DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/detaiIs/journalofimpriso1843eyre A. OuthWNt/u B JfijLHon /fe.nttenrr C. ft* Office* II Moynunr tort nn/im.r fl*j rn/trvi’ N fhtnfr tninfrn O. Htnar ( P Ai‘/ii /% I Y- f'tttn.% or •frrj/ f Drum r.t ffrvt.tt /«. th/it *• Tof/t •. vi. gate, and skirting the musjed immediately oppo- site, which was held by a company of Her Majesty’s 44th, took the direction of the gorge at the fur- ther extremity of the Beymaroo hill, which they ascended, dragging the gun to the top with great difficulty, from the rugged and steep nature of the side, which labour was greatly facilitated by the exertions of 200 commissariat surwoons, who had volunteered for the occasion. The whole force then moved to the knoll at the N. E. extremity of the hill, which overhung the village of Beyma- roo. The gun was placed in position commanding an enclosure in the village, which, from its fires, was judged to be the principal bivouac of the enemy, and a sharp fire of grape commenced, which evidently created great confusion, but it was presently answered by a discharge of juzails; the enemy forsaking the open space, and covering themselves in the houses and towers : to this we replied in the intervals of tluf cannonade by dis- charges of musketry. It was suggested by Capt. Bellew and others to Brigadier Shelton to storm the village, while the evident panic of the enemy lasted, under cover of the darkness, there being no moon : to this the Brigadier did not accede. When the day broke, parties of the enemy were descried hurrying from the village, and taking across the plain towards the distant fort, their fire chap, vi.] FAILURE OF STORMING PARTY. 103 having previously slackened from the failure of their ammunition. At this time, certainly, not above 4-0 men remained in the village. A storm- ing party, consisting of 2 companies 37th N. I. and some Europeans, under Majors S wayne and Kershaw, were ordered to carry the village ; hut Major S wayne, taking a wrong direction, missed the principal entrance, which was open, and ar- rived at a small kirkhee, or wicket, which was barricaded, and which he had no means of forcing, so that he was obliged to cover himself and his men as well as he could from the sure aim of the enemy’s marksmen, by whose fire his party suffered considerably, himself being shot through the neck. After remaining thus for about half an hour, he was recalled by the Brigadier, who observed large bodies of armed men pouring out from the city towards the scene of conflict. Meanwhile Lieut. Walker had been directed to lead his irregular horse down into the plain on the west side of the hill, to cut off such fugitives from the village as he might be able to intercept, and to cover himself from the fire of infantry under the walls of an old fort not far from the base of the hill. Brigadier Shelton, leaving three companies of the 37th N. I. in the knoll above Beymaroo as a reserve, under f 4 101 - NUMBERS OF THE ENEMY. [chap. vi. Major Kershaw, moved back with the troops and guns to the part of the hill which overlooked the gorge. Shortly after this it was suggested to raise a sunga, or stone breastwork, for the protection of the troops wholly exposed to the distant fire of the enemy’s juzails, but this proposition was not acted on. Immense numbers of the enemy issuing from the city, had now crowned the summits of the hill opposite the gorge, — in all, probably 10,000 men. The plain on the west of the two hills was swept by swarms of their cavalry, who evidently designed to cut off the small party of Irregular Horse under Lieut. Walker; while the failure of our attempt to storm the village had rendered it easy for the enemy to throw strong reinforcements into it, and to supply the ammu- nition of which they had been in great want. About 7 a. m., the fire from the enemy’s hill was so galling, that the few skirmishers sent to the brow of our hill could with difficulty retain their posts. As an instance of the backwardness which now began to develop itself among our men, it must be mentioned, that Lieut.-Col. Oliver endeavoured to induce a party of his own regiment to follow him to the brow of the hill, to keep down the sharp fire of a number of the enemy, who had ensconced themselves in a small CHAP. VI. J COLONEL OLIVER. 105 ravine commanding the foremost square ; not a man would follow him, — and it was only after that brave officer had gone forward himself into the thickest of the fire, saying, “ Although my men desert me, I myself will do my duty,” that about a dozen were shamed into performing theirs. The remainder of the troops (the in- fantry formed into two squares, and the cavalry being drawn up en masse immediately in their rear,) suffered severely without being able to re- taliate, from the comparatively short range of the musket. Our single gun maintained as hot a fire on the masses of the enemy as possible, doing great execution ; but the want of a second gun, to take up the fire was sensibly felt, inasmuch as, after a short time, the vent became too hot for the artillerymen to serve. This state of things con- tinued until between 9 and 10 o’clock, when a large party of the enemy’s cavalry threatened our right flank, and, to prevent his destruction, Lieut. Walker was recalled. This demonstration, how- ever, was repulsed by a well-directed discharge of shrapnell from the H. A. gun, by one of which a chief of consequence, supposed to be Abdoollah Khan, Achukzye, was mortally wounded. By the recall of Lieut. Walker the enemy were enabled to surround our position at all points, ex- cept that facing the cantonments ; our gun am- f 5 106 FIRE FROM THE GHAZEES. [chap. vi. munition was almost expended, and the men were faint with fatigue and thirst (no water being pro- curable), while the number of killed and wounded was swelled every instant. About this time (between 10 and 11a. m.), large bodies of the enemy’s infantry advanced across the plain from the Shah Bagh to the end of the hill, to cut off the supplies of ammunition coming from cantonments, as also the dhoolies on which we endeavoured to send off a few of the wounded. These, however, were checked by a party of our troops in the musjed, opposite the Kohistan gate, and by about fifty juzailchees under the temporary command of Capt. Trevor, (Capt. Mackenzie, their leader, having been re- quested by Brigadier Shelton to act as one of the staff for the day,) who lined some low walls and watercourses, as well as by frequent discharges of round shot and slirapnell from the cantonment guns under Lieut. Warburton. Previously to this, numbers of the most daring Ghazees had descended into the gorge, and, taking advantage of some hillocks on the ascent towards our position, had crept gradually up, maintaining a deadly fire on our skirmishers, who were, unfortunately, wholly exposed ; they be- came at length disheartened, and gave way. At this moment the Brigadier offered a reward of CHAP. VI.] BACKWARDNESS OF OUR TROOPS. 107 100 rupees to any man who should take a flag of the enemy, which had been planted behind a tumulus about thirty yards in front of the square, and he fruitlessly endeavoured to induce the men to charge bayonets ; several of the officers at the same time advanced to the front, and actually pelted the enemy with stones.* All attempts, however, to encourage our men were in vain. The attacking party were now emboldened to make a rush upon our gun ; our cavalry were ordered to charge, but again in vain, for the men would not follow then - officers, -j- The panic spread, and our troops gave way, except the second square, which had been formed about 200 yards in the rear, and three companies under Major Kershaw at the other extremity of the hill ; behind this second square the officers with great difficulty rallied the fugitives, leaving the * The names of this little band of heroes deserve to be recorded : they were Capt. Macintosh and Lieut. Laing, who were almost instantly killed, and Capts. Mackenzie, Troup, and Leighton ; the latter fell in the retreat of the army from Cabul, the other two happily still survive to fight their country’s battles : of such men the Indian army may well be proud. -J- Capts. Bott and Collyer, 5th Light Cavalry, Lieut. Walker, Irregular Horse, Russular Ishmael Khan, Jemadar Synd, Mahomed Synd, and Mirza Musseer Bey, of Ander- son’s Horse. F 6 108 SHORT RALLY. [chap. vi. gun in the hands of the enemy, who lost no time in walking off with the limber and horses. By this time the news of Abdoolah Khan’s wound had spread among the ranks of the enemy, causing great confusion, which extended to the Ghazees now in possession of the gun. This, and the tolerably firm attitude resumed by our troops, induced them to content themselves with the limber and horses, and retire. Their retreat gave fresh courage to our disheartened soldiers, who again took possession of the gun, and advanced to the brow of the hill, where were found the bodies of Capt. Macintosh and Lieut. Laing, as well as those of the soldiers slain in the onset, including two H. A. men, who, with a devotedness worthy of British soldiers, had perished while vainly en- deavouring to defend their charge. Some fresh gun-ammunition having now arrived from canton- ments, carried by Lascars, a fire was again opened on the ranks of the enemy ; but we were unable to push the advantage gained by the momentary disorder alluded to above, because, in fact, the cavalry would not act. In the observations on this action, made hereafter, there will be found some palliation for the backwardness of the cavalry on this occasion, in spite of the gallant bearing of their leaders ; the infantry were too few, and too much worn out and disheartened, to CHAP. VI. ] GREAT SLAUGHTER. 109 be able to make a forward movement. The con- sequence was, that not only did the whole force of the enemy come on with renewed vigour and spirits, maintaining at the same time the fatal juzail fire which had already so grievously thinned our ranks, hut fresh numbers poured out of the city, and from the surrounding villages, until the hill occupied by them scarcely afforded room for them to stand. This unequal conflict having lasted until past noon, during which period reinforcements and an additional gun had been in vain solicited from the cantonments, Brigadier Shelton sent Capt. Mac- kenzie to request Major Kershaw to move up his reserve, (which could scarcely so be called, having been the whole day hard pressed by large bodies of the enemy in the village, and by parties occupying ruins and broken ground on the skirts of his posi- tion). The Major, fearing that, if he abandoned the knoll on which he had been stationed, our retreat to the cantonments (then becoming more and more imperatively necessary) might be cut off, made answer, that “ he begged to suggest, that the Brigadier should fall back upon him.” Before this message could be delivered, the front ranks of the advanced square, at the Brigadier’s extremity of the hill, had been literally mowed down ; — most of the artillerymen, who per- 110 BRITISH DEFEATED [chap. VI. formed their duty in a manner which is beyond praise, shared the same fate. The manoeuvre practised by the Ghazees previously was repeated by still greater numbers. The evident unsteadi- ness of our troops, and the imminent danger to which the gun was a second time exposed, induced the Brigadier, after repeated suggestions from Serg. Mulhall, who commanded the battery, to order the gun to be limbered up — a second limber having arrived from cantonments — and to retire towards Major Kershaw’s position. Scarcely had this movement been commenced, when a rush from the Ghazees completely broke the square; — all order was at an end: — the entreaties and com- mands of the officers, endeavouring to rally the men, were not even listened to, and an utter rout ensued down the hill in the direction of can- tonments, the enemy closely following, whose cavalry, in particular, made a fearful slaughter among the unresisting fugitives. Major Kershaw’s party, perceiving this disaster, endeavoured to escape ; but strong parties, issuing from the vil- lage, cut off their retreat, and thus great numbers of our Sepoys perished : the grenadier company, especially, was all but annihilated. The mingled tide of flight and pursuit seemed, to those who manned the walls of cantonment, to be about to enter the gate together ; and, by some fatality. CHAP. VI. ] WITH IMMENSE LOSS. Ill the ammunition of the great guns in battery with- in the cantonments was almost expended. A heavy fire, however, was opened from the Shah’s 5th Infantry in the Mission Compound ; a fresh troop of the 5th Cavalry, under Lieut. Hardyman, charged across the plain towards the enemy, joined by Lieut. W alker, who had rallied fifteen or twenty of his own men ; dining which gallant effort this most promising and brave young officer received a mortal wound. These operations, assisted by a sharp discharge from the juzailchees under Capt. Trevor, contributed to check the pursuit ; and it was observed at the time, and afterwards ascer- tained to be correct, that a chief (Osman Khan) voluntarily halted his followers, who were among the foremost, and led them off ; which may be reckoned, indeed, the chief reason why all of our people, who on that day went forth to battle, were not destroyed. Our loss was tremendous ; the principal part of the wounded having been left in the field, including Lieut. -Col. Oliver, where they were miserably cut to pieces. Our gun and second limber, which, while endeavouring to gal- lop down the hill, had overturned on rough ground, we had the mortification to behold triumphantly carried off by the enemy. About half an hour previous to the flight of our troops, a note had been written to the Assist.- 112 A GUN LOST HOW. [chap. VI. Adjt.-Gen. by Capt. Troup, earnestly requesting that the Mountain-train gun, which had by that time been repaired, might be sent out with the least possible delay, and the first idea that sug- gested itself to that officer after our defeat was, that by quickly bringing this gun to bear upon the H. A. gun, then in the hands of the enemy, the latter might still be saved. He therefore galloped with speed to cantonments, where finding the Mountain-train gun just ready to start, he was on the point of leading it out of the gate, when his progress was interrupted by the Assist. - Adjt.-Gen., on the plea that it would now be of no use. This is the more to be lamented, as from the spot occupied by Capt. Trevor’s juzailchees, who, protected by a low wall, still kept up a sharp and effectual fire on the enemy, the range to the side of the hill whence the Affghans were en- deavouring to carry off the captured gun, about which they clustered in thousands, was so short, that grape, even from a small calibre, must have prevented the execution of their intentions. Had the company of fresh infantry, which was drawn up outside the gate under command of Lieut. Alexander, moved forward in company with the mountain gun to the support of the above gallant handful of juzailchees, excellent service might CHAP, vi.] GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 113 have been rendered. But it seemed as if we were under the ban of Heaven. OBSERVATIONS. In this miserable and disastrous affair no less than six great errors must present themselves, even to the most unpractised military eye, each of which contributed in no slight degree to the defeat of our troops, opposed as they were by overwhelming numbers. 1st, The first and perhaps most fatal mis- take of all was the taking out a single gun. The General Order by the Marquess of Hastings, expressly forbidding less than two guns to take the field, under any circumstances or on any pretence whatever, when another is available, must be well known at least to every officer who has served in India. This positive pro- hibition was the offspring of dearly-bought ex- perience, and the action of Beymaroo affords another convincing example of the risk to which a single gun is exposed, when unsupported by the fire of a second. It was certainly the Briga- dier’s intention to take the moun tain gun also ; but this had unfortunately been disabled on the previous day, and it had been twice specially re- ported, both to the Brigadier and to the General 114 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. [chap.vi. the foregoing night, by Capt. Troup, that it could not be got ready before 12 a.m. on the following day. 2dly, The second error is scarcely less evident than the first. — Had immediate advantage been taken of the panic which our unexpected can- nonade created among the possessors of the vil- lage, — whose slack fire afforded sufficient evidence of the actual fact that they were not only con- temptible in numbers, but short of ammunition, — had, I say, a storming party been led to the attack under cover of the darkness, which would have nullified the advantage they possessed in being under cover, the place must inevitably have fallen into our hands, and thus would the principal object of the sally have been gained, and a good line of retreat secured for our troops in case of necessity. odly, The third error was so manifest as to be quite unaccountable. A party of 100 sappers had accompanied the force for the express purpose of raising a sunga. The fittest place for such a work would have been half way along the ridge occupied by us, where our troops would then have been wholly protected from the fire of the juzails from the opposite hill, while the enemy could not have advanced to the attack without exposing themselves to the full effects of our musketry and chap. VI.] GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 115 grape. It would, in fact, have infused into our troops a sense of security from any sudden charge of the enemy’s horse, and at the same time have enabled our own cavalry to issue forth with the assurance of having in their rear a place of de- fence, on which to fall back, if hard pressed by the enemy. It has been seen that no such defence was raised. 4thly, All have heard of the British squares at Waterloo, which defied the repeated desperate onsets of Napoleon’s choicest cavalry. At Bey- maroo we formed squares to resist the distant fire of infantry, thus presenting a solid mass against the aim of perhaps the best marksmen in the world, the said squares being securely perched on the summit of a steep and narrow ridge, up which no cavalry could charge with effect. A Penin- sular General would consider this to be a novel fashion ; yet BrigadieiqShelton had the benefit of peninsular experience in his younger days, and, it must be owned, was never surpassed in dauntless bravery. 5thly, Our cavalry, instead of being found upon the plain, where they might have been useful in protecting our line of communications with the cantonments, and would have been able to advance readily to any point where their services might have been required, were hemmed in between two 116 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. [chap. VI. infantry squares, and exposed for several hours to a destructive fire from the enemy’s juzails, on ground where, even under the most favourable circumstances, they could not have acted with effect. This false and unsatisfactory position of course discouraged the troopers ; and, when the infantry finally gave way, the two arms of the service became mixed up in a way that greatly increased the general confusion, and rendered it impossible for the infantry to rally, even had they been so disposed. The truth is, that the cavalry were not allowed fair play, and such a position must have disgusted and dispirited any troops. 6thly, Shortly after our regaining possession of the gun, one of the Brigadier’s staff, Capt. Mac- kenzie, feeling convinced that, from the temper of the troops, and from the impossibility of recti- fying the false position in which the force was placed, not only was success beyond hope, but that defeat in its most disastrous shape was fast approaching, proposed to the Brigadier to endea- vour to effect a retreat, while it was yet in his power to do so with comparative impunity. His reply was, “ Oh, no ! we will hold the hill some time longer.” At that time, even if the slaughter of the soldiery, the loss of officers, the evident panic in our ranks, and the worse than false nature of our position, had not been sufficient to CHAP, vi.] GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 117 open all eyes as to the impossibility even of par- tial success, (for the real object of the expedition, viz. the possession of the village of Beymaroo, had been, as it were, abandoned from the very first,) the weakness and exhaustion of both men and horses, who were not only worn out by bodily fatigue, but suffering grievously from extreme thirst, and the debility attendant on long fasting, ought to have banished all idea of further delay- ing a movement, in which alone lay the slightest chance of preserving to their country lives, by the eventual sacrifice of which not even the only so- lace to the soldier in the hour of misfortune, the consciousness of unimpaired honour, was likely to be gained. 118 OUR PASSIVENESS. [CHAP. VII. CHAP. VII. OUR PASSIVENESS. CONFERENCES AND NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE INSURGENT CHIEFS. LOSS OF MAHOMED SHEREEF’S FORT. TERMS AGREED ON. November 24 178 capt. Lawrence’s account [chap. viii. we (Captain Skinner, Mackenzie, and self) were taken to Nuwab Zuman Khan’s house, escorted by Sultan Jan and other chiefs, to protect us from the Ghazees; there we met Captains Conolly and Airey (hostages) and all the rebel Sirdars assembled in council. The Envoy’s death was lamented, but his conduct severely censured, and it was said that now no faith could be placed in our words. A new treaty however was dis- cussed, and sent to the General and Major Pottinger, and towards evening we returned as we came to Ma- homed Akber’s, where I remained a prisoner, but well and courteously treated till the morning of the 26th. when I was sent to Naib Ameenoollah Khan. On reaching his house I was ushered into his private apartment. The Naib received me kindly, showed me the Envoy’s original letter in reply to Mahomed Akber’s proposition, touching his being made Shah Shujah’s Wuzeer, receiving a lack of rupees on giving the Naib a prisoner to us, thirty lacks on the final settlement of the insurrection, & c. To this the Naib added that the Envoy had told Mahomed Akbar’s cousin that a lack of rupees would be given for his (Ameenoollah Khan’s) head. I promptly replied “ ’tis false, ” that Sir William had never done so, that it was utterly foreign and repugnant to his nature, and to British usage. The Naib expressed himself in strong terms against the Envoy, contrasting his own fair and open conduct with that of Sir William. He told me that General Elphinstone and Major Pottinger had begged I might be released, as my presence was necessary to enable them to prepare bills on India, which it had been arranged the Sirdars were to get. After some delay, consequent on my asking for Captain Macken- CHAP. VIII.] OF THE envoy’s MURDER. 179 zie to be released with me, and Mahomed Akber’s stoutly refusing the release of either of us, I was sent into cantonments on the morning of the 29th, escorted by the Naib’s eldest son and a strong party of horse and foot, being disguised as an Affghan for my greater protection. I must here record that nothing could ex- ceed the Naib’s kindness and attention to me while under his roof. I have, &c. &c. (Signed) G. St. P. Lawrence, Military Secretary, Late Envoy and Minister. Camp Zoudali, Ten miles south of Tezeen. 10 th May, 1842. (True copy.) Vint. Eyre, Lieut. Bengal Artillery, 180 HOW WE AVENGED HIM ! [chap, ix- CHAP. IX. HOW WE AVENGED HIM ! — COUNCIL OF WAR. TERMS ACCEPTED. HOSTAGES GIVEN. POSTPONEMENT OF DEPARTURE. But what were our troops about all this time ? Were no steps taken to rescue the Envoy and his friends from their perilous position? Where was the body-guard which followed them from canton- ments? — These questions will naturally occur to all who read the foregoing pages, and I wish it were in my power to render satisfactory answers. The body-guard had only got a few hundred yards from the gate in their progress to the scene of conference, when they suddenly faced about and came galloping back, several shots being fired at them in their retreat. Lieut. Le Geyt, in passing through the gate, exclaimed that the Envoy had been carried off, and it was believed that, finding his men would not advance to the rescue, he came back for assistance. But the intelligence he brought, instead of rousing our leaders to in- stant action, seemed to paralyze their faculties ; and, although it was evident that our Envoy had been basely entrapped, if not actually murdered, chap. IX.] HOW WE A VENGED HIM ! 181 before our very gate, and though even now crowds of Affghans, horse and foot, were seen passing and repassing to and fro in hostile array, between Ma- homed’s fort and the place of meeting, not a gun was opened upon them ; not a soldier was stirred from his post; no sortie was apparently even thought of ; treachery was allowed to triumph in open day ; the murder of a British Envoy was perpetrated in the face and within musket-shot of a British army; and not only was no effort made to avenge the dastardly deed, but the body was left lying on the plain to be mangled and in- sulted, and finally carried off to be paraded in the public market by a ruffianly mob of fanatical barbarians. Intense was the anxiety and wretched the suspense felt by all during the rest of the day. A number of Affghans, who were trafficking in can- tonments at the time of the conference, on hearing the report of fire-arms in that direction, endea- voured to escape, but were detained by the officer at the gate. No certain tidings regarding the Envoy could be obtained : many confidently affirmed that he was alive and unharmed in Ma- homed’s fort ; but Lieut. Warren stoutly main- tained that he had kept his eye upon Sir William from the moment of his leaving the gate, and had distinctly seen him fall to the ground, and the 182 THE TREATY RESUMED. [chap. ix. Affghans Lacking at his body. The agony of his poor wife during this dread interval of sus- pense may he imagined. December 2-iih. — The fate of the Envoy and his three companions remained a mystery, until the arrival of a note from Capt. Conolly notifying his death and that of Capt. Trevor, and the safety of Capts. Lawrence and Mackenzie. The two latter officers had been that morning escorted to a conference of chiefs at the house of Nuwab Zuman Khan, where the late Envoy’s conduct was severely commented on ; but his death was nevertheless lamented. The treaty was again discussed ; and, after a few alterations and additions had been made, it was sent to Gen. Elpliinstone, with an explanation of the breach of faith which had cost the Envoy his life. Gen. Elpliinstone now requested Major Pot- tinger to assume the office of political agent and adviser, which, though still suffering greatly from his wound, and incapacitated from active bodily exertion, that gallant officer’s strict sense of public duty forbade him to decline, although he plainly perceived our affairs to be so irretrievably ruined, as to render the distinction anything but enviable, or likely to improve his hardly-earned fame. The additional clauses in the treaty now pro- CHAP. IX.] CHRISTMAS-DAY. 183 posed for our renewed acceptance were — 1 st. That we should leave behind all our guns, ex- cepting six. 2nd. That we should immediately give up all our treasures. 