat it 
 greedily, and a large bush, thorns and all, disappears 
 in about three mouthfuls. 
 
 Tuesday, 2\st Jan. Marched to a point short of, 
 and nearly opposite, Pulsingi. A sowar of Olivier's 
 shot to-day. The man had lost the nose-bag, and, on 
 returning to find it, sat down in a nullah and made a 
 fire ; he was then apparently shot down close to the 
 road, and some of the 60th coming by, found the 
 body. On this march, it is said, we cross the boun- 
 dary between the Durani and Grhilzai territories. 
 
 Wednesday, 22nd Jan. Heard from Nursingpore, 
 dated 31st December. Arrived at Kelat-i-Ghilzai, and 
 inspected the fort with Sankey and Childers. Every- 
 thing in a most filthy state, and the houses in a dilapi- 
 dated condition. The walls are fairly in order. 
 
 There is a hill in the fort which acts as a cavalier 
 and on which a gun is mounted. This gun had been 
 lined on the road of our advance ; but during the prac- 
 tice to fix the range its carriage had broken. It is a 
 fine gun of good metal, probably a 12-pounder, with a 
 shot-mark on the base ring, and another on the cas- 
 cabel, probably from enfilade or ricochet. 
 
 Its dimensions are length over all, 7 feet 9 inches ; 
 from the muzzle to base-ring, 7 feet 1| inches; from 
 muzzle to trunnion, 3 feet 10 inches, the trunnion 
 being set on almost at a tangent to the bore. Bore 
 
94 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 4*5 inches ; circumference at the first reinforce, 2 feet 
 1 inch ; and circumference at the breech, 3 feet. It 
 bears the following inscription : " Hawa Allah subhan 
 aku. Waaz misu Allah wajuh he he. Aada ina baka 
 hira," in Arabic ; and below, in Persian " Ba far- 
 maesh Amir kabir khuld allah mulkuhu dar dar-ul- 
 sultanieh Herat i tamam yaft Almunazim Shahrwarie 
 aimal ustad Ibrahim Isfahani, Sun 1278," and which 
 being translated, means " May the Almighty Creator 
 give victory over infidels, and conquest to the true 
 believers. By order of the Amir Sher Nawaz Khan, 
 the firmly- seated Government of the kingdom, this 
 gun was cast in the kingdom of Herat, in the year of 
 the Hegira 1278 (a.d. 1860-61) by the head teacher of 
 smelting, Ibrahim of Ispahan/' 
 
 The garrison, it is said, decamped the day before the 
 cavalry brigade came up, and fled, westward of the 
 road, through the Grhilzai country, where they were 
 attacked and dispersed. 
 
 There are two curious springs of water, giving an 
 abundant supply, rising inside the fort, below the 
 northern face of the cavalier; its quality is said, 
 however, not to be good, but the existence of these 
 springs in an isolated hill formed of conglomerate and 
 sandstone, is curious, to say the least. The fort is of 
 a most irregular shape, with no proper flanking defence, 
 and the masses of rock lying about offer good shelter 
 for storming parties to form with safety. In other 
 
INSCRIPTION. THE FORT. 95 
 
 directions the fort can be approached almost clear of 
 the loop-hole fire, and we should have had no difficulty 
 in storming the fort and carrying it by a coup de main, 
 to say nothing of the artillery-fire we might have em- 
 ployed to breach it. There were but two guns in the 
 fort apparently, the second one being a 3-pounder, and 
 matchlocks would have caused us but a slight loss. 
 The western face was very weak, and on the hills 
 beyond this face were a series of outworks, very well 
 executed, which, had the enemy attempted to hold, 
 would have cost them their lives, and reduced the 
 garrison considerably. These outworks are said to 
 have been constructed by Azim Khan, against Sher 
 Ali's army, when the sons of Dost Mahomed, after his 
 death in 1863, were fighting for the kingdom. The 
 head man, a noted robber and thief, gave himself up to 
 Browne, but escaped the next day. 
 
 Thursday, 23rd Jan. Halt, made arrangements for 
 clearing and cleaning out the fort. 
 
 Friday, 2Ath Jan. A subahdar of the 12th Kelat-i- 
 Ghilzai regiment was presented in the fort to-day with 
 the Order of India and title of Sirdar Bahadoor. He 
 was one of the garrison of this fort in the first war, 
 under Col. Craigie, being then the pay havildar of his 
 regiment. He had three medals for that campaign, 
 one for Kelat-i-Ghilzai, one for Ghuzni and Kandahar, 
 and one for Ghuzni and Kabul; others for Central 
 India, N.W. Frontier, Bhootan, and Maharajpore. 
 
96 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 Provisions not readily obtainable, and a reconnoitring 
 party was ordered off towards Mirzan, in the Arghand- 
 ab valley, viz. 2 guns 11-11 It. A., 100 sabres 15th 
 Hussars, a squadron 19th Bengal Lancers, and a de- 
 tachment of Sappers. 
 
 Saturday , 25th Jan. Childers is off surveying the 
 fort. Haslett and Barton are with their companies at 
 work in the fort. Jerome and Foley are sketching in 
 the surrounding country, while Olivier is behind with 
 Barter's brigade at Juldak. A biting wind blew all 
 day. 
 
 Sunday, 26th Jan. Biting cold wind in the morning. 
 Call moved his park up into an enclosed orchard under 
 the walls of the fort, and the sick horses were, I be- 
 lieve, sent into the fort for shelter. The wind was so 
 severe that many moved their tents round ; but as soon 
 as they had done so, the wind veered and blew direct 
 from the opposite point of the compass. Had a kitchen 
 built, and dug out shelter-trenches for the nags. The 
 wind dropped in the afternoon, and the weather became 
 quite warm; but at night the wind rose again and 
 blew in every direction. The night was warm, and 
 many of our clothes had to be kicked off, the ther- 
 mometer as high as 57 about 11 p.m. 
 
 A second reconnoitring party started east for the 
 Arghasan valley, consisting of 2 guns 1 1-11 B.A., 100 
 sabres 15th Hussars, head-quarters and a squadron 
 8th B.C., 1 company 3rd Ghoorkas, and a party of 
 
EECONNOITEING. 97 
 
 Sappers. Foley going to do the survey. The object 
 being to see if there was no road or good connection 
 between our valley and the one by which the Bombay 
 column returned in 1840, leading direct south from 
 Ghuzni to Quetta. The remainder of the 8th B.C. 
 returned to Jaldak with Browne as Political. 
 
 Monday, 27th Jan. Weather still variable, ther- 
 mometer registering 37. Snow fell last night on the 
 adjacent hills, and a little in the plain. 
 
 Tuesday, 28th Jan. Thermometer during night 27, 
 and a biting wind during the day. The mail is reported 
 uncertain and unsafe ; men are stopped and stripped 
 and flogged, and some are killed. It is carried by two 
 of the Ghilzai horsemen, nicknamed " Catch'em alive 
 oh's ! M and the inhabitants of the districts through 
 which the post is so carried object, and consequently 
 maltreat them. We have certainly been some six days 
 without news, and then in came some papers, probably 
 a " Pioneer " of the 10th January, accompanied by one 
 of the 27th December. 
 
 Wednesday, 29th Jan. Thermometer during the 
 night, 25. Reports flying about of an increased mor- 
 tality among the camels. No more tobacco. Harrison 
 of Jacob's Rifles gave me a stick of cavendish, and to 
 make it go as far as possible, I told De Souza to buy 
 some of the local tobacco to mix with it ; this tobacco 
 is of a good smell, and light green in colour, but it 
 burns your mouth dreadfully. I now understand what 
 
 7 
 
98 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 the soldiers mean when they say they have been smoking 
 " Bhoosee." 
 
 Thursday, 30th Jan. Received a letter to-day from 
 Cecil Le M., with the 2nd Division at Girishk ; he had 
 opened it by mistake, and sent it to me ; the contents 
 were all abont canals and bunds. I looked at the 
 address, and the letter no doubt was meant for John 
 Le M., the Superintending Engineer for Irrigation in 
 Sind, so I sent it to him as a relic to be preserved of 
 this expedition. Rogers and Savage started off to the 
 hills, east of this, for survey and signalling. Olivier 
 rejoined us and began surveying. The reconnoitring 
 party in the Arghasan valley will probably work down 
 south, filling in as much information as they can 
 between the two known routes, which are clearly shown 
 on Wilson's map, and the Arghand-ab party will work 
 down that valley towards Kandahar. Hobday, of the 
 Commissariat, when out foraging to-day came to a vil- 
 lage, and was desired not to enter a particular house by 
 the owner at the door, who represented that his wife 
 was in the pains of labour, and truly enough there 
 were cries enough to warrant belief in the assertion ; 
 one of the escort, however, suggested that it would be 
 as well if H. saw for himself what was going on inside, 
 and on his entering the doorway, the woman cast off 
 her coverings and fled hastily from the room. Sure 
 enough a child was found under the blankets on the 
 floor, but it was at least a year old, and this raised a 
 
REPORTED GATHERING. 99 
 
 suspicion. Search was made, and under the very 
 spot in the house the grain was found stored. A 
 similar excuse put off one of Gen. Fane's foraging 
 parties, but a brawling woman or an infant well 
 wrapped up will now be looked upon as a certain 
 find. 
 
 Reports are current that Afghan troops are assembled 
 at Ghuzni, the travellers saying that Daoud Shah and 
 Wali Mahommed are both there ; this is not at all im- 
 probable, for in the reporter's letter from the Kurram 
 force, both these men are reported to be hovering about 
 south of Kabul with their troops on the 31st of Decem- 
 ber ; if so, and the weather holds up, now will be the 
 time for them to have a try with either of the recon- 
 noitring parties, or even with Hughes' brigade, which 
 remains here. My camel-driver recognised Childers' 
 camel among some employed by the A.-B., R.H.A., 
 and after some discussion, Childers was allowed to 
 keep it. 
 
 Browne before he left let me take two of the jezails 
 or matchlocks, which he had collected from some of 
 the villagers. The weapons are clumsy, with large 
 flint locks, and each carries a rest fixed to the barrel. 
 One of the barrels is rifled and one a smooth bore. 
 The belts contain wooden cases for the powder charges, 
 bullets, knives, and a flint and steel. These arms are 
 carried by the retainers of the different chiefs, who 
 form an irregular body, like what our Shikarries would 
 
 7 * 
 
100 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 be in India 'if regularly employed. This class have to 
 hold forts and thannahs, and receive a free grant of 
 land in lieu of pay. The ijezailchis, who are retained 
 by the Government, and receive nominally lis. 5 a 
 month (paid in grain) are considered by Lumsden to 
 be as good skirmishers in hill warfare as any in the 
 world, and it is a current remark in the country that a 
 good jezailchi on a hill-side will conceal himself behind 
 his own grass sandals. 
 
 The Ghilzais are acknowledged to be the hardiest 
 and bravest of their race, and, it is said, that they have 
 been so harried and taxed by Shir Ali, that they had 
 intended to migrate with all their families, some thirty 
 thousand souls, westward, in search of a more peaceful 
 home. With such a clan and taking in one section of 
 the tribe (for the southern is divided against and bit- 
 terly hates the northern), it was quite possible for the 
 English Government (their quarrel being with Shir Ali 
 alone) to have headed these men with a few selected 
 officers and ousted Shir Ali from his throne without em- 
 ploying British troops, at all events on the Quetta army 
 line via Kandahar. Whatever intrigues Russia may have 
 set on foot to draw the British into Afghanistan would 
 have been completely frustrated, when troops or tribes 
 beyond our frontier were employed by us to settle our 
 plans. Such a course would have resulted in a Ghilzai 
 chief becoming de facto ruler or Amir, and been more 
 or less a repetition of the instalment of Shah Shuja 
 
THE GHILZAIS. A " G^A^Y0. i9 101 
 
 by the British in 1839. A mistake,. ho doubt; but stitf 
 this Ghilzai chief might have held his own and ruled 
 the country, as Dost Mohammed did for the twenty 
 years preceding his death. Securing the Khyber and 
 Kurram valleys with our own troops, we might with a 
 garrison at Quetta have safely left the Ghilzai to rule 
 from Kabul to Kandahar as our ally. 
 
 Sunday } 2nd Feb. We turned our steps towards 
 Kandahar and marched fifteen miles against a cutting 
 wind loaded with fine dust, miserable work, and one 
 and all more or less down in the dumps. Brigadier 
 Hughes has been left behind at Kelat-i- Ghilzai with 
 G.-4, R.A., head-quarters and half-battalion 59th, head- 
 quarters and half-battalion 12th B.N.I. , head-quarters 
 and wing 19th Bengal Lancers, 9th company Sappers 
 and Miners under Barton, with Browne as Political. 
 The Engineer Field Park was left with Barton, and 
 Call joined head-quarters. 
 
 The remainder of 11-11, B.A., Rogers and Olivier, 
 with a detachment of Sappers, going off into the 
 Arghand-ab to join the reconnoitring party in that 
 valley and work their way surveying southward towards 
 Kandahar. 
 
 Met Browne when we halted, and he described to me 
 his successful "chappao" or raid from three points 
 and embracing some twelve villages, in which he secured 
 the men of the villages concerned in robbing our mails. 
 The man, however, who escaped after delivering him- 
 
102 KANDAHAE IN 1879. 
 
 gelf up ab Rela^i-tGniJzai was not caught. I think 
 Browne's is a hard office, he is hand and glove with 
 the Ghilzais, and whatever influence he may have 
 over them must wane when they see our force quietly 
 leaving the valley and returning to Kandahar after 
 accomplishing so little. 
 
 Monday, 3rd Feb. Marched on to a spot short of 
 Tirandaz; the air during the day being quite soft and 
 like a spring day in England. I noticed to-day that 
 the strong-smelling bush, which all have called southern 
 wood, was throwing out green leaves and shoots, and 
 on plucking some, I should call it nothing more nor less 
 than the ' ' old man w plant of our English gardens, or 
 at all events it smells uncommonly like the old gentle- 
 man. The fields appear to be greener, and there is no 
 doubt that with a little rain the land will look less 
 sterile and discomforting than at present. Jerome and 
 Childers are out on survey. The foraging party to-day 
 discovered the bhoosa to be stored away below ground, 
 and covered up with dung and litter heaps ; another 
 phase of the woman- an d-baby dodge. There is forage 
 in the country, and it is only natural that the villagers 
 should wish to keep it until their spring harvest is 
 gathered. 
 
 Tuesday } 4th Feb. A cloudy night and patter-patter 
 on our tents told us of snow and sleet ; the morning 
 broke very cloudy ; the ground, for we were all in a 
 ploughed field, was mucky to a degree, and at 8 a.m. 
 
SOUTHERN-WOOD. SNOW. 103 
 
 the orders were passed for a halt. Servants and wood 
 wet through, cooking at a discount, and as miser- 
 able a plight as one could wish to be in. The weather 
 brightened for an hour, and one can only feel thankful 
 that till now we have been so lucky as to keep dry. 
 The wind rose and helped to make affairs worse, and 
 this may be only the beginning of what we expected 
 very much earlier on our march. The Commissariat 
 are out of wood, camels are dying off, and move we 
 must before long if we want to get out of our trip 
 with any chance of success. Books there are but 
 few, and those few as soon as seen are seized on by 
 men without a conscience. I have just secured Hough's 
 report on the progress of the Army of the Indus, of 
 which there is one copy in camp, and by snatches I 
 have managed to read Lumsden's " Mission to Kan- 
 dahar." Why the information in both these books 
 has not been boiled down and circulated to officers 
 is a mystery, and a study of these reports would have 
 saved us many mistakes. 
 
 Wednesday , 5th Feb. Halt, Biluch turned up to-day 
 from Dadur, delighted at having joined us again after 
 an absence of two months and a week. He experienced 
 difficulty in getting forward, and he had no idea where I 
 was beyond the fact that I was in front of him; his stories 
 of the road are most amusing ; the camel is in first-rate 
 trim, and shows how attentive this old Shikarrie has 
 been to his charge. 
 
104 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 Thursday, 6th Feb. Gen. Barter and part of the 
 brigade to halt while the head-quarters and escort 
 march to a place about two miles south of Tiran- 
 daz. Camels very late in coming in, though the march 
 was easy; some had also to be sent back to bring 
 on the baggage we had left behind. I cannot get 
 any particulars of the loss in camels, and I doubt if 
 the tale will ever be told. Biluch is great on the 
 camel transport; he says the Sarkar do everything 
 at the wrong time, and that in feeding the camels 
 now the evil will not be mitigated, for their hearts 
 are broken, but if at the outset we had fed and 
 clothed them, and given them light loads, not a camel 
 would have died, with even such bad grazing as there 
 has been. I quite agree with him, and the maximum 
 luad for an expedition I have no hesitation in fixing 
 at three maunds ; many, I know, consider this absurd, 
 but they forget that not only have you to get your 
 stores forward, but the animal's life is to be preserved 
 as well. The sunset this evening was magnificent, all 
 gold, with beautiful tints on the hills around, making 
 them almost crimson red, the aspect towards the north 
 or east being just the reverse, all cold and watery with 
 drifting clouds. 
 
 Friday, 7th Feb. Black frost last night, but no 
 wind. The reports of increased mortality among the 
 camels continue ; pitched on our old camping-ground, 
 Shahr-i-safa. 
 
CAMELS. MAXIMUM LOAD. 105 
 
 Saturday, 8th Feb. Left at 9 a.m.., very cold and 
 a hard frost ; rode the camel and turned off up to the 
 hills about half-way, found all the fields cultivated and 
 well irrigated, wheat was coming up and the thorn 
 bushes all in bloom, bearing a small pink flower like 
 hawthorn at home, but the flower was more bell-like. 
 Pitched at Khel Akhoond. 
 
 Sunday, 9th Feb. Rode the camel across the hills 
 to the Kandahar plain and then round east to Robat. 
 Haslett with some of his men came across a tolah of 
 thirty deer. Dined with the 15th Hussars. 
 
 Monday, 10th Feb. Forward to Momun, but left 
 15th Hussars and the battery, and Haslett's company 
 of Sappers. Rode the camel and turned off to the 
 river ; saw a lot of ducks and geese, very wild, and 
 getting up at three hundred or four hundred yards. 
 In going down to the stream a couple of wild duck 
 (A. boschas) got up out of the bushes and flew up 
 stream, watched them down and then rode after them, 
 hiding behind a rock while Biluch took the camel round 
 and above them. The old mallard was very wary, 
 popping out in the stream to see what the camel was 
 doing. Biluch came on very quietly grazing the camel, 
 and at last out came the mallard and his wife, floating 
 down with the full force of the stream ; I had my gun 
 lined on a particular point, and in about a minute bang 
 went the right barrel, a terrible splash, and up got the 
 mallard flying across to the left, but the left barrel 
 
106 KANDAHAE IN 1879. 
 
 toppled him over back into the river ; such a chase we 
 had, until at last Biluch jumped into the water and 
 secured them both. 
 
 Tuesday, Wth Feb. Marched into Kandahar and 
 pitched in a garden, inhabited lately, they say, by the 
 widow of Mahomed Amin Khan, who has gone off with 
 Mir Afsul Khan towards Herat. Went into the fort 
 and called at the post office and received one parcel 
 from England by the mail which arrived in Bombay on 
 December 13th, say two months ago. The fort is 
 wonderfully improved and a great deal more clean. 
 Met Protheroe, who is here as an A.D.C. to the General, 
 and heard that a gymkhana was going on in Gen. 
 NuttalPs camp. Weather temperate. 
 
107 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Amin Khan's garden. Chronology. Kahm-dil Khan's garden. 
 Shooting. Site for camp. 
 
 Wednesday, \2th Feb. The rumours of a division of 
 forces, some going back and some remaining, now con- 
 firmed. As far as we can learn, the Engineers will 
 remain with the General, and some of the troops return 
 direct to India by the Bolan, while others are to accom- 
 pany Sandeman, and others to await Gen. Biddulph for 
 the purpose of establishing the Tul Chotiali road. The 
 weather here is quite temperate, the fields are under 
 plough and being sown, the trees are all budding, and 
 in a short time the general aspect of the place will 
 change. The garden where we are is marked out in 
 plots, with clover sown, and a small blue flower; some 
 portions have spinach; there is running water all 
 round, and the area is studded with fruit-trees. On 
 
108 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 one side is a range of apartments and subsidiary 
 offices, and on the east and west other apartments are 
 available in the open buildings, the whole being enclosed 
 in a high wall very similar to many of the serais or 
 pleasure gardens in Upper India. 
 
 Bisset sent us over a pat of butter this morning, a 
 most acceptable present ; the bread, for a wonder, is 
 properly cooked, and the meal passes over with a sense 
 of comfort ; good bread and butter means a good deal 
 at all times, but it means something considerable after 
 a fortnight's ration of stuff which is more like putty 
 than veritable unleavened bread ; the bread we have 
 been having and the water combined will probably 
 account for all the sickness. 
 
 As regards the rulers and succession, having read 
 Lumsden's " Mission," and also rapidly glanced through 
 Hough, I can give the following outline : 
 
 It is said that Dost Mahommed had twenty brothers 
 or more, and it is of interest to get these names and 
 connect them with different events. Of the brothers 
 the eldest was Mahommed Azim Khan, Governor of 
 Cabul, who died at Cabul, 1823, shortly after defeat 
 of the Yusufzais by Runjit Singh at Nowshera. His 
 son was Sultan Jan. 
 
 (2.) Pir Mahommed Khan *) Called Peshawary 
 
 (3.) Sultan Mahommed Khan) brothers. 
 
 (4.) Dost Mahommed Khan, born 1783, died June 
 1863. 
 
CHRONOLOGY. | 109 
 
 (5.) Rahm-dil Khan,, ex-ruler of Kandahar. 
 
 (6.) Kohundil Khan, died 1854, Kandahar. 
 
 (7.) Sirdar Pandil Khan, whose grand- daughter mar- 
 ried Shere Ali and gave birth to Abdulla Jan. 
 
 (8.) Mihr-dil Khan. 
 
 (5, 6, 7, 8, are brothers, who shared profits of 
 Kandahar when Fath Khan was murdered, 
 1818.) 
 
 (9.) Pir-dil Khan (?) 
 
 (10.) Jubbar Khan (?) 
 
 (11.) Fath Khan (?) 
 
 Yar Mahommed Khan (?) 
 
 (12.) Sher-dil Khan (?) and others. 
 
 I am uncertain about some of these, but it is near 
 enough for our purpose. 
 
 Dost Mahommed Khan (4) is of course the principal 
 figure, so we will trace his sons, as given by Lumsden. 
 He had by a Bangash mother, a daughter of a Malik of 
 the Tori village of Chilazan in Kurram : 
 
 (1.) Sirdar Mahommed Afzal Khan, ruler of Balkh, 
 1850, whose son is Abdul Rahman Khan. 
 
 (2.) Mahommed Azim Khan, at Cabul 1857, the 
 Governor of Khost Tummut and Kurram, had five sons. 
 
 (3.) Wali Mahommed Khan, Governor of Akcha. 
 
 (4.) Faiz Mahommed Khan, Artillery, Cabul. 
 
 By a Populzai mother, daughter of Haji Rahmut- 
 ullah (whose sister was one of the wives of Shah 
 Sujah) : 
 
110 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 (5.) Sardar Mahommed Akbar Khan, Dost Mahom- 
 med's favourite son, and heir-apparent, died in Cabul, 
 1848, leaving two sons (Sardar Fath Mahommed Khan, 
 who was appointed by Shir Ali to Kelat-i-Ghilzai, and 
 afterwards to Kandahar in 1858, born 1833, and having 
 a son, Mahommed Azim Khan, born 1851 or 1852; and 
 Jallamdin Khan, Governor of Zamindowar and Girishk, 
 born 1838). 
 
 (6.) Sardar Gholam Haidar Khan, born 1823, ap- 
 pointed heir-apparent 1848, was at Kandahar 1856-57, 
 went to Cabul 1858, and died before 1863. 
 
 (7.) Shir Ali Khan, Governor of Ghazni, who had 
 two sons by a Populzai mother (Mahommed Ali Khan 
 and Ibrahim Khan), also other sons, Yakub Khan, 
 lately ruling at Cabul, Faiz Mahommed (who was killed 
 by (8) Amin Khan at the battle of Kujhbak, 1865 ; the 
 death of this favourite son sent Shir Ali mad for a 
 time), and Abdulla Jan (who died a few years ago). 
 
 (8.) Mahommed Amin Khan, Governor of Kohistan ; 
 two sons. 
 
 (9.) Mahommed Sharif Khan, Governor of Mukur 
 and Alikhel. 
 
 By a Sadozai mother : 
 
 (10.) Ahmad Khan } 
 
 (11.) Mahommed Zaman Khan L ^^J"~ 
 
 (12.) Mahommed Asman Khan J 
 
 By a Persian mother: 
 
 (13.) Mahommed Aslam Khan, or Lord of Bamian. 
 
CHEONOLOGY. Ill 
 
 (14.) Mahommed Hasan Khan ; at Cabul. 
 
 (15.) Mahommed Hussein Khan ; allowance at 
 Cabul. 
 
 (16.) Mahommed Karim Khan j residing at Cabul. 
 
 By a Hazara mother : 
 
 (17.) Faiz-ullah Khan; residence in Cabul. 
 
 By a Ghilzai mother, sister of Mahommed Aziz Khan, 
 Ghilzai : 
 
 (18.) Mahommed Yusuf ; receiving an allowance. 
 
 By the daughter of Nazir Khair-ullah : 
 
 (19.) 
 
 (20.) 
 
 (21.) Mahommed Ikram Khan (?); died 1855 at 
 Balkh, whose sons were Shahsam Khan and Shahbaz 
 Khan. 
 
 Dost Mahommed died in 1 863, Shir Ali having been 
 chosen previously from the remainder of the sons as 
 heir-apparent. He was not the rightful heir either by 
 the Mahommed an law or the custom of the country. 
 
 I now give briefly a table, taken from Lumsden and 
 Hough, showing the fortunes of the country : 
 
 536 b.c. Afghanistan formed eastern portion of 
 Medo-Persian empire founded by Cyrus. 
 
 330 b.c. Defeat of Darius by Alexander; Afghan- 
 istan became satrapy of Grecian monarchy. 
 
 312 B.c. Alexander's death at Babylon; the western 
 portion of his country came under Salukide dynasty 
 founded by Salukas Nikator. 
 
112 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 250 b.c. Parthians, under Arbaces, displaced Saluk- 
 ides. 
 
 226 b.c. Parthians gave place to Sassanides. 
 
 651 a.d. Sassanides overthrown by Arabs or Sara- 
 cens. 
 
 Early part of eighth century. Arabs overthrown by 
 Sabaktagin the Tartar, who in 
 
 975 a.d. founded Ghazni. 
 
 997 a.d. Sabaktagin succeeded by his son Mahmood 
 Ghaznavine, who conquered Hindostan and Delhi, 
 
 1011 A.D. 
 
 1027 a.d. Mahmood died at Ghazni, leaving it the 
 metropolis of an empire extending from the Tigris to 
 the Ganges. 
 
 At Mahmood's death, Mohammed his son succeeded, 
 to be deposed by his twin brother Masaud ; internal 
 feuds arose, lasting many years, and characterised the 
 reigns of successive sovereigns of this dynasty till its 
 final overthrow and extinction in the person of Khusro 
 Malik, who was slain at Lahore by Mohammed, a 
 cousin of Allahuddin the Ghoride. 
 
 1151 a.d. Suri captured. 
 
 1184 a.d. Sabaktagin dynasty overthrown by Mah- 
 mud Ghori who sacked and burnt Ghazni. 
 
 1193 a.d. The Afghans from being the subjects 
 became the rulers, and established their dynasty at 
 Delhi in the person of Ibrahim Loe or Lodi. 
 
 1214 a.d. Mahmood Ghori died. 
 
CHEONOLOGY. 113 
 
 1222 a.d. Afghanistan invaded by Genghis Khan. 
 
 1389 a.d. Afghanistan invaded by Tamerlane, domi- 
 nions curtailed and possessed by invaders. 
 
 1515 a.d. Baber conquered Afghanistan. 
 
 1525 a.d. Afghan dynasty overthrown ; Baber took 
 Delhi, and established the Mughal or Turko-Persian 
 dynasty in Hindostan. 
 
 1530 a.d. Baber died, and from that time the country 
 was possessed alternately by Mughals and Persians up 
 to 
 
 1736 a.d. when Nadir Shah conquered Afghanistan. 
 1737 a.d. Nadir Shah captured Delhi and massacred 
 people. 
 
 1747 a.d. Nadir Shah murdered at Meshed on return 
 from India. 
 
 1747 a.d October. Ahmad Khan, an Afghan chief 
 of the tribe Abdal, Sudozai, an officer in Nadir's 
 army, proclaimed king as "Ahmad Shah," Durr-i- 
 Durran. 
 
 1761 a.d. 7th January. Battle of Paniput, fatal to 
 the Mahratta power. 
 
 1773 a.d. Ahmad Shah died, aged fifty, and suc- 
 ceeded by his son Taimur, aged twenty-seven. 
 
 1793 a.d. Taimur died at Cabul and succeeded by 
 Zaman his son. 
 
 1800 a.d. Zaman deposed and blinded by his half- 
 brother Mahmud, who succeeded to the throne. 
 
 1803 a.d. Mahmud imprisoned by Zaman Shah's full- 
 
 8 
 
114 KANDAHAffc IN 1879. 
 
 brother Shah Shuja -ul-Mulk, who commenced his 
 reign. 
 
 1809 a.d. Shah Shuja fled ; rebellion led by Fath 
 Khan, a Barakzai. 
 
 1810 a.d. Mahmnd reinstated by Fath Khan, who 
 became Wazir, while Fath Khan's brothers (? nephews) 
 Dost Mahommed Khan was Governor of Cabul and 
 Kohn-dil Khan was Governor of Kandahar. 
 
 1818 a.d. Fath Khan murdered by Kamran, Mah- 
 mud's son; the country became divided into independent 
 chiefships Mahmud being at Herat, Dost Mahommed 
 at Cabul, and Kohn-dil Khan at Kandahar. 
 
 1820 a.d. Mahmud died, and Kamran succeeded 
 him. 
 
 These were the three rulers at Herat, Cabul, and 
 Kandahar in 1839, when Shah Shuja was reinstated by 
 the British. 
 
 1841-^2 a.d. Shah Shuja murdered at Cabul. 
 
 I will now continue the three kingdoms separately, 
 first taking Herat : 
 
 1842 a.d. Kamran was murdered by his Wazir, Yar 
 Mahommed Khan, Alikozai. 
 
 1852 a.d. Yar Mahommed died. 
 
 1855 a.d. Syud Mahommed Khan displaced. 
 
 1855 a.d. Mahommed Yusuf Khan, Sadozai, de- 
 throned after three months. 
 
 1855 a.d. Isakhan Badurrani called in Persian 
 aid. 
 
CHRONOLOGY. 115 
 
 1856 a.d. Persians took Herat, leading to Persian 
 war. 
 
 1857 a.d. 4th March. British and Persian treaty. 
 
 1857 a.d. 27th July. Persians evacuate Herat, when 
 Sultan Ahmad Khan, Barakzai, known as Sultan Jan, 
 Dost Mahommed' s nephew, was put in. 
 
 Next at Kandahar : 
 
 This, at the murder Of Fath Khan, became inde- 
 pendent under Kohn-dil Khan, who shared the profits 
 with his brothers. 
 
 1854 a.d. Kohn-dil Khan died, and Dost Mahommed 
 at Cabul annexed the province on discovering that his 
 brother Rahm-dil Khan was intriguing to make Kan- 
 dahar Persian. 
 
 1855 a.d. 30th March. Sirdar Gholam Haidar Khan 
 (6) treating with British on part of Amir. 
 
 Kelat-i-Ghilzai rebuilt, and Gholam Haidar left in 
 charge. 
 
 1858 a.d. 1st March. Gholam Haidar Khan leaves 
 Kandahar to join Amir at Cabul, and Fath Mahom- 
 med Khan, the son of Mahommed Akbar Khan (5), 
 grand-nephew of Dost Mahommed, rules. 
 
 1865 a.d. Sirdar Mir Afzal Khan, the son of Sirdar 
 Pardil Khan, Governor, and nephew of Dost Mahom- 
 med ; his daughter married Shir Ali, and gave birth 
 to Abdulla Jan. 
 
 1879 a.d. 7th January. Mir Afzal bolted towards 
 Herat, 
 
 8 * 
 
116 KANDAHAB IN 1879. 
 
 1879 a.d. 9th January. Gen. Stewart's column 
 entered Kandahar. 
 
 Now at Cabul : 
 
 After the murder of Shah Shuja, Dost Mahommed 
 Khan, who had surrendered to the British, was released; 
 he returned to Cabul and restored order. 
 
 1850 a.d. Balkh annexed to Cabul, Sirdar Mahommed 
 Afzal Khan, Dost Mahommed' s eldest son, being made 
 ruler. 
 
 1854 a.d. Kandahar annexed to Cabul. 
 
 Ib57 a.d. 6th January. Treaty between Amir and 
 Commissioner, Peshawur. 
 
 1857 a.d. 13th March. Lumsden's Mission to Kan- 
 dahar. 
 
 1857 a.d. 1st April. Peshawari brothers urge Dost 
 Mahommed to wage a religious war to re-establish 
 Mahommedan supremacy in Asia at the time of Indian 
 Mutiny, but his son Mahommed Azim Khan (2) 
 persuaded Dost Mahommed to do no such thing. 
 
 1858 a.d. 15th May. Lumsden's Mission returns to 
 avoid chance of disturbance from the return of Rahm- 
 dil Khan, the ex-ruler of Kandahar, to that city on his 
 leaving Afghanistan for Mecca. 
 
 1863 a.d. Dost Mahommed dies, and Shir Ali suc- 
 ceeds him. 
 
 1865 a.d. Battle of Kujhbak. Faiz Mahommed, 
 Shir Air's favourite son, killed. 
 
 1866 a.d. Battle of Shaikhabad ; Shir Ali defeated, 
 
CHRONOLOGY. 117 
 
 and fled to Kandahar, 10th May. Afzal Khan, Dost 
 Mahommed's son (1), ruled Afghanistan with exception 
 of Kandahar and Herat. 
 
 1867 a.d. Lord Lawrence recognises Afzal Khan and 
 Shir Ali as rulers of such portions of Afghanistan as hap- 
 pened at the time to be in their respective possession. 
 
 1867 a.d. Afzal Khan died, and Azim Khan (2), 
 Dost Mahommed's son, recognised as Amir at Cabul 
 by Indian Government. 
 
 1868 a.d. Shir Ali defeats Abdul Rahman and re- 
 enters his capital in September. 
 
 1869 A..D. Umballa durbar. 
 
 1876 a.d. Pelly's interviews at Peshawur. 
 