3rd. That the hos- tages should be all exchanged for married men, with their wives and families. — The difficulties of Major Pottinger’s position will be readily per- ceived, when it is borne in mind that he had before him the most conclusive evidence of the late Envoy’s ill-advised intrigue with Mahomed Akber Khan, in direct violation of that very treaty, which was now once more tendered for consideration. December 25th. — A more cheerless Christmas- day perhaps never dawned upon British soldiers in a strange land ; and the few whom the force of habit urged to exchange the customary greet- ings of the season, did so with countenances and in tones indicative of anything but merriment. At night there was an alarm, and the drum beat to arms, but nothing occurred of any con- sequence. December 26th. — Letters were received from Capt. Mackeson, political agent at Peshawur, announcing the march of strong reinforcements from India. An offer was made by Mahomed Osman Khan to escort us all safe to Peshawur for five lacs of rupees ; and shortly after this the 184 COUNCIL OF WAR. [chap. ix. Naib Ameer arrived, with a verbal agreement to certain amendments which had been proposed in the treaty by Major Pottinger. He was accom- panied by a Cashmeer merchant and several Hindoo shroffs, for the purpose of negotiating bills to the amount of fourteen lacs of rupees, payable to the several chiefs on the promise of the late Envoy. Major Pottinger being altogether averse from the payment of this money, and indeed strongly opposed to any treaty binding the Indian go- vernment to a course of policy, which it might find inconvenient to adopt, a council of war was cpnvened by the General, consisting of himself, Brigadiers Shelton and Anquetil, Col. Chambers, Capt. Bellew, Assist. Qr.-Mast.-Gen., and Capt. Grant, Assist. Adjt.-Gen. In the presence of this council, Major Pottinger declared his con- viction that no confidence could be placed in any treaty formed with the Affghan chiefs ; that, under such circumstances, to bind the hands of government, by promising to evacuate the country, and to restore the deposed Ameer, and to waste moreover so much public money, merely to save our own lives and property, would be inconsistent with the duty we owed our country and the go- vernment we served ; and that the only honour- able course would be either to hold out to the CHAP. IX.] TERMS ACCEPTED. 185 last at Cabul, or to force our immediate retreat to Jellalabad. This, however, the officers composing the council, one and all, declared to be impracticable, owing to the want of provisions, the surrender of the surrounding forts, and the insuperable diffi- culties of the road at the present season ; they therefore deemed it preferable to pay any sum of money, rather than sacrifice the whole force in a hopeless prolongation of hostilities. It was accordingly determined, nem. con., that Major Pottinger should at once renew the negotiations which had been commenced by Sir William Macnaghten, and that the sums promised to the chiefs by that functionary previous to his murder should be paid. Major Pottinger’ s objections being thus over- ruled, the tendered treaty was forthwith accepted, and a requisition was made for the release of Capt. Lawrence, whose presence was necessary to prepare the bills on India. Four married host- ages, with their wives and children, being re- quired by the chiefs, a circular was sent round, to ascertain if that number would volunteer to re- main, a salary of 2000 rupees per month being guaranteed to each, as an inducement. Such, however, was the horror entertained of Affghan treachery since the late tragical occur- 18 G HOSTAGES AND [chap. IX. rence, that some officers went so far as to say they would sooner shoot their wives at once, than commit them to the charge of men, who had proved themselves devoid of common honour and humanity. There were, in fact, but one or two who consented to stay, if the General considered that by so doing they would benefit the public service. December 27th. — The chiefs were informed that it was contrary to the usages of war to give up ladies as hostages, and that the General could not consent to an arrangement, which would brand him with perpetual disgrace in his own country. December 29th. — The Naib Ameer came in from the city with Capt. Lawrence and the shroffs, when the bills were prepared without farther delay. Capts. Drummond, Walsh, Warburton, and Webb, having been accepted as hostages, were sent to join Capts. Conolly and Airey at the house of Nuwab Zuman Khan. A portion of the sick and wounded, amongst whom was Lieut. Haughton of the Goorkha regiment, were like- wise conveyed to the city, and placed under the protection of the chiefs. Three of the Shah’s guns, with the greater portion of our treasure, were made over during the day, much to the evident disgust of the soldiery. December 30 th. ■ — The remainder of the sick CHAP. IX.] SICK GIVEN UP. 187 went into tlie city, Lieut. Evans, H. M.’s 44th foot, being placed in command, and Dr. Camp- bell, 54th 1ST. I., with Dr. Berwick of the Mission, in medical charge of the whole. Two more of the Shah’s guns were given up. It snowed hard the whole day. A crowd of armed Giljyes and Ghazees took up a threatening position close to the eastern gate, and even attempted to force an entrance into cantonments. Much annoyance was daily experienced from these people, who were in the habit of plundering the peaceable dealers, who flocked in from the city with grain and forage, the moment they issued from the can- tonments; they even committed frequent assaults on our Sepoys, and orders to fire on them on such occasions were repeatedly solicited in vain, al- though it was well known that the chiefs them- selves advised us to do so, and the General had given Brigadier Shelton positive instructions to that effect, whenever circumstances might render it advisable. The consequence was that our soldiers were daily constrained to endure the most insulting and contemptuous taunts and treatment, from fellows whom a single charge of bayonets would have scattered like chaff, but who were emboldened by the apparent tameness of our troops, which they doubtless attributed to the want of common pluck, rather than to the re- 188 DELAYS. [chap. IX straints of discipline. Capts. Mackenzie and Skinner obtained tlieir release tliis evening, the latter officer having, since the outbreak of the rebellion, passed through some curious adventures, in the disguise of an Affghan female. January 5th. — Affairs continued in the same unsettled state until this date. The chiefs post- poned our departure from day to day on divers pretexts. It had been agreed that Nuwab Jubbar Khan should escort us to Jellalabad with about 2000 followers, who were to be entertained for that purpose. It is supposed that, up to the very last, the majority of chiefs doubted the reality of our in- tention to depart : and many, fearful of the civil discords for which our retreat would be the signal, would have gladly detained us at Cabul. Attempts were made continually by Akber Khan to wean the Ilindoostanees from their allegiance, and to induce them to desert. Numerous cau- tions were received from various well-wishers, to place no confidence in the professions of the chiefs, who had sworn together to accomplish our entire destruction. Shah Shoojah himself sent more than one solemn warning, and, finding we were bent on taking our own course, used his utmost endeavours to persuade Lady Macnaghten to take advantage of his protection in the Bala CHAP. IX.] RETROSPECT. 189 Hissar. He also appealed to Brigadier Anquetil, who commanded the Shah’s force, “ if it were well to forsake him in the hour of need, and to deprive him of the aid of that force, which he had hitherto been taught to consider as his own ?” All was however unavailing. The General and his council of war had determined that go we must, and go we accordingly did. In the foregoing chapters I have offered what I honestly believe to be a faithful narration of the dismal train of events which preceded the evacuation of Cabul, and the abandonment of Shah Shoojah, by the British army. In taking a retrospective view of those unprecedented occur- rences, it is evident that our reverses may be mainly attributed to a lack of ordinary foresight and penetration on the part of the chief military and civil authorities, on their first entering on the occupation of this country ; a country whose innumerable fortified strongholds and difficult mountain passes, in the hands of a proud and war- like population, never really subdued nor recon- ciled to our rule, though unable to "Oppose the march of a disciplined army through their land, ought to have induced a more than common de- 190 RETROSPECT. [chap. ix. gree of vigilance and circumspection, in making- adequate provision against any such popular out- break as might have been anticipated, and did actually occur. But, instead of applying his un- deniable talents to the completion of that con- quest, which gained him an illustrious title and a wide renown, Lord Keane contented himself with the superficial success, which attended his pro- gress through a country hitherto untraversed by an European army, since the classic days of Alexander the Great ; he hurried off, with too great eagerness to enjoy the applause which awaited him in England, and left to his succes- sors the far more arduous task of securing in their grasp the unwieldy prize, of which he had ob- tained the nominal possession. On his return to India, Lord Keane took with him a large portion of the Bengal force, with which he had arrived at Cabul ; the whole of the Bombay troops made a simultaneous homeward movement ; and the army, with which he had entered Afghanistan, was thus reduced to a miserable moiety, before any steps had been taken to guard against surprise by the erection of a stronghold on the approved principles of modern warfare, or the establishment of a line of military posts to keep open our communications with India, on which country the army must ne- CHAP. IX.] RETROSPECT. 191 cessarily for a long time have been entirely de- pendent for the munitions of war. The distance from Cabul to Ferozepore, our nearest Indian station, is about 600 miles. Between Cabul and Peshawur occur the stupendous and dangerous defiles of Khoord-Cabul, Tezeen, Purreedurrah, Jugdulluk, and Kyber, throughout whose whole extent food and forage are procurable only at long intervals, and even then with much diffi- culty. From Peshawur to Ferozepore is the Punjab, or country of the Seiks, traversed by five great rivers, and occupied by a powerful nation, on whose pacific professions no reliance could be placed. Along this extended line of communi- cation Lord Keane established but one small soli- tary post, in the fort of Ali Musjed, in the heart of the Khyber pass. He left behind him, in fact, an army, whose isolated position and reduced strength offered the strongest possible temptation to a proud and restless race, to rally their scattered tribes in one grand effort to regain their lost independence. In Lord Keane’s successors may be seen the same disposition to be too easily satisfied with the outward semblance of tranquillity. Another brigade was ere long withdrawn from a force already insufficient for any great emergency ; nor 192 RETROSPECT. [chap. IX. was their position for holding in subjection a vanquished people much improved by their esta- blishment in an ill-situated and ill-constructed cantonment, with their commissariat stores sepa- rated from their lines of defence. To the latter mentioned error may be mainly attributed the evacuation of Cabul and the destruction of the army ; for there can he no doubt that, notwithstanding all the difficulties of our position, and the incompetence of our commanders, had the cantonments been well supplied with provisions, the troops could have easily held out until the arrival of reinforcements from India. The real cause of our retreat was, beyond all question, famine. We were not driven, but starved, out of Cabul ; and although, in my relation of our mili- tary transactions, I have been compelled by a regard to truth unwillingly to record proceedings which must be condemned by all, I do not the less feel most sensibly that every allowance ought in common justice to be made for men, who from the very commencement of the conflict, saw the combined horrors of starvation and a rigorous winter frowning in their face, — no succours within reach, — their retreat cut off, — and all their sanguinary efforts either altogether fruitless, or at best deferring for a few short days the ruin which on every side threatened to overwhelm them. CHAP. IX.] CONCLUDING REMARKS* 193 In connection with this subject, I may be ex- cused for quoting, in conclusion, the powerful reasoning of a recent writer in the Bombay Times : — “ When a soldier finds that his every movement is directed by a master mind; that, when he is apparently thrust into the greatest danger, he finds, in truth, his greatest security ; that his march to engage an apparently superior force is not a wild sacrifice, but the result of a well-calcu- lated plan ; when he knows that, however ap- pearances may be, he is sure to come off with honour, for his brethren in arms are already in progress to assist him, and will not fail to be forthcoming at the hour appointed ; when he sees that there is a watchful eye over him, providing for all his wants, assisting him to overcome all his difficulties, and enabling him to reap the fruit of all his successes ; when he finds that even retreat is but a preparation for victory, and, as if guided by Providence, all his movements, though to him incomprehensible, are sure to prove steps to some great end when the soldier finds this, he rises and lies down in security, and there is no danger which he will not brave. But when, in every thing they undertake, they find the reverse of the picture I have drawn ; when they are marched, as they imagine to glory, but find it is only to K 194 CONCLUDING REMARKS. [chap. IX. slaughter ; when even victory brings no fruit, and retreat they discover to be flight ; when the sup- port they hope for comes not, and they find their labours to be without end or purpose ; when the provisions they look for daily are issued to them no more, and they see all their efforts paralysed ; when an army of thousands finds itself delivered, bound hand and foot, into the hands of a man without system, foresight, or military knowledge enough for a sergeant of police, the stoutest heart will fail, the bravest sink ; for the soldier knows that, do what he will, his efforts can only end in ruin and dishonour.” chap, x.] THE RETREAT OF THE ARMY. 195 CHAP. X. THE RETREAT OF THE ARMY, AND ITS ANNIHILATION. January 6th . — At last the fatal morning dawned, ■which was to witness the departure of the Cabul force from the cantonments, in which it had sustained a two months’ siege, to encounter the miseries of a whiter march through a country of perhaps unparalleled difficulty, where every mountain defile, if obstinately defended by a determined enemy, must inevitably prove the grave of hundreds. Dreary indeed was the scene, over which, with drooping spirits and dismal forebodings, we had to bend our unwilling steps. Deep snow covered every inch of mountain and plain with one un- spotted sheet of dazzling white, and so intensely bitter was the cold, as to penetrate and defy the defences of the warmest clothing. No signs of the promised escort appeared : but at an early hour the preparations commenced for our march. A cut was made through the eastern rampart, to open an additional passage for the troops and baggage, a sufficient number of gun- k 2 196 STRENGTH OF THE FORCE. [CHAP. X. waggons and platform planks were taken down to the river for the formation of a temporary bridge, and every available camel and yaboo (the whole amounting to 2000) was laden with mili- tary stores, commissariat supplies, and such small proportion of camp-equipage as was indispensably necessary to shelter the troops in a climate of extraordinary rigour. The strength of the whole force at this time Avas, so far as can now be ascertained, very nearly as follows : — ] troop of horse artillery - H. M.’s 44th foot - 5th regt. light cavalry, 2 squad. - 5th Shah’s irreg. do. (Anderson’s) Skinner’s horse, 1 ressala 4th irreg. do. 1 do. Mission escort, or body-guard 5th native infantry - 37th do. - 54th do. - 6th Shah’s infantry - Sappers and miners - Shah’s do. - Half the mountain train Total 6 horse artillery guns. 3 mountain train do. 690 Europeans. 90 \ 600 J 260") 500 I 70 |> 970 cavalry. 70 j 70 J n 700- 600 650 600 }> 2840. 20 240 30 J 4500 fighting men. Besides the above, the camp followers amounted, at a very moderate computation, to about 12,000 men, besides women and children. These proved CHAP. X.] ORDER OF MARCH. 197 from the very first mile a serious clog upon our movements, and were, indeed, the main cause of our subsequent misfortunes. It is to be devoutly hoped that every future commander-in-chief of the Indian army will adopt decisive measures, to prevent a force employed on field service from being ever again afflicted with such a curse. The order of march was as follows : — H. M.’s 44th foot - - - 1 The advance, un- Sappers and miners - !> der Brigadier Irreg horse, 1 squad. 3 mountain train guns - “ - J Anquetil. The escort, with the ladies - The invalids and sick Main column, un- 2 horse artillery guns “ “ > der Brigadier Anderson’s irreg. horse - - Shelton. 37th native infantry, with treasure 3th native infantry, with baggage “ 34th native infantry - - I 6th Shah’s infantry - - i Rear-guard, under i Col. Chambers. 5th light cavalry - - 4 horse artillery guns - - J All being ready at 9 a. m., the advance com- menced moving out. At this time not a single Affghan was to be seen in any direction, and the peaceable aspect of affairs gave rise to strong hopes that the chiefs intended to remain true to their engagements. At 10 a. m. a message was brought from Nuwab Jubbar Khan, requesting us to defer our k 3 198 CANTONMENTS PLUNDERED. [chap. X, departure another day, as his escort was not yet ready to accompany us. By this time, however, the greater part of the force was in motion, and a crowd of Affghans, who had issued from the village of Beymaroo, impatient for plunder, had forced their way into the northern cantonment, or mission compound (which, owing to some mis- take, had been evacuated too soon by the Shah’s Gth infantry), and were busily engaged in the work of pillage and destruction. The advance was delayed for upwards of an hour at the river, having found the temporary bridge incomplete ; and it was noon ere the whole had crossed over, leaving a clear road for the main column to follow. The order of march, in which the troops started, was, however, soon lost, and the camp followers with the public and private baggage, once out of cantonments, could not be prevented from mixing themselves up with the troops, to the utter con- fusion of the whole column. The main body, with its long train of laden camels, continued to pour out of the gate until the evening, by which time thousands of Affghans, the majority of whom were fanatical Ghazees, thronged the whole area of cantonments, rending the air with their exulting cries, and committing every kind of atrocity. The rear-guard, being CHAP. X.] ITS BUILDINGS BURNT. 199 unable to restrain them, was obliged to provide for its own safety by taking up a position outside, on the plain, where a great quantity of the baggage had been brought to a stand-still at the canal (within 150 yards of the gate), whose slippery sides afforded no safe footing for the beasts of burden. The bridge across the river, being by this time impracticable, occasioned additional delay. The Affghans, who had hitherto been too busily engaged in the work of plunder and de- struction to take much notice of the troops, now began to line the ramparts, and annoy them with a mischievous fire of juzails, under which many fell ; and it became necessary, for the preserva- tion of those who remained, to spike and abandon two of the horse artillery guns. Night had now closed around ; but the Ghazees, having fired the residency and almost every other building in the cantonment, the conflagration illuminated the surrounding country for several miles, presenting a spectacle of fearful sublimity. In the mad fervour of their religious zeal, these ignorant fanatics even set fire to the gun- carriages belonging to the various pieces of ordnance, which we had left in position round the works, of whose use the Affghan chiefs were thus luckily deprived. The general had been often urged to destroy these k 4 200 ATTACK ON REAR. [CHAP. X. guns, rather than suffer them to fall into the enemy’s hands, but he considered that it would have been a breach of the treaty to do so. Be- fore the rear-guard commenced its march, Lieut. Hardyman of the 5th light cavalry, with fifty rank and file, were stretched lifeless on the snow. Much baggage was abandoned at starting, and much was plundered on the road. Scores of worn- out Sepoys and camp followers lined the way, having sat down in despair to perish in the snow. It v/as 2 a. m. ere the rear-guard reached camp at Bygram, a distance of only five miles. Here all was confusion. The tents had been pitched without the slightest regard to regularity, those of different regiments being huddled together in one intricate mass, mixed up with baggage, camp- followers, camels, and horses, in a way which beggars description. The flimsy canvass of the soldiers’ tents was but a poor protection from the cold, which towards morning became more and more intense ; and thousands of poor wretched creatures were obliged to lie down on the bare snow, without either shelter, fire, or food. Several died during the night ; amongst whom was an European^ conductor of ordnance. About twenty juzailchees, who still held faith- fully by Capt. Mackenzie, suffered less than the rest, owing to their systematic mode of pro- chap, x.] Mackenzie’s juzailchees. 201 ceeding. Their first step on reaching the ground was to clear a small space from the snow, where they then laid themselves down in a circle, closely packed together, with their feet meeting in the centre ; all the warm clothing they could muster among them being spread equally over the whole. By these simple means sufficient animal warmth was generated to preserve them from being frost- bitten ; and Capt. Mackenzie, who himself shared their homely bed, declared that he had felt scarcely any inconvenience from the cold. It was different with our Sepoys and camp followers, who, having had no former experience of such hardships, were ignorant how they might best provide against them, and the proportion of those who escaped, without suffering in some degree from frost-bites, was very small. Yet this was but the beginning of sorrows ! January 1th. — At 8 a.m. the force moved off in the reverse order of yesterday — if that could be called order which consisted of a mingled mob of soldiers, camp-followers, and baggage-cattle, preserving not even the faintest semblance of that regularity and discipline, on which depended our only chance of escape from the dangers which threatened us. Even at this early stage of the retreat scarcely one half of the Sepoys were fit for duty ; hundreds had, from sheer inability to k 5 202 RETREAT CONTINUED. [chap. X. keep their ranks, joined the non-combatants, and thus increased the confusion. As for the Shah’s 6th inf., it was no where to be found; only a few straggling files were perceptible here and there ; and it was generally believed that the majority of the regiment had absconded during the night to Cabul. At starting, large clods of hardened snow ad- hered so firmly to the hoofs of our horses, that a chisel and hammer would have been requisite to dislodge them. The very air we breathed froze in its passage out of the mouth and nostrils, form- ing a coating of small icicles on our moustaches and beards. The advance proceeded onward without molest- ation, though numerous small bodies of Affghan horse and foot were observed hanging about our flanks, and moving in a parallel direction with ourselves. These were at first supposed to form a part of our escort, but the mistake was soon discovered by their attacking the rear-guard, commanded by Brigadier Anquetil, consisting of H. M.’s 44 — Severe shocks of earthquake every Kutch Soorkab, four miles north of Gundamuk. IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 269 day. The Meerza, professing to have received an order from the Sirdar, insisted on searching the boxes of Lady Macnagliten and Capt. Lawrence. Unfortunately, the former had a great number of valuable Cashmere shawls, all of which were criti- cally examined in order to ascertain their probable worth : but much disappointment was evinced that no jewels were forthcoming, as it was gene- rally believed that her ladyship possessed a large assortment. Nothing was taken from her on this occasion ; but it might easily be foreseen that such booty would ere long prove an irresistible tempta- tion to our Giljye friends. A cruel scene took place after this, in the ex- pulsion from the fort of all the unfortunate Hiu- doostanees, whose feet had been crippled by the frost. The limbs of many of these poor wretches had completely withered, and had become as black as a coal ; the feet of others had dropped off from the ancle ; and all were suffering such excruciating- torture as it is seldom the lot of man to witness. Yet the unmerciful Giljyes, regardless of their sufferings, dragged them forth along the rough ground, to perish miserably in the fields, without food or shelter, or the consolations of human sympathy. The real author of these atrocities was generally believed to be the owner of the n 3 270 ROUGH NOTES DURING fort, Mahomed Shah Khan. The Meerza, how- ever, though compelled to carry the order into effect, re-admitted several of the unfortunate vic- tims at night. March 10 tli. — In consecpience of the 'repeated earthquakes, we deserted the house, and took up our abode in some small wooden huts constructed by our servants. To-night our slumber was broken by loud cries of u Murder !” which were found to proceed from Lady Sale’s Hindoostanee ayah, whom one of her admirers, in a fit of jealousy, had attempted to strangle in her sleep. The wretch, failing in his purpose, jumped over the wall, which was about twenty feet high, and, being discovered in the morning, narrowly escaped a hanging by Lynch law at the hands of the Meerza, who was with difficulty persuaded to alter his sentence to banishment from the fort. March Will. — Dost Mahomed Khan, accom- panied by Imam Verdi, arrived from the Sirdar, and held a long private conference with Major Pottinger. It was generally supposed that Ma- homed Akber had made some overtures to the Indian government relative to the return of the Ameer his father. Reports were in circulation of the fall of Ghuznee, which afterwards proved too true. We also learned on good authority that Khoda Bux Khan, a powerful Giljye chief, had IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 271 left the Sirdar, whose cause seemed on the de- cline. March 12th. — Very heavy rain. Heard of Gen. Sale’s sortie from Jellalabad in consequence of a supposed attempt on the part of the Affghans to mine the walls ; — many of the enemy killed. March 1 3th. — A report abroad, which turned out true, that the Sirdar was wounded in the left arm by one of his own followers, who had been bribed with a lac of rupees by Shah Shooja. The assassin was ripped open, according to Affghan custom in such cases. March 18 th. — The Meerza was this day re- called by the Sirdar, and his place filled by tLe Nazir of Mahomed Shah Khan, Saleh Mahomed. We heard of the murder of Shah Shooja by tie hand of Shooja Dowla, eldest son of Nuwab Zeman Khan, who shot the unfortunate old king with a double-barrelled gun, as they were pro- ceeding together to the royal camp at Seah Sung. It is a curious fact that Shah Shooja was present at the birth of his murderer, to whom he gave his own name on the occasion. March 21 st . — The inhabitants of this valley are said to be removing their families and property to the hills for safety. The Safees, a mountain tribe in the neighbourhood, were said to have n 4 272 ROUGH NOTES DURING created much alarm, having been bought over by Capt. Macgregor. March 24? th. — The Nazir endeavoured to find out what amount of ransom was likely to be paid for us, and gave out that two lacs of rupees would be accepted. This, however, seemed to us all a mere ruse to fathom our purses, and he was re- ferred to Capt. Macgregor for the information he required. March 29th . — Sooltan Jan is said to have gone to oppose General Pollock with 1000 horse. April 1st . — We received letters from Jellalabad, by which we learned that Gen. Pollock had au- thorised Capt. Macgregor to ransom us. A severe thunder storm at night. April 3rd. — Heard of the destruction of the 27th N. I. at Ghuznee, and of another successful sortie made by Gen. Sale at Jellalabad, by which he obtained a large supply of cattle. April 9th . — Tidings brought of Mahomed Ak- ber’s camp at Char Bagh having been surprised by Gen. Sale, when his whole force was completely routed, three guns recaptured, and the Sirdar himself and friends barely managed to save them- selves by flight. The arrival of Mahomed Shah Khan this evening confirmed this joyful intelli- gence. It had been reported to us this morning that at a council of chiefs held at Tirghurree o n IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 273 the previous night, much debate had taken place regarding the disposal of their prisoners, when it was proposed by some to destroy us at once : our anxiety was, therefore, intense all day, until the Khan by his friendly manner somewhat reassured us. He had a long interview with Major Pot- tinger, who endeavoured to propose terms for our release ; to which, however, the Khan would not listen for a moment, hut said we must follow the Sirdar’s fortune, who would start for the hills early next morning. April 10/A. — We were all ready for a start at an early hour, hut no camels came till 3 p. M. ; meanwhile a scene of pillage went on, in which Mahomed Shah Khan acted the part of robber- chief. His first act was to select all our best horses for himself, after which he deliberately rummaged Lady Macnaghten’s baggage, from which he took shawls to the value of 5000/. He next demanded her jewels, which she was obliged reluctantly to give up, their value being estimated at 10,000/., or a lac of rupees. Not satisfied even with this rich plunder, he helped himself freely out of Capt. Lawrence’s boxes to every thing that took his fancy ; after which, being well aware of the poverty of the rest, he departed. Fortunately my own riding horse was spared, through the kind interference of the Meerza who n 5 274 ROUGH NOTES DURING accompanied the Khan. This characteristic little drama having been acted, the signal was given for our departure, the European soldiers being left behind, with a promise of release on the payment of a ransom. It was a treat to get free of the dismal high walls, within which we had been so long immured ; and as we had arrived in the depth of winter, when all was bleak and desolate to the eye, the universal verdure with which returning spring had now clothed the valley struck us with all the force of magic. We had proceeded about four miles on the road towards Alishung, when our progress was arrested by a few horsemen, who galloped up waving their hands joyfully, and crying out “ Shabash!” “ Bravo!” “ All is over ! the Feringhee army has been cut up in the Khyber Pass, and all their guns taken by Sultan Jan!” The mutual joy of the AfFghans seemed so perfectly sincere, that, notwithstanding the im- probability of the story, we felt almost compelled to believe it, especially when the order was given to return forthwith to our old quarters at Bud- deeabad. On the way back the new comers entered into full-length particulars regarding the alleged defeat of our army. The Ensofzyes, they said, had agreed to take three lacs of rupees for the free passage of our troops through the IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 275 Khyber, of which half was paid in advance. They had no sooner fingered the cash, than they laid a trap with Sultan Jan for the simultaneous attack of the front and rear of the army in the nar- rowest part of the pass, which had proved entirely successful. — We found the poor soldiers delighted to see us again ; for, having heard several shots fired after our departure, they imagined we had all been killed. We were not long in discovering that the story we had heard was all a hoax, the real cause of our sudden return being some dis- pute among the chiefs, in consequence of which an attack on our party was anticipated ; but we were told to hold ourselves in readiness for a fresh start on the following morning. The whole population of the valley are in the greatest consternation for fear of an attack from the English force, and are bundling their families up to the hills for safety. April Wth . — We were off again at 12 a. m. The first three miles were along the Tirghurree road, after which we struck off to the hills to the right. Our course now became westerly, and skirting the base of the hills for four or five miles, we crossed a low ridge into the cultivated valley of Alishung; where, after crossing a rapid, we passed close by Mahomed Akber Khan on the n 6 276 ROUGH NOTES DURING opposite bank, seated in a nalkee on a knoll by the road side. He looked ill and careworn, but returned our salutes politely. A little further in we found three tents pitched for our reception, on which we had scarcely time to take shelter ere the rain fell in torrents, and continued all night. A very indifferent dish of tough mutton consti- tuted our meal for the day. In the course of the evening Sultan Jan arrived in camp, with only about thirty horsemen left of the thousand with whom he went forth to battle ; the rest had all fled. He seemed grievously crest-fallen, and, unlike the Sirdar, exhibited his malice and spleen by cutting our acquaintance. Mahomed Akber, with the liberality which always marks the really brave, invariably attributes his own defeat to the fortune of war, and loudly extols the bravery ex- hibited by our troops led on by the gallant Sale. The guard around our camp consisted entirely of Seiks, under a Musulman Rajah, who, having been banished many years ago by Runjeet Sing, was befriended by Dost Mahomed Khan, the then ruler of Cabul, to whose family he has ever since attached himself. He was a splendid looking fellow, with very prepossessing manners, and ex- pressed himself much disgusted with the Affghans, who took advantage of his going out to fight at Char Bagh to plunder his camp. Altogether, he IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 277 seemed well disposed towards us, which, under our present circumstances, was cheering. April 1 2th . — At our first starting this morning the bachelors were separated from the married families and ladies, and we went off by different roads. This sudden separation being very dis- agreeable to us all, Capt. Lawrence besought the Sirdar to permit us to proceed together as before. He also remonstrated with him for dragging the ladies and children with him all over the country, when they were so ill able to bear up against fatigue and exposure, representing that it would redound more to his honour to release them at once. Mahomed Shah Khan, who was present, upon this flew into a rage, and declared that “ wherever he went we must all follow ; that if our horses failed, we must trudge on foot ; and that if we lagged behind, he would drag us along by force.” He is the greatest enemy we have, and seems at present to govern the Sirdar com- pletely. He was, however, taken to task by Ma- homed Akber for his rudeness, and we were al- lowed to proceed all together, as heretofore. The road lay among low hills over a sandy soil, with several slight ascents and descents, one as- cent being rather steep and long. About half way we crossed a small stream, and, after travel- ling about twelve miles, found the camp pitched 278 ROUGH NOTES DURING in a narrow ravine, through which flowed a rivulet, the ground being covered with bunches of tall reeds, to which the Affghans set fire at night. Two old goats were sent us for dinner, which, not being fit to eat, we returned, and were afterwards supplied with an awfully tough old sheep in ex- change. April 1 3th . — The road again lay over steeps. On the left we saw the pass of Udruk-budruk in the distance. We gathered quantities of a curious herbaceous plant, the under surface of whose leaves was covered with a beautiful crimson dewy-looking substance, which the Affghan ladies use as rouge. About twelve miles brought us to a small scantily-cultivated valley, in which were two small forts partially ruined by the earth- quake. The inhabitants enjoy the credit of being the greatest thieves in the whole country, so they must be bad indeed. Our whole march was about fourteen miles. April \A>th. — At starting we crossed the pass of Bad-push, the ascent up which was not less than 1600 feet over a very steep and rocky road. The descent was less abrupt and comparatively short. On these hills grew the hollyoak, wild almond, and a terebinthaceous tree called Khin- juck, yielding a fragrant medicinal gum, which I imagined might be the myrrh or balsam of com- IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 279 merce. It is, at all events, in great repute among the Affghans, who find it efficacious for sabre wounds. A species of mistletoe grew in great profusion on its branches ; the flower somewhat resembled that of the mango, and the young leaves were oblong, lanceolate, opposite, and slightly serrate. An evergreen shrub, with a jasmine-like flower, was very abundant. Following the course of a stream about six miles, we reached the left bank of the Cabul river, which here issued from between some precipitous hills with an exceedingly rapid current. About a hundred yards from the hank stood a small fort. We crossed on a raft of inflated bullock hides, the motion of which we found exceedingly plea- sant. The horses crossed by a ford some distance higher up and about four miles round. On the right bank we found Mahomed Akber in his nalkee, to whom we paid our respects. The stream is about a hundred yards broad, and a few Aff- ghans swam their horses over, though with some difficulty. The river is not navigable from this to Jellalabad, owing to the number of rapids and whirlpools. April 15th .— We were kept waiting until noon for our horses, and in the mean time were amused by seeing a herd of cattle swim over the river ; in attempting which they were all carried violently 280 ROUGH NOTES DURING down a rapid, and several, failing to effect a land- ing, were obliged to return along the bank and make a second effort. No camels were brought with kujawurs for the weak ladies and the sick, who were accordingly forced to ride on horseback. Poor Gen. Elpliinstone, who left Buddeeabad in a most precarious state of health, was much shat- tered by the fatigues of travelling, and seemed to be gradually sinking to the grave. The road ran for a mile along the bank of the river, and then suddenly turned up a ravine to the right. Two miles more led to a valley communicating with that of Tezeen, about a mile up which we en- camped outside the fort of Surroobee, where we had previously halted on the 12th of January. Here was one of the mountain-train guns which had been captured on the retreat. We found that our Hindoostanee servants, who remained behind here, had been w r ell treated by Abdoolah Khan, but the majority had died from the effects of frost-bites. April 1 Gtli . — Mahomed Akber fortunately found it convenient to halt here, which proved season- able both to man and beast ; but we were told to expect a long journey unto the hills in the neigh- bourhood of Tezeen, where it is the Sirdar’s in- tention to conceal us. An Affghan, lately arrived from Cabul, informed us that the city was divided IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 281 into two great parties, of whom the Dooranees and Kuzzilbashes formed one, and the Barukzies and Giljyes the other. April \lth. — Another halt enabled us to enjoy a quiet Sunday. The Sirdar and a portion of his followers paid a visit to some neighbouring chiefs, hut his people were deserting him fast. The Giljyes have been trying hard to excite the fears of the peasantry against the English by tales of our cruelty and oppression. April 18 th. — Having been warned last night to be ready for a march at dawn of day, we were all on the alert ; but, after waiting a long time for orders to mount, we received a message from Mahomed Akber that we should await his re- turn. April 19 th. — It rained hard all night and con- tinued to pour the whole day, but we were obliged, nevertheless, to march sixteen miles to Tezeen. The road was up a narrow valley the whole way, crossing a stream twice before reach- ing Seh Baba, which we passed half way, after which we crossed the stream continually. At Seh Baba we encountered a putrid smell from the decomposed bodies of those who fell on the retreat, which lined the whole road. In some places we passed high piles of human bodies still fresh, the remains probably of those unfortunate 282 ROUGH NOTES DURING beings who, having escaped the knives of the Ghazees, had struggled for existence until they sunk under the combined miseries of famine and exposure. The Affghans informed us that many had been driven to the miserable expedient of supporting life by feeding off the flesh of their deceased comrades ! — From Seh Baba to Tezeen is one continued rise, the valley being about half a mile broad and shut in by lofty heights on both sides. The stream is at this season a perfect torrent from the melting snow. We passed se- veral encampments of the wandering Giljyes, whose flocks browsed on the neighbouring hills. We were all wet to the skin in spite of our posteens, or sheep-skin cloaks, and, on arriving at Mahomed Khan’s fort at Tezeen, we found it so much dilapidated by the earthquake as to afford only the most scanty accommodation. The poor ladies were at first crammed into a small dirty room, filled with Affghan women, where they sat in their dripping clothes until, after much delay and trouble, they were accommodated with a separate apartment. As for the gentle- men, they had to scramble for shelter in a dark confined hovel, Capt. Mackenzie and myself pre- ferring to pass the night in a stable with our horses, the rain dripping over us until morning. This day’s exposure decided the fate of Gen. IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 283 Elphinstone, who reached the fort in a dying- state. Captain Mackenzie received an intimation this night of the Sirdar’s intention to send him on a mission to Gen. Pollock’s camp at Jellalabad. April 20th. — It rained the whole day, and, having nothing dry to put on, we were more un- comfortable than ever. Mrs. Waller was delivered of a daughter. This was the fourth addition to our number of captives ; Mrs. Boyd, Mrs. Riley, and a soldier’s wife named Byrne, having been confined during our sojourn at Buddeeabad. A peculiar Providence seemed on all occasions to watch over the ladies, and nothing surprised us more than the slight nature of their sufferings on these occasions. There was a severe shock of earthquake again to-day. These shocks have always appeared to me to be in some way connected with heavy rain beforehand. April 2\st . — Some tents having been pitched outside the fort, the whole of our party removed into them, with exception of the Wallers, our- selves, Gen. Elphinstone, Major Pottinger, Capt. Mackenzie, and Dr. Magrath, to all of whom per- mission was given to remain for the present in the fort. Atta Mahomed Khan, the owner of the place, expressed to us much annoyance at the 284 ROUGH NOTES DURING conduct of' his kinsman Mahomed Shah Khan in stirring up the rebellion, and hinted at his own desire to be on friendly terms with our govern- ment. It seems he was promised remuneration by Capt. Macgregor for the damage done to his property by Gen. Sale’s force in October 1841, to the fulfilment of which pledge he still looked forward. The Sirdar was holding a levee to-day, at which Major Pottinger was present, when he burst into a violent passion, and declared that his own countrymen had basely deserted and betrayed him, although he had all along acted entirely at the instigation of the chiefs at Cabul, especially in the murder of the Envoy and the destruction of our army ; yet these very men now refused to support him ; and he solemnly swore that, if ever he had the power, a severe example should be made of them. A part of the outer wall fell to-day from the effects of yesterday’s earthquake. At night the ladies of Mahomed Shah Khan, and other chiefs who were travelling in our company, invited Mrs. Eyre to dinner. She found them exceedingly kind in manner and prepossessing in outward ap- pearance, being both well dressed and good look- ing. They asked her the old question as to the gender of the Company Sahib, and were greatly IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN . 285 wonderstruck to learn that England was governed by a woman. They expressed the utmost dread of Capt. Macgregor, whom they regard in the same formidable light in which a child does the giant of a nursery tale. April 22(1. — A great bustle was created at an early hour this morning by the arrival of a mes- senger from the Sirdar to Dost Mahomed Khan, who was awakened from his slumbers in the General’s room and immediately hurried away. Our fellow-captives in camp marched shortly after- wards for the Zanduk valley, near the Aman Koh, about eight miles south of Tezeen. There was apparently some apprehension entertained of a surprise from Cabul, as we ourselves were hur- ried off at about 9 A. m. to a small fort two miles higher up the valley, whither the Sirdar had pre- ceded us. This sudden movement was a death- stroke to the General, who, though so weak as to be unable to stand, was made to ride on horse- back the whole way. April 23d. — Mahomed Akber received about 6000 rupees from Cabul, probably sent by his uncle, Nuwab Jubbar Khan. Eutty Jung, the eldest son of the murdered monarch, retained possession of the Bala Hissar, and demanded from the Sirdar that all the European prisoners should be rendered up to him. The residents of 286 ROUGH NOTES DURING Cabul, we learned, were deserting the city in great numbers, from dread of our army, and all efforts to induce the people to oppose Gen. Pol- lock’s advance were fruitless. This information at once decided the Sirdar to send Capt. Mac- kenzie to treat with Gen. Pollock without further delay, and that officer was warned to be in readi- ness to start at a moment’s notice. Some one having told the Sirdar that I could draw faces, he sent for me on that pretence ; but to my surprise pumped me for half an hour on artillery matters, being very inquisitive as to the manufacture of fuses and port-fires, the mode of throwing shells from mortars and howitzers, and the mode of regulating the length of fuze for different distances, on all which subjects I en- lightened him just enough to render his darkness visible. Before I went, he requested me to take the likeness of one of his followers, and of a favourite Arab horse, and, though my performance was very indifferent, he expressed himself pleased. I was afterwards called to examine a sextant which had been just brought to him: it was greatly damaged, but I explained its uses ; after which, finding he could make no better use of it, he made me remove the coloured glasses, which he proposed to convert into spectacles to preserve his eyes from the glare. IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 287 About 7 p. m. Major-Gen. Elphinstone breathed his last, — a happy release for him from suffering of mind and body. Deeply he felt his humilia- tion, and bitterly regretted the day when he re- signed the home-born pleasures of his native land, to hazard the high reputation of a proud name in a climate and station, for which he was consti- tutionally unfit. Of his merits I have already spoken at large in another place ; but it is due no less to the memory of the dead than to the large circle of living friends and relatives, who, I feel assured, will mourn his loss, that I should record how, to the very last moment of his being, he exhibited a measure of Christian benevolence, patience, and high-souled fortitude, which gained him the affectionate regard and admiring esteem of all who witnessed his prolonged sufferings and his dying struggles, and who regarded him as the victim less of his own faults, than of the errors of others, and the uufathomable designs of a mys- terious Providence, by whom the means are always adapted to the end. The Sirdar seemed to have been unconscious of the General’s extreme danger until this morning, when he offered, too late, to grant him his release. Had he listened to the advice of those who wished him well, he would have adopted this generous course at Bud- deeabad ; but his chief supporters were interested 288 ROUGH NOTES DURING in keeping him in the dark, and in frustrating every scheme that tended to reconcile him to the British nation ; so the timely counsel was unheeded. His eyes at last were opened to the truth; and he now endeavoured to make all the amends in his power by offering to send the remains for honour- able interment at Jellalabad. At 8 a. m. Capt. Mackenzie departed on his mission, which related principally to the release of the ladies and children. April 25th. — A rude framework having been constructed by an Affghan carpenter, the Gene- ral’s body, after being well covered up in felt blankets, was packed in it, and the vacant spaces filled with the highly scented leaves of wormwood. At 2 p. M., all being ready, it was slung across the back of a camel, and sent off under a small guard of Giljyes, accompanied by one of the European soldiers who attended the deceased, whom the Sirdar thought likely to pass unnoticed in the common costume of the country. The Sirdar afterwards invited us all to sit with him outside the fort. Whilst we were engaged in conversa- tion, a messenger arrived with letters from Loo- dianah, informing him that his family had been starved for a whole week. On being told the contents, we all immediately pronounced the whole a mischievous fabrication ; upon which the IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 289 Sirdar somewhat bombastically proclaimed bis disregard whether it were true or false, for that the destruction of his whole family should not alter his resolutions. He then resumed the pre- vious conversation as if nothing had occurred, in the course of which he told me that the daily loss of life, by the fire of the cantonment guns during the siege, was between thirty and forty, but he declared that the shells fired from the Bala Hissar into the city did little or no damage to life or property. April 26th . — Sad to say, the poor General’s body was interrupted on its journey near Jug- dulluk. It seems that the party in charge, on approaching the camp of some wandering Giljyes, were challenged, and thought that the best way to avoid discovery would be to assume confidence, and come to a halt there for the night. The European soldier was covered up with blankets, and warned to remain quiet until morning. About 10 