 1878 a.d. Chamberlain's Mission turned back, and 
 despatch by British of three forces via Khyber, Kurum, 
 and Quetta. 
 
 1879 a.d. Shir Ali fled from Cabul into Turkestan, 
 and his son Yakub rules for him. 
 
 Before going any further, there is a note in Bellew's 
 book, page 76, which I may add. It says that the 
 Afghans had Ghor as their stronghold k till 1170 a.d., 
 when one of the chiefs or princes succeeded in over- 
 throwing the Ghaznivind dynasty, which was esta- 
 blished by Sabaktagin in 997 a.d. It was during the 
 reign of Sahabu-d-din, a Ghoride prince, and more 
 than a century after the overthrow of the Ghazni 
 dynasty by that of Ghor, that the provinces around 
 Ghazni, viz. Kandahar, Kabul, Bajawur, Swat, Ash- 
 
118 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 nagar, and Koh-i-Sulaiman, and the country as far as 
 Bakkar and Multan, were colonised by Afghans who 
 were for this purpose brought from Ghor with their 
 families and flocks by order of Sahabu-d-din. The 
 country occupied by these provinces that is, from Ba- 
 jawur on the north to Bakkar on the south, from 
 Kandahar on the west to Abba Sin or Indus on the 
 east was called " Boh/' which has the same meaning 
 as " Koh," and means a mountain or highland ; while 
 its people are Rohillas, a term which is commonly 
 applied to Afghans by the people of Hindustan. 
 
 To return, however, to the later events connected 
 with Dost Mahommed and Shir Ali. Previous to 
 Amir-i-Kabir Dost Mahommed, the succession was 
 hereditary in the Sadozai branch of the Abdalli tribe 
 of which Ahmad Shah Durrani, the first real and 
 independent King of Afghanistan, was founder. 
 
 The fact that Dost Mahommed ruled by power and not 
 by right, and that his nomination of Shir Ali was not 
 according to law, may have led to all the turmoil which 
 took place at Dost Mahommed's death. These dis- 
 turbances and family quarrels are so admirably described 
 in an article in " Blackwood" for November 1878, that 
 I cannot do better than enter some notes I made when 
 reading it. 
 
 Shir Ali succeeded his father as Amir in June 1863. 
 In January 1864 Afzal Khan at Balkh and Azim Khan 
 in Khost and Kurram were acting independently of 
 
CHEONOLOGY. 119 
 
 Cabul, and in the spring expeditions were sent against 
 them. 
 
 In May 1864 Azim Khan fled to British territory, 
 and Shir Ali became reconciled with Afzal Khan, 
 whereby he was allowed to retain the government of 
 Balkh; but Afzal's son Abdul Rahman Khan would 
 not join in the submission but fled beyond the Oxus. 
 Shir Ali then threw Afzal Khan into prison. 
 
 Insurrections took place. During winter of 1864-65 
 Amin Khan and another brother, with a nephew 
 of Shir Air's, were organising a revolt in Kandahar. 
 Azim Khan, in British territory, also was stirring up 
 the frontier tribes, and Abdul Rahman was levying 
 a Bokhariat army for invasion. 
 
 During summer 1865 Shir Ali was fighting on every 
 side for his throne. In June at Kujhbak he routed 
 his two brothers and nephew who held Kandahar, but 
 lost his favourite son Faiz Mahommed, who was pistolled 
 by Amin Khan. The loss o this son, they say, he 
 never got over. 
 
 As the same time Abdul Rahman started from Bo- 
 khara with his followers to release his father Afzal 
 Khan. Balkh yielded to him, and many of Shir Air's 
 most trusted officers joined him. Azim Khan joined 
 him from British territory and took command, and 
 before Christmas they were round Cabul, gaining pos- 
 session of it by end of February 1866 from Shir Air's 
 second son, Ibrahim Khan. 
 
120 KANDAHAE IN 1879. 
 
 On 10th May 1866 Abdul Rahman defeated Shir 
 Ali at Shaikhabad. Shir Ali fled to Kandahar, and 
 Afzal Khan was released from Ghazni and seated on 
 the throne, ruling Afghanistan with the exception of 
 Kandahar and Herat. 
 
 Afzal Khan broke down in mind and resolution, and 
 Azim Khan directed the policy of the country. 
 
 Azim Khan had noticed the southerly march and 
 approach of the Russians and their crossing the 
 Jaxartes, and overtures were made for British assist- 
 ance. It would have been well to have met (it is said) 
 then and established the Afzal Khan faction, but Lord 
 Lawrence, whose policy was non-intervention, felt 
 obliged, in writing to Azim Khan, to acknowledge the 
 existing arrangements with Shir Ali and still to treat 
 him as the ruler of that portion of Afghanistan over 
 which he retained control, recognising, in fact, two rulers 
 in Afghanistan, an Amir de jure and an Amir de facto. 
 
 Such a reply was resented by Afzal Khan's durbar ; 
 but a renewed application was made to India in 1866-67, 
 when Afzal Khan was told in reply not to mix himself 
 up with affairs beyond the Oxus. 
 
 Troubles again arose in Balkh at the end of 1866, 
 and Azim the brother and Abdul Rahman the son then 
 began to quarrel who should rule for Afzal in the name 
 of the Amir. 
 
 At Herat Yakub Khan was holding on vigorously in 
 favour of his father's, Shir AH's, cause. 
 
CHRONOLOGY. 121. 
 
 In January 1867 AfzaFs forces gained a decisive 
 victory at Kelat-i-Ghilzai, and a further appeal was made 
 to India, and Lord Lawrence again recognised both 
 Afzal and Shir Ali as rulers over their respective por- 
 tions. 
 
 Afzal Khan died, and Azim Khan was recognised as 
 the Amir at Cabul by the Government at Calcutta. 
 
 Abdul Rahman again fights Shir Ali in 1868 ; the 
 tide of fortune turns by his son Yakub's assistance. 
 Shir Ali gains back step by step and re-enters his 
 capital in triumph in September 1868. 
 
 While we were doing nothing from 1863-68, Russia 
 had been at work. After the Crimean war her enter- 
 prise was turned to Asia, and Russian outposts were 
 gradually stretched along the Jaxartes. 
 
 By 1863 Turkestan, Chemkend, and Tashkend were 
 in her possession, and a footing obtained in Khojend, 
 and a firm border was found in the settled province of 
 Khokand. 
 
 Russia about this time promised that the Jaxartes 
 and Lake Isikol, with the town of Chemkend, should 
 be settled as the southern line, but shortly afterwards 
 over-ran Khokand and embroiled itself with Bokhara, 
 turning the Khan of that district into a feudatory of 
 Russia and annexing his territory. 
 
 In 1866 the approach of the Russians to Samarcand 
 alarmed the Indian Government, who thought Russia 
 would soon be on the Oxus ; and as the safety of India 
 
122 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 depended on a strong Government at Cabul, Lord Law- 
 rence yielded up his policy ; but it was not really till 
 the arrival of Lord Mayo that our relations with Shir 
 Ali began to be characterised by an active interest in 
 his welfare and by a kindly feeling towards the Afghan 
 tribes. 
 
 In 1869 the Amir came to the durbar at Umballa. 
 Lord Mayo gave assistance in money and arms, and 
 assured Shir Ali that he would be maintained against 
 his rivals and in the succession of his line. At this 
 time Azim Khan had died, and Abdul Rahman was a 
 refugee beyond the Oxus. 
 
 The Government of India checked Shir Ali's hostile 
 attitude to the Russian advance, and his swagger 
 was taken occasion of by Russia to call the British 
 Government to account ; and while the British Go- 
 vernment proposed Afghanistan as a neutral zone, 
 Russia pushed up the Attrek to positions where she 
 could command Merv and Meshed, and be ready 
 to seize Herat. 
 
 In 1873 the Khivan expedition took place, and the 
 bargain into which the Gladstone Government allowed 
 itself to be cajoled was, in plain English, that if Russia 
 engaged to avoid armed interference, we would be 
 responsible that the Amir and his subjects should give 
 her no cause of offence. 
 
 The Amir Shir Ali was now bent on passing over 
 Yakub Khan in favour of Abdulla Jan. The Govern- 
 
CHKONOLOGY. 123 
 
 ment of India gave Shir Ali no encouragement to 
 crush Yakub when he rebelled in 1870 ; and in 1871, 
 on Lord Mayo's letters, Yakub was permitted to return 
 to Cabul, and peace was restored. 
 
 Soon after Lord Mayo's death, Yakub Khan again 
 fell out of favour and was kept under surveillance. 
 
 The Seistan difficulty between Persia and Afghanistan 
 was settled and left Shir Ali free; and in 1873 Shir Ali 
 renewed his application to Lord Northbrook for an 
 offensive and defensive alliance. This proposal was 
 coldly received, and a mistake was made in sending 
 direct to the Wakhan chief a letter and presents in 
 return for his kindness to the Yarkand Mission, instead 
 of through the suzerain Shir Ali. 
 
 Lord Lytton endeavoured to revive English in- 
 fluence. Quetta was occupied and the Khan of Kelat 
 secured. The death of Abdulla Jan produced a great 
 effect on Shir Ali. His vacillation between India and 
 Russia terminated at the Berlin Conference. He noted 
 Gladstone's repudiation of the Turks, and the Radical 
 outcry for their abandonment, also the strong Op- 
 position policy in England; and Shir Ali must have 
 considered that he would be left to his fate before the 
 ever- advancing wave of Russian aggression. 
 
 In the end of 1876 Pelly interviewed Amir's repre- 
 sentative at Peshawur, and offered the offensive and 
 defensive alliance in return for British officers being 
 allowed free access to Russian frontier. Too late ; for 
 
124 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 it was then found that Shir Ali was too fully com- 
 mitted to Russia to accept our terms. 
 
 Russia began to act when she saw England 
 become the arbiter in the European quarrel, and sent 
 the Russian envoy to Cabul their intrigue being ad- 
 vanced and Amir won over by favouring Abdulla Jan 
 while the English favoured Yakub Khan. Such was 
 StolietofPs Mission. Sir Neville Chamberlain's Mission 
 and its failure followed ; and Shir Ali stood out in his 
 true colours as an enemy of the Indian Government. 
 Followed by the despatch of our three forces via Khyber, 
 Kurum, and Quetta. 
 
 Thursday, }Zth Feb. Gen. Primrose came to see 
 me ; had a long chat about old Bombay friends ; wrote 
 English letters. Tobacco arrived ; Commissariat issued 
 a pound to each officer for 12 annas or Is. 6d. Bhoosa 
 (chopped straw) run short. 
 
 Friday, 14/^ Feb. Rain all last night, and a very 
 wet St. Valentine's Day ; we have had no post in for 
 the last two days. 
 
 Saturday, 15th Feb. Gen. Primrose left us. Rode 
 over with Call to see Rahm-dil Khan's garden j very 
 prettily laid out, and the greater portion occupied by 
 vines. 
 
 Deep trenches are cut, the vines facing the north, 
 and it is evidently intended that the grapes shall re- 
 cline and ripen on the bank sloping with its face to 
 the south ; the area of the garden is about 40 acres, 
 
EAHM-DIL KHAN'S GARDEN. 125 
 
 the whole being enclosed with a high wall of mud. 
 Avenues of rose-trees run down the sides, and the 
 northern part of the garden is devoted to lucerne, 
 barley, and a young orchard. The house is a square 
 of two storeys with a flat roof, with two large tah-khanas 
 underground, the centre rooms on the ground and 
 first floor having fine views through the alcove galleries 
 at the four sides, the centre rooms occupying the 
 middle of a cross, and the four galleries representing 
 the arms, the corner blocks being built in by small 
 rooms and galleries. All the country round about 
 was flooded for irrigation, and we had great difficulty 
 in picking our way. 
 
 Sunday j lth Feb. Out shooting on a jheel south of 
 the Shikarpore gate ; got seven snipe and one teal. 
 Sun very hot, and the birds wild. 
 
 Monday, 17 th Feb. Inspected the old cantonment 
 buildings, which may probably be required for the 
 troops in the summer; the weather is oppressively 
 warm. 
 
 Tuesday, 18th Feb. Rode out with Col. Sankey to 
 see about the distribution of the camp ; thermometer 
 in our tents at noon 76, in the sun 115. 
 
126 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Equipment. 15th Hussars. 19th Bengal Lancers. Arctic suit. 
 Mud walls. Shooting. The Argandab. Survey. Revolver. 
 Flies. Swallows. Pay retrenched. Thieves. Snow. Shoot- 
 ing. Mid-day gun. Camels. Pontoons. The Helmund. 
 Crossing. Post. Boots. Rain. Storm. " Rover." Water- 
 supply. Shir Ali's death. Gold mine. Shooting. Wet land. 
 
 Wednesday, 19M Feb. Went over to the escort 
 lines, and Sewell ordered one of the men (15th Hus- 
 sars) out for my inspection in marching order. The 
 horses are merely tethered by the forefoot, and have a 
 single heel-rope. 
 
 The head-stall of the bridle carries the blind when in 
 stable, and to this, when at work, the bridoon is at- 
 tached, the bit being separately fitted. The foretackle 
 is 27 inches of rope and an 8-inch shackle, and weighs 
 \ lb. ; it is carried on the march from the ring of the 
 head-stall by buckling the shackle (foot-tether) to it, 
 
EQUIPMENT OF HUSSARS. 127 
 
 and passing the loop of the rope through the strap 
 which fastens the cloak to the wallet on the near side. 
 Some of the saddles have no numdahs (saddle-cloths), 
 but leather panels throughout; the saddle has broad 
 and narrow girths and surcingle, the wallets carry a 
 pair of high-lows and grooming-tackle, and the cloak 
 goes in front of the wallet. The feed-bag is attached 
 to one of the hind D's, near side, and looped through 
 near strap to prevent the feed falling out. The cape is 
 carried behind saddle, and two pegs with heel-rope, 
 and two shackles with three straps all round ; this cape 
 is of little use, and a waterproof might be substituted. 
 The carbine-bucket for Henry-Martini carbine is over 
 the shoe-case and strapped to surcingle on the off side 
 behind. Shoe-case on the off side behind, with strap 
 through carbine-bucket; mess-tin over cloak on off 
 side, under a strap. The rider has sword, haversack, 
 water-bottle, and pouch-belt ; but the pouch (20 rounds) 
 is carried on the waist-belt. The helmet is covered 
 with khakee ; uniform blue cloth, yellow facings, 
 black boots, and steel spurs. The horse-blanket is 
 carried on a tattoo, one tattoo and a jorawallah (grass- 
 cut) being allowed for every two horses. 
 
 The pay of a private is 18 rupees ; his kit is carried 
 in a black bag, and consists of 
 
 2 jerseys, ^ 
 
 2 shirts, > 1 on and 1 off. 
 
 2 pairs drawers. J 
 
128 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 3 pairs socks, 1 on and 2 off. 
 
 1 pair boots, 1 pair shoes. 
 
 1 forage-cap (useless; might be a close-fitting cap 
 with ears). 
 
 1 pair of pantaloons. 
 
 1 pair of overalls (useless ; should be pantaloons) . 
 
 Braces, waistcoat, serge jacket, all on; and 1 
 tunic off. 
 
 Towels, hold-all, and 2 suits of khakee. 
 
 His bed is just the numdah of his horse, 1 blanket 
 sewn as a bag, 2 blankets over him. 
 
 Government carries the tent, which is of 2 pals and 
 accommodates 22 men. 
 
 I then went over to Bruce, and he turned out one of 
 his men in the 19th Bengal Lancers. The first thing 
 that struck me was the head-stall and bridle ; the bit 
 and bridoon was in addition to the head-stall used when 
 in stables. The horses were tethered by double head- 
 ropes and heel- ropes, and the weight by this plan totals 
 up to about 7 lbs. per horse more than by the plan 
 adopted in the 15th Hussars. On the march the head- 
 rope is carried from lower ring of head-stall to a 
 ring in front of saddle ; the wallets which formerly 
 carried the pistol are empty, as the sowar now carries 
 a snider carbine, the property of Government. The 
 regimental choga (cloak) is carried over the wallet; 
 lance-socket at each stirrup ; the gram -bag (canvas top 
 and leather bottom) is on near side behind saddle; 
 
BENGAL LANCERS. 129 
 
 heel-rope is carried round the gram-bag and buckled 
 to the second D ; the horse's blanket, with two pegs, 
 is behind the saddle ; on the off side is the carbine in 
 its bucket, and the shoe-case ; single leather girth and 
 surcingle under the seat of the saddle. In addition to 
 the carbine, the sowar carries a curved sword and a 
 lance. The uniform is an indigo-blue pagri (turban) 
 round a red wadded skull-cap, a blue serge " koorta ,J 
 (frock), red cummerbund, loose yellow pyjamas, and 
 long boots, black appointments throughout and silver 
 fittings, pouch-belt, and pouch with 20 rounds, broad 
 waist-belt, and blue-and- white pennon to lance. Pay of 
 a sowar, Us. 27; and on this he finds his horse, tattoo, 
 and everything. There is a pony and syce to every 
 two men who share a tent ; the tattoo carries the tent 
 and all spare horse-gear, and the regiment in India 
 requires no Government transport. 
 
 I like the plan of tethering the horse by a single 
 fore-tackle and a single heel-rope, and shall adopt it ; 
 it will reduce my kit. On asking the Hussar troopers 
 if the thick merino drawers were necessary, they said, 
 Yes, for without them, having to bump in the saddle, 
 they would soon become chafed. 
 
 My Arctic suit of sealskin turned up to-day ; rather 
 late. I was put into it and buttoned up, and found it 
 warm to a degree , I had ordered it by telegraph from 
 England early in November, so as to meet any cold, an 
 officer who had been in Afghanistan having told me it 
 
 9 
 
130 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 was very likely that we should have to lie about in the 
 snow in the passes. However, I kept the gloves and 
 the cap, and packed the rest off there and then, and 
 got rid of it as a birthday present. A jumper coat and 
 a huge pair of continuations being a novelty, I fancy, 
 in the line of presents to a lady. 
 
 Thursday, 20th Feb. The Engineers, with the 4th 
 company Sappers and Miners, moved camp to Rahm- 
 dil Khan's garden; we are uncommonly lucky to 
 get it. 
 
 Friday, 21st Feb. Ordered up my horses from 
 Jacobabad. Busy all day at work in the garden ; we 
 got over the elephants from the heavy battery to push 
 down some of the high cross walls in the garden, but 
 the material was so firm and the walls so high and 
 thick, with a rough surface, that the intelligent beasts 
 made very little impression, in fact they soon braised 
 the skin of their foreheads, and they could not get at 
 the wall fairly with their feet. These walls are about 
 the stiffest things of the kind I have seen ; they are 
 built in layers about 18 inches high at a time. The 
 material, thoroughly wetted and stamped out, is dug 
 out from the ditch, and in some cases mixed with lime 
 and stones ; each layer is allowed to dry before the 
 next course is laid. The city walls are built in this 
 way, and mixed with chopped straw in addition. We 
 have had no experience of what effect our guns would 
 have on walls of this sort, of ordinary thickness ; but 
 
MUD WALLS. 131 
 
 I can say that with a revolver at ten yards the bullet 
 merely lodged in the face of the wall, and could be 
 picked out with the nail. 
 
 Col. Sankey got a telegram to-day to say he was to 
 return to India to take up his appointment as Secre- 
 tary to Government, P.W.D. Madras. We were all 
 very sorry for this, for he has been most energetic and 
 busy throughout the whole of the campaign, and just 
 at the present time he is in the thick of committees, 
 settling all matters referring to the hutting the troops 
 during the next summer. However, he will sooner 
 return to habits of civilisation, good food, and a daily 
 tub. 
 
 Saturday, 22nd Feb. Got back my advances to the 
 camel-men from the Transport officers, which is satis- 
 factory for me ; but whether Government will ever be 
 able to make a satisfactory account out for themselves 
 is another matter. Wells is going back with Major 
 Sandeman across Peshin, and thence down by the Tull 
 Chotiali road towards India. He has been hard at 
 work with a lot of Ghilzai labour on the Khojak, and, 
 as far as he has gone, has made a good job of it. 
 
 Sunday, 23rd Feb. Went out shooting with Call 
 and Jerome; Jerome fell head-over-heels into a hole 
 that I had gone into last Sunday up to my neck. As 
 Jerome, however, only had a muzzle-loader with him, 
 he got but little else than his ducking. Shot the small 
 jheel south of the Shikarpore gate and got six snipe, 
 
 9 * 
 
132 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 and then on to a larger one, more to the south, and 
 got two duck ; and then on to some swampy ground, 
 more to the east, and got six more snipe and two duck. 
 Foley joined us to-day ; he had left Barton's company, 
 the 9th Sappers and Miners, at Kelat-i-Ghilzai to ac- 
 company the column marching back on Kandahar by 
 the Arghasan valley, and had been engaged in survey 
 throughout the marches. 
 
 Monday, 24dh Feb. Olivier and Rogers returned to- 
 day ; they had left us at Kelat-i-Ghilzai to march back 
 on Kandahar with the detachment via the Arghandab. 
 Rogers has done a great lot of work, and, considering 
 his figure and weight, it is quite wonderful the way in 
 which he bundles up and down hill. He reports the 
 upper part of the Arghandab valley to be most difficult 
 for military movements, the hills being tossed about 
 and broken with precipitous sides to the river; the 
 valley is open, and cultivation abounds from about 30 
 miles above this. 
 
 Tuesday, 26th Feb. Breakfasted with Gen. Nuttall. 
 He was a marked object here, for he would always wear 
 the silver helmet of Jacob's Horse j he is off in com- 
 mand of the 3rd Division of the Tull Chotiali column, 
 and if Government stick to the route, it is more than 
 probable he will stay at Barkana, wherever it may be, 
 in command. Barton left with the 9th Company for 
 Mandi hissar. 
 
 Ash-Wednesday , 26th Feb. Rain last night. Col. 
 
THE ARGHANDAB. 133 
 
 Sankey left us to-day, and Childers goes with him; 
 received u Pioneer M of the 5th. Foley's survey is 
 capitally done, and gives the whole route from Kelat- 
 i-Ghilzai here, except the first and the last marches. 
 There has been some misunderstanding about the 
 omission of these two marches; but at all events, the 
 A.Q.M.G. with the column told him they had been 
 done once, and need not be done again. The amount 
 of Q.M.G/s work that is thrown upon us is astonish- 
 ing, and I endeavour to keep a record of it, first 
 giving the sheets over to Rogers to compile in his 
 map, and then sending them to the A.Q.M.G. for 
 record. In some cases, if the sketch is complete, I 
 send it straight off to the Surveyor-General in India. 
 
 Brown did a capital route survey from Quetta to 
 Kandahar in pen and ink, and I sent it off to be photo- 
 zincographed. The survey done by Childers and Baynes 
 is on too large a scale, and I cannot get Rogers to give 
 me up Olivier^s work in the Arghandab ; he says it is 
 mixed up with his own, and must go to the Surveyor- 
 General first through him. Perhaps he is right ; but 
 a series of these surveys reduced to photo-zincography 
 would give others a very fair idea of the actual amount 
 and area of survey work that had been done by R.E. 
 officers in addition to field engineers' work. 
 
 Thursday, 27th Feb. Hills lent me his Derringer 
 pistol to-day, and " Mourad n was so frisky and kicked 
 so high that I dropped it out of my breast-pocket. I 
 
134 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 offered a reward to any of the escort that would find 
 it, but went to bed very fidgetty, as I had taken the 
 pistol on loan very much against my will. 
 
 Friday, 28th Feb. Went out at daylight to search 
 for the pistol, and found a lot of the 60th men search- 
 ing ; it was, luckily, found, and I rode at once back to 
 head- quarters, and returned the pistol with great satis- 
 faction. On our regular revolvers here we all wear 
 neck-cords made of silk, the object being that, having 
 emptied your revolver, you can drop it and take to 
 your sword without any delay in returning the pistol 
 to its case. News came in that Gen. Biddulph's rear- 
 guard had been attacked at Khushki-nakud, and that 
 Reynolds had been killed and Malcolmson wounded. 
 
 Saturday, 1st March. Busy all day with Gaselee of 
 the Q.M.G.'s department going round the barracks and 
 allotting them to the different regiments and batteries. 
 We have been pestered the last few days with swarms 
 of flies, and we could not get rid of them ; the swallows 
 (H. rusticd), however, are flocking in and are having 
 a grand feast on them these are like the English 
 chimney swallows, and are so tame they sit upon our 
 tent-ropes, and if the chick is up, they fly into the 
 tent in search of their food. 
 
 Got my pay-bills back from Rawul Pindi with an 
 intimation that my pay was cut for want of Govern- 
 ment authority that I held a certain grade in the Public 
 Works list. This grade is published in every list, and 
 
PAY EETEENCHED. 135 
 
 the reference, which might have been settled in India 
 in a day or two, is now deferred for six weeks at least. 
 Why a man signing a pay-bill cannot be paid at once 
 is a puzzle. If he err, cut him in the next month ; 
 if he continues to err, report him, he holds a commis- 
 sion ; and besides that, we are never able to draw till 
 the end of the month for the pay due, and it certainly 
 takes another month before the bill is paid, Govern- 
 ment, in fact, receiving interest on your pay for just as 
 many days as it is withheld. The retrenchment in this 
 case is 35, and it will not be adjusted in all pro- 
 bability to the Examiner's satisfaction till the middle 
 of March. I shall be out of my money some three 
 months and a half, with a certainty that the same de- 
 ductions will be made from the bills for December, 
 January, and February. 
 
 Sunday, 2nd March. The sentries round the house 
 whanged off two shots last night, and we were all out 
 on the platform in front of the house in less than no 
 time. It was found that the sentry in the garden saw 
 a man creeping along, challenged him, and getting no 
 answer, fired and missed him. He then declares that 
 four other men jumped up near the watercourse, when 
 he fired again, and the lot made off. The man evi- 
 dently fired with a good elevation, for the bullets 
 cleared our garden wall and pitched right in among 
 the escort of the 60th, half a mile off. Snow fell 
 during the night. Went L out shooting with Call to 
 
136 KANDAHAB IN 1879. 
 
 the far tank and swamp, got seven ducks and six 
 snipe ; three of the teal were winged, so I carried them 
 home, and after dressing the wing, let the three go in 
 our large tank in front of the house. Two, a duck 
 and drake, are as jolly as can be j but the third is evi- 
 dently moribund. Our shooting arrangements here 
 are peculiar, as we have to go armed and with an 
 escort. I generally ride the camel, taking the ammu- 
 nition and dry clothes and tiffin with me, having my 
 horse led behind. Call rides his horse, and we have some 
 three or four servants besides two mounted orderlies 
 and two sappers. On approaching the tank we take 
 our guns and ammunition, leaving the animals in 
 charge of the two orderlies, and commence our work, 
 each followed by the sappers on foot. The sappers 
 generally pick their way along the banks, while we 
 splash about and wade in, about as safe an arrange- 
 ment as could be desired with these dirty Afghans. 
 
 The shooting is difficult, as there is no shelter from 
 the duck, and in walking after the snipe you are as 
 likely to go in up to your middle as over your knee, 
 the whole area of ground being under water and cut 
 up by channels and great holes. If we could get a few 
 beaters and make some proper screens, we could have 
 grand drives ; but the snipe are as wild as hawks, and 
 get up 60 and 70 yards off in wisps, and rise into the 
 air like ducks and keep high up. Brown and Sharpe 
 came in with the 10th company Sappers and Miners. 
 
SHOOTING. 137 
 
 They had been with Biddulph's column, in the 2nd 
 Division, towards Girishk river. Brown has done a 
 capital route survey, and also a very good one of the 
 valley of the Helmund for some three miles beyond 
 Girishk river. These surveys fortunately run into one 
 another, so that a complete route survey has been done 
 by Brown from Quetta and Kandahar and to Girishk 
 river and then for a distance up the valley. 
 
 Monday, 3rd March. Busy all day about the troops' 
 accommodation. Olivier left us to go into the fort, the 
 works there being handed over to him as his particular 
 charge. 
 
 Tuesday, 4th March. Bisset joined us to-day from 
 the fort, after showing Olivier what he required to be 
 done. Bisset was left in Kandahar as the Field En- 
 gineer when the advance was made on Kelat-i- 
 Ghilzai and Girishk in the middle of January. The 
 12 o'clock gun was fired for the first time to-day, a 
 sufficiently broad hint that we have settled in canton- 
 ments. 
 
 In the march to Kelat-i-Ghilzai 267 camels started 
 with the head- quarter camp, and 154 died in the eight 
 days; these were Indian camels hired from the Panj- 
 ab. There were also 164 camels which had been 
 locally purchased, and of these 6 died. I was talking 
 to one of the Commissariat officers, and he quoted the 
 low rate of mortality in the locally-purchased camels 
 as an instance of their greater stamina and endurance, 
 
138 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 but I do not agree with him. The best of them are 
 young and fractious, and have never been properly 
 trained; and they started fresh, while the Indian 
 camels were in low condition from their previous heavy 
 march. Besides, I do not believe the Commissariat 
 could have purchased many more camels locally ; and 
 if they had, they would not have got the men to lead 
 them. Sankey and Childers bought three rather good 
 ones for Rs. 110 each, and hired two men to look after 
 them ; the result was that on the second march one 
 was stolen, and re-sold to Government by one of the 
 men, and the other man bolted near Kelat-i-Ghilzai. 
 
 In the former war the Army, although accompany- 
 ing Shah Shuja, the king of the place, could only 
 purchase 3,000; and all their attempts to hire the 
 men of Surwar Khan's convoy of 5,000 failed, Surwar 
 Khan saying he would sell the animals, but that the 
 drivers would not go. 
 
 Wednesday, 5th March. Read Brown's report on 
 the bridging operations at the Helmund \ very interest- 
 ing, and shows that what would suit one season of the 
 year would not suit another. 
 
 Material was originally intended for 100 yards of 
 bridge, and this was reduced to 50 yards. Twelve 
 pontoons and twelve chess- carts with spare stores 
 were despatched from Roorkee as far as Mooltan by 
 rail, the whole going in eighteen six-wheeled platform 
 railway wagons. 
 
THE HBLMUND. 139 
 
 This was still further reduced at Mooltan to one raft 
 of pontoons. The pontoon raft and twelve extra chesses 
 with plenty of spare rope were conveyed from Sukkur 
 to the Helmund, the whole way, on the equipment- 
 wagons, two wagons carrying the pontoons and three 
 carts the chesses, artificers' tools, and materials. Wagons 
 in India take six bullocks, and carts four ; these, with 
 three spare bullocks, would require twenty-seven bul- 
 locks, but forty-nine were taken for this trip. 
 
 Near Girishk, the Helmund, at the time of year, 
 varied from 80 to 300 yards wide, and from 3 feet to 
 12 in depth, with a velocity of about 4 J miles an hour, 
 the bottom being hard and gravelly, and boulders, the 
 size of a man's head, plentiful. The flood-marks 
 showed that, at its highest, the rise of water in 
 August would be about 7 feet above the present level, 
 and the width about 1 mile; a rise of 2 feet would 
 render all the fords impassable. Below Girishk, and 
 for about 30 miles above it, the left bank commands 
 the right, which is more or less a plain irrigated by 
 canals. Borstan was selected as the crossing place, 
 there being two channels with islands between. 
 
 There not being sufficient bridge, one flying ferry 
 was made of the pontoon raft, and another of a boat 
 found in the village, the boat being down stream. The 
 work commenced on the 31st January; hawsers were 
 stretched across and anchored on each bank, sheers 
 being erected on the k right bank, running blocks were 
 
140 KANDAHAE IN 1879. 
 
 fitted, and the raft and boat were attached. The whole 
 operation was completed by 10 a.m., or in three hours, 
 and the troops and baggage, with the exception of two 
 companies Pioneers and the Mounted Battery, had 
 crossed over by 2 p.m. Owing to the set of the stream, 
 the boats could not be brought to the proper angle in 
 crossing from the left to the right bank, and hauling- 
 ropes were attached to the blocks ; the pontoon raft 
 was afterwards moved to the second stream, working 
 backwards and forwards without hauling, a crib and 
 trestle bridge was commenced, and the material was 
 afterwards taken to form a foot-bridge. The horsemen 
 and camels crossed by the ford, and the ferry was con- 
 stantly worked during twenty-four days. 
 
 Thursday, 6th March. The trees still continue in 
 full blossom. Said good-bye to the officers of the 
 32nd Pioneers. My posteen or sheepskin coat arrived 
 from Agra, having been despatched as an insured parcel 
 on the 10th December ; no use to me now, and too 
 heavy to carry about. 
 
 Friday, 7th March. Gen. Biddulph, before starting 
 back to India, came over to see our garden ; Nicholson 
 goes with him as Field Engineer, and the park of the 
 2nd Division is to be handed over to Call. Lieut.-Col. 
 Hichens joined us, and continues as C.R.E. Bought a 
 pair of strong ammunition-boots from the Commis- 
 sariat for 12s., and there was evidently a great demand 
 for boots from all the regiments, as boxes were being 
 
BOOTS. STOEM. 141 
 
 broken open in all directions, and squads collecting 
 their sizes and passing receipts and money for the 
 same. Six copies of my Bird Manual turned up to-day 
 from Simla, having been fifty-two days on the road. 
 Heavy rain all last night, which forced us to take up 
 our quarters in the house; Lieut. -Col. Hichens has 
 the north-east corner upstairs, with Bisset below him ; 
 Call and I share the upstairs rooms to the north-west, 
 with Dickie and Jerome below us ; Brown and Haslett 
 have the south-east corner overlooking the tank, with 
 Sharpe below them; and Rogers has the south-west 
 upstairs, with the office, dairy, and pantry below him. 
 We had a Mess Committee meeting. A committee of 
 self, Brown, and Call as secretary, elected. 
 
 Monday, 10th March. Tremendous storm last night, 
 with thunder, hail, and rain ; tents blown down, and a 
 general rumpus. The Post Office still lively, as I re- 
 ceived to-day the " Pioneer" of 31st January, 1st, 6th, 
 7th, and 13th February, with the " Home News " of 
 10th January. 
 
 Tuesday, llth March. My fine dog, Rover, who 
 had been troubled with a husky cough for some days, 
 went mad, and was killed by the Vet. of the A.-B., 
 R/.H.A. The head works of the Kandahar water- 
 supply at Khoja Mulk have burst, and there is no 
 water. Shot a grey quail (C. communis) in the garden 
 as I was walking round with the owner preparatory to 
 receiving charge of it. Brown started with the 10th 
 
142 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 Company and some Gurkhas for Khoja Mulk to help 
 repair the works in the Arghandab. 
 
 Wednesday, 12th March. Wet morning. Rode over 
 to the Gymkhana, and saw the tug of war Artillery 
 v. the World. The Artillery won the first pull; the 
 second, after a long pause, was won by the World ; 
 and the final pull gave the victory to the World. The 
 Artillery took to what is called heaving, which is evi- 
 dently a mistake; the World preferred to hang on, 
 keeping their end of the rope as nearly as possible 
 level. Telegraphed to my wife congratulations on her 
 birthday, and got a reply, "Thanks, birthday next 
 month ! n 
 
 Friday, 14th March. Race-meeting at 2nd-60th 
 Mess. Elected a steward. Was over at head -quarters, 
 when messengers came in with letters from Cabul. 
 The letters were read and translated, giving the par- 
 ticulars of Shir Ali's death, and also some further 
 information of the movements of our own men in the 
 Khyber, which we knew, from the telegraph reports, to 
 be correct. Letters from India of 17th, 18th, 19th, 
 and 25th February received. 
 
 Sunday , 16th March. Started off on the camel for 
 the gold mines, about 3 miles north of the Eedgah 
 Gate. The quarry is a vast hole and nothing more, 
 with the debris pitched on bank j some few men were 
 about chipping stones to see what they could get, and 
 I bought six little pieces with gold in them. I don't 
 
GOLD MINE. WET LAND. 143 
 
 see that either Lumsden or Bellew mention the exist- 
 ence of these mines,, so that it may be true, as the men 
 said, that this was worked when Muhammad Amin 
 Khan was at Kandahar, and subsequent to Shir Air's 
 succession as Amir, in 1863. 
 
 Continued on my way as far as the foot of Mand-i- 
 hissar Kotul, and then on to the road by which the 
 troops marched into Kandahar. I then tried a short 
 cut across country and was fairly bogged, the whole 
 country being under water from the late rains and 
 irrigation. The camel had an awful time of it, and 
 tumbled over twice, and we had the greatest difficulty 
 in extricating him. Shot two snipe only. I have not 
 seen a pin-tail snipe in Afghanistan yet. 
 
 Monday, 17 th March. Had a race-meeting here, 
 and settled the prospectus. 
 
 Wednesday, 19th March. Laid out a capital ride in 
 the garden. Good straight runs up both sides and fair 
 curves round the ends about 120 yards under the 
 mile round. 
 
144 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Kacecourse. Field boots. Khakee. Wagtails . Water-supply. 
 Eepairs. Gurkha labour. Heliograph. Floods. Canal 
 heads. Supervision. Birds. Kokeran. Polo. Post Office. 
 Grape-drying. Pruning. First crops. Peshkabz. Price 
 current. Forage. Thieves. The Tarnak. The Arghesan. 
 Hutting. Driving. Afghani dress. Labour. Wild flowers. 
 Colonel Fellowes. Paces. Riding-camel. Baba Wali. 
 Chinar tree. Native entertainment. The Kazi. Books. 
 Fevers. The Races. 
 
 Thursday, 20th March. Laid out a capital course for 
 the races, with a straight run in of over a quarter of a 
 mile, and easy curves. Beaver will now set to work 
 clearing it of stones and putting down litter. The 
 banghy post brought me a pair of porpoise-skin boots 
 which I ordered in November on an advertisement in 
 the " Field/' and took my own measurements ; they 
 are first-rate boots, and quite big enough to take two 
 thick pairs of socks. They will be more useful in 
 
FIELD BOOTS. GURKHA LABOUR. 145 
 
 the cold weather. Also received two suits of khakee 
 from Ranken in Calcutta ; just in time, as the weather 
 is altogether too hot here for Bedford cords or a thick 
 cloth coat. 
 
 Great numbers of the black-headed yellow wagtail 
 {Badyter melanocephalus) in the fields, and they vie in 
 the brilliancy of their colour with the dandelions, which 
 are out everywhere. 
 
 Friday, 2\st March. Brown, with the 10th com- 
 pany, returned from Khojah Mulk, having finished the 
 repairs to the head-works of our water-supply in the 
 Arghandab. The flood had been more severe than any 
 during the last twenty years. There were two large 
 breaches in the canal, near the head, and four more 
 lower down, and the head-works had been completely 
 washed away. 
 
 A bund was made by the camp-followers and camel- 
 men at the entrance entirely of stones and boulders, 
 similar to those on the Granges canal at Hurdwar. The 
 men of the village attempted to mislead Brown as to 
 the real canal, and would only work on the one leading 
 to their own fields until they were forced to work 
 where wanted. They struck work, nevertheless, on 
 the second day. A good deal has often been said of 
 the great amount an Afghan labourer could or did 
 turn out; but in this case the little Gurkhas, who 
 are untrained to the spade, turned out, man for man, 
 just as much as the 610 local labourers. The helio- 
 
 10 
 
146 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 graph was of great use in keeping up a connection with 
 the working party of the camp. 
 
 Floods in the Arghandab are reported to occur twice 
 in the year, and result in damage to a greater or less 
 extent to the canal-heads. There is a superintendent 
 of canals, Akram Khan, and after a flood a new head 
 is generally dug in the line which then strikes the eye 
 as most suitable. The labour for this is supplied by 
 the owners of fields ; no rent is charged by the State 
 for the water, and no pay is given to the men for their 
 labour. The canal continues in working order for 
 about six months. There is an Assistant- Super- 
 intendent, or " Patao," on Rs. 8 a month, who 
 deepens the channel, strengthens the bund, and 
 keeps the water running, under the orders of the 
 Superintendent. 
 
 If troops are to be permanently quartered at Kan- 
 dahar, a better head site would have to be selected, 
 and Brown thinks that the head should be taken a 
 little further up stream, inside a rocky knoll, and 
 opening out into a branch stream close to the 
 river. 
 
 Saturday, 22nd March. Dined at head- quarters. 
 The mess-room is very nicely done up, a groundwork 
 of deep red, marked out in panels with gilt edging. 
 The old work has been cleaned and repaired, and the 
 illuminated ceiling has been left just as it was. Eustace 
 and Finden have amused themselves by cutting figures 
 
FLOODS. BIRDS. 147 
 
 from the illustrated journals and grouping them accord- 
 ing to their fancy. 
 
 Sunday, 23rd March. Shot eight snipe and a grey- 
 duck (C. streperus). The yellow-headed wagtails are 
 now here, also [M. minutus) the lesser-ringed plover, 
 (T. calidris) the common redshanks, and the little 
 kingfisher (A. bengalensis). The swallows are now 
 building, and a number of the black-headed wagtails 
 have lost their tails. 
 
 Monday, 24th March. Haslett, with Jerome and 
 the 4th company, started for Chaman; and I sent 
 Biluch with the riding- camel to fetch in some stores 
 from Quetta, and help along the horses if he should 
 fall in with them. 
 
 Tuesday, 25th March. Rode out with Bisset to Ko- 
 keran to see the place. Gen. Palliser commands, and 
 he has the 2nd P.C. and the 29th B.N.I. Biluchis, 
 with the Mountain Battery out there. The air, as soon 
 as you clear the gap in the hills, is far more fresh than 
 in Kandahar. The mulberry and chinar trees are all 
 bursting into leaf. 
 
 Wednesday, 26th March. Grand polo match to-day 
 between the 2nd P.C. and 19th Bengal Lancers. The 
 19th won by 3 goals to 0. The Post Office is getting 
 rid of its rubbish, and here is my share : the " Pioneer " 
 from 17th February to March 1st; "Home News," 
 24th and 31st January; "World," 22nd January; 
 "Truth," 23rd January; "Public Opinion," 25th 
 
 10 * 
 
148 KANDAHAE IN 1879. 
 
 January and 1st February; "Times/' 24th and 31st 
 January. 
 
 Thursday, 27th March. Set to work with Brown's 
 Kahars to convert the grape-drying-house into a stable. 
 The building was roofed in and had walls of great 
 thickness, loop-holed on every side from top to bottom, 
 to secure a free circulation of air. The white grapes, 
 when properly ripe, are hung by bunches on sticks, 
 which are inserted in small holes in the walls ; and 
 after forty days the bunches are taken down, shaken, 
 cleaned, and sent to market for sale. The pruning of 
 the vines in the garden is very backward and later than 
 usual ; last year's wood is simply sawn off close to the 
 old wood of the main trunk; the young leaves are 
 just beginning to shoot, and the pruning is not yet 
 finished. When the vines are pruned, cuttings are 
 planted for new vines, and these are watched with some 
 care. Cut the first crops of green barley and lucerne 
 in the garden. 
 
 Friday, 28th March. Bought a peshkabz, or one of 
 the knives that all Afghans wear ; the handles are of 
 ivory or horn, with a long blade with a straight strong 
 back and a curved edge running to a point. These 
 knives inflict a frightful wound, and some of them 
 are heavily tipped to enable the point to penetrate 
 mail ; the hilt is usually ornamented, and the blade is 
 damascened. 
 
 Monday, 31st March. The ruling prices in the 
 
GRAPE-DRYING. THIEVES. 149 
 
 bazaar now, I find, are gram, 6 seers; barley, 10 seers; 
 Indian corn, 10 seers; bhoosa, 1 maund; and dried 
 lucerne, 12 bundles for a rupee ; while green lucerne 
 and green barley vary from 5 to 8 annas per donkey- 
 load. 
 
 Tuesday, 1st April. Ceased to draw any forage from 
 the Commissariat for my horses, because they would 
 only issue green grass, which I did not want ; engaged 
 two Afghans as grass-cutters, and sent them out to dig 
 up " dhup " or root- grass, of which there is any quan- 
 tity close by. The Batteries charge us Rs. 3 for 
 shoeing a horse. 
 
 Friday, 4<th April. An attempt was made last night 
 to rob the Lines. A man was seen by the sentry to 
 approach the wall leading to the ice-house, a large 
 domed building which is being prepared for the ser- 
 geants, and coolly commence to dig away at an open- 
 ing which had only just been closed up; instead o 
 letting the man make the hole and laying a trap for 
 him at the small entrance within the garden, the 
 sentry kept shouting and challenging him, and as the 
 thief continued his work all the time, the sentry fired 
 at him from about four yards above him and missed him. 
 
 Saturday, 6th April. The transport officers are com- 
 plaining dreadfully of the state of the road beyond the 
 Shorandarm Kotal, and as no one else was available, I 
 rode out as far as Deh Hajji, 20 miles from here, to 
 see what should be done. The road is all fair to 
 
150 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 Mand-i-hissar ; but the stench from the dead camels 
 along the line was only just bearable. There are 30 
 sabres at Mand-i-hissar ; but all round the camp are 
 some 40 dead camels, unburied and stinking enough 
 to poison the post. The Tarnak was only knee-deep, 
 and the bad bit of road was, for about 500 yards near 
 the village of Lama Majjan, through irrigated fields; a 
 perfect bog, in which the post and banghy camels 
 would go in up to their shoulders and flounder about. 
 The same bad ground occurred again near the village 
 of Dhae, and unless the whole road is banked, the 
 owners of the fields above the road will continue to 
 flood the track followed so long as they require water 
 for their crops ; the drier parts of the plain were lite- 
 rally covered with great tall stalks about 3 feet high, 
 having some 200 or 300 small flowers sticking out all 
 up the stem. The Arghasan was still running fairly 
 full and up to the horse's chest, and at Deh Hajji 
 there were the usual number of dead camels, but the 
 village was deserted. All stages seem to have a fair 
 stock of dead camels; and the men tell me that, 
 although the beasts manage to get in with their 
 loads, it is even betting that a large percentage can- 
 not get on their legs in the morning, and are left to 
 die. Poor beasts, what a tale they could tell of our 
 want of care and forethought ! and will the broad hint 
 of their dead carcases have any effect on our future 
 campaigns ? 
 
THE TAENAK. THE AEGHESAN. 151 
 
 Tuesday, 8th April. Sharpe went out with some of 
 the 10th company, Sappers and Miners, to Kokeran to 
 carry out the hutting arrangements for the Biluchis, 
 2nd Pioneer Company, and Mountain Battery. 
 
 Wednesday, 9th April. Got tobacco to-day, Ameri- 
 can cavendish from the Commissariat at 12 annas a 
 pound. My grey "Booby" and the colt "Ruby" 
 came in to-day from Jacobabad, having been forty- two 
 days on the road; they were both looking well, but 
 very thin, the colt particularly so, and the syces evi- 
 dently have bought their own food before they thought 
 of the nags. 
 
 Good Friday, 11th April. No hot cross-buns, and 
 " Mourad," the big colt, has developed a bad cough ; 
 but as this only occurs in the early morning, I am led 
 to think that Hayes is right when he says it is due to 
 teething. If so, I may get an idea of a mother's 
 anxiety about her chick in the same predicament. 
 
 Sunday, 13th April. Drove the walers, " Julia M 
 and " Booby/' yoked as bullocks, with a bar on their 
 necks and a thong round the bar, in Haslettfs company 
 cart rather a ticklish job. I got them three times 
 round the course with but little trouble, and then drove 
 home through the camp all safely till I came to the 
 brook by the Gurkha village ; this I tried at a rush, 
 but the pull up the far bank was too steep, and I was 
 left in the cart in the nullah with both horses all clear 
 on the far bank. We got out all right, and had just 
 
152 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 cleared another brook, when I came face to face with 
 the General and his Staff. The General was most 
 anxious for a drive, but I dare not take him ; it was 
 just as well I did not, for at the next watercourse 
 through the barracks, "Booby," instead of going 
 through the water, jumped it, and at the same time 
 clean out of his yoke, clearing the cart altogether. 
 However, I soon got him in again, and, with two more 
 unships, I got all safely to the gate. I took the drive 
 for a bet, as I had said I would drive the pair simply 
 yoked as oxen to a plough within a week of " Booby's " 
 arrival. The horses had no traces on, only their water- 
 ing bridles, cotton-rope reins, and a bar resting on 
 their necks with a leathern thong to keep the bar down, 
 the pole of the cart being bound to the bar. The 
 watercourses here quite prevent fair driving, and as a 
 natural consequence, when the wheel goes down, up 
 goes the pole and out go the horses' heads ; my greatest 
 anxiety was to save myself being shot out backwards 
 as the cart tipped. 
 
 Thursday , 17 th April. Had what I think must have 
 been gout ; laid up nearly all day. Call, I am sorry 
 to say, is very seedy and far from strong. 
 
 Saturday, 19th April. Mahommed Zaman, the pro- 
 prietor of the garden, brought me the complete suit of 
 an Afghan woman's clothes I had asked him to get 
 for me. The trousers were of the most capacious di- 
 mensions, but all the garments were of bright colour 
 
AFGHANI DRESS. LABOURERS. 153 
 
 and fine texture; the white covering- sheet was very 
 prettily worked, and the fancy stitching all round about 
 the peep-holes was very finely done. Some of the 
 ornaments were very expensive; but a good deal of 
 the jewellery that is worn is nothing more than com- 
 mon Hindoo work, with coloured glass set on tinsel. 
 One pair of ear-rings were from Meshed, and enamelled 
 with little flowers and birds, and ornamented with little 
 seed-pearls. 
 
 Sunday, 20th April. Rode out to Mand-i-hissar with 
 Keene of the Artillery; he was on his way back to 
 Chaman, and I had to stay to start some men at work 
 on the road. The English corn-flower is out in bloom 
 all over the fields. 
 
 Monday, 21st April. St. John had sent some 
 labourers out from Kandahar for the work, and I 
 started them on the job; but what with their pray- 
 ing and their saying they could get no food if they 
 worked after 4 p.m., I could only get about a cube yard 
 a man done in the day. I noticed that the thorn- 
 bush, which in the winter was quite dry and all thorns, 
 and which the camels then ate with avidity, is now 
 throwing out green stiff shoots, with a delicate little 
 pink flower; and that the dry bush, which used to 
 have perfectly smooth dry sprigs like a broom, has 
 now green leaves and a very pretty yellow flower. The 
 fields are also full of another flower, a single stalk with 
 some thirty little purple bells dropping from the end. 
 
154 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 Wednesday, 23rd April. Work still going on, with 
 more men coming in from the village ; bought a milch- 
 goat such a fine one, with long hair and the under 
 wool or "pushm" coming off in great balls. 
 
 Thursday, 24th April. Rode back into Kandahar 
 and heard, for the first time, of Col. Fellowes' death. 
 He was as fine a looking man as any in the force, and 
 most active ; but whether the fever during last year at 
 Quetta, or the hard marching back with innutritious 
 food on the Tull Chotiali route has caused it, it is hard 
 to say. It is a beastly country in every way for any- 
 one who is ill, there is but small chance of his getting 
 well where he is, and there is no such thing as select- 
 ing a spot for change of air, and if on the march, 
 with 17 or 18 miles before you, day after day, there 
 is still less chance of recovery. 
 
 Rode up to the races, being the first day of the meet- 
 ing ; all looking very nice, but there was a rough-and- 
 tumble look about the whole thing, the weighing-tent 
 had borrowed the Commissariat scales, and the weights 
 apparently exercised the clerk of the scales consider- 
 ably. The races, of course, were run very late, and 
 the crowd, a patient one, consisted of the soldiers and 
 officers, everyone being more or less armed ; a few of 
 the leading natives came out to see the fun, but we had 
 not a woman to look on. A shameeanah formed the 
 grand stand, and only one officer was bold enough to 
 sport the umbrella and lay the odds all round. 
 
KACES. BABA WALL 155 
 
 Friday, 25th April. Sold my riding-camel to-day 
 to Government, as I really had no use for him, saddle 
 and kit complete for Rs. 150. Grain, that is barley, 
 selling at 1 1 seers for a rupee, and Indian corn at 12. 
 
 Sunday, 27th April. Went out with St. John, 
 Protheroe, Pitman, Brereton, De Robeck, and Biscoe, 
 at the invitation of the Kazi, to spend the day at Baba 
 Wali. After having being received by our host we 
 left our horses and visited the ziarat or shrine of the 
 old saint, placed upon a high mound and overlooking 
 the fruitful valley of the Arghandab. The tomb itself 
 is of the usual pattern, covered with stones of all 
 colours, with a huge head-stone of black marble, 
 highly polished, and inscribed in Arabic. The outer 
 paling is studded all over with horse-shoes of all pat- 
 terns and sizes, and from the top rail are suspended a 
 number of ibex and markhor horns, the biggest of 
 these belonged to Capra agragus, and measured 40 
 inches. The Afghans, as far as I can make out, are 
 not Shikarries, and they don't follow the ibex for 
 sport ; but these horns are picked up by the men, 
 the animal having been killed by leopards or ounces. 
 Leaving the hill for the river-bank we passed over 
 several watercourses running full, and through dense 
 groves of trees, chiefly mulberry and ash ; one chinar- 
 tree was a very fine one, and measured 21 feet in cir- 
 cumference at a height of 6 feet from the ground. 
 Pishing with a fly was of no use as the river was so 
 
156 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 muddy ; but the kotwal managed to secure two basket- 
 fuls of fish with his nets. 
 
 At about 11 we returned to the garden, and found 
 our horses comfortably picketed under the trees, a 
 large tent having been provided for ourselves. The 
 shade was most grateful, the ground was spread with 
 carpets and felts, chairs were stuck about, and a table 
 rigged up out of some old Bombay black wood furni- 
 ture, covered with a white cloth and decorated with 
 fresh roses, soon showed us where we were to anchor ; 
 but the charm of the whole arrangement was the run- 
 ning water which had been led in open channels all 
 round and down the centre of the tent. Tea was at 
 once served in little Russian tea-cups, and shortly 
 afterwards the servants bore in dishes and trays 
 laden with our repast. As soon as the table was laid 
 our host and his chums left us to feed by themselves 
 under the trees. Pillaos of chicken, one with white 
 rice and the other stained with saffron, formed the 
 ends, kabobs at the corners, stews in the middle, and 
 little bowls and platters with chutnies, pickles, and 
 sweeties quite filled up the remaining spaces. Long 
 before we had satisfied ourselves in tasting of every- 
 thing, our friends had finished their meal, the frag- 
 ments were removed, the crowd dispersed, and the old 
 Nawab was carefully packed away between pillows 
 and a man left with him to whisk away the flies 
 while he took his forty winks. We were left alone 
 
NATIVE ENTERTAINMENT. THE KAZI. 157 
 
 to enjoy our cheroots and to watch the crowds of re- 
 tainers, who were grouped over the garden and com- 
 pletely occupied in finishing everything that was left, 
 with plenty more besides that had been specially pre- 
 pared for them. 
 
 The Kazi, who is a moollah as well, having finished 
 his prayers, brought his sons and relations to see us ; 
 we soon got mixed up, and the conversation became 
 general. One produced a book written by himself on 
 Afghanistan down to the time of Shah Shuja; the 
 second volume was in progress and at his house. 
 Another showed us an illustrated History of the 
 World, specially distinguishing Napoleon as a cor- 
 poral of artillery ; but the chief interest was absorbed 
 in an atlas which had been published in Arabic by the 
 American Mission at Beyrout. They seemed to know 
 the names of all the chief cities by heart, and quite 
 understood the four great divisions of Europe, Asia, 
 Africa, and America. The fifth, Oceanica, they thought 
 useless, as merely representing a lot of islands in the 
 midst of the sea ; but when it was explained that it was 
 the fashion of the Feringhees to so divide the world, 
 the old gentleman stroked his beard, and politely 
 said it was sufficient, and was well. Green tea was 
 then served, and we were left again to ourselves, 
 while the Kazi, his family, and friends all joined in 
 evening prayers. These being over, the nags were 
 saddled, good-byes were exchanged, the escort fell in, 
 
158 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 and we all returned thoroughly well satisfied after a 
 most agreeable dayv 
 
 Wednesday , 30th April. Dickie is ill with a nasty, 
 low, intermittent fever ; and Hichens is in bed with 
 rheumatic fever. A little pink convolvulus (the single 
 bind wheat ?) has burst into flower all over the ground. 
 
 Our races are over. The course kept by soldiers 
 under arms, and armed pickets on the ground ; officers 
 wore their revolvers. The meeting opened with a win 
 for Deception in the Pony Plate, for half a mile, out of 
 a field of 8, Black Prince, with the top weight, being 
 left at the post. In the Grand Military, 2 miles, 
 Major Warters' Helen fell at the brook and broke one 
 of Eustace's ribs, and Blan shard had it all his own 
 way on Potatoes. Kerry Recruit amused himself with 
 knocking a hole in the wall, and The Count gained 
 second place. In the Galloway Steeplechase, Mendi- 
 cant came in first, but jumped over the wall on the 
 wrong side of the flag, and then finished up over the 
 water- jump. View Holloa followed Mendicant over 
 the wall and passed the post, whilst Daoud Shah was 
 amusing himself at the third jump. After View 
 Holloa had weighed in, it was known he had gone 
 inside the course. Mr. Sandford then resaddled, and 
 rattled down the course and came over the wall again 
 properly, passing the post a second time about forty 
 lengths in front of Daoud Shah. But there was no 
 judge in the box. On entering the enclosure this was 
 
THE EACBS. 159 
 
 pointed out, and the two jocks returned to the post 
 till the judge could be found to see them past. Who 
 wins the race ? Mendicant is out of it ; View Holloa 
 had gone the wrong course, weighed in, and out again, 
 and came rattling in afterwards ahead of Daoud Shah 
 when no judge was in the box. The Stewards are 
 not unanimous, and the point has been referred to 
 Calcutta. The Bedouin Stakes fell to Lieut. Mayne's 
 Arab, Etropol, giving 11 lbs. to Black Prince; and the 
 Asian Plate was secured by Capt. Beaver's Chocolate, 
 his second horse, Telescope, kicking up a row in the 
 ring, and bolting off into the city instead of being 
 saddled. 
 
 On the second day Capt. Beaver on Telescope, and 
 Col. Lyster on Black Prince, made a dead heat for 
 the Maiden Plate, Domino a length off, and Shopal 
 beaten. 
 
 On the third day Helen stood up and fenced beau- 
 tifully, winning the chase easily from Kerry Recruit 
 and Wheelbarrow. Etropol came again and won the 
 Arab and Country-bred Handicap; and little Black 
 Prince, with his owner and top weight up, won the 
 Galloway Handicap of 7 furlongs. 
 
 Thursday, 1st May. Dropped my child's photo- 
 graph from a locket which was attached to my watch- 
 chain. Ceased to draw rations for any of my servants, 
 and gave them money compensation instead. 
 
 Friday, 2nd May. Found the photograph to-day 
 
160 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 outside the house in the field. The pair of wild teal 
 have disappeared, and it is more than probable they 
 have been eaten by jackals. The birds had been placed 
 in a small pond at the bottom of the garden while the 
 big tank was being cleared out. 
 
161 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Equipment. Service tent. Personal kit. Cooking-pots. Mess 
 stores. " Erbswurst." Servants. Clothing. Horse-gear. 
 Scale exceeded. Camel-load. Fighting column. Sealed pat- 
 terns. Summer quarters. Brickmaking. The cantonment. 
 Quarters. Old Barracks. Construction. Arching. Vaulting. 
 Exchange. Camels. Mortality. Poisonous shrub. Mild 
 winter. 
 
 Saturday, 3rd May. Government have called for re- 
 ports on the scale of equipment, tents, &c, and asked 
 whether the allowance is sufficient for a country like 
 Afghanistan. The altitudes vary from 2,650 (Herat) 
 to 7,730 (Ghuzni) above sea-level, and the average 
 daily range of the thermometer may be put at 40 
 a maximum temperature of 110, and a minimum 
 below freezing. 
 
 Seeing that Engineer officers are so liable to be de- 
 ll 
 
162 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 tached, the share of mess-tent might be lumped with 
 the dwelling- tent ; and instead of the small doors now 
 in the Cabul pattern tent, the ends should open right 
 from top to bottom down the centre, and both ends 
 should be porched the porches attaching to the inner 
 fly, and not to the outer. The weights would then run 
 out somewhat as under outer, fly, 15 lbs. ; inner fly, 
 30 lbs.; 3 poles, 15 lbs.; mallet, 9 lbs.; saleetah and 
 peg-bag, 7 lbs.; pegs of iron, 30 lbs.; total, 99 lbs. 
 If a mess-tent is taken, a Bechoba would seem to be 
 the best. 
 
 As regards the allowance, according to the scale 
 
 1 
 
 Camp equipage 
 Basrg'as'e 
 
 ... Private tent 80 lbs. ") 11C1 , 
 
 9 
 
 ShareofMess 36 ] llb lbs 
 
 . . . Personal effects . 80 , 80 
 
 3. 
 4. 
 
 Office 
 
 Kitchen 
 
 Followers 
 
 Horses 
 
 Tent 150 V " 
 
 Box table, stationery ... 80 j ^ u " 
 
 ... Cooking-utensils 10 ~\ -^ 
 
 Mess stores 40 ) " 
 
 R 
 
 ... 5 at 10 lbs. each 53 1 , 
 
 6. 
 
 ... Gear for 2 at 15 lbs. each ... 30 
 
 439| lbs. 
 
 That is, for an officer and two chargers, 329^ lbs. ; and 
 if entitled to office, 230 lbs. in addition. 
 
 As regards kit, everyone will follow his own fancy, 
 within the limit, and Government should arrange to 
 store at the base such things as would not be required 
 till the change of season. 
 
PERSONAL KIT. 
 
 163 
 
 With the Officer in the Field 
 
 during the cold weather. 
 lbs. 
 
 Ulster or cloak 8 
 
 a 1 suit brown cloth (coat, 
 leather waistcoat, pan- 
 taloons, and gaiters) .. . 11 c 
 a 1 pair black boots, Elcho 
 
 or field 5 c 
 
 1 pair ordinary shooting 
 boots 3 c 
 
 patrol jacket, regimental 
 pants, and forage-cap 5 
 a 1 Sam Browne belt, sword, 
 pistol, 12 rounds am- 
 munition, and spurs ... 7^d 
 
 a 1 regtl. helmet 2 d 
 
 b 1 waterproof cloak 3-| 
 
 1 binoculars and belt 3 d 
 
 1 pair light leather ankle- 
 boots, lined with fur ... \\c 
 
 1 woollen cap or helmet, 
 1 pair loose felt leg- 
 gings, 2 pairs warm 
 gloves 2 c 
 
 1 clothes-brush, medicine, 
 writing materials, hair- 
 brush, comb, soap, 
 
 sponge, and basin 6 
 
 a 4 flannel shirts, 4 banians, d 
 3 linen drawers, 6 warm 
 socks, 8 silk handker- 
 chiefs, 2 pair braces, 2 
 pair sleeping drawers . 7 
 
 Bedding no bedstead. 
 
 1 waterproof sheet, 6 lbs.; 
 1 air bed, 5 lbs. ; 1 felt 
 bag, 16 lbs. c ; 2 blan- 
 kets, 20 lbs.; 1 Barn- 
 pore chudder, 1 lb 48 
 
 1 pair waterproof bags ... 10 
 
 Total. 
 
 122J 
 
 At the Base during the 
 Weather. 
 
 Cold 
 
 1 rough suit of thick Kha- 
 
 lbs. 
 
 d 2 light suits of Khakee... 5 
 
 d 1 pair light ankle-boots... 1 
 
 1 pair black regtl. long 
 
 boots 3 
 
 c Spare ammunition 4 
 
 ITeraihat 1 
 
 2 flannel shirts, 2 banians, 
 3 linen drawers, 6 pair 
 socks, 4 handkerchiefs, 
 1 pair sleeping drawers 3| 
 
 c 1 pair of waterproof bags 10 
 
 Total. 
 
 33 
 
 Of this 122^ lbs., those items marked a would be in 
 wear, that marked b would be on the saddle, leaving 
 
 11 * 
 
164 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 about 88 \ lbs. to be carried as baggage during the 
 winter season. 
 
 So soon, however, as the warm weather commenced 
 and the articles left at the base were to hand, the items 
 marked c might be returned into store, weighing alto- 
 gether 51J lbs., leaving (122^ + 33-514) 104 lbs. as 
 the summer equipment, of which those marked d, 
 18| lbs., would be in wear and 3 J lbs. on the saddle, 
 being (104 22) 82 lbs. to be transported as bag- 
 gage. 
 
 As regards kitchen cooking utensils, 10 lbs. ; and 
 mess stores, 40 lbs. The utensils which are requisite 
 are 4 copper handis, 4 copper talis (Bombay pattern), 
 2 tin flour-pots, 1 large spoon, and 1 knife, the actual 
 weight being 15 lbs. With these all culinary opera- 
 tions can be conducted, a kettle and frying-pan not 
 being absolutely necessary. 
 
 The table utensils are 1 drinking-cup, 1 cup and 
 saucer, 3 iron-enamelled plates, 1 pair of muffineers 
 (tin), 2 tea-spoons, 1 desert and 1 table spoon, 2 small 
 knives and forks, weighing in all 7 lbs. ; so that the 
 allowance for cooking and table implements has jumped 
 from 10 to 22 lbs. 
 
 As regards the mess stores, it is assumed that 
 the Commissariat will carry the daily ration, and 
 that the stores now enumerated will be those only 
 which an officer would take with him as articles de 
 luxe : 
 
MESS STORES. 165 
 
 lbs. 
 
 1 small tin containing 30 soup portions, from 
 
 A. Chapu, 5 Rue de la Tacherie, Paris . 
 
 2 packets of Bousquin's dried vegetables for 
 
 soup 26-30, Galerie Vivienne, Paris . 2 
 
 4 J lb. tins Huntley and Palmer's meat wafers 2 
 
 6 small pots Liebig's Extract ... 1 
 
 3 1-lb. tins " Erbswurst 3i pea-sausage, each 
 
 tin being sufficient for 4 people, by the 
 International Preserved Food Company, 
 
 Berlin . 3 
 
 12 bags of meat cabbage .... 2 
 3 1-lb. tins, 12 portions in all, of Romford 
 soup, used by German army, and obtain- 
 able at Berlin ..... 3 
 12 tins Effner's condensed eggs, containing 6 
 eggs each, from MacCall and Co., 137, 
 Houndsditch . . . . -14 
 
 Dalby's compressed tea .... 2 
 
 2 tins condensed milk, 2 lbs.; condiments, 
 
 5 lbs.; corn-flour, arrowroot, sugar, 
 
 6 lbs. ; candles and lantern, 6 lbs. . 19 
 
 40 
 
 The "Erbswurst" is a most substantial food, and 
 when 640 such dinners (2 maunds) can be carried on 
 a mule, its value as a provision is undoubted. It is 
 largely used by the Germans, and was adopted by the 
 
166 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 Eussians in the late war with Turkey, 500,000 soups 
 having been supplied, within four weeks, by the firm in 
 Berlin. Price per tin, Is. 6d. 
 
 Followers at 10 lbs. each. If the head man is a 
 Portuguese, his spare clothes will weigh 14 lbs. and 
 his bedding 20 lbs. ; and these, with a waterproof sheet, 
 will bring his baggage to 40 lbs. With the other ser- 
 vants that is to say, dressing-boy, bheestie, and syces 
 a good deal depends on the way they are clothed. 
 This should, in winter, consist of 1 linen shirt (native), 
 1 dhotee (native), 1 flannel shirt, 1 native cloth pyja- 
 mas, 1 pair of socks, 1 pair of boots, and 1 pair of 
 pattees, 1 leather waistcoat (sambur) to cover the hips 
 and back, 1 stout cloth coat made easy for walking, 1 
 skull-cap with ear-flaps, 1 pugree, 1 cummerbund, and 
 1 pair of woollen gloves, with a haversack to carry his 
 tobacco, chabbeena (parched gram), &c. The weights 
 to be carried separately, and not on the person, are 
 
 lbs. 
 1 loose choga, of felt (local pattern) . . 9 
 
 1 bag containing spare clothes ... 5 
 Cooking utensils for Hindoos, consisting of 
 
 2 brass lotas, 1 brass plate (tari), iron plate 
 
 (towa), 1 brass saucer (Icatora), 1 brass 
 spoon . . . . . .8 
 
 and his bedding 
 
 1 waterproof sheet, 6 lbs. 
 
 2 native blankets, 8 lbs. 
 
 *|l4 
 
CLOTHING AND HOUSE GEAR. 167 
 
 giving a total of 36 lbs. per follower. They will have 
 to sleep in a rowtee which will weigh 30 lbs. 
 
 Horses 15 lbs. each. The equipment for the winter 
 will, I think, be found to consist of 
 
 lbs. 
 
 1 waterproof jhool and head-piece line with 
 
 blanket 12 
 
 2 horse blankets (one worn under saddle) . 8 
 1 thin jhool and surcingle .... 2 
 1 fore-shackle, rope, fl5th Hussar pattern ^i 
 
 and peg . . J the fore - shackle ! 
 1 pair heel-shackles, i being carried from i 
 
 rope, and peg . L bridle to holster . J 
 Brush, comb, hand- glove, 2 cloths, knee-pads 
 
 and blind ....... 2\ 
 
 1 zinc bucket, 1 tobra (gram bag), 1 kit bag . li 
 
 34 
 
 In summer the heavy waterproof might be left behind 
 and the weight reduced by 12 lbs. 
 