p. M., however, he was roused by a tumult of angry voices, in which the words “ Feringhee ” and “ Kafir ” were frequently repeated. A rush was shortly after made to where he was lying, and the covering being snatched from off his head, he was immediately attacked, and wounded in the arm with a sword, nothing saving his life but the thick blanket of felt which covered his body, and o 290 ROUGH NOTES DURING the interposition of a chief who hurried him off to his tent. The bigotted savages next stripped the body of the General, which they pelted with stones, and would have burned, but for the remon- strances of the Sirdar’s men, who threatened them with the vengeance of their master. Mahomed Akber’s annoyance was great on receiving these awkward tidings, but he lost no time in despatch- ing as large a party as he could spare, to rescue the European and re-pack the body. In the course of conversation with Major Pot- tinger, the Sirdar asked him whether he would take his oath that he had never written anything to Jellalabad, but what had come to his (the Sirdar’s) knowledge. The Major maintained a significant silence, but shortly afterwards, having occasion to remark that, if the treaty had been fulfilled, not a British soldier would now have remained in AfFghanistan, the Sirdar emphatically asked him if he would swear to the truth of what he uttered, to which the Major readily consenting, the Sirdar seemed now for the first time to believe what he had before utterly discredited, and looked around upon his followers with an expression of face which seemed to say, “ What a miserable fool then have I been ! ” April 27 th . — 'The Sirdar started with Major Pottinger to visit our fellow-prisoners in the IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 291 Zanduli valley. Lieut. Waller and myself, in the course of our evening stroll, amused ourselves in observing some Juzailchees filing at a mark about 100 yards distant: almost every shot was well directed, but they were all so dilatory in loading, that a British soldier could have fired four or five shots to their one. The European soldier who accompanied the General’s body returned this evening, having been rescued by the Sirdar’s men from the savages wdio had detained him, and who now professed great contrition- for having offended the Sirdar. The body, after being re-packed, had been forwarded on its way to Jellalabad. April 28 th. — A cossid, bearing a letter from Capt. Conolly to Gen. Pollock, was intercepted and severely beaten by the Sirdar’s men, and de- tained a prisoner until his return. April 29th . — A wild sheep was brought in, having been shot in the neighbouring hills. Its horns resembled those of a common ram, but its face and general outline were not unlike an ante- lope, though more coarse and clumsy. April 30 th. — The Sirdar and Major Pottinger returned from their excursion. Whilst at Zan- duli, Ameenoollah Khan and other chiefs sent to demand that Major Pottinger should be delivered up to him, or twelve lacs of rupees in his stead, o 2 292 ROUGH NOTES DURING The hills given by the Major on the Indian Go- vernment, payable on the safe arrival of the Cabool force at Jellalabad, having been disho- noured, the chiefs have been endeavouring to extort the money from the Hindoo shroffs. May 1 st. — To-night the Sirdar sent us a large supply of English letters and newspapers which had just come from Jellalabad, where Capt. Mackenzie had arrived safe. These were the first letters we had received for eight months, and w'e sat up the greater part of the night devouring their contents. May 2d. — I was sent for by the Sirdar to examine a cavalry saddle, as he was anxious to know whether it was made of hog’s skin. I told him it was a difficult question to decide, as both hog and cow skins were used, and could not easily be distinguished. As he gave me some knowing winks, and was evidently most unwilling that a good saddle should be sacrificed to the religious scruples of his moolah, who was seated in the room, I voted in favour of the cow ; and, as Lient. Waller afterwards declared himself on the same side, the Sirdar, considering that two witnesses decided the point, determined to hold his own : and I believe in his heart he cared little about the natural history of the hide, so long as it suited his purposes. IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 293 Late at night I was roused from bed by a mes- sage from the Sirdar, who pressed me hard to go and fight for him at Cabsul against Ameenoollah Khan and Futty Jung. He was perfectly aware, he said, that no Englishman would serve against his own countrymen, but that in this case his enemies were equally hostile to the British ; so that, in fighting for him, I should be serving my own country. I replied that I was already badly wounded and tired of fighting for the present ; that I was quite incompetent, from my ignorance of Affghan politics, to form an opinion as to the rights and merits of the case ; and that, even were I ever so much disposed to embrace his cause, no English officer or soldier could legally take arms under a sovereign power, without hav- ing first obtained the consent of his own Sovereign. My refusal apparently annoyed him a good deal, and I was obliged to repeat it several times before he would allow me to return to rest. May 3d . — The Wallers and ourselves started for the Zanduli valley after breakfast, and had just mounted our horses, when Capt. Mackenzie made his appearance on his return from Jellala- bad. His mission had not opened any immediate prospect of release for us, though the negotiation was, on the whole, of a friendly nature. After the exchange of a few words, he was hurried off o 3 294 ROUGH NOTES DURING to the Sirdar, and we pursued our way to Zan- duh. The road ascended the hills in a south- easterly direction, and was very steep and un- dulating for about three miles, when it descended into the narrow bed of a stream, one of the rami- fications of the Tezeen valley, up which our course was southerly for the rest of the inarch. Four or five miles further brought us to camp, where the valley was a little wider, with culti- vated steppes of land, on which the tents were pitched. Snow was still lying on the neighbour- heights, and about four miles further south the lofty mountain peak of Aman Koh reared its pine-clad crest. On our way we noticed the juniper, which universally prevails in these hills, attaining in some spots the size of a goodly tree. Here and there we passed a few stunted pines, which might be considered as mere stragglers from the neighbouring forests of Suffed Koh. The wild almond, a showy and fragrant species of Edwardsia ; a shrubby crataegus-looking plant, covered with blossoms ; the yellow dog-rose, the sweet-brier, the artemisia, the white tulip, and a very pretty iris, constituted the prominent bota- nical features of the road over which we travelled. We found our friends enjoying themselves during the heat of the day, in shady bowers formed of juniper : the climate seemed delightful. IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 295 May 4>th . — The Sirdar sent for Capt. Troup to accompany him and Major Pottinger to Cabul. Capt. Mackenzie was to start immediately on a second mission to Jellalabad. May 5th , — The English hostages at Cabul were said to be under the protection of a Synd, son of the chief moolah ; and Ameenoollah Khan, having endeavoured to seize them, had been driven into the Bala Hissar by Nuwab Zeman Khan, and his house in Cabul burned to the ground. May 7th . — A hard frost this morning! the shrubs and herbs within reach of the spray of the stream being covered with large icicles. Our keeper now was Mahomed Rufeek, whose family resides at Candahar. From his pleasing manners, and constant civility and kindness, he soon be- came a general favourite. I took a long walk with him to-day among the hills south of camp ; we saw nothing but juniper trees, anemones, and wild geraniums, the spring having only just com- menced in that elevated region. The rocks were chiefly of limestone, with vertical strata. May 8th . — This morning I was agreeably sur- prised by an Affghan bringing some of my own books and sketches for sale, of which I imme- diately possessed myself. In the forenoon a few drops of snow fell ! The last three days were o 4 296 ROUGH NOTES DURING bitterly cold, and we enjoyed a blazing fire at night. May 9th. — Enjoyed another walk in the hills, with a fine bracing air, and a magnificent view in the direction of Hindoo Khoosh, whose everlast- ing snows and jagged peaks bounded the scene. On our return we heard the cheerful note of the cuckoo. I found a curious parasite on the ju- niper. May 10 th , — Capt. and Mrs. Anderson were agreeably surprised by the arrival of their eldest girl from Cabul. It will be remembered that she was lost in the Khoord-Cabul pass during the retreat on the 8th of January; since which she had been an inmate of Nuwab Zeman Khan’s family, where she was treated with the greatest possible kindness. She had been taught to say “ My father and mother are infidels, but I am a Mussulman." Capt. Troup, who had obtained her release, wrote word that he and Major Pot- tinger were in Nuwab Jubbar Khan’s house at Cabul; that the city was in a most unquiet state, and the opposite parties fighting every day, the Cabulees siding alternately with whichever side paid them best. At night, a note was received from Major Pottinger, who had just witnessed an engagement between the Barukzyes and Doo- ranees, in which the former were victorious; but IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 297 lie described the affair as more ludicrous than tra- gical, having been a forcible representation of the “ battle of spurs.” May \2th.- — Capts. Boyd, Waller, and myself, accompanied by two Affghans, ascended some lofty hills to the west. Some Giljyes of the Jub- bar Khail overtook us, and offered to escort us to Jellalabad. Our attendants, instantly taking alarm, hurried us away homewards. We had a fine view of Hindoo Koosh to the north, and Suf- feed Koh to the south. At the height of 2000 feet above our camp, the husbandmen were only now ploughing the ground, whilst in the Zandu valley, immediately below, the crops were green. We descended by the bed of a stream, on whose steep sides a species of wild onion grew abun- dantly. A beautiful frittillaria was also common ; and an aspliodelous plant bearing a gigantic spa- dix of yellow flowers, which I took for an orni- thogalum. On our return, Dost Mahomed Khan, who was encamped near us, rated Mahomed Rufeek severely for allowing us to stray so far. This chief is a thorough boor in his ideas and manners, and is always exhibiting some mean and silly suspicion of our intentions : had it depended on him, we should all have been shut up in dark cells or nar- row cages long ago. May \ 6th. — Capt. Mackenzie returned from o 5 298 ROUGH NOTES DURING his second trip to Jellalabad, where Gen. Elphin- stone’s body had arrived safe and been interred with due military honour. It does not appear that much was done towards effecting our release. The terms the Sirdar proposed to Gen. Pollock for our release were, — that he should be made governor of the Lughman province, and be ex- empted from attendance at court, and uncontrolled by our political officers. Of this proposal Gen. Pollock very properly took not the smallest notice. It seems that a despatch from the Sirdar, in which an offer was made to release the ladies and chil- dren unconditionally, which was sent after Capt. Mackenzie, did not reach him, having been inter- cepted, as was supposed, by Mahomed Shah Khan. Gen. Nott was expected to march for Cabul from Candahar on the 17th instant. May 17 tli. — Capt. Mackenzie left for Cabul, to communicate the result of his mission to the Sirdar. May 18 th. — Dost Mahomed Khan was much struck by hearing Mahomed Rufeek read a Per- sian translation of the “ Sermon on the Mount ” out of Gladwain’s “ Moonshee.” He was fervent in his admiration of the Lord’s Prayer, as well as of several other passages; and the injunction to pray in private seemed to throw light on our apparent neglect of outward observances. Cor- IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 299 poral Lewis of H. M. 44th, who had been kept a prisoner at Tezeen in the fort of Khooda Bux- khan, was allowed to visit our camp to-day. The poor fellow had been starved and illtreated by his savage captors, until he made an outward pro- fession of Mahomedanism, when he received the name of Deen Mahomed, and was made to attend prayers daily with the faithful. May 20 th. — A beacon-light was burning all night on the hill above us, and pickets were thrown out in all directions. It was supposed that a chuppao, or night surprise, was expected. May 22 d. — Our horses arrived from Cabul, for which city we received notice to march next morning. May 2 3d. — Marched about 9 a. m. Three of us obliged to walk for want of horses. Ladies travelled in kujawurs, laden on mules. We retraced our former track down the bed of the stream, and across the hills, to the fort where Gen. Elphinstone died. A few miles of descent made a great difference in the climate and the progress of vegetation ; the wild roses were every where in full bloom, and, with other gay flowers, scented the air and enlivened the scene. We crossed a branch of the Tezeen valley ; a short cut over the hills led us to the foot of the Huft Kotul, or hill of seven ascents. Here we once o 6 300 ROUGH NOTES DURING more encountered the putrid bodies of our soldiery, which thenceforward strewed the road as far as Khoord Cabul, poisoning the whole at- mosphere. A little beyond Kubbur-i-jubbar we passed two caves, on opposite sides of the road, full as they could hold of rotten carcasses. Thence to Tungee Tureekee the sight became worse and worse. Mahomed Rufeek asked me whether all this would not excite the fury of Gen. Pollock’s army ; I told him he need not be surprised if every house in Cabul were levelled to the ground. From the last-mentioned spot we turned off the high road to the left, and, passing a large ruined village, arrived at the fort of Khoord Cabul, — where we had previously lodged on the 9th of January, — after a fatiguing march of twenty-two miles. The contrast between the summer and winter aspect of the valley immediately below the fort was striking : the whole now presenting one red field of cultivation. May 2ith. — Again on the move at 9 a. m. The Khoord Cabul pass being now absolutely impassable from the stench of dead bodies, we took the direct road towards Cabul, having Alexander the Great’s column in view nearly the whole way. The first three or four miles were over a barren plain, when the road entered among hills crossing a ghat of moderate height into a IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 301 valley about three miles in width, in the middle of which we halted for half an hour at a de- liciously cool and clear spring, which supplied a small tank or pond: just above this, crowning the hill to the left, stood a ruined Grecian tope. Resuming our way, w r e again entered some hills, the road making a continuous ascent for about a couple of miles to Alexander’s pillar, one of the most ancient relics of antiquity in the East, and conspicuously situated on the crest of a mountain range which bounds the plain of Cabul on the south-east. It stands about seventy feet high ; the shaft is of the Doric order, standing on a cubic pedestal, and surmounted by a sort of urn. As we reached this classic spot, a view of almost unrivalled magnificence burst suddenly upon our sight. At the distance of some two thousand feet below, the whole picturesque and highly cultivated valley of Cabul was spread before us like a map : the towering mountain ranges of Kohistan and Hindoo Khoosh, clad in a pure vesture of snow, bounded the horizon, at the distance of nearly a hundred miles. The Bala Hissar was dimly discernible in the distance, from whose battlements the roar of cannon broke ever and anon upon the ear, betokening the prolongation of the strife between hostile tribes and ambitious chiefs. The descent was very long and tedious, and the road 302 ROUGH NOTES DURING about midway very steep and bad. On the way down another Grecian pillar was discernible among the hills on the left. The rocks were chiefly of micaceous schist, and a dark stone re- sembling basalt. The gum-ammoniac plant grew here; the young flower was clustered together not unlike a small cauliflower. It is an um- belliferous plant, growing to the height of six feet, and in its general appearance and mode of growth resembling an heracleum. It has a strong disagreeable scent, which reminded me slightly of assafoetida. The gum exudes plentifully, and is at first milky, but afterwards turns to yellow, and has a bitter nauseous taste. The plant is called by the Afghans gundele, and the gum is sold in the Cabul bazar under the name of feshook. At the foot of the hill we rested at a tank or pond supplied by a large spring which gushes from under the rock ; another ruined Grecian tope crowned a small eminence at a few hundred yards’ distance. The road now skirted the base of the hills to the left for about four miles, when we reached the fort of Ali Mahomed, Kuzzilbash, distant three miles from Cabul, and close to the Logur river, where we were accommodated for the night, having marched altogether about twenty miles. May 2 5th . — The ladies of Ali Mahomed having IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 303 removed to a neighbouring fort, we occupied their apartments, which lined two sides of an inclosed square, and were very commodious, and decidedly the best quarters we have yet enjoyed. The valley about here is thickly studded with forts, and very highly cultivated. May 26th . — Captain Troup paid us a visit. He told us the Sirdar was living in the outskirts of the city about two miles from us, that Amen- oollah Khan had joined him, but that Futty Jung still held out in the Bala Hissar, in hopes of being soon relieved by the arrival of our army. Mahomed Akber is desirous to obtain possession of the citadel principally on account of the trea- sure within it, as he never professed to dream of resisting our arms. He earnestly desired to be on friendly terms with the British government, and often said that he wished he had been so fortunate as to become acquainted with the English in early life, as he had been filled with prejudices against them which had greatly in- fluenced his conduct, but which he now saw to be unfounded. It seems that Gen. Pollock offered on his own responsibility to release the ladies and children of his family from their con- finement, but in his present precarious state of life the Sirdar has declined the offer. Hundreds of Hindostanees crowded the streets sot ROUGH NOTES DURING of Cabul begging for bread, vvbieli was daily served out to them by Nuwab Jubbar Khan and Zeman Khan. The civility of all classes to the European hostages and prisoners in and about Cabul was remarkable. May 27 th, — We all received permission to walk in the adjacent garden, and the gentlemen were allowed to bathe in a running canal near the fort, which, now that the weather had become sultry, were real luxuries. May 2 9th.— Shuja Dowlah, the assassin of Shah Soojali, paid us a visit. He was a handsome quiet-looking man, whom few would have guessed to be the perpetrator of such a deed. He tried hard to persuade us that the Shah had played us false, and that he had committed a praiseworthy action in getting rid of him. The murder was committed at the instigation of Dost Mahomed Khan, Griljye, by way of retribution for the at- tempt on Mahomed Akber’s life at Charbagh by an agent of Shah Soojah; but the act is much reprobated by all classes at Cabul, and by no one more than than the Nuwab Zuman Khan, who has banished Shuja Dowlah from his house ever since. May 30 th. — Shah Dowla, another son of Nuwab Zuman Khan, paid us a visit, and in- quired particularly if we were well treated by the IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 305 Sirdar. We were informed that, in consequence of the Sirdar having demanded the persons of the Naib Shereef Mohun Loll and the late wuzeer, the Kuzzilbash had risen in a body against him, and declared their intention to hold their part of the city until the arrival of our troops. We heard a great deal of firing to-night, and the ex- treme vigilance of our guard led us to suppose that the Sirdar’s affairs were not prospering. Dost Mahomed Khan arrived in the fort at night. May 31s/. — Guns were heard all night, and we were refused permission to leave the fort, as usual, to-day. Mahomed Rufeek, we were sorry to learn, had incurred suspicion, from his family having aided Gen. Nott at Candahar. He deter- mined to throw up the Sirdar’s service in conse- quence. June Is/. — Dost Mahomed Khan departed for the city accompanied by Mahomed Rufeek. Per- mission was again given us to go into the garden, and to bathe in the canal as before. June 2d. — Intelligence was brought us that Gen. Nott had obtained a victory at Kelat-i- Giljye, in which 2000 of the enemy were killed. June 3c?. — It tvas reported that Eutty Jung had offered a large reward to any one who would seize and escort us all to the Bala Hissar. The 306 ROUGH NOTES DURING Sirdar made a fierce attack on tlie Bala Hissar in the evening, and a brisk cannonade was kept up on both sides for several hours, but without any decisive result. June 4 tli. — Capt. Troup paid us a visit, bring- ing with him several necessaries, for which we had previously written to the Sirdar. It was believed in the city that one of the bastions of the Bala Hissar had been mined, but that the Sirdar was deferring its explosion in the hope that he might succeed without it, being unwilling to injure the defences of the place. But this report was pro- bably set abroad for the purpose of intimidating the defenders, of whom only two men had been wounded during the whole siege up to this date. A messenger arrived this morning from Jellala- bad with letters for Futty Jung and Lady Sale. From the latter we learned that Gen. Pollock had written to Mahomed Akber, declaring it to be contrary to the laws of nations to make war against women and children, which it was hoped might shame him into the release of that portion of his prisoners, who came under the benefit of the rule. Hopes began to be entertained of the safety of Dr. Grant of the Goorkha regiment, who was supposed to be concealed in Cabul. A shock of earthquake felt to-day. June 6th. — About 5 p. m. a good deal of firing IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. SOT was heard, and our garrison was in a state of great excitement. Futty Jung said to have sallied from the Bala Hissar and carried off a quantity of Mahomed Akber’s military stores and camels. At night we heard that the Sirdar had seized Amenoolah Khan, whom he suspected of in- triguing with Futty Jung, probably with good foundation. The Khan said to be worth 18 lacs of rupees, which it was the Sirdar’s in- tention to make him disgorge. Amenoolah Khan was originally the son of a camel-driver, but by dint of his talents, bravery, and cunning, rose to he one of the most powerful nobles in the country. The late Ameer Dost Mahomed Khan feared and suspected him so much as to forbid him to enter Cabul. He possessed the whole of the Logur valley, and could bring 10,000 men into the field. The accession of such a man to his cause was of much importance to Mahomed Akber, and his seizure was a dangerous step, being likely to pro- voke the hostility of his sons. Amenoolah Khan was the chief instigator of the rebellion, and of the murder of Sir Alexander Burnes ; after which he lent the weight of his influence to each party alternately, as it suited his purpose. Such a va- cillating wretch was not long likely to escape retributive justice. June 7 th. — Contradictory reports were in cir- 308 ROUGH NOTES DURING culation all day. Some affirm the Bala Hissar to have been taken ; others that the Sirdar had sus- tained a ruinous defeat, and that he was engaged in plundering the city, prior to taking flight. That something extraordinary had occurred was evident from the mysterious deportment of the Affghans, and their anxiety to prevent our receiving any communication from without. A parcel of useful articles arrived for us from our good friends at Jellalabad, but every thing was opened by the guard at the gate, who gave us only what they chose, and seized all the letters, to send to the Sirdar. There was no firing from the Bala Hissar to-day as usual. The climate in this part of the valley we found delightfully cool and pleasant, which may have arisen in part from the luxuriant cultivation round about. The most common trees are the poplar, willow, mulberry, and oleaster, or sinjut , the bright silvery foliage of the latter con- trasting strikingly with the deep green of the rest, and its flowers scattering a powerful and delicious perfume through the surrounding air. Purple centaurias adorned the corn fields, and a handsome species of hedysarum, with a lupin-like flower, enlivened the border of every field and water- course ; whilst a delicate kind of tamarisk or- namented the banks of the neighbouring river. In the garden I found a very beautiful oro- IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 309 banche growing parasitically from tlie roots of the melon. June 9 th. — Capt. Mackenzie paid us a visit. From him we learned positively that the Sirdar sprung a mine under one of the towers of the Bala Hissar, near the Shah Bazar, on the 6th ; that the storming party was driven back with a loss of sixty men killed, and that much damage was done in the adjacent part of the town by the explosion. On the following day, Futty Jung, finding his people disinclined to support him any longer, made terms with Mahomed Akber and the other chiefs, giving up a tower in the Bala Hissar to each, and himself retaining possession of the royal residence. Thus the citadel was now divided between the Dooranees, Barukzyes, Gilgyes, and Ivuzzilbashes, represented by Futty Jung, Ma- homed Akber, Nuwab Zeman Khan, Mahomed Shah Khan, and Khan Shereen Khan. A curious arrangement, truly ! and calculated to facilitate the union of parties already jealous of each other, and each of whom had, doubtless, an eye to the rich treasure of money and jewels still in Futty Jung’s possession. The story of Amenoolah Khan’s seizure turned out to be untrue. There was a violent quarrel a few days back between the two old Nuwabs, Zeman Khan and Jubbar Khan, when the former seized hold of the latter’s 310 ROUGH NOTES DURING beard, exclaiming, “ Yon are the fellow who first brought the Feringhees into the country, and to whom, therefore, all our troubles may be at- tributed.” Abdool Glujas Khan, the son of Jubbar Khan, being present, drew a pistol and threatened to shoot Zeman Khan for the indig- nity offered to his father. Mahomed Akber sat by the whole time, laughing heartily at the scene. June 10 tli. — A smart shock of earthquake during the night. June 11 tli. — Capt. Mackenzie returned to the city. It was supposed he would start in a day or two on a fresh mission to Jellalabad. June 20 tli. — Heard from Capt. Mackenzie that Mahomed Akber was waging war with Nuwab Zeman Khan ; also that Gen. Nott bad seized the person of Sufter Jung, the rebel son of Shah Shooja-ool-moolk. Ali Mahomed assured us that it was the Sirdar’s intention shortly to march to Jellalabad, to pay his respects to Gen. Pollock ! From other quarters we heard that he meditated carrying us all off to the banks of the Oxus. June 21sh — We were told by Ali-Mahomed that the Sirdar had taken Nuwab Zeman Khan and his two sons prisoners, and, after seizing all his guns, treasure, and ammunition, had released them again. IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGIIANISTAN. 