 It will be noticed that the head-stall and bridoon of 
 the bridle are made to answer all purposes of head- 
 piece with eye-blind while the horses are in stables, as 
 well as leading-rein and watering-bridle when on the 
 move. Also that the fore-shackle is carried on the 
 horse while the heel-rope weighs only 2 lbs. Atten- 
 tion is called to this because it will be found that the 
 
168 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 tethering-ropes of the 15th Hussars weighs 2\ lbs., 
 while those of the 19th Bengal Lancers weigh 9J lbs., 
 that is to say, in 15th Hussars, fore-tackle and 1 peg, 
 with heel-rope and 1 peg, weigh 2\ lbs.; while in 
 19th Bengal Lancers, head-stall, 2 ropes and 2 pegs 
 with 2 heel-ropes and 2 pegs, weigh 9| lbs. An officer 
 on a campaign would have to be content with one 
 saddle, and the spare horse should carry his own kit 
 and no more ; therefore, it would seem to be sufficient 
 if an allowance generally to officers were made for the 
 carriage of 34 lbs. of horse-gear, and this would stand 
 good whether they had 1, 2, 3, or 4 chargers. 
 
 The increase in weight as shown is due to 29 lbs. 
 more camp equipage, 10 lbs. baggage, 12 lbs. for 
 cooking and table things, while the allowance per 
 follower has increased from 10 to 43 lbs., including 
 the share of his tent. 
 
 One cannot help feeling disappointed to see how the 
 weight has increased over the scale, more particularly 
 when that scale provides 30 lbs. only for the baggage 
 of a European soldier, and 20 lbs. for that of a native. 
 
 But the question rests upon three points : 
 
 First, whether the authorised scale has been strictly 
 adhered to ; second, if so, whether the allowance was 
 sufficient to secure health; and third, whether the 
 system of Indian followers can or cannot be changed. 
 
 As regards the first If a camel carries 4 maunds, 
 then the 3494 lbs. would be but slightly more than a 
 
CAMEL LOAD. FIGHTING COLUMN. 169 
 
 camel-load ; in the same way, 10 Europeans' kits or 16 
 native soldiers' kits should go on one camel. 
 
 On the second head Additional clothing and blan- 
 kets have been issued during the campaign. 
 
 And on the third head Grass-cutters have been 
 omitted, but the question of camp-followers generally 
 could only be settled by a Select Committee. 
 
 As the thing at present stands, servants together 
 require nearly as much baggage as their master. 
 
 The assumption that a camel will carry 4 maunds in 
 Afghanistan is delusive ; some cannot carry 8 maunds, 
 and others are so young and fractious that 2 can 
 scarcely be loaded on them. Every man should have 
 a waterproof sheet with a blanket to lie on and two 
 blankets to cover him. The 25th P.N.I, suffered 
 severely from the cold ; they had carpets (the grey 
 blankets having been issued subsequently) to lie on, 
 and a rezai to cover them. 
 
 For manoeuvring with the greatest effect in Afghan- 
 istan, a column should not, apparently, exceed 5,000 
 fighting men; and if we take such a force as Gen. 
 Stewart had with him at Kelat-i-Ghilzai, the compo- 
 nent parts will be found to be made up approximately 
 as under: 2,036 Europeans, 2,345 Native soldiers, 5,119 
 public and private followers, 416 tents, 1,564 horses, 
 78 bullocks, 509 ponies and mules, and 3,930 camels, 
 showing that for every fighting man there was rather 
 more than a follower, and rather less than a camel. 
 
170 KANDAHAE IN 1879. 
 
 If Government lay down a scale, it would then appear 
 to be necessary to adopt one of two courses first, that 
 officers and men should be made to maintain in per- 
 fect order an equipment complete in accordance with 
 the standard patterns, or that the different articles as 
 recognised by Government should be readily obtainable 
 at the arsenals nearest the scene of operations, or from 
 some of the leading manufacturers with whom sealed 
 patterns may have been deposited. The scale should 
 include everything from the tent and saddle down to 
 the bed and cooking-utensils, and the places at which 
 they are obtainable, for the greatest difficulty is ex- 
 perienced at the outset to know what to take, and 
 then where to get it. Rice was carried as a portion 
 of the daily ration for the Europeans, but for some 
 reason or another they never eat it, but hand it over to 
 the cooks. 
 
 Sunday, 4<th May. The Indian Roller arrived, and 
 there were six of these birds in the garden. The 
 flowers continue to change, and to-day I noticed a 
 curious flower, blue in colour and of fourteen leaves, 
 growing on a stalky bush; the wiseacres say it is a 
 dandelion. 
 
 Quarters are now ready for the Europeans; the 
 General had decided to repair the blocks of buildings 
 which had formed the old cantonments, and occupy 
 them as barracks. The aspect of the ground round 
 about these blocks has undergone a great change ; the 
 
SUMMER QUARTERS. BRICKMAKING. 171 
 
 miserable hovels have all been removed, the circular 
 feeding-troughs have been knocked down by the ele- 
 phants, drains have been cut, roads have been lined out, 
 nullahs have been bridged, and a vast area of ruined 
 encampments, amidst sloughy and stagnant pools, have 
 been turned into a parade-ground as clean as the palm 
 of your hand. Bisset, with his assistants Call, Brown, 
 and Olivier, has been hard at work; local labour is 
 employed as much as possible, and working parties are 
 detailed from the regiments every day, Sundays ex- 
 cepted. The heavy rain lately has hindered the brick- 
 making greatly ; in fact, the first three out-turns were 
 destroyed entirely. 
 
 Brickmaking here is very simple : the man chooses 
 his ground, makes a clear platform, digs a trench for 
 his material, turns water in from the nearest channel, 
 and, with the aid of a help, sets to work with the 
 mould. The two together can turn out nearly 1,500 
 a day at the cost of 1 rupee per 1,000. After twenty- 
 four hours the bricks are stood on end in herring- 
 bone rows, and, with a good sun, they are ready for 
 use in from four to seven days. If the weather holds 
 up, the Engineers expect to make from 50,000 to 
 75,000 a day ; and it is quite possible that the troops 
 will be quite comfortable in the blocks within a few 
 days. 
 
 The Politicals have bought up the three villages of 
 Kalacha-i-Haidar, situated south of the road which 
 
172 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 runs from the city past the Baba Wali Kotal to the 
 Arghandab. 
 
 The 15th Sikhs are in the citadel with 5-11 R.A., 
 and the base hospital is to be occupied by two com- 
 panies of the 59th ; the Commissariat and Transport 
 are also in the fort, while a large walled enclosure for 
 the camels has been made outside under the north-west 
 bastion of the city walls. . 
 
 The old cantonments are about 1| miles to the west 
 of the city on the road towards Kokeran. About 530 
 acres, or -f- of a square mile of land, has been taken 
 up, and the cantonment boundary runs from the 
 covered tank on the road from the Topkhana gate, 
 northwards, past the mosque to the Baba Wali 
 road, which it skirts to the north-west until clear of 
 the villages of Kalacha-i-Haidar ; the boundary then 
 turns southwards within the village of Chehul Dok- 
 teran, on the Kokeran road, until it meets the Herat 
 road; it then passes along the road to the north of 
 Rahm-dil Khan's garden, leaving the Sappers out of 
 cantonments altogether, and the boundary is then 
 brought up to the east of, and encloses, Mahomed Amines 
 garden, where Gen. Stewart has his head-quarters. 
 
 The front consists of three blocks of barracks run- 
 ning north-east and south-west, the 59th, G.-4 R.A., 
 6-11 R.A., and 11-11 R.A., occupying the right bar- 
 rack; the 2nd-60th and D.-2 R.A., the centre; the 
 25th P.N.I, the left, with the Sappers' garden, a high 
 
THE CANTONMENT. OLD BARRACKS. 173 
 
 walled enclosure of 43 acres, thrown back on the left. 
 The Horse Artillery will be on the right of the first 
 block and in front of the hospital, and the Brigadier's 
 Staff and artillery officers are in another block . to 
 the right rear; the horses and animals are picketed 
 behind, while the guns are parked between the barrack 
 squares. In rear of the right and centre blocks is the 
 Engineer park and stores, and in rear again are two 
 ranges of quarters for the officers of the 59th and 60th. 
 Behind these again comes Mahomed Amines garden, 
 where Gen. Stewart has his head- quarters. At about 
 500 yards from the right flank, and standing out at 
 right angles to the front line, come the three villages 
 which are occupied in order by the 19th Bengal Lancers 
 (Owen), 1st Punjab Cavalry (MacLean), and the 3rd 
 Gurkhas (Patterson). 
 
 These old barracks were built nearly 40 years ago, 
 and the three main blocks are about 150 yards long by 
 140 yards deep, and some 200 yards apart. The quar- 
 ters go all round the four sides of the block, and leave 
 a clear room of 15 feet between walls of sun-dried 
 bricks and mud 5 feet thick. The roof is covered in 
 by a succession of domes 7 to 8 feet apart at their 
 points ; the walls are 7 feet high inside, and the crown 
 of the vault is about 17 feet from the ground. The 
 roofing-in is peculiar, and the rate at which it is done 
 is marvellous. It consists of a series of arched ribs 
 with vaulting between. 
 
174 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 In building the arches,, a centering of wood, the 
 thickness of one brick, is set up in two pieces, the 
 feet rest on a burnt brick supported by two nails driven 
 into the wall about 6 feet from the floor; the ribs are 
 then joined at the apex, lashed together, and steadied 
 by a guy pole. The spring courses are carried up 
 from 7 to 10 feet from the floor and laid in " gach " 
 (gypsum, plaster of Paris), and above that height the 
 arch is commenced. Bricks are then placed on edge 
 resting on the centre rib, the work is carried up quickly 
 from both sides, and the " gach w is freely applied by 
 the hand. No sooner is the first ring laid and the 
 arch keyed in than the second is commenced, more 
 " gach " mixed, fresh and fresh is laid on, and the 
 second row or ring of bricks are fairly stuck by the 
 face on the first course, which is still resting on the 
 wooden centering. This is continued for about ten 
 courses, the first ring being one brick deep, the second 
 one and a half, the third to eighth two bricks, the 
 ninth one and a half, and the tenth one brick, all break- 
 ing joint. Two masons, with the proper proportion of 
 coolies to assist them, can turn out four such arched 
 ribs in a day, and these are then left for three or four 
 days to dry and set before the vaulting between them 
 is undertaken. 
 
 The vaulting between the ribs is carried up from 
 the walls at the two corners with brick in mud laid on 
 edge in concentric courses, the vault, when finished, 
 
AECHING AND VAULTING. 175 
 
 having a rise of about 9 inches above the arched ribs ; 
 the bricks themselves are more like tiles,, being 8 
 inches square and 1^ inches thick. Another sort 
 of vaulting is done with burnt tiles laid flat in 
 " gach/' the points of contact being merely the ends 
 and sides ; two men work from either side, and 
 two men sit above to hold the tiles in position 
 for the second or two of time until the next ones 
 are placed and the ring completed. Some of the pas- 
 sages were 43 feet long with a span of 9 feet ; these 
 were covered in with an arch of brick in mud, 
 built entirely without centering, by one mason and 
 some seven or eight helps, in three days. The builder 
 trusts to his eye for the curve, and to a slight angle at 
 which each ring is placed to prevent distortion, the 
 concentric rings are brought up from the side walls, 
 bricks being placed alternately to the right and left 
 until the ring is complete. It is really a sight worth 
 seeing, the old mason standing upon his rough scaffold- 
 ing with his work before him, a man at his feet to 
 hand him the bricks, and another at his side to supply 
 the mud-plaster, which is flung about and smeared off 
 in the boldest manner possible. The whole operation 
 is conducted under a sort of chant calling upon Allah 
 to prosper his work, and is only interrupted when the 
 material runs short, or an outburst of abuse warns 
 the assistants outside to be quicker in their work or 
 more careful in their toil. 
 
176 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 Monday, 5th May. The Government rate of ex- 
 change for remittances fixed for the year at Is. 7Jd. 
 
 Tuesday, 6th May. Heard from Mahommed Rahim, 
 of the Hubb Estate in Sind, telling me that out of the 
 1,981 camels he supplied, 1,847 were approved and 
 sent up country. Of these, 206 remained at Dadur 
 and 11 at Kandahar; the rest had either died, were 
 lost, or stolen. The advance he had received from 
 Government had been adjusted, and he now was seek- 
 ing payment for camels without loads, from Kurrachee 
 to Sukkur, at half-pay, Rs. 13,360; for camels from 
 Sukkur, upwards of Rs. 20,700, or Rs. 34,000 in 
 all, the half price which Government agreed to pay 
 him for the dead camels not being included in the 
 above. 
 
 The camel difficulty is, no doubt, a great one, but 
 one cannot help feeling that, in starting this expedi- 
 tion, there was a want of intelligence, or a forgetful- 
 ness, a downright recklessness call it what you like 
 in the neglect to take ordinary precautions to meet the 
 difficulties which had been shown to have arisen in 
 the first campaign, and which would be sure to occur 
 again. In those days, so soon as the Commissariat 
 camels began to die, the camel-men objected to cross 
 the Indus, and, in our case, we broke faith with the 
 same class of men in engaging them for the plains 
 and then working them in the highlands ; and although 
 the first army were more successful than we were in 
 
THE CAMEL DIFFICULTY. 177 
 
 purchasing camels at Kandahar, and in the additional 
 presence of the Lohanee convoy of 5,000 camels, 
 under Surwar Khan, yet that force had to start 
 towards Ghazni on half rations, as the drivers re- 
 fused to proceed further, whether the camels were 
 purchased or hired. 
 
 This brings me to the camel himself and the care 
 that he requires. The beasts were literally starved, 
 and their hearts broken by hunger and cold ; if clothing 
 was necessary for the man, why not for the beast, 
 during winter weather? And if it was known that, 
 in the first expedition, camels were kept alive by being 
 fed by hand, on flour and ghee, when crops were grow- 
 ing and in the ear, how much more necessary to 
 arrange for their sustenance when only the scanty 
 grazing of sterile winter would be available ? One 
 great cause of mortality among camels during the 
 first war arose from the way in which the beasts were 
 worked and worn out by long marches, want of food, 
 and bad water, so that those surviving had only 
 strength equal to the carriage of half loads. We 
 permitted and repeated the same insensate course, 
 and time after time the camels (it is freely said), 
 during the earlier months of this campaign, had tasted 
 nothing for three days at a time but what they could 
 snatch as they toiled along. It is just the same as if 
 one had wound up an eight- day clock and expected it 
 to go for a month. The existence of the poisonous 
 
 12 
 
178 KANDAHAE IN 1879. 
 
 shrub was foretold, and yet 35 camels died out of 609 
 in one night from eating this shrub close to Lake La- 
 gowlee. The tale of the camels will never be told 
 out of 267 hired from India or the Punjab, marching 
 for eight days in January with the head-quarters to 
 Kelat-i-Ghilzai, 154 died; and later on, in February, 
 on the march back to Deh Hajji, 105 out of 250 suc- 
 cumbed within three days. If the rate of mortality 
 during the first four months of the year could be ob- 
 tained, it would not be found less than 50 per cent, 
 per month. "Whatever complement may be considered 
 sufficient to start with, no country in the world could 
 meet the demand of reproducing a like number every 
 two months. Apart from the loss in money, the limit 
 to progress was most probably fixed at Kelat-i-Ghilzai, 
 and the division, with its failing carriage, could not 
 have advanced much farther north. But supposing, in 
 the turn of events, an imperial policy had demanded 
 that Stewart should push on to Cabul ? It could have 
 been done had the camels stood up, for the season was 
 exceptional to a degree, and snow not falling, there 
 was really no obstacle but the Sher-i-dana pass beyond 
 Ghazni ; a larger field for stores and forage would have 
 been reached at Mukur, and his force could have 
 reached Cabul in twenty- three marches, on the 13th 
 February, or but two days later than the date on 
 which head-quarters re-entered Kandahar. 
 
179 
 
 CHAPTBE X. 
 
 The seasons. Quail-netting. Quail-fighting. City Conservancy. 
 The City. Eevenue. City Hospital. Mir AfsuPs garden. 
 Kose-bushes. Austrian briar. The Kandahar News. Apricots. 
 City approach. Mulberries. Flies. Frogs. Water-seller. 
 Beggars. Herat Gate. Blacksmiths. Price of iron. Cop- 
 persmiths. Candlesticks. Curriers. Postins. Silkworms. 
 Shoemakers. The Charsu. Eosaries. Bankers. Carpets. 
 Prices. Batta. Merchandise. China. Felt manufacture. 
 Bolan tax. Mulberries. Temperature. Transport. Store 
 dep6ts. Prices. General Phayre. Quetta stores. Communi- 
 cations. Tailor " Kulled." H.M.'s Parade. Parade States. 
 
 Wednesday, 7th May. The green plums, Aloocha, 
 are being sold in the city; they make into capital 
 mango or gooseberry fool. As far as I have been able 
 to note, the great change from what may be called 
 spring to summer took place about April loth; the 
 fruit blossoms had then all passed and the trees were 
 in leaf, the poplars and chinar trees became decently 
 
 12 * 
 
180 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 clothed, and the mulberry trees had hidden their white 
 gaunt branches in abundant foliage, the young fruit 
 developing in the greatest profusion. The change in 
 the appearance of the country itself is equally rapid ; 
 the fields on every side had become filled with green 
 barley and lucerne, profusely mingled with blue iris, 
 corn-flowers, and lilies. The soil is so good, water is 
 so plentiful, and the sun so warm, that what is a 
 crop one week may be ready for the sickle the next. 
 On a morning's ride this perpetual harvesting may be 
 seen. 
 
 A group of men talking and lounging round a field 
 of waving barley clearly indicates that something is on 
 hand, and this something is merely the preliminary to 
 net such quail as may have sought shelter in the cover 
 before the crop is cut. The arrangement is very simple 
 a few cone-shaped cages, covered with coloured cloth 
 containing the call-birds, are suspended from poles at 
 the end of the field ; a large stop-net is then spread at 
 this end, reaching from the ground and resting so as 
 to cover some 6 or 8 feet on the top of the barley; 
 two men then go off with a long rope to the other end 
 of the fields and beating is commenced by drawing this 
 rope backwards and forwards through the tops of the 
 barley; the rope is very gradually brought forward, 
 and the quail, disturbed by the rustling noise, are sup- 
 posed to run forward into that part of the field which 
 is covered by the stop-net. When the rope has been 
 
QUAIL-NETTING. 181 
 
 drawn to the net, the beaters drop the rope and enter 
 the field, taking the net in one hand and] beating the 
 barley with the other, while the birds, scared by the 
 noise, jump up and catch themselves in the net. 
 
 The birds so caught are at once operated on by the 
 wily Afghan, who draws the whole of the quills of one 
 wing by a simple bite of his teeth, and the game is 
 popped into a bag for market, the stronger male birds 
 being selected and reserved for fighting purposes. 
 Many of the birds fly back, and probably alight in 
 a field less grown ; a hawk is then flown across the 
 field to make these birds lie till they are secured by 
 a small hand-net drawn over the spot. Quail-fighting 
 seems to be a favourite pastime, for, go where you 
 will, every other urchin you meet will have a quail in 
 his hand, handling and smoothing its feathers, and 
 training it to be strong by jumping it up and down. 
 Again, in the market-place of a^ morning, the farmers, 
 in the intervals of buying and selling, will have a round 
 or two, betting one, two, and even three rupees, and 
 for the moment all thoughts of business are absorbed 
 in the issue of the bet. 
 
 Thursday, Sth May. There has been a great im- 
 provement in the citadel under Olivier' s charge, and 
 the sanitation of the city has been undertaken by 
 Protheroe, the Assistant Political. The amount of 
 absolute filth that still remains shows very plainly 
 that the task of city-sweeping is not, nor will it be, 
 
182 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 a light one. In the "Herat" bazaar gangs of men 
 were employed cleaning out the open drains in front 
 of the shops, and the muck was being carried off on 
 donkeys clear away. The " Shah w bazaar had been 
 finished, and, at the time of my visit, the Alizai 
 quarter of the city as well. I was agreeably sur- 
 prised, for, instead of filth on every side and in every 
 corner, all the main lanes had been swept thoroughly 
 clean, walls had been removed, and spaces cleared for 
 latrines ; regular establishments had been entertained, 
 and what is more to the point, the better class of resi- 
 dents had already appreciated the improvements, and 
 were assisting the executive authorities as much as 
 possible. The Populzai and Barukzai quarters were 
 being dealt with in the same way. The privacy of dwel- 
 lings is in no way intruded on, and the people are en- 
 couraged to throw out their rubbish by the rapidity 
 with which it is removed from their door-fronts. 
 
 There are four quarters in the city, and each may be 
 said to be rather more than half a mile long and a 
 little less than half a mile wide. The main lanes of a 
 quarter generally run at right angles to one another, 
 and the intervening areas are divided into squares, 
 mosques, buildings with gardens, and servants' quar- 
 ters. Running water is plentiful, and the amount of 
 foliage is considerably more than at first sight ap- 
 pears; women are moving freely about in what look 
 like their winding-sheets, children are at play, gar- 
 
CITY CONSERVANCY. 183 
 
 deners are cleaning their vegetables, and droves of 
 camels and donkeys are passing ont to the fields 
 beyond the city for forage. In fact, everything de- 
 notes a community well cared for, and living in peace 
 and prosperity. 
 
 The expenditure on these sanitary arrangements is, 
 I believe, about Us. 1,200 a month. The regular custom 
 dues on all things from India are retained, and these, 
 with an assessment which is to be levied on all the 
 shops, will meet the expenses of conservancy and 
 police. Under the old regime the city revenue 
 amounted to about 6^ lacs of rupees, and this was 
 sent direct to Cabul, not a pice of it being spent in 
 municipal improvements or otherwise at Kandahar. 
 St. John tells me that of this 65,000, one-half at 
 least was derivable from the transit duties on British 
 piece goods and cutlery ; a large sum was due to the 
 tax on all provisions, forage, and every class of market 
 produce ; while there was a Government monopoly in 
 the manufacture of leather, soap, and oil. A high 
 percentage was also fixed on the sale of all classes of 
 animals, and a special tax was levied on Hindoos. 
 
 Before I left the city I met Dr. Brereton, and he 
 took me over the hospital which is now established in 
 Mir Afsul's quarters, close to the Herat gate. There 
 is full accommodation for serious cases, and separate 
 quarters for segregating the sick. The drawback at 
 present is a great scarcity of medicines and drugs. The 
 
184 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 garden in front of the main rooms was very prettily- 
 laid out, a large tank running down the centre, a large 
 mulberry-tree affording grateful shade, while the eye 
 was relieved by flowers of every hue. One bed of pop- 
 pies was a perfect blaze of colour, from the common 
 red of our own fields to every shade of buff, grey, and 
 pink, some variegated, some plain, and some again 
 with a centre of leaves as if a rose had been grown in 
 the cup of the flower. But the feature of the garden 
 was undoubtedly a pair of large rose-bushes some 14 feet 
 high and 15 feet in diameter, the branches supported 
 on cross-pieces, and forming a cool and fragrant arbour. 
 These trees, or more correctly bushes, were literally 
 covered with buds ; some had burst into flower, and 
 showed a plain white rose of five leaves. The perfume 
 was perfect, and recalled the " white rose " of other 
 days. The old gardener was quite pleased that we had 
 noticed them, and assured us that when these trees 
 were in full flower the scent was carried as far as the 
 Shikarpore bazaar. Now I know nothing of the flowers, 
 but I cannot imagine anything more profuse or more 
 delicate than these bushes must be at their best time. 
 In my wanderings here I have twice come across the 
 same sort of rose that is, one like our own dog-rose, 
 quite simple, and with five leaves, only that in one case 
 the rose was a bright gamboge, and in the other bright 
 crimson inside and bright yellow outside, both having 
 the scent of an orange. The initiated t tell me these 
 
ROSE-BUSHES. THE " KANDAHAR NEWS. 185 
 
 are the Adam and Eve of all roses, the double- coloured 
 rose being well known as the Austrian briar. 
 
 On passing out into the street I noticed splashings 
 of blood above the lintel of the gateway, a practice 
 observed by the Afghans in times of misfortune and 
 calamity. It was explained that the blood of a sheep 
 had been thrown here on the occasion of the death 
 of one of the sons of Abdul Rahman, shortly after 
 we had entered Kandahar at the beginning of the 
 year. 
 
 Friday, 9th May. The " Kandahar News" has been 
 started now a month ; a daily paper, confined to matter 
 written with transfer ink on a half-sheet of foolscap. 
 It has no advertisements, and the proprietors do not 
 treat us to much beyond the telegrams, the range of 
 the thermometer, an acrostic or two, and now and 
 again a startling question or shave. The other day 
 they led off with "Why are we not intrenched in 
 Kandahar ? " 
 
 Saturday, 10th May. The barley-fields are in the 
 ear, and some are being cut. I saw some ripe apricots 
 in the bazaar (shakarpara) ; they are very sweet and 
 delicate in taste, but most of them are bruised from 
 rough handling and packing. You can buy them at 
 the rate of about six a penny. They are very sweet, 
 with but little colour, and are preferable to the smaller 
 apricot of a yellow colour. 
 
 Having but little or nothing to do, I took a Pathan 
 
186 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 orderly with me to make some purchases in the city. 
 The road leading to the Herat gate was, for the greater 
 part, under water, owing to the careless way in which 
 the water is led across in imperfect channels and allowed 
 to spill about in finding its level for irrigating the fields 
 on the lower side. Just below the bridge a hog- backed 
 affair, spanning the Deh Khoja watercourse there is 
 a large pond in the road itself, churned up into a state 
 of slush by a never-ceasing traffic of camels, mules, 
 donkeys, cows, and foot-passengers, and where the 
 gardeners are washing their loads of lettuces, though 
 running water is within a few feet of them. In the 
 running water of the canal another little game is going 
 on, for there some boys have waded in to feast on the 
 ripe mulberries which their brothers are shaking from 
 the trees overhanging the stream. Mulberries are 
 public property, and the people never tire of eating 
 them. One man said he could eat as much as six pints 
 at a time, and, with a drink of milk, would be able 
 to begin again ; and, by repeating the milk draughts, 
 could continue the process till no more fruit remained. 
 Many of the smaller watercourses are lined with mul- 
 berry-trees, and the fallen fruit lies about in great 
 abundance at the water edges. The flies pitch upon 
 the fruit in myriads, and the frogs feast upon the flies. 
 These frogs, with a croak like ravens in distress, fairly 
 lie in wait for the flies with their snouts just above 
 water. The frog gradually comes up till sure of his 
 
MULBERRIES. 187 
 
 distance, and with one movement forward he sweeps a 
 swarm into his great red mouth, and then drops back 
 into the stream. The shikar is so dexterously per- 
 formed that the flies remaining don't appear to be 
 aware of the fate that awaits them in the next few 
 seconds. 
 
 Just beyond the lettuce-washing you come to another 
 pond, and here, instead of having to look out for your 
 horse, you have to look out for yourself, as the 
 branches of a great mulberry-tree come to within 
 about 6 feet of the ground. To make the crush worse 
 at this point an old man has established himself under 
 the tree, where, in little earthen jars, he supplies the 
 passers-by with pure water drawn from a well behind 
 him. Then the beggars begin, lining both sides of the 
 road, old and hideous of both sexes, and among them 
 a fakir, with hair all matted, and clothed only in the 
 dust he has thrown over himself. Later on I met 
 another fakir of the same class, only without the 
 dust, walking in the main bazaar; and I really think, 
 though he may be a most respectable member of his 
 class, that he should either be treated with a taste of 
 the rattan, or made to frequent such byeways as people 
 in search of him would be likely to find him in. The 
 gateway itself is like all the others, a heavy door and 
 an entrance turning at right angles through the bastion 
 of the city. Here, if you go at a busy time, there is 
 sure to be a block, and instead of keeping a right side, 
 
188 KANDAHAJJ IN 1879. 
 
 the one idea seems to be to jam the cattle, as a drove, 
 full in to the entrance, and let them filter through the 
 crush from the other side as best they can. From the 
 Herat gate to the " Charsu/' or where the four main 
 roads cross under a large dome in the centre of the 
 city, you pass the blacksmiths and the coppersmiths, 
 the postin-makers, and the shoe shops. 
 
 A blacksmith's shop is always a busy one, and here, 
 beyond the trees, under a low roof, you will see the 
 bellows-boy perched up in the corner, the two helps 
 working up the red-hot iron with their hammers as the 
 master smith turns it on the anvil. The smith and his 
 men stand up to their knees in holes, and the whole 
 forge is scarcely 10 feet long by 6 feet wide and 5 feet 
 high. Hammer, hammer, hammer, but there is no 
 ring in the work. The iron, for the most part, comes 
 from Bombay, and costs Us. 27 a maund, or 6f pennies 
 per lb. (if the exchange is taken at Is. 7d. per rupee), 
 and the articles turned out chiefly are spades, grass- 
 cutting knives with a serrated edge, tripods for cooking, 
 horse-shoes, and nails. The spade, or " bel," is heart- 
 shaped and slightly concave, with a straight shaft of 
 willow with a wooden tread on one side but no handle 
 at the top, and costs about Is. 9d. complete, the handles 
 being sold separately at ten for the rupee. The 
 horse-shoes, broad flat things, with four holes on each 
 side, at 4d. apiece; and nails fetch rather more than 
 7d. a pound. Russian barrel padlocks can be bought, 
 
BLACKSMITHS AND COPPERSMITHS. 189 
 
 as many as you like, at Is. 4|d. apiece; and a piece of 
 steel was sold, some three or four months ago, at 4^d. 
 per lb. 
 
 The coppersmiths are just as busy, and rather more 
 noisy ; the open shops are crowded with men, some 
 knocking the pots into shape, others engraving, some 
 eating, others idling, while the front of the shop is 
 choked with vessels for sale ; and outside, on the 
 ground, one or two men are occupied in cutting out 
 different patterns from copper sheets. Huge open cook- 
 ing pots piled one upon the other, salvers of all sizes, 
 portly samovars or tea-urns with curved spouts, brass 
 handle, and charcoal-burner complete. Long-necked 
 water-bottles with spouts a foot long, washing-basins 
 with top strainers, hookah stands shaped like our 
 Indian water-serais, and tall light-burners, arranged 
 both for candle and oil. These candlesticks are curious, 
 and at first you cannot quite make out what they are 
 intended for ; the pedestal stands on a dish and takes 
 to pieces, one part being joined by a screw which works 
 the wrong way as a matter of course. The stem rises 
 from the centre of the dish and carries a fair-sized 
 bowl ; reversed on this bowl rests a large open vase 
 and the top of the stem is made to carry a candle; 
 but if oil is to be burnt, the stem is prolonged to 
 carry a smaller bowl reversed, from which the open 
 oil-dish springs. Another was on quite the same 
 principle, except that the vase was omitted and the 
 
190 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 bowls were fashioned like palm-leaves, bending over. 
 The object of the bowls being reversed is to reflect the 
 light. The whole of these utensils, with the excep- 
 tion of the cooking-pots, are engraved in different 
 flower patterns, with texts from the Koran inter- 
 spersed, and the whole is tinned over. The price of 
 the wrought metal varies from 3s. 4d. to 4s. 9d. a 
 pound weight, according to the excellence or quality of 
 the engraving. 
 
 The leather-curriers purchase the sheepskins from 
 the butchers, the skins being taken from the animals, 
 wool and all, by making incisions down the thigh 
 behind and pulling the skin right over the neck, the 
 head having been first cut off; the skins are then cut 
 open and left to dry. The first dressing of flour and 
 salt water is continued for three or four days, and well 
 rubbed in till the leather becomes soft; the skin is 
 then washed, and the wool cleaned. A further pre- 
 paration consists in scraping away all animal matter 
 by means of a large knife, which is worked up and 
 down the skin with some force, the skin being placed 
 on a board which leans against the knees of the work- 
 man standing up. The leathers are then smeared over 
 with a mixture of pomegranate-peel, alum, and colour- 
 ing matter, folded up, and thrown into a corner in a 
 heap to dry. After some days, when the tanning is 
 thoroughly dry, the skins are well rubbed and beaten 
 and sent for sale to the tailors, the price being about 
 
POSTINS. SHOEMAKEES. 191 
 
 9d. a skin. The tailors do not lose much time in turn- 
 ing the skins into coats ; the cutter makes the back 
 piece in one, two broad slips form the fronts, and two 
 spare pieces are provided for the short sleeves. The 
 tailor almost as rapidly sews these together; and such 
 a coat, or "postincha," is sold readily for 2s. These, 
 of course, are intended for the poorer classes; but 
 others, again, are more carefully cut and sewn, and 
 embroidered in silk by the women, and fetch from 2 
 to 4} apiece. The larger coat, or "postin/' which 
 comes down to the heels, is priced at 10. The silk 
 used for these coats formerly was of Kandahar pro- 
 duction, but, as far as I could learn, the rearing of 
 silkworms has almost fallen off. The reason given is 
 that the breeders, for the most part, in receiving a re- 
 mission of revenue instead of cash for the silk they 
 sold to Government, became careless of the manner in 
 which the worms were fed, and that this carelessness 
 was aggravated by the practice of letting the mulberry- 
 tree to two people with different interests at the same 
 time the breeder taking the leaf, and a contractor the 
 fruit. 
 
 The shoe shops are right up in a corner, and the 
 ordinary red shoes for women are mostly made there ; 
 the sides are curved, and there is no heel-leather 
 behind. The heel is a high one, and shod with iron, 
 the price varying from Is. 8d. to 2s. a pair. The 
 common shoe for the men is of camel's skin, and priced 
 
192 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 at 3s. Many of the labourers wear boots not unlike 
 those of a ploughman at home, the nails being rather 
 longer, the shape a little more uncouth, and the leather 
 less stiff. 
 
 The aspect of the shops in the " Charsu " is very- 
 bright, and above the hum of the crowd the song of 
 caged larks is very distinct. No shops really exist, 
 for the tradespeople sit on a little platform with their 
 goods exposed on frames which rise up towards the 
 roof of the covered way. Here chiefly one sees caps 
 of all kinds, from that of kincob to one of plain linen, 
 others quilted and of coloured cloth, shoes of a better 
 sort, coloured, stamped, and worked in gold chiefly 
 from Cabul, and handkerchiefs from Bokhara. The 
 common quilted caps, which are worn by the poor, 
 fitting close to the head, under an ample pugree, are 
 sold for 2|d. The shoes range from 9s. 6d., and the 
 silk handkerchiefs begin at Is. 6d. apiece. Leaving 
 the " Charsu/' and going towards the Cabul gate, are 
 the sellers of rosaries, with beads of chrysolite or soap- 
 stone quarried from Shah Maksud and the hills beyond 
 the Arghandab ; the price is just what the man thinks 
 you will pay, and one man asked me 4* for a string 
 of yellow beads like amber, because they had the 
 power, when rubbed, of lifting a piece of cotton wool ! 
 Then come the shroffs or bankers, who offer you gold 
 mohurs and half gold mohurs of different Asiatic cities, 
 jewellery from Hindostan, enamelled work from Me- 
 
THE OHAEStJ. CARPETS. 193 
 
 shed, Cabul, and Kashmir, and packets of turquoises 
 from the Persian mines. 
 