311 Tune 25th. — Capts. Mackenzie and Troup paid us a visit. Maliomed Akber’s late success- ful conflict with Nuwab Zeman Khan had rendered him, for the time being, supreme in Cabul. The Kuzzilbashes had tendered their unwilling sub- mission, and had delivered up Mohun Loll, who was immediately put to the torture. Jan Fishan Khan, the laird of Purglnnan, a staunch friend of the British, had been obliged to fly for his life, his two sons having been slain in the fight. Khoda Bux Khan, and Atta Mahomed Khan, Giljyes, fought against Mahomed Akber on this occasion. Both Capt. Troup and Capt. Mackenzie had since been allowed to visit the hostages, whom they found in the house of the Meer Wyze, the chief moollah of the city, to whose protection they had been committed b} r Zeman Khan, in conse- quence of the desperate efforts of the Ghazees to slay them. During their stay in the good Nuwab’s house, their lives were in constant danger from those fanatics, who on one occasion actually forced their way into the building to accomplish their purpose, and were only hindered by the Nuwab falling on his knees, casting his turban on the ground, and entreating them not to dishonour his roof by committing violence to those under its protection. Before sending them to the Meer Wyze, which was done at night, he took 312 ROUGH NOTES DURING the precaution to line the streets with his own followers, with strict orders to fire upon everyone who should so much as poke his head out of a window ; and he not only accompanied them him- self, but sent his own family on ahead. Capt. Conolly had obtained convincing proof that Shah Shoojah originated the rebellion with a view to get rid of Burnes, whom he detested, and of several chiefs, whom he hoped to see fall a sacri- fice to our vengeance ; little anticipating the ruinous result to himself and to us. Poor Burnes had made hut few friends among the chiefs, who now never mention his name but in terms of the bitterest hatred and scorn. He seems to have kept too much aloof from them ; thus they had no opportunity of appreciating his many valuable qualities, and saw in him only the traveller, who had come to spy the nakedness of the land, in order that he might betray it to his countrymen. The King considered him as a personal enemy, and dreaded his probable succession to the post of Envoy on the departure of Sir W. Macnaghten. Of Mahomed Akher Khan, I have been told from an authentic source that, on the morning of the departure of the army from Cabul on the 6th of January, he and Sultan Jan made their appearance booted and spurred before the assembly of chiefs, and being asked by Nuwab Zeman Shah IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 313 where they were going, Mahomed Akber replied, “ I am going to slay all the Eeringhee dogs, to he sure.” Again : on the passage of our troops through the Khoord-Cabul pass on the 8th, he followed with some chiefs in the rear, and in the same breath called to the Giljyes in Persian to desist from, and in Pushtoo to continue, firing. This explains the whole mystery of the massacre, and clears up every doubt regarding Mahomed Akber’s treachery. June 2 6th. — We were somewhat surprised this day by the arrival of the European soldiers, whom we had left behind at the fort at Buddeeabad, and of whom we had been told that they had been ransomed by Gen. Pollock. They all looked' miserably thin and weak, and were delighted, poor fellows, to join fortunes with us once more. The tale of their treatment and sufferings after our departure was a doleful one. It would seem that we had scarcely left the place, ere Mrs. Wade, wife of Sergeant Wade, declared her intention to forsake her husband, and turn Mahomedan ! Every argument was used to dissuade her from carrying her disgraceful purpose into effect ; but the devil seemed to have established absolute sway over her mind, and that same night she be- took herself to Mahomed Shah Khan’s nazir (steward), who was in charge of the prisoners. p 314 ROUGH NOTES DURING Next morning she appeared in Affghan costume, and thenceforward took every opportunity to use her newly acquired influence to destroy and per- secute her unhappy countrymen, whom she ac- cused of having entered into a conspiracy to seize the fort and murder the guard. This was imme- diately made a pretext for stripping them of the few clothes and necessaries they possessed. A few rupees, which the officers had sub- scribed before starting, for their messing, they were made to give up ; and Mrs. Wade having informed the nazir of three gold pieces, which she herself had sewn up some time previously in her husband’s boot, the poor man was obliged to pro- duce them. Treachery worse than this has pro- bably never been recorded of a woman ; English ladies will, therefore, learn with some satisfaction that she was born of an Indian mother, and had passed the years of her childhood almost entirely among low-born natives, from whom she could imbibe nothing but vice and cunning. Shortly after this, about 1200 rupees were offered by Gen. Pollock as a ransom, and would have been ac- cepted, but for a mischievous hint from Mrs. Wade, that a much larger sum would be given, if demanded. The consequence w r as that, Gen. Pollock refusing to raise his terms, the negoti- ation was dropped ; and the poor soldiers, after IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 315 having had theii’ hopes raised high of a speedy deliverance, were again past into the depth of despondency. Their allowance of food was now shamefully reduced, their lives were not unfre- quently threatened, and, to crown their misery, a virulent fever broke out, and would have proba- bly proved fatal to them all, had not Mr. Blewit, a quondam apothecary, administered a copious bleeding, with a common pen-knife, to each pa- tient on the first appearance of the symptoms. This, and starvation, providentially did the work of physic, and all gradually recovered. Mahomed Akber’s order arriving for their removal to Cabul rescued them from the hands of the brutal nazir, who, it was now discovered, had been defrauding the prisoners of the greater part of the provi- sions for which he had all the time been charg- ing exorbitantly on their account. Mahomed Akber either was, or professed to he, very much astonished to hear of the shabby treatment they had experienced; but we never heard that any punishment was inflicted on the rascally nazir. Mrs. W. having accompanied the latter to Cabul, the story of her apostacy and profligacy became notorious throughout the whole city, and was spoken of in a tone of evident triumph by the chiefs in Durbar. The effect was mischievous in the extreme. Loose jests at the expense of p 2 316 ROUGH NOTES DURING Englishwomen were sported with malicious intent by men, who, from the intense hatred which they bore us, would gladly have made all the prisoners the victims of their brutality. July ls£. About this time Capt. Mackenzie was taken alarmingly ill, and Mahomed Akber, now called the Wuzeer, made choice of Capt. Troup as his agent to negotiate with Gen. Pol- lock, warning him to be ready for a trip to Jellalabad at an early date. The advance of our army from that quarter was now confidently expected; and it was be- lieved that Mahomed Akber had actually made every preparation for a flight to Toorkistan. It was also privately intimated to Capt. Troup by a friendly chief that, in the event of the Wuzeer bending his course thither, he would not be per- mitted to take us with him. July 1 Oth. We were agreeably surprised by a visit from Capt. John Conolly, who, as we now learned for the first time, had, with the other five hostages, been purchased by the Wuzeer from the Meer Waiz for four hundred sequins. In delivering them up for so paltry a sum, the high priest of Cabul proved himself a fool as well as a villain. On first receiving charge of them from Newab Zeman Khan, he swore by all that was holy that he would never give them up IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 317 to their enemies. Had he been disposed to keep his word, so great is the influence attached to his sacred office, that not all the threats or attempts of Akber could have wrested them from him ; and he would have eventually secured for himself a splendid reward from the British government. By selling them to Akber he not only cast an inde- lible stain of infamy on the faith of Islam, but made a very wretched bargain for himself in a mere mercenary view. The Wuzeer lost no time in removing his new purchases to the BalaHissar, whither he was also obliged to betake himself a few days ago, at the pressing solicitations of the chiefs. There he allowed Futty Jung to retain the empty title of king within the precincts of his palace, whilst he himself, as W uzeer, wielded the power, and enjoyed all the solid advantages of a real monarch. Capt. Conolly informed us that Akber lately held a Council of Chiefs, when Major Pottinger, who was (unknown to most of them) in an ad- joining room, overheard a Kohistanee chief pro- pose that all the English prisoners should be slain, on hearing which Akber immediately got up in a rage, and turned the man out of the assembly. July 1 3th. — Major Pottinger came in last night from the Bala Hissar, and informed us that p 3 318 ROUGH NOTES DURING Capt. Troup, with Hajee Buktyar, started on a mission to Jellalabad on the night of the 10th; also that on the same date the Wuzeer had wed- ded a daughter of Ameenoolah Khan. Within the last few days sickness had increased to an alarming extent amongst us. Capt. Mackenzie’s life was in imminent danger from typhus fever ; and Capt. Waller, Dr. M'Grath, and several la- dies, were attacked by the same disease in a somewhat modified form : several of the private soldiers also suffered. At our earnest request, the Wuzeer sent out Dr. Campbell to afford us medical aid, but our supply of medicines was lamentably scanty in proportion to the extensive demand. The fever probably originated in the malaria of the rice- fields, which surrounded the fort up to the very walls, and presented a wide surface of stagnant water, sufficient to poison the air for miles around. Our sedentary life, and confined space, and poor diet, no doubt, had each its share in predisposing us to disease. July 1 5th. — Capt. Conolly again came to see us, and brought with him a letter he had lately received privately from Gen. Pollock, in which the General stated that he had written to Ma- homed Shah Khan, offering an exchange of pri- soners without reserve (including of course the IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 319 Dost). He had also demanded that all our guns should be restored. He added that his own force at Jellalabad now amounted to 20,000 men ; that of Gen. Nott, at Candahar, to 15,000; in ad- dition to which an army of reserve, amounting to 25,000 men, were soon to assemble at Ferozepore, and that 10,000 European troops were on their way from England. July 18 th.' — To-day we were honoured by a visit from the Wuzeer himself, accompanied by Mahomed Shah Khan, Sultan Jan, and a few other chiefs. His object seems to have been to make us acquainted with the proposal of Gen. Pollock for an exchange of prisoners, and to ascertain from us what would he the probable result to himself of his acceding to it. On this subject, however, we could not enlighten him, and he left us in the dark as to the course he intended to pursue ; hut we derived no small encouragement from Ma- homed Shah Khan declaring his intention to restore to Lady Macnaghten all her jewels. July 19 th. — Mahomed Shah Khan was as good as his word, and actually brought hack the jewels. We had good reason to believe that he had several times tried, without success, to raise money by them in the city ; but finding nobody to appreciate their value, and hoping to establish a claim to the favourable consideration of our government, he r 4 320 ROUGH NOTES DURING made a merit of their restitution to the right owner. In a private conversation with Capt. Conolly, he declared himself favourable to the proposed exchange of prisoners. July 22 d. — Dost Mahomed Khan, Giljye, came to-day, and stated that we should all be released in twenty-six days, provided Gen. Pollock should agree to evacuate the country. We derived very little comfort from this, feeling persuaded that our armies could not, with honour, return to India, without first having redeemed the credit of our arms by marching boldly up to Cabul, and avenging the fate of their comrades. Our guard was changed in the afternoon, and increased to fifty men. A man named Ahmed Khan was at the same time substituted as our keeper, in place of Mahomed Ali Khan. The object of these fre- quent changes was of course to prevent our form- ing any plots to escape. July 2^th. — A note from Major Pottinger in- formed us that Gen. Pollock had entered into a truce with the Affghans, until the reply of Lord Ellenborough should be received regarding an alliance with the existing Affghan government, and an exchange of prisoners. Major Pottinger had likewise received an intimation from Jellala- bad that, his political functions having ceased, he was on no account to interfere with the future IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 321 arrangements that might he entered into regard- ing us. July Tltli. — Capt. Troup returned from Jella- labad. His news was not very consolatory. It seems that, just when Gen. Pollock was on the very point of settling with the Cabul govern- ment for our exchange, and the withdrawal of our troops from this country, he received an order to push on to Cabul simultaneously with the force from Candahar under Gen. Nott. It would seem that, previous to this, the intention had been that our armies should return to India without strik- ing a blow ! Gen. Pollock, although delighted at the prospect of earning fresh laurels, found him- self in an awkward predicament with regard to the pending negotiations ; and Capt. Troup was sent back without any definite reply. He was evidently much puzzled as to what he should find to say to the Wuzeer, who would expect a favour- able result to his mission. We were much vexed to learn that several boxes, filled with letters and necessaries for the prisoners, had been plundered on the road from Jellalabad. After an hour’s rest, Capt. Troup went on to the Bala Hissar, having travelled forty-five miles since morning. July 28 th. — Capt. Troup came in from the Bala Hissar, to prepare Capt. Lawrence to accom- p 5 322 ROUGH NOTES DURING pany him on a second trip to Jellalabad. He told us that Akher was, as might have been expected, much disappointed at Gen. Pollock’s refusal to conclude the treaty in writing ; and so anxious was Akber to bring the matter to a favourable close, that he offered to release us all at once, if Capt. Troup would only guarantee that Gen. Pollock should act up to his word, and forthwith return to India. This offer Capt. Troup could not, of course, accept, knowing, as he did full well, the intention of the General to advance. The sole object of this mission seemed to he, to reiterate Akber’s acceptance of the proffered terms, and his desire that Gen. Pollock should at once sign a written document, to prevent any misunderstanding, immediately on receipt of which the prisoners would be set at liberty.* * Lord Ellenborough’s views would appear to be explained by the following extract from the letter of Gen. Pollock, dated, 29th July 1842. Pari. Pap. No. 435. “ These cir- cumstances (the collecting of all the prisoners into Mahomed Akber’s individual keeping) afford better hopes of the ulti- mate recovery of all the prisoners : but I must impress upon you, that no trust whatever is to be placed in any Afghan ; and that all military operations must proceed as if no negotiation was in progress. “ When every gun, and colour, and military trophy, and every prisoner within the reach and power of the de facto government of Cabool, has been surrendered to you, then, and not till then, you may give orders suited to a state of re- turning peace.” IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 323 July 29th. — Capts. Lawrence and Troup had an interview with Akber. He had just heard that Gen. Nott was preparing to advance on Cabul, and declared in great wrath before the whole durbar that the first movement of either army towards Cahul should be the signal for our removal to Toorkistan, where he w'ould distribute us as slaves to the different chiefs. He was loud in his condemnation of Gen. Pollock, whom he sus- pected of deceiving him. To show, however, his determination to leave the General no handle against him, he released Mohun Lall, and restored to him 18,000 rupees that had been taken from him. This he did in consequence of Gen. Pol- lock having expressed great displeasure at the seizure of that individual. Having received their final instructions, the two officers departed at night for Jellalabad. This negotiation, although commenced by Gen. Pollock in the humane desire to accomplish our liberation by peaceable means, seemed now, by the sudden turn that had taken place, likely to plunge us into a dangerous dilemma, — Mahomet Akber being notorious for stopping at no atrocity, when his angry passions were once aroused, as we There seems to have been a mutual unwillingness to sign and seal. For some interesting illustrations of this subject, see App. C. — Editor. p 6 324 HOUGH NOTES DURING knew they soon would be, when he should hear of the advance of both generals, with their over- whelming forces. In fact, we now fully made up our minds that death or slavery would soon be our probable lot, unless Providence should interfere to prevent it; which, indeed, was our best and only spring of hope. August 2d. — A shock of earthquake at 3 p.m., accompanied by a loud rumbling noise. The flies by day and the musquitoes by night swarmed to such a degree, as to banish all rest and enjoyment. Capt. Conolly was this day taken seriously ill. We were informed that Gen. Pollock had ad- dressed a letter to Khan Shereen Khan, Kuzzil- bash, and other chiefs, promising them a free pardon on condition of their preventing our re- moval from Cabul, and threatening, on the other hand, to raze the city to the ground, in case of our being carried off by Akber. August 1th . — Poor Conolly breathed his last at half-past twelve this morning, sincerely la- mented by us all. His amiable character had speedily converted those, who formerly had only been slight acquaintances, into warm friends ; and his merits as a public officer gave early promise of a distinguished and useful career. By the Affghans he was universally respected ; and, IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 325 with the abundant information he possessed on all matters connected with the late deplorable events, his death at this crisis may be deemed a public loss. But for his influence and exertions, the detachment of sick Europeans, left behind at Cahul under Lieut. Evans, would long ago have been starved to death, or destroyed by violence. Large sums were advanced for their support and protection by various individuals, on the security of his hare word ; and both he and the other hostages had refused to avail themselves of se- veral opportunities to escape to India, out of consideration to the above-mentioned detach- ment, who would then have been exposed to the cruelty of the merciless mob. Capt. John Co- nolly, with his two elder brothers, Arthur and Edward, accompanied Sir John Keane’s army into Affghanistan in 1839, and all three were speedily advanced to political employment by their distinguished relative, Sir William Mac- naghten. A bright prospect of wealth and dis- tinction lay before them. In the course of three years, one was shot through the heart at the assault of a fort in Kohistan — one died in an Afighan prison — and the eldest, the celebrated traveller, is supposed to have experienced a si- milar fate in a prison at Bokhara, to which city he had been enticed by the king, and, being 326 ROUGH NOTES DURING lured into tlie trap, was immediately shut up in a loathsome dungeon, in company with Col. S tod- dart. The latter officer, it will be remembered, was sent on a mission to Bokhara, in 1838, by the British Envoy at the court of Persia. Having innocently excited the displeasure of the king, than whom a more execrable tyrant never ex- isted, he was shut up for several months in a well, full of disgusting vermin and noxious rep- tiles, and would eventually have been buried alive, had he not at length so far given way to human weakness, as to make an outward pro- fession of Mahomedanism. After this he was restored to liberty, and became a great favourite at court, until the news of our fatal disasters at Cabul reached the ears of the king, who, sup- posing that God had given over all infidels to destruction, again doomed poor Stoddart to be immured in a dungeon, where he was soon joined, as has been seen, by his countryman, Arthur Conolly. In a letter, which the latter managed soon afterwards to write to his brother John, it was stated that himself and his fellow prisoner had been without change of raiment for upwards of eighty days, — that poor Stoddart was reduced to a skeleton, and eaten up with vermin ; and that, unless they should be released soon, a mise- rable death must be their inevitable fate. Au- IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 327 thentic intelligence has since been received of the death of Conolly, but of his companion in misery nothing has been heard.* It may not be ge- nerally known that Col. Stoddart was one of the most able, patriotic, and noble-minded soldiers that the British army ever produced; an ornament to his profession, and an honour to his country. All who knew him will readily acknowledge the justice of this encomium, and will join in lament- ing that such a man should be sacrificed with impunity to the savage whim of a petty Oriental despot. August 9th. — Mahomed Akber having pro- mised to send Capt. Conolly ’s body for burial to Jellalabad, Major Pottinger sent to inquire this morning when it was to start, and received for answer from Akber that, “ until Pollock should make peace, neither living nor dead should be suffered to go.” The body was, therefore, buried this evening in the garden adjoining the fort. Capts. Troup and Lawrence returned from Jel- lalabad, and spent the night in the Bala Hissar. August 10 th. — The above-named officers re- joined us this morning, and informed us that their mission had led to no useful result. Gen. Pol- lock still demanded that all the prisoners should * The death of both these unfortunate officers is now beyond reasonable doubt. — E d. 328 ROUGH NOTES DURING be sent down immediately, which Akber as posi- tively refused to do without a written agreement. The crisis of our fate was consequently nigh at hand. About this time Mahomed Akber, having made several fruitless attempts to collect revenue in the Zoormut valley, at last sent the Meer Waiz, or high priest, thither for the purpose ; but “ his holiness” met with so little respect on this un- popular mission, that his horse was stolen, and he was obliged to return to Cabul on foot. Akber, demanding that the animal should be restored, was told that the owner must “ come and fetch him." Such is royalty in Affghanistan. If Ak- ber’s merits as a ruler may be judged by the fol- lowing anecdote, the future prospect of Affghan- istan under his sway are poor indeed. Shortly after his last assumption of power, under the title of Wuzeer, some Lohannee merchants, whose trade had been entirely stopped by the late anarchy, ventured to Cabul with a few goods, to feel their way. Akber no sooner heard of their arrival, than he sent for them to his house, — bought up all their stock — paid them honestly — gave them dresses of honour — and, having urged them to return shortly with their richest wares, dismissed them to their homes rejoicing. Of course they gave out every where that such a first-rate fellow as Akber had never before appeared in any age IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 329 or country. No time was lost in despatching a valuable cafila from Dera Islimael Khun to Cabul, which was accompanied by many of the richest Lohannees in person. Akber’s eager eye was on the look-out for their coming ; and scarcely had they set foot within the city, before he pounced upon them like a hawk upon his prey, despoiled them of all their merchandize, and levied a heavy fine upon the chiefs of the party. August 1 1 ih. — "VVe were thrown into no slight dismay this morning by the sudden stoppage of our supplies. No time was lost in sending in- formation to Akber, when it was discovered that the nazir, or steward, employed to supply us, being desirous to obtain payment for past ex- penses, had adopted this method of reminding Akber of his claims. The matter was soon set- tled, and our minds, as well as bodies, relieved. It was reported to us that an English officer had been seized in the disguise of a butcher in the Cabul bazar. This afterwards turned out to be a liajee, whom a thirst for adventure had brought from Arabia, via India, and being very, fair, he was mistaken for an European. Some would have it that he was a Russian spy. This morning Mahomed Akber placed the sacred person of Futty Jung, his royal master, in durance vile, having intercepted a letter from him to Gen. 330 ROUGH NOTES DURING Pollock, urging the latter to march up at once, when all would be well ; but warning him that, if he delayed much longer, an army would be col- lected to oppose him. August \2th. — Major Pottinger, together with the five hostages, joined us, bag and baggage, from the Bala Hissar, by command of Abker, who rudely told his people to “ take those dogs away A This we supposed to be preliminary to our removal to Bameean or elsewhere. Mrs. An- derson was pronounced in imminent danger to- night. August 1 3th. — Lawrence waited on Akber to ask him to give us two days’ warning before taking us off ; but he was told that we must be content with one hours notice. Akber also de- clared that all further negotiation with Gen. Pollock for our release being at an end, he should permit no more correspondence to take place be- tween us and our friends. He intended, however, as a last resource, to write a letter to Lord Ellen- borough direct. He mentioned^ having heard that Gen. Nott was positively en route from Candahar by the road of Dera Ishmael Khan; but whether he would turn off to Cabul, or pursue that road to India, was at present a mystery. Should his destination prove to be Cabul, we must be pre- IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 331 pared to be hurried off to some far distant country. Such was the information brought^ us by Capt. Lawrence. August 1 6th. — Futty Jung, of whose death by violence we had been hourly expecting to hear, was so fortunate as to effect his escape last night from Mahomed Akber’s clutches. The latter, it was said, immediately despoiled the prince’s wife and sisters of all their jewels. August 17 th. — Mrs. Smith, a poor European widow, servant to Mrs. Trevor, died of fever. Scarcely a single lady, officer, soldier, or child, had now escaped the disease, and we began to resemble a company of ghosts on a visit from the other world. August 1 9th. — Our stock of medicines being by this time almost entirely exhausted, Capt. Troup went to urge Akber to send a list of our wants to Jellalabad, which, however, he positively refused to do, so long as Gen. Pollock con- tinued to treat him as an enemy ; but he pro- mised that sufficient carriage should be provided for us all, in case of a march. Our servants were now strictly prohibited from going to the city, in consequence of their spreading reports to Akber’s detriment, and there is no doubt that the inha- bitants were by this time perfectly sick of their 332 ROUGH NOTES DURING new ruler, and were longing for the re-establish- ment of British influence. At midnight there was a thunder-clap in the hill above us, which so shook the house as to he at first mistaken for an earthquake ; and the rain fell so suddenly, that Captain Boyd, who happened to he sleeping on the roof, had no time to escape, and was drenched to the skin in his bed. August 23d. — The report was prevalent of an action having taken place near Gundamuck, from which several Affglians were said to have returned to Cabul wounded. Mahomed Akber, we learned, was at last preparing in earnest to meet Gen. Pollock in the field. Great was our surprise this morning, and un- feigned our delight, at the unlooked-for arrival amongst us of the nine officers taken prisoners at Ghuznee on the capitulation of the garrison of that fortress. They were, Col. Palmer, Capts. Alston and Poett, Lieuts. Harris, Nicholson, and Williams, of the 27th N. I., and Capt. Burnet and Lieut. Crawford, of the Shah’s ser- vice. The joy of the meeting was mutual, as they had heard most extravagant accounts of our ill treatment, as had we of theirs ; and it was a satisfaction to find that matters had not been quite so bad as represented. On comparing notes, however, we found that their treatment had been IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 333 much more harsh than our own, inasmuch as they had been kept closely shut up in a small room, without the advantage of air and exercise ; Col. Palmer, too, had once been subjected to torture, to force from him a disclosure as to the treasure, which he was suspected to have buried in the citadel. They were hurried off hither on the 20th, during the absence of Shumshoodeen Khan, the governor, who had marched towards Candahar, to oppose Gen. Nott; and it was supposed that Mahomed Akber had taken advan- tage of that chief’s absence, to carry them away by stealth, through the agency of his own friends. They arrived in the Bala Hissar last night, and were received with great courtesy by Akber, who inquired closely into the treatment which they had experienced. Akber and Shumshoodeen had not been on good terms for some time past. It will be remembered that Ghuznee was in- vested by the insurgents early in November, 1841. The city was defended for several weeks with great spirit, but the enemy gained admittance through the treachery of the Affghan inhabitants, by a hole made through the wall of a house ad- joining the rampart. The enemy once in the town, the garrison was obliged, after several in- effectual endeavours to dislodge the overwhelming 334 ROUGH NOTES DURING foe from tlie posts of vantage they occupied, to retire within the citadel. There they held out bravely, until their water failed ; when, being hemmed in by snow, and with no possibility of retreating, they had no other course left but to capitulate or perish. Gen. Elphinstone had sent a written order to Col. Palmer to evacuate the place, in compliance with the treaty concluded at Cabul. To this order Col. Palmer attended only when he had no other course left, and hy so doing he saved the greater portion of his garrison. No blame can possibly attach to him ; and though, as a matter of form, he must be tried, his honourable acquittal is certain : Affghan treachery was as conspicuous at Ghuznee as at Cabul. On an appointed day the garrison marched out to a quarter of the city allotted for their reception, Shumshoodeen Khan standing pledged to regard their lives and liberty. Lieut. Lumsden re- mained behind the rest with the rear guard, and was in a house with his wife awaiting the moment to march, when the murderous mob burst into the place and put the whole party to death. The regiment, too, after being separated from its officers, was called upon to surrender its arms, which several sepoys refusing to do, they were slaughtered and the rest made captives. Such IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 335 was the melancholy tale to which we now listened for the first time.* August 25th. — In the morning we were told that we should probably march at night. We therefore packed up our few necessaries, and got ready for a start. In vain we indulged in glim- mering hopes of a rescue. Too well we knew that no one had sufficient energy to attempt it. In the evening Captain Troup came from Akber, to see us off. Major Pottinger, being no favourite with the Wuzeer, was sent back to us ; and Capt. Bygrave was ordered to remain with him in the Major’s stead. At dusk our cattle arrived, and kujawurs (ca- mel-litters) for the sick. Mrs. Anderson and Mrs. Trevor, being too seriously ill to undertake a journey, without incurring certain death, were, with the utmost difficulty, allowed to remain be- hind with their families, and with Dr. Campbell as their medical attendant. All the rest, sick and otherwise, were forced to be on the alert ; and at half-past ten p. m., the moon being well risen, we started, — some in kujawurs, some on horseback. Our escort consisted of between 300 and 400 men, armed with muskets, and formed into a regiment, under the command of one Saleh Mahomed Khan, formerly a subadar in Capt. Hopkins’s Affghan * See Appendix for Lieut. Crawford’s own account. — Ed. 336 ROUGH NOTES DURING levy, who had rendered himself famous, or rather infamous, by deserting with all his men to Dost Mahomed at Bameean, in 1840. About half-a- dozen Hindoostanees, with bugles, fifes, and drums, formed a rude sort of band, and marched off in state at the head of the regiment. At another time we might have indulged in merriment at their expense ; but now we were too sick in heart and frame to exercise our sense of the ludicrous. Passing through the Logur gorge we crossed the Logur river by a bridge, and, pursuing a westerly course, reached the rich valley of Chardeh. August 2Qth. — At 9 a.m. we came to a halt at Killa Kazee on the Ghuznee road, after a journey of about sixteen miles. Part of our way was through narrow lanes, overhung by mulberry trees, under which the camels could not find a passage without subjecting the luckless inmates of the kujawurs to very rough treatment from the branches. Mrs. Main waring had the skin of her arm rubbed off in this manner, and some of the other ladies got severe knocks on the head ; the heed- less surwan, or camel-driver, meanwhile pursuing his course most philosophically, taking no notice whatever of the accidents in his rear, except now and then to give a malicious grin of satisfaction. I should have mentioned that most of the ladies now, for the first time, adopted in part the Affghan IMPRISONMENT IN AEFGHANISTAN. 337 dress, the outer garment of which consists of a large and white sheet completely shrouding the body, to which is attached the bourkha, or veil, of white muslin, with only a small open space of net- work opposite the eyes, to peep through. Hitherto they had all preferred adhering to their own costume, but now that they were going into unknown regions, where it would be desirable to attract as little notice as possible, the adoption of the national dress, when travelling, became a matter of expediency. At Killa Kazee we found Sultan Jan halting to breakfast, en route to Ghuz- nee, with about 50 followers, with full purpose to annihilate Gen. Nott. He having possession of the serai, our whole party were obliged to seek shelter under the scanty shade of three or four mulberry trees. Soon after Sultan Jan’s depar- ture, one of the officers went to the serai to beg for a room for the ladies and children, but was repelled with scorn, and asked, “ what he, an infidel, meant by entering the place with his shoes on ?” At noon we were joined by Dr. Berwick, with about thirty European soldiers of the sick detachment, under Lieut. Evans, H. M. 44th Foot. That officer, with Lieut. Haughton of the late Goorkha regiment, came up a few hours after- wards, both in a very sickly state. It will be re- membered that poor Haughton lost his right arm Q 338 ROUGH NOTES DURING from a wound received at Charekar, during the gallant defence of that place, in November, 1841. He had suffered the torture of a second amputa- tion, the first having been too hastily performed, and his subsequent sufferings had been severe. It is to be sincerely hoped that his unfortunate case will meet with the generous consideration of the Indian government. Major Pottinger received a letter to-day, by stealth, from Major Rawlinson, political agent at Candahar, informing him of Gen. Nott’s advance on Cabul. No provisions were served out the whole day to man or beast. In the evening Saleh Maho- med’s band committed deliberate murder on some old regimental tunes. August 27 th. — W e set out again at about 2 a.m. The road lay over the hill pass of Suffed KhaJc, into the small but beautiful valley of Maidan. We halted for a few minutes under a splendid grove of spreading poplars. About a mile be- yond this we encamped at Kat Ashroo, near the banks of a clear crystal stream, shaded by lofty poplars. Lower down the declivity, about the middle of the valley (which was here about a mile wide), there ran a small river carrying fertility along its banks. Picturesque clumps of poplars and willows here and there broke the view, the intervening space being filled up with green and IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN, 339 yellow fields of cultivation. Bare and rugged mountains every where bounded the landscape. Here, as we reclined our wearied limbs, and looked around on the smiling scene which every where charmed the eye, we wondered that the inhabitants of so favoured a spot should be in- sensible to the blessings of peace ; — that the loveliness of nature, and the quiet occupations of husbandry, should have so little power to soften the heart, and subdue the fierce passions of sa- vage men, who here, as elsewhere throughout Aflghanistan, have, like the untameable descend- ants of Esau, “ their hand against every man, and every man’s hand against them.” We were told that the whole of this seemingly peaceful valley was so distracted by blood feuds, that the inhabitants scarcely dared to venture a few hun- dred yards from their own dwelling. August 28th. — We moved on again at 2 a. m. The road continued up the valley, which, if pos- sible, improved in beauty as we proceeded. We halted within 4 miles of Sur Chusma, at Tak Khana, in a field bounded on one side by shady poplars, and on the other by a fine clear stream. This being the high road to Balk, we constantly met groups of asses laden with merchandise for the Cabul market, among which we could not be unconscious of the presence of assafoetida, q 2 340 ROUGH NOTES DURING which diffused its powerful and oppressive odour far and wide. Grapes, apples, pears, and apri- cots, were brought to us in great plenty for sale from the villages, and furnished a seasonable re- freshment after our journey of about 14 miles. No tents were pitched, and the fever patients suffered greatly from the damp air at night. August 29th. — We started at daybreak. A short march of nine miles to Oonai, within two miles of which place we passed a well-built fort, belonging to a Kuzzilbash chief, who, having heard of our approach, had kindly prepared a quantity of small cakes, which were distributed to us as we passed along. The road had a gradual ascent the whole way. We had now entered the country of the Huzarehs, a hardy independent race of people inhabiting the extensive mountain- ous tracts, which extend from that spur of the Hindoo Koosh which forms the western barrier of Ivohistan, to within a few miles of Herat. They are divided into sects, one professing the Soonee, the other the Sheedh tenets. The Kuz- zilbashes of Cabul, being Sheeahs, exercise con- siderable influence over the Huzarehs of that persuasion, who hold the best parts of the Bameean valley and its neighbourhood. The knowledge of this fact gave us some hopes of a rise in our favour, in the event of Akber sustaining any IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 341 signal defeat, the Kuzzilbashes having all along been our secret friends. August 30th. — We pursued our march at 3 a. m., and after the first mile we commenced ascending the Oonai pass, consisting of several steep ascents and descents for five miles. Here we came in sight of the Koh-i-baba, a lofty snow- clad mountain of the Indian Caucasus. The lattei part of the road was more level, descending gradually to the bed of the Helmund river, on the right bank of which we encamped at Gurdun- dewal. The Helmund was here about twenty-five yards broad, at this season, and about two feet deep. Some of the guard had a skirmish with a few Huzareli thieves, one of whom was killed, and two taken prisoners. The march to-day was about twelve miles, but very tedious. A beautiful species of Salvia was very abundant. August 31 st. — We started about 4 p. m. The road lay for six miles up the stony bed of a large stream, one of the tributaries of the Helmund. Here we passed a chalybeate spring, the water of which was greatly discoloured, and sparkled like soda water, which it very much resembled in taste. For the rest of the way we had gentle ascents. We passed much barley cultivation stil green in the ear, and encamped in the narrow valley of Kar-zar, where we found a fort in a q 3 342 ROUGH NOTES DURING state of siege, and the hill-sides covered with Huzarehs. It seems that the Chief of Gurdun- dewal demanded the toll of the road as his right, and was enforcing his claims with his armed retainers. September ls£. — We ascended the pass of Hajeeguk, the summit of which is 12,400 feet above the sea. The ascent was gradual and easy enough, but the descent very steep and long. About three miles led us into the valley of Kaloo, studded with a few poor-looking forts, and toler- ably well cultivated with wheat and barley ; but the crops seemed very backward, being still green in the ear. In these cold regions winter sometimes treads on the heels of summer, pushing autumn out of the way altogether ; and a severe frost will destroy the fruits of the husbandman’s industry, before the grain is yet ripe for the sickle. We crossed two broad and foaming torrents, the last a tributary of the Oxus. Boulders of granite were of frequent occurrence. The Koh-i-baba was now within a few miles on our left, and is probably composed of that rock. About the tenth mile brought us to the foot of the Kaloo pass, where the camp was pitched close to a small fort. A Hindoo servant of Col. Palmer, having offended some of our guard, was with difficulty rescued from a violent death. IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 343 September 2d. — At daybreak we commenced the ascent of the Kaloo mountain, forming part of the principal chain of the Indian Caucasus. The road being unsafe for camels, all the Kujawurs were filled with baggage, that the ladies and sick might ride on the ponies. The length of the as- cent was about tw r o miles, and the road very narrow and precipitous in many places. The summit is 13,400 feet above the sea. The view to the north presented a boundless chaos of barren mountains, probably unequalled in wild terrific grandeur. Bameean and its caves were dimly discernible in the distance. Some of the sick soldiers, who were forced to walk, were quite exhausted; and one poor fellow, who was too weak even to sit on a horse, it was found necessary to bind on a camel. The descent was very tedious and steep, and almost four miles in length. At the foot of the hill we enjoyed a few minutes’ rest, under the shade of some old willows by the side of a de- licious stream. These willows had straight spreading branches, and were totally unlike any others I had ever seen. We now entered a small cultivated valley with two small forts. En- camped at Killa Topchee. September 3d . — Saleh Mahomed Khan made his appearance this morning in a European officer’s q 4 344 HOUGH NOTES DURING blue frock coat, with shoulder-scales ; and his second-in-command blazed forth in an infantry officer’s full-dress scarlet uniform. This display of finery must have been intended to make a favourable impression on the inhabitants of Ba- meean. Our route lay down a narrow cultivated valley enclosed by low hills of red indurated clay, as- suming occasionally the most fantastic forms, until we reached the Bameean river, flowing eastward, which we crossed by a bridge, and then commenced to ascend the valley down which it takes its course. The cultivation along its banks was richer than we expected to see, and the Tir- hislch , or barberry, grew wild in great abundance, in company with a species of Hippophae, bearing a plentiful crop of small bright yellow berries. Seven miles more took us to Bameean, the ap- proach to which was very remarkable. The same clay hills lined the valley on either side, alter- nating in shade from deep red to bluish grey, and forming here and there long lines of perpendicular cliff. The vast assemblage of caves, for which the place is celebrated, became visible at a great dis- ance, and the ancient citadel of Gulguleh, with its lofty ruined towers, crowning an isolated pyramidal hill, rising behind the scene, formed IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 345 a striking and imposing object. We passed several small AfFghan forts, and halted at one somewhat better than the rest, where we had just got our tents pitched and our breakfast in a state of forwardness, when we were peremptorily or- dered to remount and move a few miles higher up the valley. We were very loth to obey; but neither sulky looks, nor open remonstrances, had any effect 'on Saleh Mahomed, and onward we travelled in that sort of temper peculiar to hungry men disappointed of their morning’s meal. On our way we passed close by the famous colossal images, sculptured in a cliff, which was about 300 feet in height, and perforated with hundreds of caves rising one above the other in irregular stories. The first figure we passed was that of a female, 120 feet high; the body covered with a clever representation of thin drapery ; the po- sition easy and natural. The upper part of the face is entirely destroyed. About 400 yards further on, in the same cliff, stands the male figure, about 160 feet high, and clothed in a similar fashion with a light drapery. The mouth alone remains a perfect feature of the face, and is well formed. Each figure is sculp- tured in a deep recess, having an ornamented ceiling, on which are painted what seem intended to represent ancient kings and queens, and a q 5 346 ROUGH NOTES DURING variety of emblematic personages, whose mystery it would be difficult, at this remote date, to clear up to the satisfaction of the Society of Antiquaries. There are openings at the head and feet of both images, which are connected by galleries and stairs cut inside the rock. The whole long line of excavations forms a wonderful scene, and carries the fancy back thousands of years, to a date at which a widely different race peopled the country from any now existing. A few of the caves were still inhabited by the lower orders. About a mile beyond this spot we halted at a small fort, in which the ladies were offered quarters, but of so unprepossessing an appearance, that they earnestly requested per- mission to remain in the tents, preferring solar heat, with pure air, to the darkness and filth of a mud hovel confined within close walls. The place was therefore made over to the poor soldiers, to whom it was really acceptable. The soaring snow-clad peaks of Koh-i-baba have a majestic aspect from this point of view ; although from the south side they had somewhat disap- pointed our expectations. The ancient city of Gulguleh was destroyed by Kbenghis Khan in the thirteenth century. Its ruins cover a considerable extent of ground. The place then sunk into a state of insignificance, from IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 347 which it has never emerged ; and the scanty popu- lation is now dispersed over the valley, among a few small forts belonging to Huzareh chiefs. This evening Saleh Mahomed Khan boasted aloud before his men, that Gen. Nott’s force had been entirely cut up at Ghuznee, by Shumshoo- deen.. This was probably intended to check de- sertion, to which many of them seemed much inclined, in consequence of irregular pay and scanty food. The only fuel here attainable is a small round prickly plant, as impenetrable as a hedgehog, called by the natives “ Khola-i-Huzareh” or the Huzareh’s Cap. It seemed a species of acantho- phyllum. The portion served out to each mess barely sufficed to boil a kettle. September 4?lh . — Saleh Mahomed took Capt. Lawrence this morning to look at another fort, which he proposed as a habitation for the ladies and officers ; hut Lawrence told him that, although it might be fit for Affghans and cattle, it certainly was not so for us, — being full of filth and vermin. Saleh Mahomed, upon this, declared that, if any of us should escape, he would kill the rest. He was evidently anxious, for some reason or another, to get us into a place of security, and much an- noyed by our squeamishness on the subject. A little rain fell during the night. q 6 348 ROUGH NOTES DURING Sept. 5tli. — I obtained leave to visit the ca es and images, one of the guard accompanying me. A walk of one mile brought me to the base of the male figure, the size of which on a near ap- proach seemed really stupendous. Along the sides of the recess, in which it is carved, are ranges of large circular chambers with vaulted ceilings. The image has been greatly mutilated by cannon shot, for which act of religious zeal credit is given to Nadir Shah. One circumstance struck me as remarkable, — which was, that in all those parts where the limbs are deficient, there are regular rows of small holes, in which pieces of wood have been stuck, for the evident purpose of making plaster adhere. From this it would appear either that an attempt had been made to restore the mutilated parts by these means, or that the figure was originally only partially sculp- tured in the rock, and the deficiencies made up with plaster in the manner I have mentioned. From the apparent facility with which, from the softness of the rock, the image might have been chiselled perfect at the first, I incline to the be- lief that an attempt has been since made to repair the work of destruction, during some temporary success of the heathen inhabitants against their Mahomedan invaders. The cliff is composed of that species of conglomerate known by the name IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 349 of pudding-stone, consisting of very hard clay, thickly studded with various kinds of rounded pebbles. I ascended to the top of the female image by a series of stairs and galleries, the labour of exca- vating which through the solid rock must have been immense. From the main gallery others branched off in all directions, communicating with distant chambers. While sitting on the lady’s crown, enjoying a splendid view of the country, I was joined by some of the inhabitants, who were very inquisitive to know what was written in our books concerning the place. I told them it was generally supposed that Alexander the Great founded a city there. His fame is diffused so generally among all classes in AfFghanistan, that I was pretty certain my information would prove satisfactory. After a long chat on late events, these men assured me that the whole po- pulation of the valley were favourable to the English, whose rule they preferred to any other, and that all the chiefs were most anxious we should be released