 A little further on are the carpet-sellers, a most in- 
 dependent set, who scarcely think it worth the trouble 
 of tempting you to buy by opening the carpet. The 
 carpets are an old stock, and the route from Herat is 
 now only just open, one kafila having got safely 
 through the band of robbers who infest the road. A 
 very pretty prayer-carpet was shown me, and when I 
 asked the price the man said it was Rs. 7. I said I 
 would take it, and was at once met with the excuse 
 that the carpet belonged to a friend. Shortly after- 
 wards the shopman said if I would give lis. 10 I should 
 have it, and he would square his friend. I agreed, and 
 produced the money; but the carpet was withdrawn 
 and refused on the plea that I was not a Mussulman. 
 I bought one Persian carpet of good colour, the pat- 
 tern being in stripes somewhat like a curtain. The 
 size was 11 feet by 6 feet, and the price 2 7s. It 
 was far superior to many of the Indian jail carpets, 
 which are often sold at nearly three times the rate. 
 The Post Office charged me 1 2s. 2d. for its carriage 
 to England by the overland parcel post, and what with 
 duty, &c, the bill will not fall far short of 4 before 
 delivery at destination ; it is also more than probable 
 that the same carpet is procurable in England at less 
 money. But that, of course, is another question; one 
 feels a sort of satisfaction above money in remember- 
 
 13 
 
194 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 ing one's friends, and in endeavouring to show them 
 that they are not forgotten. 
 
 This " remembering one's friends " is rather a tax 
 on a soldier's pay ; he naturally desires to invest rather 
 freely in the manufactures of the country he is visit- 
 ing, and, if indulged in, it soon absorbs the savings 
 he might have realised under the narrow conditions of 
 active service. It may be that he anticipates " batta," 
 which rumour now says he is not to get for this expe- 
 dition. The compensation by Government, or t( batta/' 
 to the soldier should never, in India, be withheld. 
 The days of loot are gone, and whether it be to the 
 officer or soldier, a special equipment has always to be 
 obtained, while much has necessarily to be left behind 
 in store, where moths, white ants, and damp consume 
 and render it useless in a single season. Troops, also, 
 starting on an expedition, should never be detained for 
 any length of time after active operations have ceased, 
 and they should be relieved by others fully equipped 
 for all seasons of an ordinary tour of duty. While on 
 the subject of prices, I may just as well add that glass 
 panes are procurable, in sizes up to 10 inches by 12 
 inches, at from 7d. to Is. per pane ; oil sells for 1 12s., 
 and rope for 2 10s. the maund of 80 lbs. 
 
 Returning to the " Charsu/' and passing through 
 the covered entrance to the " Shah " bazaar leading to 
 the citadel, the objects for sale at once change ; odds 
 and ends of all sorts appear little tea-services from 
 
MERCHANDISE. FELT MANUFACTURE. 195 
 
 Russia, bowls from Bokhara, plates from Kashgar, 
 large keyless watches from Russia chain, case, spare 
 mainspring, and all complete for 2 10s., composite 
 candles, six for Is. 3d., old saddlery, leathern belts, 
 and cheap-jack stores, from jew's-harps to blue glass 
 buttons. There has been rather a run upon the Russian 
 tea-services; a small cup costs 3s. 2d., and a tea-pot 
 6s. 6d. The bowls from Bokhara, and plates from 
 everywhere, most probably coming originally from 
 China, as a special manufacture for Central Asia. 
 
 There is undoubtedly a very brisk trade in orna- 
 mental saddle-cloths and horse accoutrements of all 
 sorts ; but if you wish to see how the felts are made, 
 you must leave the main thoroughfare to go into the 
 dirty dwelling-places near the cattle market. Here, in 
 low hovels, with apparently no implements save a large 
 mat upon the floor, a pair of scissors, a broad knife, 
 and a few earthen pots containing water, and wool as 
 the material, these curious floor-covers are manufac- 
 tured. I was so anxious to see how the coloured pat- 
 terns were pressed into the felts, that I ordered three, 
 and asked the head man to show me how the work 
 was done. I will try and describe just what I saw, so 
 that if anyone wishes to indulge in fancy work they 
 can do so without much trouble or expense. A hand- 
 kerchief was spread upon the ground, and one of the 
 sons placed on the outline of a square four strips of 
 thin blue felt which the old man had just cut up the 
 
 13 * 
 
196 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 scissors were then applied to a piece of white felt, and 
 eight pieces were cut out like brackets, and in a very- 
 few seconds these pieces were carefully placed within 
 the blue square and formed at once the block of the 
 pattern, one arm of the bracket running from the 
 corner along the blue line for nearly half the length of 
 the side, and the other arm curving inwards from the 
 corner towards the centre of the square. These little 
 bracket-pieces, cut with toothed edges like a saw, were 
 so arranged that a circle was formed at each corner 
 and a circle in the middle, with triangles left at the 
 centre of each side, the apex pointing to the centre of 
 the square. During this time a third man had been 
 rolling up pieces of coloured worsted on the round of 
 one of the water-pots, and, when a good handful was 
 ready, four men at once commenced to fill in the pat- 
 tern ; the first would lay a thread of red to make out 
 the triangle, a second would define the radii of the 
 circles with yellow spikes, a third would place broad 
 sectors of blue next them, and a fourth would roll up 
 little balls of black and fix all the centres; so it 
 went on, each one knowing exactly what was to happen, 
 until the whole of the interior of the blue square out- 
 line was literally packed with small shreds and rolls of 
 coloured wool. Harsh outlines were broken with broad 
 spikes or arrows of different shapes, and the pattern 
 was pronounced complete. A bordering was given to 
 the blue line outside by plain rolls of red and blue 
 
FELT MANUFACTURE. 197 
 
 worsted, one end being laid in the gap at the side of 
 the square, and brought along the side to the corner, 
 where it was roughly broken off. About six of these 
 worsted rolls were thought sufficient for the edging 
 of each quadrant, and, instead of a simple square, the 
 exterior shape had become a lozenge, with a double 
 curve on each side, the length of one side being about 
 1 foot. 
 
 This unit, or pattern, can be repeated as many times 
 as is necessary for the size of the felt, and the intervals 
 between them are filled up to represent stalks, leaves, 
 and flowers ; broad borders, of three or four different 
 patterns, confining the whole. But to continue clean 
 wool was then taken and picked out with the fingers 
 till it appeared as in thin webs, and these were laid 
 lightly over the whole pattern; this being done, the 
 process was continued for a second and for a third 
 time, a little water was then sprinkled over the mass 
 and two more thin layers added with more water. The 
 sample was then ready for its rolling into homogeneous 
 felt. 
 
 A small round stick of almond- wood was laid upon 
 the edge of the handkerchief and rolled forward, the 
 handkerchief wrapping round the stick and so over 
 the felt until the whole was round the stick and con- 
 tained within the folds of the handkerchief. The roll 
 was then manipulated backwards and forwards, very 
 much in the way one might use a cylindrical blotting 
 
198 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 roll, with occasional dabs to compress the wool. After 
 about ten minutes, the roll was carefully undone and 
 examined, put right with the finger-nail, and then 
 pressed under foot. This concluded the exhibition, 
 and the beauty and accuracy of the pattern was en- 
 hanced by the extreme simplicity and rapidity of its 
 execution. 
 
 In the manufacture of large felts the pattern is laid 
 out on a large mat of reeds, bound together by cords, 
 wool being added till the required thickness is ob- 
 tained. The mass is then rolled in the mat until the 
 whole is thoroughly interwoven, and after beating and 
 washing with soap and water, the pattern part is neatly 
 shaved with a long knife ; the felt is then finished and 
 left to dry. A felt 16 feet long and 4 feet wide will 
 occupy eight men one day in its building up, eight men 
 one day in rolling, one man one day cleaning, one man 
 one day shaving with a knife, and the price is about 
 16s. These felts, they say, are largely exported to the 
 Punjab, and, in all probability, go by the way of the 
 Bolan pass. I am not sure whether the tax on animals 
 exists on this route, for I have an idea that when our 
 last treaty was made with the Khan of Khelat, his 
 subsidy was supposed to include the amount he had 
 annually received from the kafilas passing through 
 the country ; in fact, that India had freed the Bolan 
 of its transit duties, with benefit to the trader and 
 without detriment to the Khan. 
 
FELT MANUFACTURE. TEMPEEATITBE. 199 
 
 Sunday, Wth May. Rode with Brown to Mahommed 
 Shah's village to see how it should be destroyed. This 
 village had given cover to the men who had attacked 
 Pitman's telegraph party when laying the line into 
 Kandahar. 
 
 Monday, 12th May. The large red mulberries known 
 as " Shah Tut " are nearly ripe. The soldiers have 
 made any amount of ginger-beer. 
 
 Thursday, 15th May. Received report of Sankey's 
 operations on the Indus in searching for a suitable 
 crossing and deciding the route by which troops should 
 leave India at the outset of this campaign. 
 
 Friday, 16th May. Weather warming up to 85 in 
 the house at noon, and in the barracks from 88 to 
 90, falling at night to about 78. The men are un- 
 avoidably a good deal crowded, while the situation is 
 cramped by the animals being picketed in rear of the 
 buildings. Many of us are already tired of the place, 
 and a move backward, even to Pishin, would be hailed 
 as a relief. 
 
 Monday, 19th May. Shah Mahommed's village was 
 destroyed by a party of the Rifles under Hope Lovett 
 and Crawford. The roofs were merely knocked in, and 
 some of the walls turned over. 
 
 Tuesday, 20th May. The A.Q.M.G. has gone down 
 to see Gen. Phayre, who has been lately engaged in 
 collecting and transporting six months' supplies into 
 Quetta. A circular order of 8th February pointed 
 
200 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 out that this duty had devolved on the Reserve Divi- 
 sion, and was to be accomplished by the 1st May. The 
 Transport operations from Sukkur to Dadur were to be 
 under the superintendence of Lieut. -Col. Hogg, of the 
 Bombay army, and were to be carried out between 
 Sukkur and Dadur exclusively by carts, so distributed 
 as to admit of a daily train of 317 carts between 
 Sukkur and Jacobabad. The work between Jacob- 
 abad and Dadur was to be by camels, and between 
 Dadur and Quetta the existing arrangement by Bra- 
 hoe; and other transport was to remain unaltered, 
 until a mule, pony, and donkey train could be esta- 
 blished. 
 
 Dadur and Quetta are both reported to be fully 
 stocked, and at present one is unable to see the neces- 
 sity for these huge depots. The work below the pass 
 detains and works at high pressure camels which, I 
 think, could be more profitably employed at the front, 
 not only in completing our equipment, but in bringing 
 in our own supplies from the neighbourhood. The 
 Commissariat have on hand two months' supplies in 
 Kandahar, and they can procure as much more as they 
 want, flour for bread being the only article that is 
 really required from India. A convoy of 600 camels 
 and 300 mules is expected daily, and, so far as creature 
 comforts go, we have three enterprising Parsees with 
 their shops open in the citadel square. The ruling 
 prices for forage are barley or Indian corn, 13 lbs. for 
 
STORE DEPOTS. 201 
 
 Is. ; and a donkey-load of green barley or lucerne 
 costs 6d. Sheep may be had at from 10s. to 14s. 
 apiece, flour 11 lbs. for Is., sugar at Is. 3d., rice 3d., 
 ghee Is. per lb. Of European stores jams are 3s., 
 soups 4s., sardines 2s., and biscuits 6s. a tin ; sauces 
 3s., tart fruits 4s. a bottle ; salmon or lobster 3s., bacon 
 or cheese 4s., and candles Is. 6d. a pound. Old Tom 
 sells at 9s., and brandy at 10s. and 12s. a bottle. 
 Golden-leaf tobacco is 5s. 6d., and American cavendish 
 Is. 6d. a pound; while arrowroot fetches as much as 
 8s. a tin. 
 
 Gen. Phayre is said to be settled h at Darwaza for the 
 summer, with no intention of retiring to Jacobabad or 
 elsewhere so long as the hot weather lasts. 
 
 The papers have been calling out iC at the restless" 
 and " the uncalled-for action of the Bombay Govern- 
 ment" in flooding Quetta with stores without any 
 reference to Gen. Stewart, and they say that such 
 action is based on the plea "that the demand for 
 transport was so urgent as to require a visit from 
 the Governor himself," and the opening of the old 
 caravan route via Sonmeanee to relieve the one 
 through Sind. These " sea-borne " stores by this old 
 route to Quetta have not arrived, and it is said they 
 are not wanted. 
 
 The Government of India may have got an inkling 
 of the little bill falling due, and this, with the heavy 
 expenditure in the Bolan and below Dadur on the 
 
202 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 direct road, is sufficient with the soldier to account for 
 the reports that the Tal Chotiali route and the Vitakri 
 scheme have been abandoned, and that any grant on 
 the score of batta will not be made. The question of 
 the stores seems to rest with the Bombay Government ; 
 whether they knew what they were about, and whether 
 they had satisfied themselves by full inquiry that the 
 produce of the country, in 1879, was likely to be as 
 limited as it was forty years ago. The papers state 
 that no inquiry has been made, and it is, therefore, 
 fair to assume that whoever is responsible for " the un- 
 necessary expense '* must have accepted as a fact that 
 we should be as hard put to it as those of the first 
 expedition when they left Kandahar in June, on half 
 rations, for Cabul (the Lohanee convoy of 20,000 
 maunds, or one month's supply at half rations, which 
 had just arrived, having to be left behind for want of 
 carriage) . 
 
 The present want of carriage at the front may also 
 be attributed to the employment of camels at and below 
 the pass; and it certainly will not be met so long as 
 the animals are worked off their legs and killed to form 
 gigantic depots in our rear. 
 
 But apart from the outlay on stores alone, a large 
 sum has been expended in improving the communica- 
 tion across Kachhi by Burshoree and up the pass; 
 and this, whether there was sanction or not, can only 
 be considered as in a right and very proper direction. 
 
COMMUNICATIONS. TAILOK " KULLED." 203 
 
 Shelter-sheds have been provided, water-supply has 
 been improved, new roads have been opened out, water 
 has been led to the middle of the longest march, and 
 the hard conditions of the route have been very con- 
 siderably ameliorated. 
 
 Hoskyns arrived to-day with some of the siege-train 
 stores, having left the greater portion of them at 
 Quetta. 
 
 Thursday, 22nd May. Telegram despatched from 
 Simla at 2.15 p.m., received at 4 p.m., telling me of 
 the birth of my second daughter. Busy altering my 
 tent for my coming journey to the Khojak. The tailor 
 is an old greybeard, and he showed me a paper which 
 is sufficiently interesting to be copied. 
 
 " Certified that the bearer, ' Kulled,' a Parseewan, 
 was a sowar in the Atchikzye horse under my com- 
 mand. He served for upwards of two years, during 
 which time I had reason to be pleased with him. He 
 was not one of the deserters from me at Fort Abdoola. 
 (Sd.) F. B. Bosanquet, 16th Bengal Native Infantry, 
 Kandahar, August 3rd, 1842/' 
 
 " Kulled " is a lazy old man now, and repairs my 
 tent quite at his leisure, and fixes the price of his ser- 
 vices at 2s. 6d. a day. 
 
 Saturday, 24th May. God save the Queen ! Her 
 Majesty's parade just over. I represented the C.R.E., 
 and Bisset the Brigade-Major. The troops were drawn 
 up in line under the hills and facing the city. R.H.A. 
 
204 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 on the right, and the heavy battery 6-11 R.A. on the 
 left. The salutes were fired right and left. The feu 
 de joie was rattled off, no horses bolted nor were any 
 field officers discomforted; and the General led three 
 hearty cheers. The General and staff then cantered 
 off, and took up a position on the right of the line, 
 and the march past was thus considerately turned 
 into a march to barracks. The troops looked uncom- 
 monly well, and the fine appearance of the 15th Sikhs 
 attracted particular attention. 
 
 The parade states show the number under arms as 
 A.-B., R.H.A., 122; D.-2, R.A., 106; G.-4, R.A., 
 116; 6-11, R.A., 64; total, 408; with 18 field guns, 
 4 40-pounders, and 2 8-inch howitzers. 1st Punjab 
 Cavalry, 246; 19th Bengal Lancers, 265; total, 511. 
 59th Foot, 512; 2nd-60th Rifles, 585; total, 1 3 097. 
 Bengal Sappers, 75; 15th Sikhs, 304; 25th P.N.I., 
 322; 1st Goorkhas, 387; total, 1,088. A grand total 
 of 3,104 men. 
 
 Guards had to be left in the fort and in cantonments, 
 the recruits and sick remaining in their lines. A sepa- 
 rate parade was held at Kokeran, under Gen. Palliser, 
 with 11-11, R.A., the 2nd Punjab Cavalry, and 29th 
 N.I. Biluchis. 
 
 The health of the troops is good. The rate of sick- 
 ness being 8 per cent, for Europeans, and 6^ for 
 natives chiefly from fever. The Horse Artillery and 
 D.-2 seem to have suffered more than the rest, while 
 
HER MAJESTY'S PARADE. 205 
 
 the Biluch regiment (Nicholetts) has only 18 men in 
 hospital. The treaty of peace with Yakoob is to be 
 signed on Monday. 
 
206 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Mand-i-hissar. Abdul Rahman. Melmandu. Gatai. Convoy. 
 Major Clifford. Old well. Chaman. Peace ratified. The 
 Khojak. Wells' road. Old road. Khojak post. Partridges. 
 Vultures. Wood pigeon. Tobah. Kila Abdulla. Stores. 
 Khojak and Gwaja routes. Khojak grade. Gwaja grade. 
 Sketch of Khojak roads. Khwajah Amram. Tobah. Scientific 
 frontier. Gatai. Passage of Khojak. Section of Khojak and 
 Gwaja routes. Passage of Gwaja. 
 
 Sunday, 26th May. Rode to Mand-i-hissar, 12 miles. 
 
 Monday, 26th May. On to Abdul Rahman, 16 
 miles. This is now a telegraph station. Spent the 
 day with Pitman. The flies and dirt something awful. 
 
 Tuesday, 27th May. On to Melmandu valley, 14 
 miles. This was rather an interesting ride, for I fol- 
 lowed the road by which the Afghans had bolted from 
 the Ghlo Kotul on the 4th January. Some of the 
 dead horses were lying about, and the spot where the 
 
MELMANDU. GATAI. 207 
 
 scrimmage had taken place is now sufficiently well 
 marked by the graves of the Afghans, heaps of stones, 
 with a head-stone and some flags and rags as indi- 
 cators. The Ghlo Kotul, I was surprised to find, was 
 a very open one. 
 
 Wednesday, 28th May. On to Gatai, 19 miles. 
 Met Stewart and Martin with a convoy for Kandahar 
 taking forward a lot of shot and shell and small-arm 
 ammunition. The animals were a miserable sight. 
 The camels were decidedly the worse for work their 
 noses gone, and large sores on their hips. The mules 
 were even in a worse plight, and one of the men told 
 me they had been taken out of the sick lines at Quetta 
 for the journey. They wore the Bombay pack-saddle, 
 and most probably formed part of the Bombay Reserve 
 Transport. The mules, bad as they were, were in 
 better condition than the ponies. Stayed with Clif- 
 ford, 2nd Punjab Cavalry, our Road Commandant, an 
 officer who has certainly done his share of the work, 
 and done it thoroughly well too. He is busy digging 
 a well which is to go down 100 feet and more. What 
 a cursed country it is the legend of Laila e Majnun 
 even is bunkum, not a blade of grass, not a green 
 thing, up and down hill, stones, and not a soul to be 
 seen except at the posts, which are pitched near the 
 scanty supplies of water. At Gatai a pond is filled 
 once every ten days, and the well is being dug. Clif- 
 ford tells me that there is a big well further down the 
 
208 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 valley ; and this may be the one described by Conolly 
 as the "Well of the Lord of the World/' called 
 Bhowlee-Khan-e-Alum, where a passage, 8 or 10 feet 
 broad and 200 paces long, was cut down to a circular 
 chamber, 21 feet in diameter, about 100 feet below 
 the surface. From this level a small well had been 
 dug in which there was water at 30 feet. 
 
 Thursday } 29th May. On to Chaman, 18 miles, up- 
 hill the whole way, and over a bad track. Met Haslett 
 and Jerome, and with them went over the fort. Has- 
 tings is in command, and Keene has two guns of the 
 Bombay Mountain Battery here. 
 
 Friday, 30th May. Halted at Chaman ; capital 
 supply of water, which Haslett has developed and 
 stored in tanks. The heat great, the flies abomin- 
 able, and a dust-storm blew throughout the day with 
 great violence; and truly this spot may be called 
 " the place of devils/' for columns of dust were career- 
 ing through our camp the whole day through. The 
 treaty of peace ratified by the Governor-General. 
 
 Saturday, 31st May. Rode with Haslett up the 
 Khojak, and on to the post on the east of the Kotul, 
 where Waller is encamped with his Sikhs. We left 
 Chaman by the river-bed and followed it, passing 
 through a good number of khunjuk (Afghans call 
 them "gwoon," and Pathans call them "wanni") 
 trees. They yield a small nut like a pista, which is 
 cooked for food with ghee. 
 
wells' road. 209 
 
 The ascent is rather severe, and, at a point rather 
 less than 3 miles from Cham an, we got to the foot of 
 a road, made by Ghilzai labour, under Wells. This 
 road, which is now called " Wells' road," turns back 
 up the hill, winds round spurs, zigzags up, and finally 
 reaches the Kotul at a point a little over a mile from 
 the foot. We then turned off the road and passed 
 along the ridge to the Kotul, from which the gun-slide 
 descends. This gun-slide goes straight down for some 
 distance at a slope of 30 till it reaches a nullah which 
 runs into the main nullah we had ascended from Cha- 
 man, about 150 yards below the foot of Wells' road. 
 So here we were on the line of hills which had caused 
 such terrible confusion in the first expedition where, 
 in April, 1839, troops, camels, guns, and baggage be- 
 came literally jammed; where Cotton's buggy got 
 upset; where each gun, tumbril, and wagon had to 
 be separately handed down by manual labour ; where 
 forty Europeans could scarcely keep a 9 -pounder, 
 with wheels locked, from running wildly down the 
 hill; where thousands of rounds of ammunition and 
 a quantity of baggage were lost ; where, again, in No- 
 vember 1839, Nott crossed with but a nominal loss, 
 and where, in May 1842, Gen. England crossed in his 
 second advance from Quetta. We then returned to 
 Wells' road and descended for about half a mile to a 
 point where a nullah branches off to the left towards 
 the gun-slide Kotul, and then continued on through a 
 
 14 
 
210 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 rocky gorge for another half mile till we reach a broad 
 ravine running up to the left, in which ^the present 
 Khojak post (Waller, with 2nd Sikhs) is pitched. This 
 nullah was also used in the former expedition for camels 
 and baggage animals. 
 
 Sunday y 1st June. The air here, about 6,800 feet 
 above the sea, is most refreshing; the heat in the 
 middle of the day is great, but the mornings and 
 nights are cold. We live under trees, and the flies 
 are a nuisance. Inspected the Khojak roads again 
 to-day, and walked to the pickets. Noticed wood- 
 pigeons of a large variety, Chukor and Sisi partridges 
 running about ; and I now enter what I should have 
 done when I left Kandahar on 25th May, that the 
 Indian green fly-catcher had just visited us. 
 
 Monday and Tuesday, 2nd and 3rd June. Out over 
 the hills and ravines again, morning and evening, with 
 Waller, and having a thorough inspection of the whole 
 range. The thorn-bushes were all out in flower, and 
 the air is most refreshing. 
 
 Wednesday, 4th June. Rode down to Chaman. Met 
 a convoy of mules going down; one set of three top- 
 pled over the side, falling about 50 feet. The animals 
 were in very poor condition. I spent the day with 
 Haslett, and went over the works, asked that Jerome 
 should come to the Khojak for some survey work, and 
 noticed that, after some months' absence, the large 
 vultures and kites had put in an appearance again, 
 
OHAMAN. 211 
 
 attracted, no doubt, by the fine feasting on the Khojak 
 approaches. 
 
 Thursday, 5th June. Went over the hills again. 
 Jerome came up, also Tanner, who was on his way- 
 back to India. Shot some wood- pigeon, similar to 
 those at Simla, with a beautifully bronzed neck and 
 a yellow patch on each side. The plateau of Tobah 
 is very clearly seen from the main picket above the 
 Kotul. 
 
 Friday, 6th June. Rode down to Kila Abdulla met 
 Campbell and Gore who had just returned from Tobah. 
 The survey seemed very complete. Riding back I 
 passed through swarms of locusts. 
 
 Saturday, 7th June. Went down to Chaman and 
 round the works with Haslett, and then went over the 
 Commissariat Stores. The conductor in charge had a 
 great store of preserved provisions, and these could be 
 purchased here ; but, for some reason, none had gone 
 forward to Kandahar. The stores included cooked 
 corn-beef, 28 tins in a box, weighing 1 lb. 10^ oz. each, 
 at 1 rupee \ er tin. Plain boiled beef, in boxes of 12 
 tins of 4 lbs. each, at a price of Rs. 2.6.4. per tin. 
 Preserved potatoes in boxes of 2 tins, 56 lbs. each, at 
 9 annas a pound. Compressed vegetables, in boxes of 
 3 tins, 16 lbs. each, at Rs. 1.1.7. per pound. Rock 
 cocoa, 1 tin of 56 lbs. in a box. 
 
 1 have now seen the Khojak and the Gwaja passes, 
 the routes followed by this expedition in its advance 
 
 14 * 
 
 
 
212 
 
 KANDAHAR IN 1879, 
 
 to Kandahar. The distances from Quetta are much 
 about the same. The Gwaja has been abandoned, and 
 the Khojak has now been improved by the construction 
 of Wells' road under the Public Works Department. 
 
 Wells' road has cost 4,000 odd rupees. It is main- 
 tained by a contractor at Rs. 100 per month; and 
 certain works are to be carried out by him on a 
 schedule of rates. Much, however, remains to be 
 done in the matter of improvement, particularly at 
 the turns, and this work will have to be carried out 
 by Haslett and his company before the troops com- 
 mence to return. 
 
 The following distances by the two routes are taken 
 from Beavan's survey, and the heights have been given 
 me by Rogers : 
 
 Gwaja Eoute. 
 
 Khojak Eoute. 
 
 Heights 
 in feet. 
 
 Distance 
 in miles. 
 
 Posts. 
 
 Posts. 
 
 Distance 
 in miles. 
 
 Heights 
 in feet. 
 
 3426 
 
 
 Kandahar city,to 
 
 Kandahar city, to 
 
 
 3426 
 
 3308 
 
 10 
 
 Khusab 
 
 Mand-i-hissar 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 Abdul Eahman 
 
 Abdul Eahman 
 
 17 
 
 
 
 3613 
 
 7 
 
 Takht-i-pul 
 
 Melmandu 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 3727 
 
 16 
 
 Shahpasand 
 
 Gatai 
 
 19 
 
 4050 
 
 4013 
 
 14 
 
 Konchai 
 
 Chaman 
 
 17 
 
 5660 
 
 4571 
 
 21 
 
 Gwaja 
 
 Khojak Kotul 
 
 4 
 
 7380 
 
 6240 
 
 7 
 
 Spintaza 
 
 Khojak Post 
 
 1 
 
 6929 
 
 6996 
 
 2 
 
 Gwaja Kotul 
 
 Kila Abdulla 
 
 9 
 
 5138 
 
 6211 
 
 2 
 
 Gundawanni 
 
 Arambi 
 
 5 
 
 5076 
 
 4997 
 
 11 
 
 Gulistan 
 
 Hykalzai 
 
 14 
 
 4977 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 Khwardah 
 
 Syed Yaroo 
 
 10 
 
 5046 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 Gazarband 
 
 Kushlak 
 
 11 
 
 5282 
 
 5624 
 
 14 
 
 Quetta 
 
 Quetta 
 
 13* 
 
 5624 
 
 145 miles. 
 
 142 miles. 
 
GWAJA AND KHOJAK EOTJTES. 213 
 
 The lake at Lagowlee is 3,902 feet above sea-level. 
 The rise and fall through the Khwajah Amram range 
 from Gwaja to Gulistan is 4,424 feet in 22 miles, and 
 that from Chaman to Kila Abdulla is 3,962 feet in 14 
 miles. 
 
 If we take the section from Gatai by the Khojak 
 route (see section,]). 217) the slope is gradual for 7 miles, 
 and the ascent is probably up to 4,500 feet. From this 
 point you would ascend 10 miles to Chaman, or at a 
 rate of 1 in 46. From Chaman you would ascend 
 nearly 4 miles to the Kotul, or at a rate of 1 in 12. 
 From the Kotul you would descend nearly 1 mile to 
 Khojak post, or at a rate of 1 in 11 ; and from the 
 post you would descend 9 miles to Kila Abdulla, or at 
 a rate of 1 in 26. 
 
 By the Gwaja route you would descend from Kon- 
 chai to Lake Lagowlee. From Lake Lagowlee you 
 would ascend 10 miles to Gwaja, or at a rate of 1 in 
 85. From Gwaja you would ascend 7 miles to Spin- 
 taza, or at a rate of 1 in 22. From Spintaza you would 
 ascend 2 miles to the Kotul, or at a rate of 1 in 14. 
 From the Kotul you would descend 2 miles to Gunda- 
 wani, or at a rate of 1 in 18. From Gundawani you 
 would descend 11 miles to Gulistan, or at a rate of 1 
 in 41. 
 
 So that as far as the gradient goes, the Gwaja has 
 everything to recommend it. Further, the road itself 
 is comparatively straight and admits of all animals in a 
 
214 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 team exerting their full strength ; the track requires 
 but little repair ; there is abundance of water at Gun- 
 dawanni and a nice open encamping ground at Spin- 
 taza. The objection to the route was the want of water 
 between Gwaja and Konchai, and the very limited 
 supply at the latter station. 
 
 Lake Lagowlee is 4 miles off the direct road, but 
 water could be brought to Iskan-Karra, midway 
 between Gwaja and Konchai, in the same way that it is 
 now brought to Gatai on the Khojak line, while the 
 supply at Konchai itself could assuredly be supple- 
 mented. The poisonous bush, however, exists at Lake 
 Lagowlee. This Gwaja route will probably receive 
 more attention hereafter. 
 
 The range of hills, shown in the maps as Khwajah 
 Am ram, is apparently divided into three districts 
 Spintaza to the south ; Khwajah Amram, in which is 
 the Roghani and the Khojak ; and Tobah, which includes 
 the table-lands on the north. 
 
 This land of Tobah, where the people resort with 
 their flocks for the summer, was described by the Syud 
 who accompanied Conolly as a place u where water was 
 running like diamonds, the verdure as a carpet of eme- 
 ralds, and the air like the odour of musk." I hope 
 this may be correct if the spot be chosen as a summer 
 residence for the troops that are to garrison Pishin. 
 
 The Khwajah Amram range will probably be consi- 
 dered as our boundary. By the treaty, the British 
 
SCIENTIFIC FRONTIER. GATAI. 215 
 
 restore Kandahar and Jellalabad, retain Kurram, 
 Pishin, and Sibi, as assigned districts, and keep the 
 control of the Khyber and Michni passes. The autho- 
 rities, apparently, are satisfied with their scientific 
 frontier ; but being at Quetta, and advancing to 
 Pishin, I cannot see why we should have stopped short 
 of Kandahar, or even of possessing ourselves of Herat. 
 Opinions are very freely expressed, and many think we 
 should have remained at Kandahar and have avoided 
 mixing ourselves up with the tribes by remaining at 
 Lundi Kotul and retaining Kurram. At Kandahar we 
 should have been in a better position to support the 
 ruler of the country and to possess ourselves of Herat. 
 By retiring to Pishin we, to a certain extent, desert the 
 people who befriended us and lose an advantage in 
 position and supplies, just at a time when Russia is 
 pushing on most vigorously with the avowed intention 
 of possessing Merv. 
 
 Sunday, 8th June. Reached Gatai in a dust-storm 
 at 8 a.m. This storm lasted the whole day; everything 
 in the tent was covered, and a more miserable condition 
 of things can scarcely be imagined. The English mail, 
 however, came in, and, sheltered by a sheet within my 
 tent, I read the speeches at the Academy dinner, the 
 report of the Cab Drivers' Association, the arrival of 
 the Alpine Sparrow in England, and how horses could 
 be tamed by electricity. The storm stopped at sun- 
 down. Here I met two old women who were travelling 
 
216 
 
 KANDAHAB IN 1879. 
 
 to Bokhara with an old fakir. The most peculiar 
 feature in their dress was a thick veil of black crape. 
 
 Monday, 9th June. Rode in to Melmandu, and 
 had thunder and rain. I now give a rough sketch of 
 the Khojak roads. 
 
 Sketch op the Khojak Eoads. 
 f 
 
 M H B N - General tin* of Eui^i, 
 -KotnL 
 
 _ WelLs'Roanu 
 
 _ fkuIcJv beds 
 
 - Eqj-uk. JbsO 
 
 - BaggJbQZ' toclcZ, 1859 
 
 ABC 
 
 COE 
 
 E 
 
 EFC 
 
 HKL 
 
 HJ 
 
 ~&unshjd4/ - - < 
 
KHOJAK EOAD. SECTION OP PASS. 
 
 217 
 
 Opposfollddajpsf-y \ 
 
 M 
 o 
 
 M 
 
 O 
 % 
 
 O 
 H 
 
 w 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 
 Q 
 
 a 
 
 OB 
 
 in 
 H 
 
 02 
 
 GwajoL- llrrjles (3*79) \ 
 
 SpirvGcycL 7mA (6140) -*Q^ 
 
 /iMfSK TbstlW- 
 Crundaxram, Ztw* (&1$ -/ / (&*) 
 
 I SUaMdulcu VmsfflJSj 
 
 (kdulcm UnvlwyL 
 
218 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 The Khojak Pass was explored on the 11th of Decem- 
 ber 1878, and the old roads of 1839-42 were adopted. 
 
 On the 12th, work was commenced by parties from 
 the 5th and 9th companies Sappers and Miners, 32nd 
 Pioneers, and 26th Panjab Native Infantry. 
 
 On the 13th, Wells, with his 50 Ghilzais, commenced 
 opening out the gorges. 
 
 On the 15th, Col. Kennedy, with the 2nd Punjab 
 Cavalry, 1st Panjab Native Infantry, two mountain 
 guns, and 460 camels, crossed by the old baggage road. 
 