and peace he restored. On my return I found Saleh Mahomed’s hand hammer- ing away at their only tune, with extraordinary zeal and perseverance, to an admiring crowd of strangers, who seemed perfectly entranced by the brilliant performance. The Affghans have a de- 350 ROUGH NOTES DURING cidecl taste for music, and quickly discern the beauties of a tune to which a Hindoo would listen with utter indifference. At Cabul the hand-stand of Her Majesty’s 13th was a favourite resort with the respectable classes, and their own national melodies, when chaunted in the open air, are by no means displeasing to an European ear. — Gunner M‘Crae, of the Artillery, was buried this evening. September 6th. — I accompanied Lady Sale on a second trip to the caves. Her Ladyship, who is well skilled in numismatics, at the first glance pronounced the figures painted on the ceiling over the images to he identical with those on many Sassanian coins. This, if really the case, may throw considerable light on the history of these curious relics of antiquity. After our re- turn to camp, a feu-de-joie was fired by the guard for the evacuation of Candahar by our troops. September 8th. — Several desertions took place from among the men of our guard, and Saleh Ma- homed at last insisted on our moving into a fort for better security. One of his subordinate offi- cers, having spoken insolently on parade, was condemned to part with his long black beard, and the barber was summoned to carry the sen- tence into effect before the men. This is the greatest indignity which a Mahomedan can suffer, IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 351 and the fellow looked not a little disgusted, but was forced to submit amidst the jeers of bis comrades. Sept. 9 th. — A fort being reported ready for our reception, we moved into it. The interior space was crowded with low and filthy mud ho- vels, lately the abode of sheep and oxen. On entering our new apartments, we found ourselves for a few minutes in total darkness, until, our eyes becoming reconciled to the gloom, we dis- cerned small holes in the roof, intended to repre- sent windows, through which a few questionable rays of light struggled for admittance. In Aff- ghanistan air and light are considered superfluous luxuries in a dwelling-house : but, to make up for these deficiencies, our olfactory nerves were brought into active exercise. Although very much disgusted in heart, we had no alternative but to grin and bear it. Five respectable Lohanee merchants, who happened to be strolling near the walls of the fort, were seized by Saleh Mahomed, on pretence of having been discovered holding secret communication with us, but in reality for the purpose of extorting money from them. Sept. 10 th. — Zoolficar Khan, the governor of Bameean, came early in the morning to demand the release of the Lohanee merchants. Saleh 352 ROUGH NOTES DURING Mahomed, however, assumed very consequential airs, and said he would imprison the Governor himself should he he convicted of a similar of- fence. After much bravado of this kind, he released the men, and Zoolficar Khan took his departure, not over-pleased at his uncourteous reception. Sept. 1 1th. — The crisis, which we had so long been anticipating with dread, at length arrived. A decisive order was received by Saleh Mahomed, from Mahomed Akber Khan, for our instant march to Kooloom. All hope of deliverance seemed now at an end, and we endeavoured calmly to resign ourselves to a fate that seemed inevitable. But Providence had mercifully or- dained otherwise. — At 10 a.m., to our unbounded astonishment, Major Pottinger came to inform us that Saleh Mahomed Khan had offered to make us over to the British General, on condition of our securing to him the payment of 20,000 rupees in ready cash, and 1000 rs. per mensem for life. Major Pottinger, together with Capts. Lawrence and Johnson, had immediately closed with his offer, and had signed their names to a document, whereby they guaranteed the payment of the above reward. To this Capt. Mackenzie, on becoming acquainted with the circumstances, became likewise a party ; and the rest of us (with IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 353 the exception of one, who refused to co-operate, on the ground of the measure being precipitate*, but who did, I believe, afterwards join in it,) signed another paper, in which we stood pledged to save those four officers from loss, in case the government should refuse to sanction the expen- diture. We afterwards learned that we were in a great measure indebted for this sudden turn of affairs in our favour to Ali Kuzul Khan, and other Kuzzilbash chiefs, in concert with Mohun Lall (late Moonshee to Sir Alexander Burnes), who sent Syud Moorteezzer to Bameean to negotiate with Saleh Mahomed for our release, Mohun Lall promising a liberal reward in the name of the British government, f Saleh Mahomed’s offer to Major Pottinger was the result of the Syud’s mission, which the news of Gen. Pollock’s triumphant advance on Cabul tended, without doubt, to facilitate. It also fortunately happened that Saleh Mahomed’s family at this time in- habited the Chundoul, and the Kuzzilbashes threatened to visit on them any injury he should suffer to befall us, the fear of which had induced * Major Pottinger says, that Major General Shelton and Colonel Palmer declined affixing their signatures to any such paper, lest they should implicate themselves with Mahomed Akber. See his letter to General Pollock, Pari. Pap. No. 512. — Editor. f See Mohun Lall’s letter, Appendix E. — Editor. 354 ROUGH NOTES DURING one of his brothers to come out to Bameean, for the purpose of prevailing on him to accede to the terms proffered for our release. The bait proved, as has been seen, irresistible, and we were all now, with him at our head, fairly embarked in the dangerous vortex of an Affghan conspiracy. The first point to be settled was, how to deal with a man called the Meer Akhor, who had accom- panied our party from Cabul, as a sort of po- litical colleague to Saleh Mahomed Khan. He was well known to be one of Mahomed Akber’s most faithful and confidential adherents ; of his co-operation we could, therefore, entertain no hope, and of his continued presence, as he com- manded a party of 100 Ghiljie horse, it was desirable to get rid as soon as possible. It was accordingly contemplated to seize his person on the first fair occasion that might offer. In the evening Saleh Mahomed paraded his men, when they were very clamorous for pay, and declared their intention to proceed no further, unless their wants were supplied. This little scene was pro- bably got up as a blind for the Meer Akhor. Sept. 12th . — At an early hour Saleh Ma- homed’s flag of defiance was displayed on one of the towers of our fort. A supply of money being much wanted, to keep the troops in good humoui', a cafila was intercepted from Bokhara, and about IMPRISONMENT IN A FFG PIANIST AN 355 400 rupees extorted by way of tax. Major Pot- tinger next adopted the bold step of appointing a new governor of the province, in the name of the British government. Presents and promises w r ere at the same time liberally dispensed to the neig-h- bouring Huzareh chiefs, who almost unanimously declared in our favour. In the evening Zoolficar Khan himself (the old governor) thought it advisable to send and tender his submission. Major Pottinger, in reply, re- minded him that he owed his advancement origi- nally to the English, and now had an opportunity to prove himself a friend, in which case his reward should be proportionate to his services. At night we were assured that the whole Huzareh popu- lation of the valley were on our side, and ready to take up arms against Akber, even should he appear with a thousand horse to back him. Altogether the plot prospered beyond our most sanguine expectations. Sept. 1 3th. — The two small forts at this time occupied by ourselves and the European soldiers, and which were only one hundred yards apart, being deemed by Saleh Mahomed ill-adapted for defence, he proposed removing us to another fort about two miles lower down the valley, which, prevented our making immediate preparations for a siege. 356 ROUGH NOTES DURING As Mahomed Akber’s arrival was to be hourly- expected (in flight from Gen. Pollock’s army), we were impatient to get every thing in proper trim against a surprise ; and it seemed to us that Saleh Mahomed was much too dilatory in taking the necessary precautions. We now learned, for the first time, that he had yesterday received a second letter from Mahomed Akber, urging him to hurry us off to Kooloom without delay, and in- structing him to put to death all who, from sick- ness or the want of a conveyance, might be unable to travel. It is but fair to add that none of our party actually saw this letter, and that we have since had reason to doubt whether Saleh Mahomed really received any such murderous order. The story was most probably an invention of his own, to enhance the value of his services. The Meer Akhor had meanwhile become aware of what was passing, and wisely took himself off to the fort of Zoolficar Khan. In the course of the day he sent to assure Major Pottinger that he was his very dutiful servant. Saleh Mahomed, distrusting his professions and those of Zoolficar Khan, kept the troops under arms all the morning, and paraded them about for two or three hours, with drums beating and colours flying, hoping by this display of strength to intimidate his adver- saries. IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 357 Some members of the Meer TVaiz’s family, amongst whom were several females, passing along the road en route from Cabul to Toorkistan, Saleh Mahomed ordered them to halt. Two men of the party, upon this, rode up to remonstrate. One grave, conceited Moollah was instantly pulled from his horse to the ground, where he lay for some minutes looking most ludicrously astounded ; the soldiers meanwhile venting their abuse at the pi- tiful scoundrels, who, as they declared, “ having been foremost in exciting their countrymen to rebel, were now sneaking off with their families to a place of safety, leaving their deluded fol- lowers to be destroyed.” After a short detention they were permitted to proceed on their way ; Saleh Mahomed probably thinking it impolitic to offer any further indignity to relations of so powerful a personage as the High-Priest of Cabul. Saleh Mahomed, in the course of conversation with some of the officers to-day, said that he supposed we should no sooner find ourselves fairly out of his clutches, in the Bri- tish camp, than we should turn round upon him and exclaim, “ You be d — d ! ” (using the English words). Major Pottinger both to-day and yes- terday wrote to communicate our situation to Gen. Pollock, of whose arrival at Cabul we now daily expected to hear. 358 ROUGH NOTES DURING Sept. 14 th. — It being at length settled that we should remain in our present position, we lost no time in preparing the two forts for a siege. Our first step towards this was to raise a subscription amongst ourselves of 500 rupees, as a common fund for provisioning the two garrisons. Saleh Mahomed likewise busied himself in laying in supplies for his men. The water was turned into the ditches, and a promise was made of arms for officers and men, if procurable. Meanwhile we received ample encouragement from all quarters, and were assured that the whole country from Sir-i-chushm to Syghan was friendly to our cause. This evening several chiefs had a conference with Saleh Mahomed and Major Pottinger, when they solemnly commenced their proceedings by repeat- ing the Futtiah, — a prayer used by the faithful on all important occasions, — and they concluded with an oath of fidelity to us throughout the pre- sent undertaking. Towards midnight we were all aroused from sleep by the drums beating to arms, and we rushed out in haste, making sure that Akber was in sight. We were told that 100 horsemen had been discerned, in the direction of the caves, by Saleh Mahomed’s brother, and that, on being chal- lenged, they had returned no answer. All were soon on the alert, and skirmishing parties were IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 359 sent out in all directions to reconnoitre. We spent an anxious hour, expecting every instant to be attacked, but all remained quiet; and, as the scouts reported the coast clear, we resumed our broken slumbers. Sept. 5th. — This evening we heard that Gen. Nott had taken and destroyed Ghuznee ; that Gen. Pollock’s army was fast drawing near to Cabul ; and that M. Akber was a fugitive in Koliistan. Saleh Mahomed, conceiving that the time had at length arrived when we might com- mence our retrograde movements with tolerable safety, gave us notice to be prepared for a march on the following morning. In the afternoon the Huzarehs brought us horses for sale, though at most exorbitant prices, and a few swords and muskets were distributed among the officers and men. Sept. 1 6th . — With hearts fluttering between hope and anxiety, w r e issued forth from our com- fortless prison, and at sunrise commenced our flight. The inhabitants of the several forts lined the road to witness our departure, and to express their good wishes for our success. Several of our party were still suffering from relapses of fever, and, sad to relate, a poor private of H. M. 44th expired on the journey. Retracing our steps down the Bameean valley, we reached our former 360 ROUGH NOTES DURING encampment at Killa Topchee. Here a Persian letter to Major Pottinger’s address was received, giving a confused and imperfect, but still very acceptable, detail of Gen. Pollock’s victory at Tezeen. At night we were still further elated by the arrival of a note from Sir R. Shakespear, military secretary to Gen. Pollock, dated at Sir-i- chushm, and stating that he had advanced thus far on his road to our relief, with a party of 600 Kuzzilbash horsemen. Sept. 17th. — Recrossing the Kaloo mountain, we encamped near a fort about three miles from its base, where we had rested only a couple of hours, when a body of horse were descried de- scending into the valley down the distant pass of Hajeejuk. In an instant all were on the alert, straining our eyes to catch a glimpse of (as we fondly believed) our expected liberators ; nor were our hopes disappointed. The nearer approach of the party, as they crossed the valley, enabled us to recognise the friendly banner of the Kuzzilbash streaming in the air. Saleh Mahomed had by this time formed up his men in martial array, ready to receive friend or foe, as the case might be. A few mi- nutes more of eager suspense elapsed, when Sir Ricnmond Shakespear, galloping up to where we IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 361 stood, bade us rejoice at our accomplished de- livery, and dissipated every doubt. At length we felt the blessed assurance of free- dom ; the heavy burden which had oppressed our hearts for nine tedious months was removed ; and from that moment we were altered beings. Our gallant countryman was greeted on our side with no boisterous cheers of triumph, for all seemed alike conscious that the utterance of such sounds would but inaptly express the deep feel- ings of gratitude, that agitated our inmost hearts. Our joy was too great, too overwhelming, for the tongue to utter, as it is for my feeble pen to de- scribe. That we should have escaped unhurt, with so many delicate women, young children, and tender infants, through such numerous perils, fa- tigues, and privations, and above all, from the hands of such merciless enemies as Akbar Khan and his Giljye confederates, seemed at first too much for the senses to realize ; nor could even the most thoughtless among us fail to recognize and acknowledge, in all that had befallen us, the distinguishing grace and protecting providence of a forbearing and merciful God, We now for the first time learned that Gen. Pollock had reached Cabul on the 15th instant, where one of his first acts had been to hasten the departure of the Kuzzilbashes to our aid, by a donation of 10,000 R 362 ROUGH NOTES DURING rupees. To pay tliis sum, Sir R. Shakespear had been despatched to the Cliandoul, the Kuzzil- bash quarter of Cabul, where finding a party in readiness to start for Bameean, and rightly judg- ing that the presence among them of an English officer would quicken their energies and accele- rate the completion of their designs, he forthwith determined to act on his own responsibility ; and exchanging his English uniform for a respectable Affg'han costume, he joined them in quest of his captive countrymen. Saleh Mahomed Khan, although at first somewhat jealous that the Kuz- zilbashes should have deprived him of the sole credit of our release, was speedily reassured by the lavish praises of Sir Richmond, who, as a mark of the highest honour that a superior can pay to an inferior, lifted the turban from off his own head, and placed it on that of the Affghan.* Sept. 18 th. — Mahomed Akber and many of his most powerful adherents being still at large, it seemed highly probable that they would yet make a desperate effort to recover their lost prey, and that all their remaining influence would be exerted to intercept our flight. Sir R. Shakespear consequently lost no time in forwarding to Gen. Pollock an earnest request that troops might be instantaneously sent out * See Appendix F. for a letter from the liberated captives to Sir R. Shakespear, and his reply. IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANI3TAN. 363 to our support, especially as the pass of Suffed Khak, through which we must pass, was reported to he occupied by a hand of hostile marauders. It was at the same time determined that we should hasten forward by forced marches, for which every facility was liberally afforded by the Kuzzilbash chiefs, in supplying us with fresh horses, our own animals being too ill-conditioned for rapid progress. At dawn we accordingly resumed our march, and recrossing the Hajeejuk Pass, the summit of which was now intensely cold, we descended to the banks of the Helmund, stopping to refresh our- selves on the way with draughts of the mineral spring, which I have before mentioned. Some of our Kuzzilbash friends, being told that the water was medicinal, and seeing us drink it with so much apparent zest, immediately fancied it must be a sort of elixir vitae, or sovereign specific for every human ailment, and tossed it down most greedily. One old fellow in particular, who de- clared himself to have been a martyr to rheuma- tism for several years, was in a perfect ecstacy of delight, and, having swallowed as much as would have slaked the thirst of an elephant, trotted on in the full belief that he had at length got rid of his enemy. It would have been cruel to undeceive him. R 2 364 ROUGH NOTES DURING Sept. 19 th. — Our next march was to Tak- khana, a distance of thirty miles. On the way some of us stopped for a few minutes to partake of some sour curds and sweet cakes, which a .Kuz- zilbash chief had prepared for us by the side of one of those small gushing rivulets, the glad- dening murmur of whose crystal waters so con- stantly greets the traveller’s ear throughout Afghanistan. After recrossing the Oonai Pass, we found the hospitable old chief, whose fort stands at the base (and whose attention to us on our journey up to Bameean, under far different circumstances, I have already recorded), awaiting our arrival under the shade of some poplars by the road-side, where carpets were spread for our reception, and some excellent tea was served out to us in small china cups, quite in the European fashion. Here my friend Capt. Mackenzie being taken ill, I remained with him until evening, when our worthy old host insisted on escorting us to camp in person, the road being too unsafe to admit of our travelling alone. On the way we passed a peasant with some tempting-looking fish, on which the old gentleman having seen us cast a longing eye, immediately commenced bargaining for them ; hut, having no money on his person, he was obliged to pawn his snuff-box for the IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 365 price. On our arrival in camp, he insisted on our accepting his purchase, and, as he was an inveterate snuff-taker, this little act of kindness must have cost him no small self-denial, and may not be deemed altogether unworthy of record. At night we obtained information that some hostile chief, with a thousand followers, had reached Kaloo, to intercept our flight a few hours after our departure, and would probably make an effort to overtake us. The Kuzzilbashes, appre- hending a night attack, were desirous to remove the ladies into a fort, but we were overruled in this by Sir R. Shakespear, who seemed to think it not unlikely that his fair friends might turn rebellious at the bare idea of being again im- mured in an Affghan fort, even for one night. Fortunately, no foe appeared to disturb our repose. Sept. 20 th. — At early dawn we started for Argundee, distant twenty-five miles, where we had every hope of finding a British force on their route to our assistance. Once more we traversed the lovely valley of Maidan, and halted about half way r , to refresh ourselves by the shady banks of a delicious stream, where we again did ample justice to the rude fare prepared for us by the Kuzzilbashes. Resuming our journey, we pre- sently encountered an English officer, who gave r 3 366 ROUGH NOTES DURING us the welcome information that Gen. Sale’s brigade was only a few miles distant on the road to meet us, and, on our shortly afterwards reach- ing the town of Kot-Ashroo, a body of H. M. 3d Dragoons, with a squadron of the 1st Bengal Cavalry, burst suddenly upon our view, picketed in some adjacent fields. To describe what fol- lowed I borrow a passage from one of my own letters to a friend : — “ All doubt was now at an end ; we were once more under the safeguard of British troops: Gen. Sale was there in person ; and his happiness at regaining his long lost wife and daughter can be imagined; the gallant vete- ran’s countenance was an index of his feelings, and apathetic indeed must have been the heart that failed to sympathize with his holy joy. The camp was still a few miles further on, and we formed a procession of glad spirits as we moved along towards the pass of Suffed-Kak, whose heights we could discern crowned with British bayonets. These we found to be a part of the brave 13th Light Infantry, who, as the ladies successively ascended the hill, raised three hearty cheers to each of them, — sounds never to be forgotten, producing a thrill of ecstasy through the whole frame. The Mountain guns, under Capt. Backhouse, wound up the scene with a royal salute.” Fervent were our aspirations of praise to Heaven at this happy, and of late un- IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 367 looked for, termination of all our hardships and anxieties. Surely never has the hand of Pro- vidence been more clearly' discernible, than in the wonderful preservation of so many ladies and children, through scenes of a nature to quail the stoutest heart and injure the strongest constitu- tion ; but more particularly in restraining the wrath of savage men, whose intense hatred of us was only equalled by their unscrupulous cruelty, and who longed to wreak their revenge upon us for the wrongs, whether real or fancied, that they had suffered at the hands of our nation. Our friends in camp at Argundee received us with overflowing kindness, and we soon found ourselves in circumstances far more favourable than we had known for nine tedious months of suffering and sorrow. Sept. 21 st . — We marched on with the brigade to Killa-Kazee , where we had only a few days before been received with insult and abuse. The very house, that then refused us a shelter, was now in flames ; so that vengeance did not, in this in- stance, tarry long. At 2 p. m. we started for Gen. Pollock’s camp, on the plain east of Cabul, Near the tomb of the Emperor Baber we passed Gen. Nott’s camp. Our road lay thence through the city. The streets were almost empty, and an unnatural silence prevailed. What a contrast to r 4 368 ROUGH NOTES DURING the noise and bustle of former days! We passed the spot where Sir Alexander Burnes’s house had stood. — It was now a heap of rubbish. — The garden, in which he took so much interest and pride, was a desolate waste. It was here that I had last enjoyed his fascinating society, as he pointed out to me the successful results of his labours and experiments, and looked forward with enthusiasm to the rapid amelioration of the country, through the agency of British enterprise and skill. What an instructive lesson was now before me of the fallacy of human hopes, and the insuffi- ciency of earthly honours, or the objects of even a lawful ambition, to satisfy the soul of man ! We entered Gen. Pollock’s camp at sunset. Again the artillery uttered its boist.rous notes of welcome, and old friends crowded around us with warm congratulations. For the present our cup of joy was full. Our fellow-captives, whom we had left behind at Shewukkee, were likewise in safety, having been liberated shortly after Akber’s defeat by a party of Kuzzilbashes, headed by Jan Fishau Khan, a man whose invariable fidelity to the English has rendered him houseless, child- less, and penniless, and who richly deserves the highest honours and rewards that a grateful go- vernment can bestow. Capt. Bygrave, who had left us on our departure from Shewukkee to join IMPRISONMENT IN AFFGHANISTAN. 369 Akber, alone was wanting, having been made the unwilling companion of that chief’s flight to Goorbund. Knowing him to be a favourite with Akber, we felt no doubt of his personal safety, though we knew by experience that his situation must be sufficiently miserable. On the 27th we were relieved from all further suspense and anxiety on his account by his actual arrival in camp, accompanied by our old friend and keeper Mahomed Rufeek. He had been suffering greatly from fever, but had experienced most kind treat-* ment from Akber and the Giljye chiefs who still adhered to him. The wily Akber had be- trayed no signs of discomposure at our escape, whatever he may have felt, and even professed himself well pleased to hear of our safety.