 The gun-slide was laid out at an angle of 30 for 
 about 500 feet, and then run on at a more easy slope 
 into the nullah below, and field-guns commenced to 
 pass down by hand and drag-ropes on the 25th. One 
 of the guns of E.-4 R.A. took 9 minutes from the 
 top of the slide till the ropes were cast loose at the 
 bottom. 
 
 On the 1 6th, Chaman was selected as the site for a 
 post, and the work was laid out on the 17th. 
 
 On the 3rd of January 1879, the head- quarters of 
 the 2nd Division (Biddulph) moved from Chaman 
 towards Kandahar. 
 
 Wells commenced his new road with Ghilzai labour 
 on the 2nd of January, and it was finished, as far as it 
 went, on the 18th of February, when he received orders 
 to rejoin the Department of Public Works. This road 
 was partly opened for camels on the 24th of January, 
 when it became closed by a heavy fall of snow. A second 
 
PASSAGE OF GWAJA. 219 
 
 fall of snow on the 14th of February retarded the work. 
 The cost, exclusive of the pay of supervision, reduced 
 rates of atta sold to the labourers, depreciation of 
 tools, clothing, powder, &c, amounted to Us. 4,000. 
 
 On the 24th of March, Haslett returned with a por- 
 tion of his company to Chaman, and completed the 
 field-work or fort by the 1st of August. On the 10th 
 of July, part of the company was detached for work 
 on Wells'' road, and between the Kotul and the post, 
 and in a few days the whole company will work on, 
 with as large an infantry working party as they can 
 get, at the stiff work before them for the next month 
 or six weeks. 
 
 The Gwaja route was followed by the 1st Division 
 and the heavy guns. 
 
 It was examined on the 15th and 16th of December 
 1878, and cleared by working parties, totalling 3,878 
 soldiers from the 32nd Pioneers, 29th Biluchis, 25th 
 Panjab Native Infantry, 9th company Sappers and 
 Miners, and 59th Regiment between the 23rd and 
 31st of December, the greatest number employed in 
 one day being 595 on the 26th. 
 
 The head- quarters, 1st Division (Stewart), left 
 Gwaja for Kandahar on the 2nd of January 1879. 
 
220 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The Choura people. Temperature. Hot winds. Sand flies. 
 Thieves. Old Kandahar. Large bowl. Toothache cured. 
 Stone shot. Rock chamber. Thieves. Sickness. Quetta 
 supplies. Cavalry practice. Field ,parks. Gold mine. 
 Refining orders. Hindoo burial. Fruit. Jones' lectures. 
 Hanging. Cholera. Mountain guns. Colonel Nioholetts. 
 Stoppages. Lieutenant Hennell. Grapes. Segregation of 
 troops. Old bowl. Sketch of bowl. 
 
 Wednesday, 11th June. Rode in to Kandahar. The 
 corn was being thrashed or trodden out in the fields. 
 At one spot five bullocks and six ponies were harnessed 
 together by single ropes, passing over and under their 
 necks, and driven round and round the centre stakes 
 by a man and a boy. The city itself was much cleaner, 
 and plenty of ripe fruit was exposed for sale. I noticed 
 plenty of new arrivals loafing about the bazaar in funny 
 skull-caps bound round with fur. These men, I after- 
 wards learnt, were the Choura people from Tirin. 
 These men gave us an exhibition of their horsemanship 
 
CHOURA PEOPLE. HOT WINDS. 221 
 
 in the evening, firing off their musket, when at full 
 gallop, at chatti pots in the ground, and then endeavour- 
 ing to pick up a handkerchief at speed. These men 
 had been our guests during their stay, and they were 
 most pleased with the elephants and the big guns. 
 
 Thursday, 12th June. Some of us ran over to 
 Khush-dil Khan's garden to see the men from Tirin. 
 They were quite delighted with our revolvers, and made 
 some excellent practice at a mark 30 yards off. 
 
 Saturday } 14th June. I am sending to the R.E. 
 Institute an edition of the " Kandahar News," as the 
 meteorological observations may be worth noting. On 
 the 9th April, the maximum in the sun was 91 Fahr. ; 
 the maximum in the shade was 85 Fahr. ; the minimum 
 in the shade was 49 Fahr. ; and the barometer 26*55. 
 On the 24th May the maximum was 91 and the 
 minimum 73, and in the sun the thermometer regis- 
 tered 109, the barometer reading being 26*50, while 
 yesterday the maximum was 90 and the minimum 67, 
 and in the sun 125, the barometer reading 26*50. 
 
 Sunday, 15th June. Hot winds set in. The swal- 
 lows have gone, and with them the flies, but sand-flies 
 have succeeded them and are an utter abomination. 
 
 Wednesday, 18th June. Lost my watch from my 
 room telegraphed to the Kotwal of the city offering 
 a reward of fts. 50. 
 
 Thursday, 19th June. The garden was robbed last 
 night. The sappers lost their cooking-pots, and Cor- 
 
222 KANDAHAB IN 1879. 
 
 poral Ash worth's sword and pistol were stolen from the 
 head of his bed, inside the ice-house. The bunniah 
 outside the gate lost his flour and all his clothes. 
 
 Saturday, 2\st June. The Kotwal turned up with a 
 gold swivel which had been offered for sale in the city. 
 This had been attached to my leather watch-chain. We 
 held a muster of all the servants, and one man, Call's 
 syce was missing. He was afterwards found and identi- 
 fied as the man who had offered the swivel for sale. The 
 syce swore the watch had been given him by a bheestie, 
 who brought our bathing water, but it was explained 
 to the scoundrel (Peerbux by name) that under any 
 circumstances he would be flogged till the watch was 
 found. As I was going out for a ride I took the man 
 with me, and after a little time he promised to find the 
 watch for me in four days. I told him I was too busy 
 to wait so long and said he had much better show me 
 at once where he had buried it. Nothing, of course, 
 was known to him, nor could he see why I should 
 think that he of all men should rob me; however, 
 we jogged along and I refused to go anywhere but 
 in the direction he would lead me. Time was slip- 
 ping by, but I remained obstinate, and Peerbux was 
 told that if he did not show the way within ten 
 minutes he would be taken to the Provost Marshal 
 for a good flogging. At last the man gave in and 
 said he would fetch the watch if I would return 
 home. Oh, no. I wanted to see how he had con- 
 
THIEVES. ANCIENT BOWL. 223 
 
 cealed it. We then left the main road, passed down 
 some bye-lanes, and all of a sudden the fellow dis- 
 appeared through a gap in the wall. I thought he was 
 off and turned my horse after him, and there stood 
 the fellow with the watch in his hand, just as he had 
 taken it from a dung-heap. 
 
 As I was going home I heard that St. John had lost 
 the greater part of his clothes during the night ; there 
 was great chaff ; the political, of all others, being consi- 
 dered fair game. 
 
 Sunday, 22nd June. Rode over to the old city with 
 Call and Brown. It is rather interesting. The works 
 are of great extent with a treble line of bastioned 
 walls and a high citadel in the centre. The place is in 
 complete ruin, and the locality is now only useful as a 
 grazing ground. Bellew says, in his book "From the 
 Indus to the Tigris," that the ruins of Shahr-i-Kuhna 
 or Husen Shahr, derived its name from the last of its 
 sovereigns Mir Husen Ghilzai, the son of the celebrated 
 Mir Wais and brother of Mir Mahmud, the invader 
 of Persia, and the destroyer of the Safliair dynasty. 
 The city was taken and destroyed by Nadir Shah, 
 in 1738, after a long siege. Outside the walls and 
 to the east, under a thick clump of ash and mul- 
 berry trees, we found the tomb of Mir Wais and the 
 celebrated bowl. 
 
 Bellew says the bowl is of porphyry, four feet wide 
 and two feet deep, and supposed to be the begging- 
 
224 KANDAHAU IN 1879. 
 
 pot of Fc or Budh. The interior bears marks of the 
 chisel, and on one side under the rim runs a Persian 
 inscription. The exterior is covered with Arabic 
 letters in four lines, below which is an ornamental 
 border, from which grooves emerge to a central point 
 at the bottom of the bowl. The fakir could give no 
 clue, Bellew says, except that this and a small one 
 with handles on each side, which was carried away 
 by the British in 1840, had been brought here by 
 Hazrat Ali, but from nobody knows where. Possibly 
 it may have come from Pishin, which in documents 
 is still written Foshang and Foshin. 
 
 The trunk of the tree under which the bowl stands 
 is studded with hundreds of iron nails and bits of 
 twig, representing cures for the toothache ; and Brown, 
 who had been very busy planting his own twig, declared 
 afterwards that he had the toothache when at the 
 shrine, and that he drove the peg in faith, and the pain 
 left him ! 
 
 There are a lot of stone balls lying about, one with 
 a diameter of 18 inches, and others of 4 inches and 
 5 inches, chiselled out of limestone. These are said to 
 have been used during former sieges in the time of the 
 Arabs, and propelled from a machine called Manjanic, a 
 sort of balista or catapult. Bellew's dimensions of the 
 bowl are not quite correct. The outer diameter is 
 4 feet 2J inches and the inner 3 feet 7\ inches. The 
 depth of the bowl inside is 2 feet 3 inches, and what 
 
STONE SHOT. EOOK CHAMBER. 225 
 
 he calls " grooves M are merely scrolls radiating from 
 the centre below to the lower line of the Arabic 
 writing. 
 
 Lumsden, in his (t Mission to Kandahar/' in de- 
 scribing the old city, says : " Half-way up the N.E. 
 face of the hill on which this city is built, and 
 situated between the ruins of two towers, is a flight 
 of forty steps leading to a recess in the rock, at the 
 entrance to which, on each side, is the figure of a 
 crouched leopard nearly life size. The whole is carved 
 out of solid limestone rock, and is said, in native his- 
 tories of the place, to have occupied seventy-one men 
 for nine years before it was completed. The chamber 
 in the rock is about 12 feet high and 8 feet wide, while 
 its depth equals its height ; the sides of the interior 
 are covered with Persian inscriptions carved in relief ; 
 they are said to have occupied the lithographer four 
 years, and are to the effect that, on the 13th of the 
 month, Shawal 928 A.H., King Babar conquered 
 Kandahar and appointed his sons, Akbar and Huma- 
 yun, successively as its rulers. A long list of the 
 cities of Babar's empire then follows, and most of the 
 large cities between Cabul and Burdwan are men- 
 tioned." 
 
 The above is generally correct, but the leopards have 
 lost their heads, the tails and fore feet are gone, and, at 
 their best, the size is no more than that of a big jungle- 
 cat. The inscriptions, to a great extent, have been 
 
 15 
 
226 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 defaced, as the marks of the chisel of destruction are 
 plainly visible. The Pathans have to answer for the 
 Vandalism. 
 
 Thieves again broke into the garden last night and 
 made a huge hole, evidently with the intention of 
 walking off with one of the horses j they were, how- 
 ever, disturbed just as they got hold of my goat, which 
 they thought better to drop in their flight. 
 
 Campbell, of the Survey, came in to-day. Thieves 
 also made a second raid on St. John's quarters, and 
 this time carried off his boots ; this completes the 
 joke. 
 
 Monday, 23rd June. Hot and cold winds blew 
 alternately throughout the night. I was sleeping on 
 the top of the house, and at about 11 p.m. Campbell 
 came up and reported that one of his servants was very 
 sick, with what looked like an attack of cholera. Many 
 of us had been expecting that cholera would appear 
 with the hot weather, and this seemed a first case, the 
 man having just marched in. However, it was a false 
 alarm, the man having indulged too freely in grapes. 
 One of the 60th sentries was shot at last night, and 
 altogether we seem to be in for a lively time of it. We 
 are all more or less out of sorts. The Colonel is 
 still laid up, and Rogers, Hoskyns, and Olivier are all 
 down with low fever. 
 
 Wednesday, 2oth June. The "Pioneer" of the 16th 
 June has a long leading article on the transport of sup- 
 
SICKNESS. CAVALRY PRACTICE. 227 
 
 plies for Quetta. It states that every ounce of the 
 enormous supply lying useless at Quetta was provided 
 by the Government of India, or by the Punjab acting 
 under the Government of India, and that the Bombay 
 Government only carried the grain under the orders of 
 the Government of India. With regard to camels, the 
 number supplied by Scinde was a little over 31,000. 
 The original order, given in the beginning of November 
 last, was for 20,000 ; the second order, given on the 
 12th of January 1879, was for 12,000 more. All these 
 camels were ordered by the Government of India ; all 
 Bombay had to do was to obey orders, supply the 
 camels, and ask no questions. The article winds up : 
 " On the whole the Bombay Government shows ex- 
 tremely well, and the chief misfortune is that so much 
 energy and fertility of resource should be in any way 
 wasted. For answering promptly to heavy calls Bom- 
 bay deserves great credit." 
 
 Saturday, 28th June. Met Biscoe out with his 
 squadron of the 19th Bengal Lancers, in the fields 
 below the Chaman. We had a regular cross-country 
 ride, and although many of the Sowars jumped well, 
 yet there was a considerable tail. It is capital practice 
 for the men and horses too, considering they have only 
 a single rein from the lower bar of the bit instead of a 
 native bit and standing martingale. 
 
 The field-park reports came in ; Nicholson had the 
 one with the 2nd Division and Call that with the 1st 
 
 15 * 
 
228 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 Division. The carriage of each consisted of about 200 
 camels and 200 mules ; the greatest difficulty was expe- 
 rienced in obtaining good workmen. Mules are recom- 
 mended entirely for the carriage of the Park equipment, 
 and light mule-carts for such articles as ladders, bam- 
 boos, &c. 
 
 There were 2 N.C.O., R.E., and 1 gomdshta (agent) 
 with each park, and it is recommended that there 
 should be never less than 1 khlassi to every 8 camels 
 or mules, with 2 mates, besides the head tindal or moon- 
 shee. The money accounts were most elaborate and, 
 in such a form, are a nuisance to everyone. Hoskyns 
 also reported on his siege-park equipment and its load- 
 ing ; he had a conductor and 2 park sergeants to look 
 after the park, as it left Sukkur, consisting of 487 
 camels, 90 bullocks, 10 mules, and 15 platform carts. 
 Had the equipment been complete for a 3rd Class 
 Train there would have been 709 camels, 20 carts, and 
 120 bullocks, and if the old pattern sandbags had been 
 issued the number of camels would be increased to 
 857. 
 
 Sunday, 29th June. Rode out to the gold mine 
 with Brown ; nothing much apparently had been done ; a 
 new contract had been let to a man for 4,000 Kandahar 
 rupees for half-a-year (2,000 Indian rupees), and he 
 was to make what he could by it. The mine is nothing 
 at present but a huge quarry-hole. 
 
 Bellew, in his " Indus to the Tigris, 1874," describes 
 
FIELD PARKS. GOLD MINE. 229 
 
 the quarry as close to a ridge of blue limestone rock, 
 and the stones from the quarry as consisting of particles 
 of greensand, hornblende, felspar, quartz, and mica, 
 bound together in a gritty ferrugineous clay. The 
 formation appears to be of decomposed syenite. The 
 mine was discovered in 1860 and was, in 1874, farmed 
 for an annual rent of 500 rupees. Bellew explains 
 that the bits of quartz, ascertained by the eye-sight to 
 contain particles of gold, are first coarsely pounded 
 between stones, and then reduced to powder in an ordi- 
 nary hand-mill ; the powder is next placed on a reed 
 winnowing tray and shaken so as to separate the par- 
 ticles of gold and finer dust from the grit ; from the 
 latter the larger bits of gold are picked out, thrown into 
 a crucible, and melted with the aid of a few grains of 
 borax flux ; when melted it is poured into an iron 
 trough, previously greased or smeared with oil, and at 
 once cools into an ingot of bright gold ; the fine dust 
 left in the winnow is thrown into an earthen jar fur- 
 nished with a wide mouth; the jar is then half filled 
 with water and shaken about a little while ; the whole 
 is stirred by the hand, and the turbid water poured off. 
 This process is repeated four or five times till the water 
 ceases to be turbid. A small quantity of quicksilver is 
 next added to the residue of sand, some fresh water is 
 poured in, and the whole stirred with the hand; the 
 water and particles of sand suspended in it are then 
 poured off, when the quicksilver amalgam left at the 
 
230 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 bottom of the vessel is removed to a strong piece of 
 cloth and twisted tightly till the quicksilver is expressed 
 as much as it can be. The mass of gold alloy is next 
 put into a crucible with a few grains of borax, and 
 melted over a charcoal fire ; the molten mass is finally 
 poured into the iron trough mentioned, where it at 
 once solidifies into a small bar of bright gold. 
 
 During the month of June the following may be 
 noted : From the 1st of the month the field telegraph 
 was worked as a departmental office, prepayment to all 
 messages being compulsory. 
 
 The bread and meat ration was reduced from 1J lb. 
 to 1 lb. of each; firewood was no longer issued free to 
 the native troops. 
 
 The rates of recovery for rations were fixed as 
 under : 
 
 Officers' rations, 8 annas; Warrant officers and 
 Apothecaries and Clerks, 6 annas, per day; private 
 followers, 2/8/0 rupees per month ; rum, 2/8/0 per 
 gallon. 
 
 Horse rations ardawa, 4 rupees ; barley, 2/0/3 ; 
 and gram, 3/7/3 ; bhiisa, 1/0/0 per maund ; Indian 
 corn, 16 seers, dry karbi, 2 maunds, lucerne grass 
 and green barley, 2 J maunds, per rupee; and the 
 hire of camels for private carriage is to be credited 
 to Government at 0/8/0 per camel per day. 
 
EATIONS. FRUIT. 231 
 
 The rewards for destruction of pariah dogs with- 
 drawn; Major Clifford appointed Road Commandant ; 
 increased vigilance on account of thieves, and buck- 
 shot cartridges issued to our guards and pickets. 
 
 More stringent orders about conservancy, and all 
 tents to be opened up at least once a week. 
 
 Thursday, Zrd July. The bodies of Hindoos are not 
 to be burnt near Muhammadan burial-grounds, but are 
 to be taken for this purpose to a spot half-a-mile 
 beyond the third Goorkha village. 
 
 Monday, 7 th July. Severe bout of fever since the 
 4th, and, as far as I can make out, I slept from the 
 afternoon of the 4th till the morning of the 6th, with 
 but few intervals of wakefulness. 
 
 Thursday, 10th July. Peaches (aru) being offered 
 for sale, 8 for 1| pennies, weighing about 4 oz. each ; 
 large nectarines also just coming in; small green figs 
 just ripening. The bathing-pond for soldiers reopened 
 on completion. 
 
 Sunday, 13th July. Just read the lectures delivered 
 by Helsham Jones, at Chatham, on Afghanistan. They 
 are the most complete and interesting of any I have 
 yet read. There seems to me to be some confusion 
 between the two Broadfoots, one, I think, was killed in 
 
2:32 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 an attack away to the west of Cabul, and one was at 
 Jalalabad, with Sale j there was also a third who, I fancy, 
 returned to India by the Gonial pass. The note that 
 the camels were poisoned by the jha'o bush may be 
 correct, but this bush, the (i farash" or " tamarisk/-' is 
 the natural food of these animals in the plains of Sind, 
 south of Mithan-Kot. The size of Herat is also too 
 big ; but on this point I send to the Institute a plan 
 drawn out by Saunders and North, of the Engineers, 
 in 1840. 
 
 Brown went out to Kokeran to set up the gallows to 
 hang three men of the 29th Biluchis, who had killed 
 their havildar for an old wrong of some three years ago 
 about a woman. 
 
 Monday, 14th July. Cholera has appeared, and 
 this time seems ending fatally, I believe, in fourteen 
 cases. 
 
 Wednesday, 16th July. The mortality in the 4th, 
 5th, 9th, and 10th companies, Sappers and Miners, 
 Field Park and Siege Train, has amounted to 17 sol- 
 diers, 24 followers, and 6 missing, from 1st October 
 1878 to 1st May 1879. 
 
 Thursday, 17th July. Cholera still busy; head- 
 quarters and two squadrons 19th Bengal Lancers moved 
 out to Wazir Khan Karez. 
 
 Friday, ISth July. Rode out to Kokeran to see the 
 7-pounders fired, with a view of ascertaining their 
 recoil. 
 
HANGING. MOUNTAIN GUNS. 233 
 
 12 oz. charge; 11-11 R.A. ; front of wheel to trail- 
 eye, 5 ft. 6 in. ; level platform : 
 
 Live shell. 340 at 1,200 yards. 
 
 Recoil. 
 
 I. Wheels unchecked 
 
 II. Wheels toggleo 
 
 Shrapnel. 256 at 1,000 yards 
 
 III. Toggles and drag-ropes 
 
 with 3 men on each 
 IV. 
 
 ft. 
 
 in. 
 
 ft. in. 
 
 12 
 
 8 
 
 12 2 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 ;ach . 5 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 .53 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 1135 at 900 yards. 
 
 
 
 . 5 10 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 . 1 7 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 Double shell. 
 V. Wheels free 
 VI. Wheels toggled 
 
 So that if these mountain guns are fired from a bat- 
 tery without any precautions, they will require 18 feet 
 or more from the crest line; this can be reduced 13 feet, 
 if the toggles are put on, and still further reduced to 
 11 feet if drag-ropes are used, but in the last case the 
 gun will take up some 30 feet of the parapet. 
 
 I was going to stay the day with Col. Nicholetts, but 
 when Gen. Palliser heard that we had had a fatal case 
 of cholera in our garden the night before, he thought 
 it more prudent that I should return to Kandahar. On 
 telling Nicholetts this, he told me how ill he had been 
 himself during the last few days, and how very unwell 
 he felt at the time, promising to come in and stay with 
 
234 KANDAHAE IN 1879. 
 
 me in a few days for change. In the evening a tele- 
 gram came in that Mcholetts was dead, having been 
 seized with cholera at 1 p.m. and dying at 6 p.m. He 
 was a fine soldier, and, like Fellowes of the 32nd 
 Pioneers, who was bnried at Hankua near Vitakri, 
 quite a representative man. Hyat Khan, of the Sappers, 
 was tried to-day for attempting to shoot the havildar. 
 St. John appointed Consul- General at Astrabad. 
 
 Saturday, \th July. Just as I was in bed last night 
 three volleys were distinctly heard, and these were fired 
 over Mcholetts' grave. 
 
 A.-B. R.H.A. and two companies 59th, from the 
 citadel, moved into Khurdil Khan's garden. Three 
 companies 2-60th changed camp into Mir AfsuFs 
 garden^ 
 
 The grapes known as " Kalili " are finished, and now 
 the " Lai/' a white grape, and " Askari," also a white 
 grape, are in. The price, as far as I can learn, is about 
 one halfpenny per pound. 
 
 The following order has been issued : " When the 
 scale of rations, which is as regards some articles more 
 liberal than that in force in cantonments, was pub- 
 lished, it was stated that no extra payment would be 
 demanded from the soldier for the enhanced scale of 
 diet, but it was by no means implied that they were 
 not to pay the ordinary stoppage for groceries." The 
 amount of the stoppage is, I believe, 9 pies, or about 
 1 penny. 
 
STOPPAGES. GRAPES. 235 
 
 Sunday, 20th July. The flies are returning, and bad 
 luck to them. The natives say this will not be a 
 bad cholera year because the birds have not left the 
 place. 
 
 Monday, 21st July. The Indian Roller has returned. 
 The fields are fuil of Indian corn, melons, cucumbers, 
 and brinjalls ; the bhendies are also growing all over 
 the walls, and blooming with a large yellow flower. 
 Hennell, of the 1st Punjab Cavalry, died of cholera, 
 and was buried this evening in the commissariat enclo- 
 sure in the citadel. Hyat Khan, the sapper, sentenced 
 to be dismissed the service from the 19th, a most 
 lenient sentence. 
 
 Wednesday, 23rd July. I think I have already de- 
 scribed the garden. It is about 43 acres in extent, and 
 of this about 25 acres is laid out in the vineyards. The 
 grapes are of many sorts, some a fourteen growing in this 
 one locality. Of all I think the " sahibi " is the best ; 
 the " haieta " is a late grape and grows to the greatest 
 size, and the " katta n is the only one which seems to 
 have any flesh or core. I attach a description of these 
 grapes ; the biggest bunch I have yet seen was 18 inches 
 long and about 9 inches across. 
 
 1. Kalili. White grape, 1 stone, rather a loose, 
 untidy-looking bunch. 
 
 2. Raocha. Purple grape, thick clusters, 4 stones 
 and a core ; these grow so thick that each grape is quite 
 bent or pressed out of shape. 
 
236 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 3. Kalchooni. No pips, white grape. 
 
 4 and 5. Lai. Both grow on same stalk; white 
 grape ; the big one has 1 pip and is called " ek dana," 
 the small one has no pip and is called w be dana," very 
 sweet indeed. 
 
 . Askari. White, no pip, very soft and delicate, an 
 early grape, rather a long bunch. 
 
 7. Husseni. White, 4 pips, not much taste. 
 
 8. Siydh. Black, 2 pips and a core, rather astrin- 
 gent, dried in sun for raisins. 
 
 9. Kishmish Safed. White") no pips, very sweet; and 
 
 10. Kishmish Surkh. Red) very large, long bunches. 
 
 11. Sahibi. Pink red, 1 pip, a hard grape, but not 
 good eating ; loose bunch. 
 
 12. Haieta. Light green grape, 2 stones and a core, 
 large bunches; these grapes are picked and packed in 
 wool and sent to India. 
 
 13. Katta. Bunch of large grapes, 1 pip, most com- 
 mon grape, makes vinegar and sherbet, used also as 
 lime-juice. 
 
 14. Sheik Ali. White grape, 3 big pips, a close- 
 growing bunch, hard skin, and sweet, said to possess 
 excellent (zorawar) qualities. 
 
 15. Amir i. One pip, a green grape, good and sweet, 
 hung up inside earthen pots in a cool room, and 
 so lasts well into the winter. 
 
 Thursday, 24/A July. 20 Ordnance wagons started 
 for Chaman . 
 
GRAPES. 
 
 237 
 
238 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 Grapes. Natural size. 
 
GRAPES. SEGREGATION OP TEOOPS. 239 
 
 Saturday, 26th July. The vegetable ration was in- 
 creased to onions 8 oz., and pumpkins 8 oz. The 
 movement of troops still continues. Two companies 
 59th left their barracks for Wazir Khan Karez, one 
 company 2-60th joined the others in Mir AfsuFs garden, 
 and the 1st P.C. started for Wazir Khan Karez. 
 
 Monday, 28th July. 19th Bengal Lancers are to 
 move on as far as Mutta Shukem Karez. 
 
 Tuesday, 29th July. All tools to be returned into 
 the Park before the 31st. 
 
 Wednesday, 30th July. Capt. Chisholm, of the 59th, 
 buried. 
 
 Friday, 1st Aug. Heavy battery equipment started 
 for Gulistan Karez, under escort 5-11 R.A and 4 com- 
 panies 3rd Goorkhas ; elephants and draught-bullocks 
 being supplied by 6-11 R.A. 
 
 Sunday, 3rd Aug. A.-B. R.H.A. started for Pishin 
 with 4 companies of the 59th Regiment. 
 
 Tuesday, 5th Aug. The women of the 59th at Dag- 
 shai have evidently been anxious about the men, for a 
 number of telegrams came tumbling in all at once. 
 The messages by telegraph from the Goorkhas, at Al- 
 morah, to their comrades here have been continuous. 
 
 Wednesday, 6th Aug. Anderson, of the 25th N.I., 
 who has been ill for a long time, was buried to-day. 
 Rode out with Pitman to old Kandahar and took mea- 
 surements of the old porphyry bowl under the tree at 
 the tomb of Mir Wais. Mir Wais, an Afghan chief 
 
240 
 
 KANDAHAE IN 1879. 
 
 m 
 
 m. 
 
 / 1 L 
 
OLD BOWL. 24i 
 
 of the Ghilzai tribe, was succeeded by his brother Mir 
 Abdulla, and then by his two sons, Mir Mahmood and 
 Mir Hussain. The latter founded one of the cities of 
 Kandahar and called it Hussainabad. 
 
 The capacity of the bowl is 15 cubic feet, or about 
 93 gallons, and its weight, taking the stone to be as heavy 
 as marble (10 c. ft. x 170 lbs.), about | of a ton. (See 
 sketch.) Ferrier says this is one of the most celebrated 
 relics of antiquity belonging to the Eastern world, 
 neither more nor less than the water-pot of Fo or 
 Buddha. It was, he says, carried to Kandahar by the 
 tribes who fled in the fourth century from Gandharra, 
 on the Indus, to escape an invasion of the Yutchi who 
 made an irruption from Chinese Tartary with the express 
 purpose of obtaining the pot. It is the holiest relic of 
 the Buddhist world, and still retains among the Muham- 
 madans of Kandahar a sacred and miraculous cha- 
 racter. It is called Kashguli-Ali, or Air's pot. We 
 managed, with the aid of three sappers and some crow- 
 bars, to move the bowl out from the tree and raise it 
 upon stones ; the lip has 24 facets, each about 7 inches 
 wide. 
 
 Major Powys, of the 59th, was buried this evening ; 
 he had got over his attack of cholera and appeared to 
 be doing well. 
 
 16 
 
242 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Tal-Chotiali route. General Biddulph. Old Kandahar. Native 
 governor. Crops. The Khojak. Extra rations. Water-sup- 
 ply. Local expenditure. Marching back. Troops stand fast. 
 Kabul massacre. Troops returning. Autumn. Shooting. 
 Cholera. Batta. The Arghandab. Post. The Eed festival. 
 2nd Brigade. Boss' lecture. Military transport by rail. 
 General Hills. Free kit. Boots. 
 
 Saturday, 9th Aug. Our little doctor, a native in 
 the Sappers, Balik-ram by name, died last night, and 
 also Corporal Boon, R.E., the only fatal cholera cases 
 we have had in the garden since the 17th July. It is 
 curious the way the cholera has jumped about; Staveley 
 had the first fatal case among Europeans in his battery, 
 D.-2, and now after a long interval he has just lost a 
 second man. 
 
 The reports on Gen. Biddulph's return by Tal Cho- 
 tiali from Pishin to India are worth perusal, the total 
 
TAL-OHOTIALI KOUTE. 
 
 243 
 
 length is about 200 miles. The 1st column, under 
 Keen, went by Tal and Chotiali, having a fight at 
 Baghao on the 24th March. The 3rd column followed, 
 by the same route, under Nuttall, and the 2nd column 
 under Hill, with head-quarters, went by Trikh, Karam, 
 and Chamalang. 
 
 The heights and distances are given 
 
 Feet. Miles. 
 
 From Khush-dil-Khan 
 
 
 in Pishin 
 
 . 5,500 
 
 
 
 To Bolazai 
 
 . 6,392 
 
 16 
 
 Yusufkatch 
 
 . 7,180 
 
 8i 
 
 Spiraragha 
 
 . 7,982 
 
 14J 
 
 Oboskoi 
 
 . 7,658 
 
 10 
 
 Chimjan 
 
 . 7,211 
 
 5* 
 
 Chinali 
 
 
 
 12J passing Siasgai 
 
 Kats 
 
 . 5,900 
 
 9 Mt. 8,164 ft. 
 
 Sanjawa 
 
 . 5,361 
 
 16 
 
 Baghao 
 
 . 4,312 
 
 12 
 
 Baho . 
 
 . 3,798 
 
 10 
 
 Tal 
 
 . 3,102 
 
 15 
 
 Chotiali 
 
 . 3,246 
 
 13 
 
 Buramzai 
 
 . 3,538 
 
 22 
 
 Bahawala 
 
 . 3,844 
 
 8 
 
 Baladaka 
 
 . 4,135 
 
 7 
 
 Hankua 
 
 . 3,851 
 
 16 
 
 Leghari Burt 
 
 :an . 3,381 
 
 11 
 
 From Leghari Bi 
 
 irkhan to Dera Ghazi Khan (395 
 
 
 
 16 * 
 
244 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 feet) the distance is 118 miles passing Fort Monroe 
 (6,158 feet), and from Leghari Burkhanto Mithan-kot 
 on the Indus is 110 miles. 
 
 There are considerable difficulties in the road about 
 the Hankua pass, Hajikot, the descent from Fort 
 Monroe, about Murang, and between Bakshabet, Toba, 
 and Drigri. 
 
 The route from Khush-dil-Khan rises up to Momand- 
 gai pass, or from 5,500 feet to 8,450 in 45 miles. At 
 this point is the boundary of Pishin and the most diffi- 
 cult part of the route. From Bolazai the Zhob valley 
 can be entered, which would lead to Dera Ghazi 
 Khan. 
 
 At Oboskoi the Bori valley begins and descends to 
 the Anumbar gap, which is about 3 miles long, " a 
 remarkable physical feature made by nature for a 
 roadway"; leaving at this point the country of the 
 Dumars and entering that of the Lunis, the road 
 continues through Chamalang and turns south to Bala- 
 daka. 
 
 The third valley to the south, called Tal, extends 
 from Smalan to Chotiali in the Marri country, 
 and the road joins the Bori valley road from the north 
 at Baladaka. The joint road continues southwards 
 through the Hankua pass to Vitakri and thence down 
 the Chachar pass to Rajanpur on the Indus. 
 
 From Hajikot another route turns north, passing by 
 Fort Monroe, and on to Dera Ghazi Khan. 
 
TAL-CHOTIALI ROUTE. 245 
 
 The orders from head-quarters for the line of march 
 were limited to an investigation of the Tal Chotiali 
 line and a selection of a site for a standing camp in 
 support of Pishin and Quetta, with a stipulation that if 
 a divergence from this line should become necessary, 
 such should only be made in concert with the Political 
 Officer. 
 
 The 1st column had already gone ahead with Major 
 Sandeman, the Political, when the constitution of the 
 2nd and 3rd columns was rearranged at Bolazai, and 
 Gen. Biddulph acted on his own responsibility when he 
 proceeded with the 2nd column by the Bori valley. 
 This divergence, it is said, with an armed force into the 
 country of the Luni Pathans, might have given rise to 
 complications, and caused irritation to tribes with whom 
 political relations had not been established. 
 
 The Engineer Field Park closed to-day both for 
 receipts and issues. Two companies of the Biluchis 
 marched in from Kokeran. 
 
 Sunday } \Oth Aug. Started off early with Pitman, 
 Cawfie and Call for the old city. It was divided into 
 three parts, each on a separate eminence and capable 
 of mutual defence. The mountains were covered with 
 towers united by curtains, and the one on the culminat- 
 ing point may be called impregnable ; it commanded 
 the citadel which stood lower down, on the second 
 eminence, and this in turn commanded the town which 
 was on a table-land elevated above the plain. The 
 
246 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 triple walls surrounding the city were at a considerable 
 distance from it. After exploring the citadel and ruins, 
 we mounted by the gorge to the summit of the hill with 
 the impregnable fort. In this gorge are the ruins of 
 two tanks, some 80 feet square, all destroyed, with the 
 pillars fallen; the work is " pukka " in brick and 
 chunam, and each tank had been domed in; they would 
 have held about 400,000 gallons each. Terrier says 
 that Kandahar was considered to be one of seven 
 cities, in the interior of Asia, built by Alexander the 
 Great, this being the point to which he advanced on 
 leaving Furrah to go to Arachosia (Olan Robat, between 
 Kelat-i-Ghilzai and Mukur) . Kandahar is said to have 
 been so called from the Gandharras (Greek, Gandaridce) 
 who migrated to the westward from the Ghandarra of 
 the Indus, in the fourth century. It is also sometimes 
 said to have been founded by Lohrasp, who also founded 
 Herat. From Alexander Kandahar passed to the 
 Seleukides. Its history under the Parthians and Sas- 
 sanides is enveloped in darkness, which lasted nearly to 
 the period when the successors of Mahomet invaded 
 Persia. But it appears certain that the Arabs pene- 
 trated to it in the first age of the Hegira. 
 
 Herbelot says " In the year of the Hegira 304 
 (a.d. 916) in the Caliphat of Moktader, in digging for 
 the foundation of a tower at Kandahar, a subterranean 
 cave was discovered, in which were about 1,000 Arab 
 heads, all attached to the same chain, which had evi- 
 
OLD KANDAHAR. 247 
 
 dently remained in good preservation since the year of 
 the Hegira 70 (a.d. 689), for a paper with this date 
 upon it was found attached by a silken thread to the 
 ears of the 29 most important skulls with their proper 
 names ." We saw a mound which might once have 
 been an old tower, from which some earth had fallen 
 away, disclosing several skulls. This was at the most 
 northern part of the old city, and just before mounting 
 the steps leading to the old shrine where the stone- 
 leopards are. 
 
 Nadir Shah destroyed the old city after a siege of 
 18 months in 1737 a.d., and founded a new capital, 
 Nadirabad, 2 miles to the S.E. This was destroyed by 
 Ahmad Shah, the founder of the Saddozais, who com- 
 menced the present city in 1747 a.d. The Saddozais 
 were overthrown by the Barakzais in 1816. 
 
 To-day, Sirdar Sher Ali Khan, the son of Mihr-dil- 
 Khan (one of the Kandahari brothers), a cousin of the 
 late Amir, Sher Ali, took over charge of the city, the 
 citadel and gate guards still being furnished by our 
 troops. 
 
 Two companies of the 25th P.N.I, moved from the 
 blocks to camp N.E. of the city. 
 
 Staveley's battery, D.-2 R.A., moved with two 
 companies Biluchis back towards Chaman. The 25th 
 P.N.I, moved from camp into Mihr-diPs garden. 
 
 Tuesday, 12th Aug. Quail have been heard during 
 the last day or two, and the field- owners have got out 
 
248 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 their call-birds. The fields are now green with munj, 
 baingan, tobacco, and Indian corn. 
 
 Haslett reports that he is still at work on the Khojak. 
 The heavy battery marched from Chaman on the 9th, 
 and left their guns at the foot of Wells' road ; they 
 crossed the Khojak, taking 3J hours to go up the 1$ 
 mile, and three-quarters of an hour from the Kotal to the 
 post, 1 mile below. The difficulty on Wells' road exists 
 just below the bad turns, where it is in many cases 
 steeper than elsewhere, thus making the turns more 
 difficult, a defect which cannot now be remedied. 
 
 Wednesday , 13th Aug. Extra rations are to be con- 
 tinued to the troops till the 31st of October, and Afghan 
 service will be closed on the date on which the troops 
 may march out of Jamrud, Tal, or Dadar. 
 
 Thursday, 14th Aug. The post office has informed us 
 that the last parcel despatch from Quetta to Kandahar 
 left yesterday, and that, in future, the delivery will be 
 in Pishin. 
 
 Friday, 15th Aug. A.-B. R.H.A. crossed the 
 Khojak on the 12th ; the road is not pronounced diffi- 
 cult, but it is too narrow in places, and once or twice a 
 wheel went over ; the grade below the foot of Wells' 
 road is very steep and exhausting. 
 
 Haslett has developed the water-supply at Khojak 
 post to suffice for 1,200 to 1,500 men, and 1,000 animals. 
 
 The Divisional Field Hospital system closed, and the 
 sick arranged for regimentally. 
 
THE KHOJAK. WATER- SUPPLY. 249 
 
 Saturday, 16th Aug. Rogers and his Survey party 
 started off towards Chaman to-day. 
 
 Tuesday, \9th Aug. Haslett reports having finished 
 the enlargement to the corners of Wells' road. A 
 diversion laid out by Jerome from the foot of Wells' 
 road will be completed on the 10th September, and the 
 old road will be improved for mules. D.-2. E-.A. 
 crossed the Khojak easily. 500 animals had been 
 watered at the post for four days, and the supply was 
 consumed. 
 
 Wednesday, 20th Aug. Our two wild ducks are very 
 happy on the tank in the garden, and they have now 
 been joined by a pair of dabchicks. The mallard has 
 lost his green head and his tail-curls, and is coloured as 
 the female, only with his breast and back more rufous, 
 his bill now being a bright dead yellow. 
 
 Despatched a picture of Nicholetts' grave, drawn by 
 Hoskyns and coloured by Olivier. 
 
 Sent the " Kandahar News" for April and June to 
 the Secretary of the Institute. 
 
 Thursday, 21st Aug. Bisset left us to-day to return 
 to India. He has had quite his share of the work and 
 done it right well. The accounts of the hutting opera- 
 tions have been closed up to the end of July, and show 
 that the total expenditure on that head is some 66,000 
 rupees. 
 
 I hear also that 15 lacs of rupees have been spent 
 by the Commissariat in Kandahar. 
 
250 KANDAHAR m 1879. 
 
 Friday, 22nd Aug. Brown and Sharpe with the 
 10th company Sappers and Miners, left us to-day for 
 Chaman. Hoskyns also started with details of the 
 Field and Siege Parks ; and Olivier, who had been and 
 was very sick, returned to the Khojak for change of 
 air. 
 
 The 1st Punjab Cavalry marched with a convoy of 
 100 camels and 500 mules. 
 
 Saturday, 23rd Aug. Races. Montgomery won 
 the quarter and half mile with Grey Friar. Beaver's 
 Ivanhoe won the Derby, and Telescope and Black 
 Prince ran a dead heat for the Asian. 
 
 Sent off the " Kandahar News 3i for July. 
 
 Heard that Staveley had lost 4 Europeans and 2 
 natives out of his battery, that Dr. Blanshard had died 
 at Gatai, and Lieut. Campbell of the Biluchis had died 
 at Chaman all of cholera. 
 
 Monday, 25th Aug. Dickie and I played in the first 
 ties of the lawn tennis tournament. We were beaten 
 by Biscoe and Hope. 
 
 Tuesday, 26th Aug. Races. Kala Joe won the 
 Lilliputian, Grandmaster the St. Leger, Boojum the 
 Dwarf Steeplechase, while Phillimore and Black Prince 
 ran a dead heat for the Maiden Stakes. 
 
 Wednesday, 27th Aug. Grey Friar won the Gallo- 
 way Handicap, Saltpetre the Steeplechase, and Ivanhoe 
 the Flying Stakes. 
 
 Two companies of the 25th P.N.I, marched for Hai- 
 
EACES AND SPOETS. 251 
 
 kutzai en route to Yusuf Katch ; the 2 companies of 
 Sappers are also to go on and make the road from 
 Arambi to Haikalzai. 
 
 Thursday, 28th Aug. Weather perceptibly cooler 
 and nights very pleasant, but sand-flies very trouble- 
 some. 
 
 Friday, 29th Aug. Sent off the " Kandahar News n 
 for May. Races. Saltpetre won the Scurry, Ivanhoe 
 the Kokeran Stakes and the Bolan Plate, and Mogul 
 the Pony Scurry. 
 
 Saturday, 30th Aug. Thermometer last night 60. 
 Kokeran garrison marched in. 
 
 Sunday, 31st Aug. Meeting of stewards of the 
 races. For the first races the subscriptions amounted to 
 Rs. 2,610 j entrances, Rs. 798 ; lottery per-centage, 
 Rs. 1,320; and Pari mutual per-centage, Rs. 296; 
 making in all Rs. 5,024. Of this, Rs. 380 were ex- 
 pended in laying out the course, and Rs. 2,050 given in 
 added money, and left a balance of Rs. 2,594 to the 
 good. To this balance for the second meeting, the 
 Polo Club added Rs. 75, and made a total of Rs. 2,669. 
 Out of this, Rs. 100 went to expenses and Rs. 1,975 in 
 added money, which left a balance of Rs. 594 in hand. 
 This amount, it was decided, should be reserved for race 
 purposes in Pishin. 
 
 Brown's company, Sappers and Miners, had 6 cases 
 of cholera, 5 of which were fatal at Dabrai and 
 Gatai. 
 
252 KANDAHAK IN 1879. 
 
 Monday , 1st Sept. G.-4 It. A., 2nd Punjab Cavalry, 
 head-quarters and four companies Biluchis, and Cavalry 
 Brigade head-quarters marched homewards. The Com- 
 missariat in the citadel is to be broken up, and no gun 
 was fired at noon, a sign of the general exodus. Dr. 
 Whylock took two good photographic views of the 
 house and garden. 
 
 Tuesday, 2nd Sept. Took a picture of the cemetery 
 in the citadel. The small marsh tern (H. indica) and 
 the little stint (T. minuta) were flying about the tank 
 this morning. 
 
 Wednesday, 3rd Sept. The latest date on which 
 monuments can be erected over graves, as the cemetery 
 is to be blocked up. 
 
 Thursday, 4th Sept. Dr. Brereton was breakfasting 
 here this morning, preparatory to the march to-morrow 
 of St. John's party to Persia. (This party now con- 
 sists of Major- General Hills, St. John, Dr. Brereton, 
 Call and the Nawab Mirza Hassan-Ali-Khan, who 
 had joined us from Shiraz.) He tells me that he 
 has measured many of the heads of the Afghans, 
 and finds them to be of small size, rather long but 
 narrow, and that the bad qualities at the back of 
 the head preponderate. He remarked a notice- 
 able difference between these heads and those of 
 the Hindoos, and particularly those of the Indian 
 Brahmins. 
 
 The head-quarters 2nd Infantry Brigade, 6-11 R.A., 
 
THE RETURN MARCH. 253 
 
 head- quarters and 4 companies 59th, and wing of the 
 3rd Goorkhas marched to-day. 
 
 Friday, 5th Sept. All the troops remaining in Kan- 
 dahar are moving into camp preparatory to a general 
 start on the 8th. At mid-day, as we were busy loading 
 Call's kit on ponies for his start that evening towards 
 Persia, a telegram came from St. John to say the 
 trip was postponed, and at the same time a telegram 
 came from the A.Q.M.G. to say all troops were to stand 
 fast, and that the Engineers should arrange to retain 
 the garden. 
 
 All sorts of rumours of course got afloat ; the troops 
 that had started were recalled ; and whether it was a 
 fresh campaign or not, we felt satisfied, for 6 months 
 full batta had been granted, amounting to about 
 Rs. 700 for a lieutenant, Rs. 1,100 for a captain, 
 Rs. 2,700 for a major, and Rs. 3,600 for a lieutenant- 
 colonel. 
 
 Our troops had no sooner left their barracks than the 
 buildings were to a great extent gutted of their doors 
 and windows by Pathans. 
 
 Saturday, 6th Sept. Reports that the orders to 
 stand fast had reference to Cabul, and in the bazaar it 
 was said that the Envoy and suite with the Amir had 
 all been murdered. 
 
 Sunday, 7th Sept. News by telegraph that some 
 regiments at Cabul, while receiving their pay in the 
 Bala Hissar, had mutinied and stoned their officers, 
 
254 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 and that the British Residency had been attacked. This 
 must have been on the 3rd, for the news reached Ali- 
 khey] on the 4th by a horseman. It was of course 
 flashed at once to Simla, and on the 5th orders were 
 issued from the Viceroy to Gen. Massy to advance from 
 Shutargardan ; Gen. Stewart was ordered to concen- 
 trate at Kandahar. On the night of the 5th further 
 news reached Alikheyl, from the Amir himself, that the 
 mob had joined in the mutiny, looted the arsenal, and 
 attacked the Residency, and that he himself was also 
 besieged. The attack and defence continued all Wed- 
 nesday, when the Residency caught fire. The fate of 
 the Envoy and suite was not positively known. Gen. 
 Roberts was to leave Simla on the 6th, and an advance 
 was to be made by the Kurram and Khyber. 
 
 Monday, 8th Sept. The day marked on the calendar 
 for our return, viz. the head-quarters, head-quarters 
 1st Infantry Brigade, 11-11 R.A., 2-60th Rifles, 15th 
 Sikhs, head-quarters and six companies of the 25th 
 P.N.I., and 19th Bengal Lancers. This had all been 
 altered, and many of us now went out to meet the 2nd 
 Infantry Brigade and troops, which left us on the 4th 
 on their return to Kandahar. The troops and Commis- 
 sariat reoccupied the citadel. Many of the rooms had 
 been defiled. The graves, however, had not been 
 touched ; but the two tin plates over the graves of 
 Greedy and Mackie, privates in the 60th, had been 
 stolen. 
 
THE MASSACRE. RETURN TO KANDAHAR. 2^5 
 
 Tuesday, 9th Sept. Olivier transferred temporarily 
 for service under the Governor- General's Agent, Biluch- 
 istan. 
 
 Wednesday, 10th Sept. Visited all the old shooting- 
 grounds with Dickie ; but little water over the land at 
 present. Wild duck were plentiful, and a snipe flew 
 close past us ; wild duck also were seen upon the 
 tank in the garden. The summer, with its discomforts 
 and ennui, has passed, and the autumn may really be 
 considered as at hand ; the weather is quite bearable, 
 and the nights are cool enough for a blanket, if 
 sleeping in a tent. The sand-flies still abound, and 
 flies are buzzing everywhere. 
 
 Thursday, 11th Sept. Shot two snipe and a ruff. 
 Lots of birds in, but the walking was desperate on 
 dry land one minute and up to your middle the next. 
 
 As regards the cholera, I see by the " Pioneer " that 
 the number of admissions and deaths in the force, from 
 the first case on the 24th June up to the 25 th August, 
 are given as under : 
 
 Europeans (including 
 
 officers) 
 
 90 
 
 cases 
 
 71 deaths. 
 
 Native troops 
 
 . 
 
 146 
 
 )> 
 
 91 
 
 Followers 
 
 . . 
 
 210 
 
 i) 
 
 110 
 
 Total . . 446 272 
 
 including troops at Kokeran. The 3rd Goorkhas suf- 
 fered more than any other regiment, forty sepoys 
 
256 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 having died, 16 of whom were in the one period of 24 
 hours. 
 
 Friday, 12th Sept. The 25th P.N.I, returned to 
 their old quarters in X block to-day. Batta, I now 
 find, is given according to the gazetted rank of an 
 officer with a regiment up to the last day of the 
 service. The rates per month are : 
 
 Major-General of an army of not less than two divi- 
 sions in the field, Us. 3,933 5 4. 
 
 Officer commanding division, Rs. 2,070; colonel, 
 Rs. 760 15 0. 
 
 Lieut.-Colonel, Rs. 608 12 0; major, Rs. 456 9 0; 
 captain, Rs. 182 10 ; lieutenant, Rs. 121 12 0; sub- 
 lieutenant, Rs. 91 5 0. 
 
 Medical officers according to relative rank, senior 
 chaplain as a major, junior chaplain as a captain, 
 Roman Catholic chaplain, at f ths of his ordinary pay, 
 and provost marshal as a lieutenant. 
 
 Saturday, 13th Sept. The troops which left on the 
 1st September returned to Kandahar. Robberies are 
 again on the increase, and extra precautions are ordered. 
 
 Sunday, 14th Sept. Went for a day's outing into 
 the Arghandab with St. John, Call, and Dickie. 
 Very few. birds in, but we had a most enjoyable ride 
 back along the banks of the canal, under mulberry, 
 willow, and sanjit trees. We had a capital tiffin up 
 in the old ruin by the shrine overlooking the valley, 
 and got back again to quarters by 4 p.m. 
 
BATTA. THE EED FESTIVAL. 257 
 
 Monday, 15th Sept. The base hospitals are re- 
 established. Our letters and newspapers are now 
 received in a very ragged state, and it is a safe pre- 
 caution to write names on the papers as well as the 
 covers, and also inside the books. Twice I have been 
 able to restore documents to their proper owners, which 
 have come to me under my own covers. 
 
 Tuesday, 16th Sept. A regular block in the tele- 
 graph offices, and I hear that some 40 or 50 messages 
 yesterday had to stand over. 
 
 Wednesday, 17th Sept. Warning issued to all to be 
 careful and not go near the city during the Eed festival 
 at the close of the Hamazan. The pickets and gate- 
 guards are doubled. The Ramazan extends from new 
 moon to new moon, that is from the 21st August to 
 17th September in this year. When Bellew was here 
 in 1858, the new moon was seen on the 15th April, 
 and the period of fasting would have extended to the 
 12th May. 
 
 For these ruffians it is a time of devotion, the 
 days being spent fasting, and the nights feasting. 
 During the month all business is supposed to be at 
 a standstill, and the strict observance of the fast 
 from sunrise to sunset is said to be most trying to 
 those who are addicted to smoking. The Pathan 
 sepoys are no exception to those who watch for the 
 setting of the sun to satisfy their famished feelings, 
 for I have seen them dash at the hookah, which has 
 
 17 
 
258 KANDAHAE IN 1879. 
 
 been kept all ready, and imbibe the smoke to such 
 an extent as to render them absolutely helpless for 
 some minutes. 
 
 Thursday, \%th Sept. Most of the troops are on 
 their way back from Pishin, and the sappers and field 
 park have been recalled. The 2nd Brigade is under 
 orders for Khelat-i-Ghilzai. Head-quarters 2nd Bri- 
 gade, 2 guns of A.-4 R.A., \ battery 11-11 R.A., head- 
 quarters and \ battalion 59th Regiment, \ battalion 
 3rd Goorkhas, head- quarters and 6 companies 2nd 
 Biluchis, and 2nd Punjab Cavalry, with supplies for 
 Europeans for 21 days and 4 days for natives. 
 
 Saturday, 20th Sept. Gen. Palliser, C.B., assumed 
 charge of the Kandahar Brigade from this day. Abadie 
 is his Brigade Major. 
 
 Tuesday, 23rd Sept. 2nd Brigade marched to Kelat- 
 i-Ghilzai and we all went up to see them the night 
 before they started. Their departure had been de- 
 ferred one day to let the heavy guns join. The 
 arrangements for transport and commissariat do not 
 seem quite perfect even yet, for Graves had to send 
 down 26 camels at 7 p.m. to get his stores from the 
 fort on the eve of starting. 
 
 Wednesday, 24th Sept. The paper tells us that Gen. 
 Baker got to Kushi to-day, and that an escort was 
 attacked at Shutargardan yesterday. 
 
 Thursday, 25th Sept. Reports that the Afghans are 
 collecting in the vicinity of Jellalabad. 
 
MILITARY TRANSPORT BY RAIL. 259 
 
 Friday, 27th Sept. Abadie gave me a pomegranate 
 to-day ; such a beauty ! 14^ inches in circumference, 
 and about 1J lbs. weight. 
 
 I see by the " Pioneer * that Ross, the traffic manager 
 of the S. P. & D. R., has been lecturing at Simla on 
 the troop movements. He says that between October 
 1878 and June 1879 about 190,000 troops and fol- 
 lowers, 24,000 horses and mules, 8,000 bullocks, 1,000 
 camels, 500 guns, artillery and engineer carriages, and 
 1,400,000 maunds of stores, had been conveyed in 250 
 special trains, over and above the ordinary trains (81 
 specials in November) without in any way interfering 
 with the traffic. (Troops and followers who had landed 
 at Mean-Meer, halted, and gone on again, had been 
 counted twice.) 
 
 He estimates the maximum transport power of the 
 line at a force equal to 3 batteries of artillery, 2 regi- 
 ments of cavalry, 3 regiments of European infantry, 
 and 5 regiments of native infantry, concentrated at 
 Lahore from the Mooltan and Delhi districts every 24 
 hours ; and he adds that, with more stock, 40,000 of 
 all arms could be brought from Ghaziabad, and add 
 30,000 from Mooltan, to Lahore in 10 days. But to 
 meet this strain the platform and siding accommodation 
 is insufficient. 
 
 I see he says that the ordinary open truck was not 
 well adapted for guns, as the side-openings were only 
 5 feet. Now this wa3 one of the hindrances to the 
 
 17 * 
 
260 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 carriage of guns which Sir Andrew Clarke was always 
 hammering at, and at last the Government decided that 
 the ends of the low-sided trucks should be let down, and 
 that the minimum side-opening should be 8 feet. 
 Orders for the movement of troops should, he says, be 
 with one of the Q.M.G/s Department. The difficulty 
 experienced in getting the stores away from the termini, 
 after the railway had done its work, is also shown up. 
 
 It is so far lucky that the Indus Valley and 
 Punjab Northern lines were altered from the narrow 
 gauge and laid on the broad gauge in time for this 
 war. The subject of the carrying capacity of the rol- 
 ling-stock, and its assimilation in type, was vigorously 
 taken up by Sir Andrew Clarke as late back as the 
 cold season of 1875. The subject has never been 
 allowed to drop. New stock (covered and open goods 
 wagons) was built to an improved pattern to suit mili- 
 tary purposes, and I fairly believe the railway com- 
 panies are now most anxious to see the views of Go- 
 vernment realised. This war alone has shown that the 
 subject was not taken up a bit too soon, and that there 
 is still lots to be done, both in the stock and in the 
 accommodation, before they are anything like perfect. 
 
 Saturday, 27th Sept. Muhammad Tahir Khan, the 
 governor of Kelat-i-Ghilzai, reported to have fled. 
 
 Sunday, 28th Sept. Mongols and Ghilzais attacked 
 our troops at Shuturgardan on the 27th, and were re- 
 pulsed. 
 
MILITAEY TEANSPOET BY EAIL. 261 
 
 Monday, 29th Sept. The 4th and 10th companies 
 Sappers and Miners returned with Browne, Sharpe, 
 Jerome, and Haslett. Dr. Brereton, who had been 
 staying with us some time, made a start to-day for 
 India en route for Baghdad. He came back again, as 
 his camel-men chose to dupe him and take the wrong 
 road, going towards the Kushab Kotul. They succeeded 
 in their game and got another night in Kandahar. 
 Brereton tells us that the two regiments which arrived 
 from Cabul, and were disarmed, are all hanging about 
 the villages near the Kotul and on the look-out for any- 
 one they can loot. 
 
 Tuesday, SOth Sept. Macpherson, with the last of 
 Robert s' troops, left Ali Khel yesterday. Gen. Hills, 
 who left us here on the 8th September, reached Ali Khel 
 on the 23rd. The Government have granted a free kit 
 of warm clothing to both soldiers and followers. 
 
 Wednesday, 1st Oct. There has evidently been a 
 complaint about the inferior quality of the soldiers' 
 boots. The Commander-in-Chief says the practice has 
 always been to charge the invoice rate plus 5 per cent., 
 and this makes the price Rs. 6 12 9. My experience 
 is that some of the soldiers' boots are first-rate, for I 
 have worn a pair for a long time, and they are appa- 
 rently just as good as new now. Dhakka is reported 
 to have been occupied, and Roberts is said to have been 
 at Kushi on the 28th, and was to see the Amir Yakub 
 next morning. 
 
262 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 Thursday, 2nd Oct. Lieut. Kinloch, on his way to 
 join his regiment, the 12th B.C., was murdered on the 
 30th by about forty men, who fired a volley from 
 ambush close to the road between Chappri and Mantui. 
 
 Friday, 3rd Oct. Sold my grey waler " Booby w to 
 Major Bird, of the 1st P.C. 
 
 Saturday, Mh Oct. Tanner and Bryant joined us, 
 marching in with the two companies of Biluchis from 
 Chaman. Roberts' three brigades were to meet at 
 Zurgunshahr on 2nd Oct. 
 
 Monday, 6th Oct. Haslett and the 4th Company, 
 with Jerome, marched for Kelat-i-Ghilzai, very late in 
 the day, though the Sappers marched out on the 5th to 
 the north of the city, and pitched there to receive the 
 convoy and then start fair next morning j but something 
 went wrong again with either the Transport or Com- 
 missariat, or both of them, or the camels had been so 
 long loading in the fort and were received so late in the 
 night that it was essential they should rest. Then it 
 turned out that the camel-drivers had no rations, 
 although the order was that they should take rations for 
 four days. Then some of the packages required to be 
 sewn or nailed up, and many of the treasure-boxes 
 were half open and had to be sewn up in bags which 
 were obtained from the Commissariat. Why should 
 all this bother be given to an officer marching out with 
 an ordinary convoy of treasure, stores, clothes, &c, to a 
 force a few miles in front of him. It only means that 
 
TRANSPORT OBSTRUCTIONS. 263 
 
 he is kept on the worry from 5 in the morning till 
 mid-day, and then has to do his march in a dust- 
 storm ; we certainly are a rum lot. 
 
 Roberts is said to have halted at Zaihadabad on the 
 4th, sending back his transport for ammunition. 
 
 Thursday, 7th Oct. The Government of India have 
 sanctioned punitive expeditions against the Zaimukt 
 and Arabzai tribes in the valley north of Tull and 
 Kurram. 
 
264 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Orders for India. Arrangements. Start. Pishin. Saddle-bags. 
 Phayre's road. The Bolan. Desert road-making. Biluch 
 mare. Bolan road. Bombay reserve. Flank road. Kandahar 
 desert. Railway. Sir Richard Temple. Indus valley. 
 Lahore. Ross' work. Home. 
 
 Wednesday, 8th Oct. The General told me last night 
 that the Adjutant-General in India had inquired 
 whether my services were available for employment in 
 India (Mysore). The General had telegraphed back 
 that my services were available if a Field Engineer 
 could be sent up. However, this was enough for me, 
 and I rode off to ask Maclean to let the escort of his 
 regiment, going to Mand-i-hissar next day, take my 
 nags out. I have arranged to ride quickly through and 
 let my servants come on with my kit, &c, that is, so 
 much of it as I have not left behind for sale by public 
 auction. My travelling kit now comes down much 
 
RETURN TO INDIA. 265 
 
 more nearly than it did to Fraser's lightest scale. I 
 have my thick ulster to sleep in, a change of clothes 
 complete, and about twenty days' soups in the form of 
 tablets and meat biscuits. 
 
 The 1st P.O. (one squadron) and 19th B.L. (one 
 squadron) marched for Sanjiri, beyond Kokeran, this 
 morning j they have gone to collect forage. 
 
 Thursday, 9 th Oct. Busy starting my nags; Mourad 
 went on two stages and Call's nag to the first stage. I 
 am going to ride one of Chapman's horses from here. 
 Col. Hoggan, of the 25th P.N. I., bought my chesnut 
 waler mare this morning, so I have only the two colts 
 left now. I saw the General again this morning, and 
 he says that as the Adjutant-General only asked if I 
 could be spared, and the General said yes, we must 
 wait until the order comes from India for me to start. 
 Busy packing away all my kit that I did not want into 
 boxes and getting rid of papers, letters, and the accu- 
 mulation of months. I am all ready to go now at an 
 hour's notice, all packed and clear. After having tele- 
 graphed all along the line to arrange my dawk, I wonder 
 how it will turn out. It seems as if I should be late in 
 the start, and as I have fixed my arrivals and depar- 
 tures commencing with to-morrow, the arrangements 
 will probably not fit so well as they might. I have 
 horses from here to take me to Melmanda, on Friday 
 the 10th, and have trusted the rest to telegrams. First 
 to Major Clifford, if he can horse me to Chaman on 
 
266 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 Saturday; to Keene, across the Khojak; to Waller, 
 down the Khojak to Abdulla-Kila ; and to Olivier, to 
 send me a horse to carry me into Gulistan Karez on 
 Sunday ; then to Olivier and Chippendall, to arrange 
 to get me through to Quetta on Monday. 
 
 At Quetta I have trusted to Col. Mainwaring and 
 Wyllie to get me though to Major Burnet, at Dozdan 
 nullah, by Tuesday, who I have asked to convey me as 
 far as Dadur on Tuesday. Then the last 100 miles I 
 have left to Nuttall, hoping to reach Jacobabad on 
 Friday the 17th. If it all comes off I shall be very 
 much astonished. 
 
 The telegram says Gough reached Busawul on the 
 5th, and that Roberts attacked the Afghans and took 
 12 guns on the 6th. The later telegram has just told 
 us, however, that Roberts was engaged at Charasia on 
 the 6th. The enemy appearing from the city, and the 
 Ghilzais along both flanks, Macpherson advancing with 
 the convoy was threatened. Baker had to secure pos- 
 session of the heights in front before nightfall. An 
 obstinate resistance was made, and our loss is about 80 
 killed. The greatest excitement is reported in Cabul 
 city and the country round about. The army-signalling 
 operations throughout the day are very highly com- 
 mended. 
 
 Friday, \0th Oct. Packed and ready to start. Sent 
 off "Kandahar News" for September to Chatham. 
 Dined at head- quarters, and while at whist the General 
 
EETUEN TO INDIA. 267 
 
 got telegrams from India, and told me I might start. 
 Said good-bye and returned to my quarters for, I sin- 
 cerely hope, my Jast night in Kandahar. 
 
 Saturday, Wth Oct. Eastward Ho ! Owen sent me 
 two sowars as escort. Lawrence came with me as far 
 as the city, and I parted from Call at the village of 
 Deh Khoja about 8 a.m. No water in the Tarnak. 
 Reached Mand-i-hissar by 9 a.m. and changed to a 
 grey, which Call had sent out for me. Got about three 
 miles on this stage when I met Hoskyns returning to 
 Kandahar with the park ; he had been robbed of all his 
 kit the night before at Abdul Rahman. No water in 
 the Arghasan. Reached Abdul Rahman by 11.30. 
 Kishen-sing, a sowar of the 1st Punjab Cavalry, lent 
 me a Biluch mare, a Kossid guide carried my bags, and 
 with a sowar as escort, I reached Melmanda by 2 p.m. 
 without much difficulty. 
 
 All the animals there were in the weakest condition 
 possible, and it was my fortune to have to ride the very 
 same old pony I had reported unfit for work in May 
 last at Mand-i-hissar. He certainly was a miserable 
 object, but the men said he carried the mails regularly ; 
 so he did at a certain rate, but it was a risk that he did 
 not pitch on his nose at every quarter of a mile. The 
 stage on was a short one (9 miles), and it was 5 p.m. 
 before we got to Dabrai. 
 
 There was still enough daylight, if the ponies were 
 good, to reach Gatai before nightfall, and after a short 
 
268 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 consultation with the guide we decided to push on. I 
 was given a light scraggy mare, and she went like the 
 wind (carrying sixteen stone at least) ; but having to 
 stick to my kit, it was past 7 p.m. and quite dark when 
 Gatai was gained. The Moonshee at the post told me 
 that a sick convoy from Kandahar was pitched a quarter 
 of a mile further on. I toddled off and found Ffinden and 
 Lysons ; they gave me dinner and champagne, a very 
 satisfactory finale to a long day of twelve hours, with 
 Kandahar sixty miles behind me. 
 
 Sunday y 12th Oct. Left Gatai at 7 a.m., on one of 
 Clifford's horses, and ran into Chaman at 10, just as 
 Keene, Clifford, Steel, and Yates, and the Doctor were 
 sitting down to breakfast. Started at noon on a nag 
 of Keene's (the saddle-bags going on a mule), arrived 
 at the Khojak by 1 p.m., and stayed with Waller till 
 2 p.m., when I rode on to Kila Abdulla by 4 p.m. 
 
 Changed saddle to a mare Olivier had sent for me, 
 and gave the bags to a Kossid. The road to Gulistan 
 Karez was all cut up by the carts, and a foot deep in 
 dust. Reached Olivier's camp under some trees by a 
 karez, after dark. Dined, and arranged with the post- 
 master for animals on the next morning. Slept on the 
 floor of Olivier's tent. Progress 45 miles. 
 
 Monday, 13th Oct. Started at 7 a.m. The pony was 
 so miserably weak that I changed with the guide; 
 reached Saigi at 11.30 a.m. Got fresh ponies; the 
 guide's at once ran away and pitched him in the bed of 
 
pishin. 269 
 
 the Pishin Lora. Took the runaway for my own riding, 
 and arrived at Dina Karez by 1 p.m. One of the saddle- 
 bags had burst, so made a new lining to it with a sack. 
 Saddle-bags, if for quick riding, should not hang but 
 be high upon the pony's back, with a broad surcingle 
 over all to prevent them from swinging in and out 
 from the animal's side. Changed ponies and jogged 
 on to the foot of the Gazzarbund. Farewell to Pishin. 
 The Engineers will have some difficulty about roads 
 in this valley, for although stone is procurable from 
 the hills, yet there is no rainfall, nor can water be 
 spared from the fields to consolidate the surface. The 
 coarse long grass which is used in Sind as metal to 
 the roads is not found here. 
 
 Walked through the pass to ease the nag, and reached 
 Mehtarzai by 4.30 p.m. Obtained two fresh ponies 
 from a village, and got to the gate of Quetta Fort 
 by 6.30 p.m., just as D'Aguilar and Chippendall were 
 returning from work. They took me to Mainwaring's 
 house, where, after a hot bath and a good dinner at 
 the Jacob's Rifles' mess, I turned in for the night. 
 So far to time, having got over 150 miles by Mon- 
 day, as at first proposed. 
 
 Tuesday y 14th Oct. D'Aguilar lent me a nag, and 
 I rode with Whiteford for Dozdan, in the Bolan. At 
 Sir-i-ab the Moonshee lent me his horse, and four miles 
 further on came across the sowar Wyllie had sent out 
 for me, fast asleep on the grass with the two horses 
 
270 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 loose close by. Rode into Darwaza by noon, and 
 changed to two other nags which had been sent out 
 for me by Wyllie; one got loose and careered about 
 by himself for half an hour. Got off at last, and 
 rode with Whiteford through the old Kotul, then 
 turned back and passed by what is known as Phayre's 
 road to Dozdan nullah. We were so long looking over 
 this new road that we did not get our breakfast till 
 4 p.m. Dined at the mess of the 19th B.N.I, and slept 
 in Burnet's tent, after hearing the detail of the dawk 
 he had most kindly laid for me as far as Dadur. Pro- 
 gress 31 miles. 
 
 Wednesday, \5th Oct. Rode with Whiteford to see 
 the work at the " zig-zags " in the Bolan, starting at 
 6.45 a.m. j arrived at Mach at 9 a.m., breakfasted with 
 Hughes and Westropp; left at 10 a.m., and reached 
 Bibinani at 1 p.m. Left Kirta at 2.15 p.m., made 
 Kohan-Dilan at 4.20 p.m., and ran into Pogson's 
 quarters in the Dadur fort, clear of the Bolan, at 
 7 p.m. Distance from Kandahar, 235 miles. 
 
 Thursday, 16th Oct. Sent on my kit on a pony, and 
 was engaged all the morning with the Naib in the city 
 about ponies for myself. Started with Inriquez, of the 
 Transport Department, at 3 p.m., and got to Haji-ka- 
 shar by 7 p.m., made some soup, and turned into the 
 landi, slept on the ground, pestered by the ants, and 
 woke at 3 a.m., made some tea, and off, reaching Bagh 
 by 7 a.m. on the morning of Friday the 17th. March- 
 
PHAYRE's ROAD. ROAD-MAKING. 271 
 
 ing in the day is out of the question if you can help 
 it , and unfortunately there is no moon at night. Just 
 at Bagh the labourers were busy embanking " Phayre's 
 road/' The work is done by " kins/' drawn by bullocks. 
 The ground to be taken for the bank is first ploughed, 
 and then this ploughed earth is taken in the large scoop 
 shovel boards by bullocks to the bank where it is tipped 
 by the driver as he gets to the top, and the bullocks 
 descend on the other side empty, to draw up again as 
 much more of the loosened earth. The work is rapidly 
 and neatly done, and leaves an appearance of regular 
 cross ridge and furrows from one side to the other. 
 
 Left Bagh at 8 a.m., on to Kourani by a quarter to 
 10, the bank of the road at this point being finished 
 and covered with long grass. Fresh ponies at Kourani, 
 and so passed the village of Timkin on the bank of the 
 native river, where some bridges and culverts are being 
 put into the road. The mare I rode here was quite a 
 small thing, about 13-2, yet she carried me the dis- 
 tance from Kourani to Kasim-ka Jok, eleven miles in 
 \\ hours, through heavy sand for a great part of the 
 way. Here I saw a large bungalow or rest-house, and, 
 to my great delight, found Orpen and Bartram. They 
 gave me breakfast and a cool place to rest in. The 
 heat coming down the Bolan below Kirta was so great 
 that I thought it better to avoid the sun, and do as 
 much of my journey as I could by night-time. Left 
 Orpen at 3.15 p.m. and did not reach Burshoree till 
 
272 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 after dark. Had to wait a long time for the guide, who 
 had been pipped on the road. My saddle-bags torn, 
 and my pipe and tobacco-pouch gone. Just saw Patter- 
 son, 0.| and Stone, who were travelling in their beds on 
 the top of bullock-carts. Had a tin of carrot-soup, 
 which was cooked in fine style by C.'s servant, and 
 at 8.30 p.m. sallied forth for the Tank, the half-way 
 station in the desert. Quite dark, but the night was 
 not very warm, though the air was heavy and a good 
 deal of lightning was visible towards the hills. 
 
 Reached the Tank at 11 p.m., rolled myself up and 
 went to sleep till 3 a.m. On to Nihal-ka-kot before 
 daybreak, and into Jacobabad by 7 a.m. on Saturday 
 the 18th October, or just seven days and seven nights 
 out of Kandahar. Found Col. Nuttall at the big house 
 preparing to receive Sir Richard Temple. Here I also 
 met Lindsay, who has the construction of the line. Had 
 a long talk with Lindsay about the line, and I may just 
 as well slip my notes in here on the route generally 
 before I lose them. 
 
 As regards the Bolan pass. Taking the Darwaza bun- 
 galow on the Dasht as the starting-point, the track is 
 level for three miles. The kotul or ridge in the Bolan 
 is crossed by an easy road of 1 in 17, which follows the 
 main ravine to Dozdan (Dozdan camp is on a high bank 
 to the south and faces the Dozdan nullah, up which 
 some two miles is the upper Dozdan camp, where water 
 is obtainable all the year round) . 
 
BOLAN ROAD. 273 
 
 From the kotul at the top of the Bolan pass to Doz- 
 dan is five miles. The work for any permanent road 
 must, of course, be heavy ; but I do not think there 
 will be difficulty in obtaining a grade of 1 in 20, except, 
 perhaps, in the last mile but one before reaching Doz- 
 dan. 
 
 Leaving Dozdan the road continues through the zig- 
 zags to Sir-i-bolan, say four miles, crossing and re- 
 crossing the river-bed. The amount of work that has 
 been done here is enormous, and the masses of boulders 
 that have been blasted and tumbled out of the way are 
 sufficient indication of the labour that has been ex- 
 pended by the Reserve, or Bombay Brigade. The 
 work in the zig-zags for a permanent road will be 
 heavy. 
 
 As far as the railway is concerned in the distance 
 from the kotul, or ridge, to Sir-i-bolan, nine miles 
 (which may be called the upper or first section of the 
 work), there will be a difficulty at the kotul, again for 
 about a mile at about two miles before reaching Doz- 
 dan, and again for about 1| miles out of the four 
 through the zig-zags before reaching Sir-i-bolan. But 
 in the hands of the engineer it is quite possible that 
 at these obstructive points an alignment will be found 
 clear of the torrent to meet the conditions (that have 
 been specified) of a grade not steeper than 1 in 20, and 
 curves not sharper than a hundred feet radius. 
 
 At Sir-i-bolan we come to open country, that is to 
 
 18 
 
274 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 say, there is an extensive plateau leading to Mach 
 (four miles), where the river is crossed andrecrossed to 
 reach another extensive plateau, which stretches right 
 away to Kirta and a mile or two beyond say from 27 
 to 30 miles in all. This may be called the middle or 
 second section of the work. As regards the Mach 
 plateau, I do not think there would be any fear in 
 laying a line of rails along it. It is well above the 
 main ravine. On the second plateau, stretching past 
 Ab-i-gum and Bibinani, there are many signs of drift, 
 but the track as now laid out seemed to me to lie above 
 and to the north of the ravine that was followed by the 
 troops last December. The plain is open and extensive, 
 and to all appearance there is a second large ravine to 
 the north of the plateau. The main ravines to the 
 north and the south in all probability take the hill 
 torrents, and the signs of drift on the plateau itself 
 may be due to local, or storm-water, and a certain 
 amount of spill from the bordering channels. 
 
 I do not think there would be any great difficulty in 
 securing the line across this second plateau, but in the 
 vicinity of Kirta there will always be, on the occasion 
 of a storm, a large area of back-water due to the posi- 
 tion at the entrance to the more contracted and defined 
 passage of the Lower Bolan. 
 
 In this middle or second section the river will have 
 to be crossed twice, but the track is straight and there 
 is nothing in the grade (except, perhaps, for a mile at a 
 
THE EAILWAY. 275 
 
 point opposite to Ab-i-gum) to prevent a straight align- 
 ment, due precaution being observed to divert the spill, 
 which it is assumed falls from the two main channels 
 bordering the second plateau to the north and south. 
 
 On leaving Kirta, the road is fair for a mile or two 
 before it enters the Lower Bolan. It then follows the 
 bend of the ravine, crossing the river fourteen times to 
 Kohan-Dilan (the depth of water on the 15th October 
 being up to the horse's chest) . 
 
 From Kohan-Dilan the road crosses the river four 
 times in six miles before it reaches the Chauki at the 
 mouth of the Bolan ; and from the Chauki, after cross- 
 ing the river again, there is a fair surface line into 
 Dadur, six miles beyond. 
 
 In this lower or third section of the work there will 
 be no alternative, if the Bolan route is adopted, but to 
 face, as far as I could see, a work of side-cutting for 
 fifteen miles (that is, from two miles below Kirta to the 
 Chauki) clear of the floods. The grade is easy, 1 in 
 150 and more, and the line of the ravine will not neces- 
 sarily be strictly adhered to. 
 
 A vast amount of work on another line has also been 
 executed at the head of the Bolan by the Bombay 
 Reserve, which may be briefly described. On leaving 
 the Darwaza bungalow the track leads across the Chota 
 Dasht to the north of and avoiding the Bolan kotul 
 or ridge. It runs through a ravine, and so round the 
 face of a hill overlooking the Bolan by about 200 feet. 
 
 18 * 
 
276 KANDAHAE IN 1879. 
 
 The road then ends. A trace is followed by a mere 
 mountain-path on to a ridge where there is a large stack 
 of grass the slope of the hill, or cross section, being 
 very steep, probably 1 in 2. At this ridge the trace 
 takes a turn further north over equally difficult ground, 
 and still elevated above the level of the main ravine 
 bed, and winds on to the north face of a hill overlook- 
 ing a deep ravine into which a descent is made by four 
 long reverses. A great amount of labour has been ex- 
 pended here, and the work is not yet finished. So that 
 by this alternative route to gain a river bed, from the 
 Chota Dasht, the kotul is avoided, but there is a 
 steady rise for a considerable distance, an amount of 
 work still to be done in heavy ground, and finally a 
 descent by four reverses, the alignment being in no way 
 suitable for a railroad. 
 
 The ravine bed is then followed until it closely ap- 
 proaches the main channel of the Bolan (in fact a large 
 road exists) when it rises again to the north, round a 
 spur and up to a ridge, from which a descent of some 
 extent is inconveniently made into the camp of Upper 
 Dozdan. This second rise and fall is not suitable for a 
 railway. 
 
 The road so far is incomplete and serves no purpose, 
 and if completed, would only give communication 
 between Upper Dozdan and Chota Dasht. 
 
 But this diversion is again continued from Upper 
 Dozdan. It crosses the ravine and enters a narrow and 
 
THE RAILWAY. 277 
 
 tortuous gorge, rising by sharp turns to the side of a 
 high hill, on which a considerable amount of work has 
 been done, and there ends. 
 
 This diversion may have been originally contem- 
 plated with a view to give an alternative route from 
 Sir-i-bolan to the Dasht, and to avoid the zig-zags and 
 the kotul of the main ravine, and I imagine it would 
 have been run into the Bolan near Sir-i-bolan, because 
 the ground to the north of the Mach plateau appeared 
 more than ordinarily difficult. 
 
 The rail across the desert is to run from Jacobabad 
 to Mittri, between and parallel to the hill torrents (the 
 Lehri and the Nahri), and if the Kusmor bund is 
 efficiently maintained, and the spill from the Indus at 
 that point prevented, the works of protection will not 
 be serious. 
 
 The line will now in all probability be sanctioned to 
 Kandahar, and no difficulty is foreseen between the 
 head of the Bolan pass and Quetta. 
 
 Beyond Quetta, the Gazzarbund will probably be 
 avoided to enter Pishin. The Khwaja Amram range 
 will also probably be turned by following a line south 
 of the Khwaja pass, and thence into Kandahar across 
 the Kadanai, Melmanda, Arghasan, and Tarnak valleys, 
 there is scarcely an obstacle worth mentioning. The 
 Arghasan and Tarnak would have to be crossed and a 
 large area of land under irrigation. Water is scarce, 
 and at certain seasons would have to be led from long? 
 
278 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 distances. Fuel there is none, except in the Khwaja 
 Amram range, but it could be grown to any extent in 
 all the valleys. 
 
 Made a round of visits, had my clothes washed, and 
 joined the dinner-party to the Governor and his 
 staff. 
 
 Sunday , 19th Oct. Out for a long walk in the 
 morning with the Governor who was most anxious to 
 hear as much as possible about the road, before he 
 started himself for Quetta and Pishin ; he seemed to 
 have an idea that the line would go by Sibi and thence 
 to the north of Quetta into Pishin direct. 
 
 Left at 9 a.m. with Montgomery in a tonga for Suk- 
 kar. The road is in admirable order, and the long grass 
 covering it saved us all annoyance from dust ; of course 
 we broke down, just six miles out of Jacobabad, by the 
 cross-bar snapping, and we had to wait in a policeman's 
 shanty till another carriage could be obtained. Reached 
 Sukkar at dusk, driving straight to the railway rest- 
 house. 
 
 Monday, 20th Oct. Pudan took me across the river 
 in his boat, and by 8.30 a.m. was in the train rolling 
 along at no very great speed for Multan. The refresh- 
 ment and waiting rooms are vastly improved every- 
 thing very clean, and rather different from the 
 accommodation and progression of the last few days. 
 It was rather enjoyable (Montgomery being with me), 
 lolling in the carriage, taking our baccy at our ease, 
 
THE INDUS VALLEY. 279 
 
 and discussing many points that had struck us during 
 the late campaign, which we (and probably any other 
 fellow) could not rightly understand. Why at the 
 outset the Dera Bugti route had ever been adopted ? 
 Why, with the Kurram and Khyber lines of advance, 
 the march upon Kandahar had not been left to Bom- 
 bay, with its own commissariat and transport ? What 
 retarded the 2nd Division in Pishin behind the Khojak 
 while the 1st Division caught and passed them by the 
 Gwaja? The late moves against Merv by the Rus- 
 sians, and how far they and even Yakub himself may 
 or may not have been directly connected with the 
 massacre of the Envoy and his escort ? 
 
 In all probability the country will be annexed for 
 some years, and others of the Corps will succeed and 
 perfect the work commenced during this chapter of its 
 history. 
 
 St. John in political charge at head- quarters. Camp- 
 bell and Rogers, of the Survey, with Gore, Heaviside, 
 and Holdich. Savage and Dickie, with the field tele- 
 graph and signalling. The road across the Khojak 
 commenced by Ghilzai labourers under Wells, and com- 
 pleted by Haslett and his sappers. Haslett, again with 
 Jerome, in the Gwaja ass, where Sankey and his 
 A.D.C., Childers, secured so speedily such an easy pas- 
 sage for the heavy guns. Nicholson, who accompanied 
 the return force by the Tal-Chotiali line through the 
 country where Browne had gained so much credit. 
 
280 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 The Sappers, with Browne in command, and his work 
 at the Helmund, and again in the Arghandab at the 
 head works of the water-supply. Sharpe at Kokeran. 
 Sankey's arrangements for sheltering the troops at 
 Kandahar. Bisset, the field engineer, with Olivier at 
 work in the citadel ; and Call, the field-park engineer, 
 in his endless occupation and admirable method, 
 supervising the works of renovation and construction. 
 Whiteford with the Bombay Sappers at work in the 
 Bolan, and Orpen busily engaged in Katchi during the 
 hottest season. 
 
 Tuesday, 2\st Oct. Arrived at Lahore. Boss, the 
 traffic manager of the S. P. and D. railway met me at 
 the station. There was a great block, and it was said 
 to be owing to a want of engines on the Punjab 
 Northern; some were expected from the Oudh and 
 Rohilkhund railway. Camels were loaded in the 
 trucks, four in each, and strapped down, three at- 
 tendants going with them. Large carts complete 
 were loaded up in trucks, and bullocks in great num- 
 bers were stowed away in covered wagons. Many of 
 the S. P. and D. horse-wagons, in which bullocks were 
 carried, were not, I observed, in accordance with the 
 type of military wagon as laid down by the Government 
 of India. Those I saw had leaf-doors in one piece, and 
 no side- ventilators. There are as many as 500 of 
 this class, I hear; they are a failure and should be 
 altered. 
 
LAHORE. EOSS* WOEK. 281 
 
 The work at Lahore seems to have been uncommonly 
 busy, for I gathered from Ross that from the 9th to 
 the 19th October the following had been despatched : 
 
 18,651 troops and followers. 
 8,178 horses, &c. 
 2,800 camels. 
 14,000 horned cattle. 
 12 ambulance carts. 
 4 heavy guns. 
 1 wagon of treasure. 
 35 tons ammunition. 
 
 340 
 
 a 
 
 baggage. 
 
 12,000 
 
 )> 
 
 commissariat stores. 
 
 1,100 
 
 a 
 
 miscellaneous, fodder, &c, 
 
 6,500 
 
 a 
 
 rails. 
 
 1,625 
 
 f> 
 
 railway material. 
 
 40,000 
 
 a 
 
 sleepers. 
 
 While the average total receipts for five weeks ending 
 4th October 1879 were Us. 1,83,850, being an increase 
 of 74-23 % over 1878. 
 
 Off again in train, after telegraphing to Lumley to 
 have a dak ready for me at Umballa city. 
 
 Wednesday, 22nd Oct. Changed from the train to 
 the dak carriage at 4 a.m., breakfasted at Kalka, 
 10 a.m., and then started up the hill for my final ride 
 of 57 miles. The road the whole way offered a series 
 
282 KANDAHAR IN 1879. 
 
 of lovely views, and at 5 p.m. I ran into the nursery at 
 home, 7,954 feet above the sea, where, with my wife 
 and children by me, I close the entries of this Journal. 
 
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30 Wm. H. Alien & Co., 
 
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13, Waterloo Place, Pall Mall. 
 
 A SELECTION FKOM 
 
 MESSRS. ALLEN'S CATALOGUE 
 
 OF BOOKS IN THE EASTERN LANGUAGES, &c. 
 
 HINDUSTANI, HINDI, &c. 
 
 ( Dr. Forbes's Works are used as Class Boohs in the Colleges and Schools 
 
 in India."] 
 
 Forbes's Hindustani-English Dictionary in the Persian Character, 
 with the Hindi words in Nagari also ; and an English Hindustani 
 Dictionary in the English Character ; both in one volume. By Dun- 
 can Fokbes, LL.D. Royal 8vo. 42s. 
 
 Forbes's Hindustani-English and English Hindustani Dictionary, 
 in the English Character. Royal 8vo. 36s. 
 
 Forbes's Smaller Dictionary, Hindustani and English, in the 
 English Character. 12s. 
 
 Forbes's Hindustani Grammar, with Specimens of Writing in the 
 Persian and Nagari Characters, Reading Lessons, and Vocabular\. 
 8vo. 10s. 6d. 
 
 Forbes's Hindustani Manual, containing a Compendious Gram- 
 mar, Exercises for Translation, Dialogues, and Vocabulary, in the 
 Roman Character. New Edition, entirely revised. By J. T. Platts. 
 L8mo. 3s. 6d. 
 
 Forbes's Bagh o Bahar, in the Persian Character, with a complete 
 Vocabulary . Royal 8vo. 12s. 6d. 
 
 Forbes's Bagh o Bahar in English, with Explanatory Notes, 
 illustrative of Eastern Character. 8vo. 8s. 
 
 Forbes's Bagh o Bahar, with Vocaby., English Character. 5s. 
 
 Forbes's Tota Kahani ; or, " Tales of a Parrot," in the Persian 
 Character, with a complete Vocabulary. Royal 8vo. 8s. 
 
 Forbes's Baital Pachisi ; or, "Twenty-five Tales of a Demon," 
 in the Nagari Character, with a complete Vocabulary. Royal 8vo. 9s. 
 
 Forbes's Jkhwanu s Safa ; or, " Brothers of Purity," in the 
 Persian Character. Royal 8vo. 12s. 6d. 
 
 [For the higher standard for military officers' examinations.'] 
 
 Forbes's Oriental Penmanship ; a Guide to Writing Hindustani 
 in the Persian Character. 4to. 8s. 
 
32 Wm. H. Allen & Co., 
 
 Platts' Grammar of the Urdu or Hindustani-Language. 8vo. 12s. 
 
 East wick (Edward B.) The Bagh-o-Bahar literally translated 
 into English, with copious explanatory notes. 8vo. 10s. 6d. 
 
 Small's (Rev. G.) Tota Kahani; or, " Tales of a Parrot." Trans- 
 lated into English. 8vo. 8s. 
 
 Platts' J. T., Baital Pachisi ; translated into English. 8vo. 8s. 
 
 Platts' Ikhwanu S Safa; translated into English. 8vo. 10s. 6d. 
 
 Hindustani Selections, with a Vocabulary of the Words. By 
 James R. Ballantynb. Second Edition. 1845. 5s. 
 
 Singhasan Battisi. Translated into Hindi from the Sanscrit. 
 A New Edition. Revised, Corrected, and Accompanied with Copious 
 Notes. By Syed Abdoolah. Royal 8vo. 12s. 6d. 
 
 Robertson's Hindustani Vocabulary. 3s. 6d. 
 
 Akhlaki Hindi, translated into Urdu, with an Introduction and 
 Notes. By Syed Abdoolah. Royal 8vo. 12s. 6d. 
 
 Sakuntala. Translated into Hindi from the Bengali recension 
 of the Sanskrit. Critically edited, with grammatical, idiomatical, and 
 exegetical notes, by Fbedeeic Pincott. 4to. 12s. 6d. 
 
 SANSCRIT. 
 
 Haughton's Sanscrit and Bengali Dictionary, in the Bengali 
 Character, with Index, serving as a reversed dictionary. 4to. 30s. 
 
 Williams's English-Sanscrit Dictionary. 4to., cloth. 3. 3s. 
 
 Williams's Sanskrit-English Dictionary. 4to. 4 14s. 6d. 
 
 Wilkin's (Sir Charles) Sanscrit Grammar. 4to. 15s. 
 
 Williams's (Monier) Sanscrit Grammar. 8vo. 15s. 
 
 Williams's (Monier) Sanscrit Manual ; to which is added, a 
 
 Vocabulary, by A. E. Gough. 18mo. 7s. 6d. 
 Gough's (A. E.) Key to the Exercises in Williams's Sanscrit 
 
 Manual. 18mo. 4s. 
 
 Williams's (Monier) Sakuntala, with Literal English Translation 
 of all the Metrical Passages, Schemes of the Metres, and copious 
 Critical and Explanatory Notes. Royal 8vo. 21s. 
 
 Williams's (Monier) Sakuntala. Translated into English Prose 
 and Verse. Eourth Edition. 8s. 
 
 Williams's (Monierj Vikramorvasi. The Text. 8vo. 5s. 
 
 Cowell's (E B.) Translation of the Vikramorvasi. 8vo. 3s. 6d. 
 
13, Waterloo Place, Pall Mall. 88 
 
 Thompson's (J. C.) Bhagavat Gita. Sanscrit Text. 5s. 
 
 Haughton's Menu, with English Translation. 2 vols. 4to. 24s. 
 
 Johnson's Hitopadesa, with Vocabulary. 15s. 
 
 Hitopadesa, Sanscrit, with Bengali and English Trans. 10s. 6d. 
 
 Johnson's Hitopadesa, English Translation of the. 4to. 5s. 
 
 Wilson's Megha Duta, with Translation into English Verse, 
 Notes, Illustrations, and a Vocabulary. Eoyal 8vo. 6s. 
 
 PERSIAN. 
 
 Richardson's Persian, Arabic, and English Dictionary. Edition 
 of 1852. By F. Johnson. 4to. 4. 
 
 Forbes's Persian Grammar, Reading Lessons, and Vocabulary. 
 Eoyal 8vo. 12s. 6d. 
 
 Ibraheem's Persian Grammar, Dialogues, &c. Royal 8vo. 12s. 6d. 
 
 Gulistan. Carefully collated with the original MS., with a full 
 Vocabulary. By John Platts, late Inspector of Schools, Central 
 Provinces, India. Royal 8vo. 12s. 6d. 
 
 Gulistan. Translated from a revised Text, with Copious Notes. 
 By John Platts. 8vo. 12s. 6d. 
 
 Ouseley's Anwari Soheili. 4to. 42s. 
 
 Wollaston's (Arthur N.) Translation of the Anvari Soheili. 
 Eoyal 8vo. 2 2s. 
 
 Keene's (Rev. H. G.) First Book of The Anwari Soheili. Persian 
 Text. 8vo. 5s. 
 
 Ouseley's (Col.) Akhlaki Mushini. Persian Text. 8vo. 5s 
 
 Keene's (Rev. H. G.) Akhlaki Mushini. Translated into English. 
 8vo. 3s. 6d. 
 
 Clarke's (Captain H. Wilberforce, R.E.) The Persian Manual. 
 A Pocket Companion. 
 
 PAET I. A concise G-eammae or the Language, with Exer- 
 cises on its more Prominent Peculiarities, together with a Selection of 
 Useful Phrases, Dialogues, and Subjects for Translation into Persian. 
 
 PAET II. A VOCABULAET OP USEFUL WOBDS, ENGLISH AND 
 
 Peesian, showing at the same time the difference of idiom between 
 the two Languages. 18mo. 7s. 6d. 
 
 The Bustan. By Shaikh Muslihu-d-Dm Sa'di Shirazi. 
 Translated for the first time into Prose, with Explanatory Notes 
 and Index. By Captain H. Wilberforce Clarke, R.E. 8vo. 
 With Portrait. 30s. 
 
 A Translation of Robinson Crusoe into the Persian Language. 
 Eoman Character. Edited by T. W. H. Tolboet, Bengal Civil 
 Service. Cr. 8vo. 7s. 
 
34 Wm. H. Allen & Co., 
 
 BENGALI. 
 
 Haughton's Bengali, Sanscrit, and English Dictionary, adapted 
 for Students in either language ; to which is added an Index, serving 
 as a reversed dictionary. 4to. 30s. 
 
 Porbes's Bengali Grammar, with Phrases and dialogues. Royal 
 
 8vo. 12s. 6d. 
 Forbes's Bengali Reader, with a Translation and Vocabulary 
 
 Koyal 8vo. 12s. 6d. 
 Nabo Nari. 12 mo. 7s. 
 
 ARABIC. 
 
 Richardson's Arabic, Persian and English Dictionary. Edition 
 of 1852. By F. Johnson. 4to., cloth, 4. 
 
 Forbes's Arabic Grammar, intended more especially for the use of 
 young men preparing for the East India Civil Service, and also for the 
 use of self instructing students in general. Royal 8vo., cloth. 18a. 
 
 Palmer's Arabic Grammar. 8vo. 18s. 
 
 Forbes's Arabic Reading Lessons, consisting of Easy Extracts 
 from the best Authors, with Vocabulary. Royal 8vo., cloth. 15s. 
 
 An Arabic Manual. By Professor E. H. Palmer. 
 (In the press.) 
 
 TEL00G00. 
 
 Brown's Dictionary, reversed ; with a Dictionary of the Mixed 
 Dialects used in Teloogoo. 3 vols, in 2, royal 8vo. 5. 
 
 Campbell's Dictionary. Royal 8vo. 30s. 
 
 Bromn's Reader. 8vo. 2 vols. 14s. 
 
 Brown's Dialogues, Teloogoo and English. 8vo. 5s. 6d. 
 
 Pancha Tantra. 8s. 
 
 Percival's English- Teloogoo Dictionary. 10s. 6d. 
 
 TAMIL. 
 
 Bottler's Dictionary, Tamil and English. 4 to. 42s. 
 Babington's Grammar (High Dialect). 4to. 12s. 
 Percival's Tamil Dictionary. 2 vols. 10s. 6d. 
 
13, Waterloo Place, Pall Mall. 35 
 
 GUZRATTEE. 
 
 Mavor's Spelling, Guzrattee and English. 7s, 6d. 
 Shapuaji Edalji's Dictionary, Guzrattee and English. 21s. 
 
 MAHRATTA. 
 
 Molesworth's Dictionary, Mahratta and English. 4to. 42s. 
 Molesworth's Dictionary, English and Mahratta. 4to. 42s. 
 Stevenson's Grammar. 8vo., cloth. 17s. 6d. 
 Esop's Fables. 12mo. 2s. 6d. 
 Fifth Reading Book. 7s. 
 
 MALAY. 
 
 Marsden's Grammar. 4to. 1. Is. 
 
 CHINESE. 
 
 Morrisons Dictionary 6 vols. 4to. 10. 
 
 Marshman's Clavis Sinica, a Chinese Grammar. ito. 2 2s. 
 
 Morrison's View of China, for Philological purposes ; containing a 
 Sketch of Chinese Chronology, Geography, Government, Religion and 
 Customs, designed for those who study the Chinese language. 4to. 6s. 
 
 PUS'HTO. 
 
 The Pushto Manual. Comprising a Concise Grammar ; Exer- 
 cises and Dialogues ; Familiar Phrases, Proverbs, and Vocabulary. By 
 Major H. G. Raverty, Bombay Infantry (Retired). Author of the 
 Pus'hto Grammar, Dictionary, Selections Prose and Poetical, Selections 
 from the Poetry of the Afghans (English Translation), iEsop's Fables, 
 &c. &c. Fcap. 5s. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 Reeve's English-Carnatica and Carnatica-English Dictionary. 
 2 vols. (Very slightly damaged). 8. 
 
 Collett's Malayalam Reader. Hvo. 12s. 6d. 
 
 Esop's Fables in Carnatica. 8vo. bound. 12s. 6d. 
 
 A Turkish Manual, comprising a Condensed Grammar with 
 Idiomatic Phrases, Exercises and Dialogues, and Vocabulary. By 
 Captain C. *F. Mackenzie, late of H.M.'s Consular Service. 6s. 
 
36 Wm. H. Allen & Co. 
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL 
 
 CHART OF INDIA, 
 
 Pricey fully tinted, mounted on roller or in case, 20s. 
 size, about 40 in. by 50 in. 
 
 Showing, at one view, all the principal nations, governments, and empires which 
 have existed in that country from the earliest times to the suppression of the Great 
 Mutiny, A.D. 1858, with the date of each historical event according to the various 
 eras used in India. 
 
 BY 
 
 ARTHUR ALLEN DURTNALL, 
 
 Of the High Court of Justice in England. 
 
 By this Chart, any person, however ignorant of the subject, may, by an hour's 
 attention, obtain a clear view of the broad lines of Indian History, and of the 
 evolutions which have resulted in the dominion of Her Majesty as EMPRESS OF 
 INDIA. It will be found invaluable for Educational Purfoses, especially in 
 Colleges and Schools, where an Indian career is in contemplation. It will also be 
 found of permanent utilitt in all Libraries and Offices as a work of ready 
 reference for the connection of events and dates. Besides the History of India, it 
 includes the contemporaneous histories of Afghanistan, Central Asia, and 
 Europe. 
 
 A RELIEVO MAP OF INDIA. 
 
 BY 
 
 HENRY F. BRION. 
 
 In Frame, 21s. 
 
 A map of this kind brings before us such a picture of the surface of a given 
 country as no ordinary map could ever do. To the mind's eye of the average 
 Englishman, India consists of the plains ' and 'the hills,' chiefly of the former, 
 the hills being limited to the Himalayas and the Nilgiris. The new map will at 
 least enable him to correct his notions of Indian geography. It combines the 
 usual features of a good plain map of the country on a scale of 150 miles to the 
 inch, with a faithful representation of all the uneven surfaces, modelled on a scale 
 thirty-two times the horizontal one; thus bringing out into clear relief the com- 
 parative heights and outlines of all the hill-ranges, and showing broad tracts of 
 uneven ground, of intermingled hill and valley, which a common map of the 
 same size would hardly indicate, except to a very practised eye. The plains of 
 Upper India are reduced to their true proportions; the Central Provinces, 
 Malwa, and "Western Bengal reveal their actual ruggedness at a glance ; and 
 Southern India, from the Vindhyas to Cape Comorin, proclaims its real height 
 above the sea-level. To the historical as well as the geographical student such a 
 map is an obvious and important aid in tracing the course of past campaigns, in 
 realising the conditions under which successive races carried their arms or settle- 
 ments through the Peninsula, and in comprehending the difference of race, climate, 
 and physical surroundings which make up our Indian Empire. Set in a neat 
 frame of maplewood, the map seems to attract the eye like a prettily-coloured 
 picture, and its price, a guinea, should place it within the reach of all who care to 
 combine the useful with the ornamental." Home News. 
 
MAPS OF INDIA, etc. 
 
 Messrs. Allen 8f Co.'s Maps of India were revised and much improved 
 during 1876, with especial reference to the existing Administrative 
 Divisions, Railways, Sfc. 
 
 District Map of India ; corrected to 1876; 
 
 Divided into Collectorates with the Telegraphs and Railways from Go- 
 vernment surveys. On six sheets size, 5ft. 6in. high; 5ft. 8in. wide, 
 2; in a case, 2 12s. 6d. ; or, rollers, varn., 3 3s. 
 
 A General Map of India ; corrected to 1876 ; 
 
 Compiled chiefly from surveys executed by order of the Q-overnment 
 of India. On six sheets size, 5 ft. 3 in. wide ; 5 ft. 4 in. high, 2 ; 
 or, on cloth, in case, 2 12s. 6d. ; or, rollers, varn., $ 3s. 
 
 Map of India; corrected to 1876 ; 
 
 From the most recent Authorities. On two sheets size, 2 ft. lOin. 
 wide ; 3 ft. 3 in. high, 16s. ; or, on cloth, in a case, 1 Is. 
 
 Map of the Routes in India; corrected to 1874 ; 
 
 "With Tables of Distances between the principal Towns and Military 
 Stations On one sheet size, 2 ft. 3 in. wide ; 2 ft. 9 in. high, 9s. ; 
 or, on cloth, in a case, 12s. 
 
 Map of the Western Provinces of Hindoostan, 
 
 The Punjab, Cabool, Scinde, Bhawulpore, &c, including all the States 
 between Candahar and Allahabad. On four sheets size, 4 ft. 4in. 
 wide ; 4 ft. 2 in. high, 30s. ; or, in case, 2 ; rollers, varnished, 2 10s. 
 
 Map of India and China, Burmah, Siam, the Malay Penin- 
 sula, and the Empire of Anam. On two sheets size, 4 ft. 3 in. wide ; 
 
 3 ft. 4 in. high, 16s. ; or, on cloth, in a case, 1 5s. 
 
 Map of the Steam Communication and Overland Routes 
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 rollers, and varnished, 18s. 
 
 Map of China, 
 
 From the most Authentic Sources of Information. One large sheet 
 size, 2 ft. 7 in. wide ; 2 ft. 2 in. high, 6s. ; or, on cloth, in case, 8s. 
 
 Map of the World ; 
 
 On Mercator's Projection, showing the Tracts of the Early Navigators, 
 the Currents of the Ocean, the Principal Lines of great Circle Sailing, 
 and the most recent discoveries. On four sheets size, 6ft. 2 in. wide ; 
 
 4 ft. 3 in. high, 2 ; on cloth, in a case, 2 10s ; or, with rollers, and 
 varnished, 3. 
 
 Handbook of Reference to the Maps of India. 
 
 Giving the Latitude and Longitude of places of note. 18mo. 3s. 6d. 
 
 Russian Official Map of Central Asia. Compiled in accord- 
 ance with the Discoveries and Surveys of Russian Staff Officers up 
 to the close of the year 1877. In 2 Sheets. 10s. 6d., or in cloth 
 case, 14s. 
 
In January and July of each year is 'published in 8vo., price 10s. 6d., 
 
 THE INDIA LIST, CIVIL & MILITARY; 
 
 BY PEBMISSION OF THE SECEETAEY OF STATE FOE INDIA IN COUNCIL 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CIVIL. G-radation Lists of Civil Service, Bengal, Madras and Bombay. 
 Civil Annuitants. Legislative Council, Ecclesiastical Establishments, 
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