* At all events he had the good sense to perceive that the further detention of his sole remaining prisoner could serve no good purpose, while by restoring him to liberty he might found a claim to credit for magnanimity, and perhaps in some degree conciliate the British government. Nor is the act altogether devoid of grace, when it is remembered that clemency to an unbelieving foe is neither a principle of the Mahomedan creed, nor a characteristic of the Affghan people. * For a complete list of prisoners recovered, see Appendix H.— Ed. 370 ROUGH NOTES DURING IMPRISONMENT, &C. It is impossible to take leave of Mahomed Akber Khan without regretting that a man so highly endowed by nature with talents and quali- ties, which, properly improved and cultivated, might have rendered him both an ornament and a blessing to his country, should, by blindly follow- ing the wild impulse of his passions, have perpe- trated enormities, which have placed him beyond the pale of even Christian forgiveness, and en- tailed an incalculable amount of misery on his unhappy country. By me little more remains to be said. It has been my task to record a tale of unparalleled dis- aster to the British arms, which had hitherto been identified only with triumph and renown throughout the Eastern world. — The past could not be recalled ; but in one short year our wounded honour has been healed, and our martial reputation vindicated. The victorious armies of Pollock and Nott have satisfactorily proved that our soldiers, both European and native, are still invincible. It will be the pleasing task of abler writers to detail the heroic achievements, which terminated in the re-conquest of Ghuznee and Cabul, the recovery of British captives, and the restoration of the deposed Ameer, Dost Ma- homed Khan. APPENDIX. CONTENTS OE THE APPENDIX. A. Letter from Capt. Colin Mackenzie to Lieut. Eyre, giving an Account of his Defence of Brigadier An- quetil’s Fort - Page 375 B. No. 1. Despatch of Major- Gen. Elphinstone to the Secretary to the Government - 386 No. 2. and 3. Extracts from Memorandum of Major- Gen. Elphinstone - 388 C. Parliamentary Papers. No. 1. Translation of a Communication from Mahomed Akber to Gen. Pollock - 391 No. 2. Conversation between Sirdar Mahomed Akber Khan, Major Pottinger, and Capt. Troup - 393 No. 3. Gen. Pollock to the Secretary to Government 394 D. Lieut. Crawford’s Account of the Loss of Ghuznee, &c. 396 E. Letter from Mohun Lall - - - - 412 F. Letter from the released Prisoners to Sir Richmond Shakespear, and his Reply - - - 417 G. List of Civil and Military Officers killed at and near Cabul ; and also those saved of the Cabul Force 419 H. List of Prisoners released - 424 APPENDIX. A. The following is the communication from Captain Colin Mackenzie referred to in the Author’s preface, and at pp. 25. 44., which did not arrive with the first MS. — Editor. Letter from Capt. Colin Mackenzie to Lieut. V. Eyre. My dear Eyre, As you wish for an account of the manner in which I was besieged in the Kela-i-Nishan Khan, in the breaking out of the Cabul insurrection, I comply, although unwilling to appear so often in the first per- son, as I necessarily must, in order to give you a clear idea of the fatal nature of the blunder committed, in not sending me assistance from cantonments. I have by me a copy of some notes, which I made at the request of the late Major Thain, then Aide-de-Camp to our lamented chief, General Elphinstone. You are aware that the fort, in which I chanced to be living, con- tained the godowns of the Shah’s commissariat ; and that in one part the quarters of Brigadier Anquetil were situated. For the defence of these, a guard of 376 APPENDIX. one havildar, two naicks, and eighteen sepoys had been assigned. The fort itself lies between that quarter of Cabul called the Moorad Khanah and its most western suburb, the Deh-i-Affghan. The Cabul river flows between the fort and the Kuzzilbash quarter (the Chundoul), to the south. Close to it, to the north, divided by a narrow road and a high wall, is a large grove of mulberry trees, known by the name of the Yaboo Khanah, in which the Yaboos of the Shah’s commissariat used to be kept ; but from which, to- wards the end of October, 1841, they had fortunately been removed into camp at Seeah Sung. In this Yaboo Khanah was a guard of six suwars; and, by chance, a detachment of a jemadar, and ninety-five men of Cap- tain Ferris’s Juzailchees; as also another of the Shah’s sappers, consisting of one jemadar and fifty-nine men, including havildars and naicks. These last were en- cumbered with a host of women and children, brought up from their native country with them by the express orders of the Supreme Government. The house of Captain Troup, late Brigade-Major of the Shah’s force, built so as to be capable of a tolerable defence, is about forty yards to the east of the fort, across a nar- row canal ; and the large tower, occupied by the late Captain Trevor and his family, lies across the river to the south-east, distant about 700 yards. This also, at the time, was perfectly defensible. You will easily perceive that, with these posts in our possession, and commanding, as we did, the open space between us, it was a point of importance to maintain our ground until the arrival of what we hourly expected, a regi- ment from the cantonment, whose presence would have immediately decided the wavering Kuzzilbashes APPENDIX. 377 in our favour, and would have cut off all communica- tion between the insurgent population of Deh-i-Aff- ghan and their rascally brethren in the Moorad Khanah. Spreading far beyond the Yaboo Khanah, in the direction of cantonments, and circling round the west of the fort down to the river’s edge, are walled gardens and groves, which afford excellent cover to a lurking enemy, who were enabled to come, without much danger, to within a few yards of my defences. Early on the morning of the 2d of November, 1841, as I was preparing to go into cantonments with my baggage, intending to accompany the Envoy on the following day down to Peshawur, it was reported to me that an alarming riot had taken place in the town. Brigadier Anquetil and Captain Troup had gone out on their usual morning ride, not supposing the dis- turbance was of the importance it has since proved to be. I waited for the return of the above two officers for about an hour, previous to adopting decided mea- sures, either for defence or retreat, — at the same time causing all the guards to stand to their arms. Sud- denly a naked man stood before me, covered with blood, from two deep sabre cuts in the head, and five musquet-shots in the arm and body. He proved to be a suwar of Sir W. Macnaghten, who had been sent with a message to Captain Trevor, but who had been intercepted by the insurgents. This being rather a strong hint as to how matters were going on, I imme- diately gave orders for all the gates to be secured, and personally superintended the removal of the detach- ments in the Yaboo Khanah, with their wives and families, into the fort. At the same time I caused loopholes to be bored in the upper walls of Captain 378 APPENDIX. Troup’s house, in which were a naick and ten sepoys. Whilst so employed, the armed population of Deh-i- Affghan came pouring down through the gardens, and commenced firing on us. I threw out skirmishers ; but, in order to save the helpless followers, tve were obliged to abandon the tents and baggage. In cover- ing the retreat, one of my men was killed, and one badly wounded ; while about five of the enemy were killed. The whole of the gardens were then occupied by the Affghans, from which, in spite of repeated sallies made during the day, we were unable to dislodge them ; on the contrary, whenever we returned into the fort, they approached so near as to be able, them- selves unseen, to kill an$l wound my men through the loopholes of my own defences. The canal was during the day cut off, and so closely watched, that one of my followers was shot, while trying to fetch some water; but we fortunately found an old well in Briga- dier Anquetil’s quarters, the water of which was drink- able. Towards the afternoon, having no ammunition, but what was contained in the soldiers’ pouches, I communicated with Captain Trevor, who still held his tower, apparently unmolested. Even then., Khan Shereen Khan, the chief of the Kuzzilbashes, and four or five other Khans of consequence, among them the leaders of the Hazirbash regiments, were with poor Trevor, earnestly expecting that some decided measures on the part of the British icould justify them in openly taking our part. * * During the expedition into Kokistan, under General Mac- caskill, I accompanied it, having been placed by General Pol- lock in charge of Shahzadee Shapoor and the Kuzzilbash camp. In my frequent communications with Khan Shereen Khan, some APPENDIX. 379 Trevor despatched my requisition, for ammunition at least, if not for more effectual assistance, into canton- ments, where it arrived safely, the distance not being more than one mile and a half. Shortly after, our spirits were raised by the apparent approach of a heavy can- nonade, and volleys of musquetry from the direction of the Moorad Khanah, and by the flight through the gardens of the multitudes who were assailing me, towards Deh-i-Affghan, from which quarter crowds of women and children began to ascend the hill, evi- dently in expectation of an assault from our soldiery. But these cheering sounds died away, and it was in vain that we strained our eyes, looking for the glitter- ing bayonets through the trees, and round the corners of the principal street leading from cantonments. My besiegers swarmed back with shouts, and it required much exertion on my part to prevent despondency amongst my people, which feeling had been strongly excited by the confirmation of the rumour of the murder of Sir Alexander Burnes, his brother, and Captain Broadfoot ; by the sight of the smoke from his burning house ; and by the intelligence that the treasury of Captain Johnson, also in the town, had been sacked, and the guard slain. In the evening I of the late Kuzzilbash leaders, and with other chiefs of the Kuzzilbash faction, all the circumstances of the late insurrection were over and over again recapitulated, one and all declaring positively that the slightest exhibition of energy on our part in the first instance, more especially in reinforcing my post and that of Trevor, would at once have decided the Kuzzilbashes, and all over whom they possessed any influence, in our favour. Khan Shereen also confirmed the idea, that an offensive move- ment on the opposite side of the town by Brigadier Shelton, had it been made in the early part of the fatal 2d of November, would at once have crushed the insurrection. 380 APPENDIX. served out provisions from the government stores. The attacks continued at intervals during the night, and we had most disagreeable suspicions that the enemy were undermining our north-west tower, or bastion. At early dawn we sallied out to ascertain this, but were driven in again, after finding our apprehensions too well verified. There is much dead ground about all Affghan forts, on which it is impossible to bring mus- quetry to bear ; and the towers can always be under- mined, in the absence of hand-grenades on the part of the besieged. To meet this attempt, we sunk a shaft inside the ground-floor of the tower, and I placed four resolute men on the brink, ready to shoot the first man who should enter. The extent of the fort required all my men to be on duty at the same time, and some now began to wax weary. The cheerfulness of the re- mainder was not improved by the incessant howling of the women over the dead and dying. As a trait indi- cative of the character of the Affghan juzailchees, I must mention, that whenever they could snatch five minutes to refresh themselves with a pipe, one or other of them would twang a sort of rude guitar, as an ac- companiment to some martial song, which, mingling with the above notes of war, sounded very strangely. In the middle of this day (3d November), to my great grief, I saw the enemy enter Captain Trevor’s tower ; and a report was brought to us by two of his servants, who escaped across the river, that he and his family had all been killed, which, though it afterwards proved to be untrue, had a bad effect on my men, whose ammunition had now become very scarce, in spite of my having husbanded it with the greatest care. The scene of plunder now going on in Trevor’s house APPENDIX. 381 was evident from our ramparts ; and the enemy, taking possession of the top, which overlooked my defences, pitched their balls from their large juzails with such accuracy, as to clear my western face of defenders ; and it was only by crawling on my hands and knees up a small flight of steps, and whisking suddenly through the door, that I could ever visit the tower that had been undermined. The guard from Captain Troup’s house now clamoured for admittance into the fort ; and as Mr. Ballon, that gentleman’s writer, called out to me that they were ready to abandon their post, I let them in, barricading my own door with sacks of flour. Against the door and small wicket, on Brigadier Anquetil’s side, I had already piled heaps of stones and large timbers. In the afternoon the enemy brought down a large wall-piece against us, the balls from which shook the upper walls of one of our towers, alarming the juzail- chees much, who dread the effect of any species of ordnance. This disposition to despair was increased by the utter failure of ammunition, and by the Affghans bringing down quantities of fire-wood and long poles with combustible matter at the ends, which they de- posited under the walls of the Yaboo Khanah, in readiness to burn down my door. Some suwars who were stationed on Brigadier Anquetil’s side of the fort, now broke into a sort of half-mutiny, and began pul- ling down the barricade against his gate, to endeavour to save themselves by the speed of their horses. This I quelled, by going down amongst them with a double- barrelled gun, and threatening to shoot the first man who should disobey my orders. In the evening I was quite exhausted, as were my people ; having by that 382 APPENDIX. time been fighting and working for nearly forty hours without rest. Indeed, on my part, it had been with- out refreshment, as eating was impossible from excite- ment and weariness ; and my absence for five minutes at a time from any part of the works disheartened the fighting men. Added to this, my wounded were dying for want of medical aid. I therefore yielded to the re- presentations of my juzailchee jemadar, and of Mr. Ballon, from both of whom I received valuable assist- ance during the whole affair, and prepared for a retreat to cantonments. This we determined should take place during the early part of the night, at which time, it being then the fast of the Ramazan, we calculated the enemy would be at their principal meal. I ordered the juzailchees to lead, and to answer all questions, in case of encountering a post of the enemy. The wounded were placed on what yaboos I possessed, abandoning every thing in the shape of baggage; these, with the women and children, followed next in order ; and I myself proposed to bring up the rear with my few regulars, who, I fondly imagined, would stick by me in case of a hot pursuit. We were to avoid the town, and to follow the course of the small canal above-men- tioned, and afterwards to strike off by lanes, and through some fields, in the direction of cantonments. A night retreat is generally disastrous, and this proved no exception to the general rule; but, notwithstanding my strict order that all baggage should be left behind, it being very dark, many of the poor women contrived to slip out, with loads of their little property on their shoulders, making their children walk, whose cries added to the confusion, and to the danger of dis- covery. APPENDIX. 383 Before we had proceeded half a mile, the rear missed the advance, upon whom a post of the enemy- had begun to fire. All my regulars had crept a-head with, the juzailchees, and I found myself alone with a chuprassee and two suwars, in the midst of a helpless and wailing crowd of women and children. Riding on by myself along a narrow lane, to try and pick out the road, I found myself suddenly surrounded by a party of Affghans, u r hom at first I took to be my own juzail- chees, and spoke to them as such. They quickly un- deceived me, however, by crying out “ Feringhee hust,” “ Here is an European,” and attacking me with swoi’ds and knives. Spurring my horse violently, I wheeled round, cutting from right to left, for I, for- tunate^, had my own sword drawn previous to the surprise. My blows, by God’s mercy, parried the greater part of theirs, and I was lucky enough to cut off the hand of my most outrageous assailant. In short, after a desperate struggle, during which I re- ceived two slight sabre cuts, and a blow on the back of my head from a fellow, whose sword turned in his hand, which knocked me half off my horse, I escaped out of the crush, passing unhurt through two volleys of musquetry from the whole picket, which, by that time, had become alarmed, and had turned out. They pursued me; but I soon distanced them, crossing several fields at speed, and gaining a road, which I perceived led round the western end of the Shah’s garden. Proceeding cautiously along, to my horror, I perceived my path again blocked up by a dense body of Affghans. Retreat was impossible ; so, put- ting my trust in God, I charged into the midst of them, hoping that the weight of my horse would clear 384 APPENDIX. my way for me, and reserving my sword-cut for the last struggle. It was well that I did so, for by the time I had knocked over some twenty fellows, I found that they were my own juzailchees. If you ever ex- perienced sudden relief from a hideous nightmare, you may imagine my feelings for the moment. With these worthies, after wandering about for some time, and passing unchallenged by a sleepy post of the enemy, I reached the cantonments. During the night many stragglers of my party, principally followers, dropped in. During the whole business, from first to last, including the retreat, I had under a dozen killed, and about half that amount wounded, nearly half the former being followers ; whereas about thirty of the enemy had bitten the dust, and gone to their place. I cannot close this letter to you without remarking that, amongst other lamentable errors which led to our heavy downfall, that of omitting in the first instance to strengthen my post was, next to Shelton’s refusal to pour his brigade into the town, while the rioters yet amounted to barely 200 men, the greatest. But the whole blame cannot, in this particular instance, be attributed to our poor friend General Elphinstone. He had not been sufficiently informed as to the im- portance of my position, nor as to the facility with which a strong reinforcement could have reached me. That he was specially anxious personally as to my safety there could be no doubt, as was shown by the warmth of his reception of me. I need not remind you of the devoted heroism dis- played throughout the siege by Hussain Khan, the juzailchee jemadar, and the handful of brave men who accompanied him, and who personally attaching appendix- 385 themselves to me remained under my command to the last. Numbers of them fell ; others were disabled ; a few departed to their own homes, on the day when I was taken prisoner, and Sir W. Macnaghten was murdered ; and, I believe, nearly the sole survivors are some ten or fifteen men, who, with their brave leader, Hussain Khan, are now with us in camp. These proceed with the rest of the juzailchee corps under Captain Ferris to Ferozepore, where we hear they are to be disbanded, and sent back to their own country, to be destroyed by their bloodthirsty coun- trymen as a reward for their fidelity to us ; and yet these were the men, who, during the period I was be- leaguered in the fort of Nishan Khan, at a time when I was quite unknown to them, not only refused to listen to the repeated propositions of the Affghans out- side to deliver me up to their vengeance, their own safety being thereby insured ; but who, during the siege of cantonments, laughed to scorn the most tempting offers on the part of Ameenoollah Khan, Mahomed Akbar, and other Affghan chiefs, to induce them to join the general cause of Islam against the Kaffirs, invariably bringing the letters, in which they were conveyed, for my inspection and perusal. * Yours very sincerely, C. Mackenzie. Camp Raw ul Pindee, En route to Ferozepore, Nov. 19. 1842. * They were disbanded at Jelum, in the Punjab, each of the old soldiers receiving a donation of twelve months’ pay, and the rest a gratuity in proportion to the length of their services, with which they all seemed very well satisfied. — Y. E. S 386 APPENDIX. B. No. 1. Despatch from Major-Gen. Elphinstone, ad- dressed to the Secretary to ti-ie Govern- ment. Buddeeabad. Sir, — With the deepest regret, I have the honour to forward, for the information of the Right Hon. the Governor-General in Council, the annexed memoran- dum of occurrences preceding and during the insur- rection at Cabul, up to this date. The state of my health and mental sufferings previous to, and consequent on, the unfortunate occurrences, render me little competent to furnish such complete information as I might have done, had it not been for the total destruction of my entire staff and all official documents and memoranda ; and I have only been able to remedy the deficiency through the kind assistance of Major Pottinger and Capt. Lawrence, who having aided me with facts and dates, I trust, however meagre the account may be, that its tenor is, upon the whole, perfectly correct. I beg to be allowed to express my sense of the gallant manner, in which the various detachments sent out were led by Brigadier Shelton, and of the in- variably noble conduct of the officers on those occa- sions, particularly of those who fell leading their men ; viz. Col. Mackrell, Capts. Swayne, Robinson, M‘Crea, and Lieut. Raban, H. M.’s 44th Foot; Col. Oliver and Capt. Macintosh, 5th N. I. ; Capt. Westmacott and Lieut. Gordon, 37th N.I.; Capt. Walker, 4th Local Horse, and Lieut. Laing, 27th N.I. APPENDIX. 387 I hope I may also be permitted to record my sense of the zeal and exertions of my lamented Aide-de-Camp Major Thain, and my acting Quarter-Master-General Capt. Paton, both of whom were severely wounded, as also Capt. Grant, Assist.- Adj.-Gen., and my Aide-de- Camp Capt. Airey. I had inadvertently omitted Capt. Bellew, Assist.-Quarter-Master-General, who, at the storm of the Rika-bashee and Mahomed Sherreef’s fort, evinced the greatest gallantry, and volunteered to carry the powder-bags. From Brigadier Anquetil, commanding the Shah’s force, and Col. Chambers, commanding the cavalry, I on all occasions received the most cordial assistance ; and I take this opportunity to record the ever-ready zeal and gallant conduct of Capt. Troup, Major of Brigade, Shah Shooja’s force. Throughout the whole siege the utmost zeal was manifested by Lieut. Sturt, Engineers, and by Lieut. V. Eyre, Commissary of Ordnance, who, in conse- quence of the paucity of artillery officers, on all occa- sions volunteered his services, and was unfortunately wounded. Capt. Colin M'Kenzie, Assist. Political Agent, Pe- shawur, volunteered to take charge of a body of Ju- zailchees, and was engaged in every affair, his and their conduct being most conspicuous. The manner in which the soldiers, European and Native, bore up without a murmur against all privations and very harassing duty, at a most inclement season, was highly creditable to them, and more particularly the horse-artillery, who on all occasions upheld the character of that distinguished corps. Among the many valuable and promising officers s 2 388 APPENDIX. who have fallen in the recent retreat, I would espe- cially mention Captains Skinner and Hay, 61st and 35th N. I. ; Lieut. Le Geyt, Shah’s 2d Cavalry ; and Lieut. Bird, Shah’s 6th Infantry ; the latter officer dis- tinguished himself in the assault and capture of the Rika-bashee Fort. Of the surviving officers, my thanks are due to Major Eldred Pottinger, C.B., Political Agent, and Capt. George St. P. Lawrence, Military Secretary to the late Envoy and Minister, for their cordial assist- ance and co-operation till the death of their lamented chief ; and to Capt. Anderson, Shah’s 2d Cavalry, and Capt. Bygrave, Paymaster, for their zeal and alacrity in the performance of their duty, amid trials and diffi- culties almost unprecedented. I have the honour, &c. W. K. Elphinstone. To the Secretary to Government. B. No. 2. The following extracts from a memorandum of Major-Gen. Elphinstone deserve attention, both as supporting some of the Author’s statements, and ex- hibiting in some degree the unfortunate General’s dis- advantages, as enumerated by himself. — Editor. # # # # # “ I was unlucky in the state of my health ; as, during the whole siege, I was not able to move without diffi- culty, except on horseback, and then not easily. On APPENDIX. 389 the evening of the 2d, going round the guards, I had a very severe fall, the horse falling on me. I was obliged to return home therefore. I then asked Cap- tains Paton and Grant if they thought all had been done, and told them to see that Brigadier Anquetil made the arrangements in the mission compound ; and it was a great loss to me that, shortly after his coming into cantonments, he was taken ill, by which I was de- prived of his assistance, which he would cordially have afforded me. The extent of the cantonment — the unfinished state of every thing in it — its indefensible position, commanded as it teas on every side — par- ticularly the facilities afforded for the approach of matchlocks — added much to our difficulties. The troops were on half rations, and the whole of them on duty every night, and often all day, from threatened attacks. The want of artillery officers, notwithstand- ing Capt. (Lieut.) Eyre’s volunteering, Capt. Waller being wounded early in the business. — On the 9th, not finding myself equal to the duties, particularly at night, when I could not get about on horseback, I recalled Brigadier Shelton from the Bala Hissar. * * * * I was unlucky, also, in not understanding the state of things, and being wholly dependent on the Envoy and others for information.” * * * * B. No. 3. The passage next quoted clearly shows that it was in obedience to the General’s order that the married s 3 390 APPENDIX. officers, as well as their wives and children, resigned themselves to Mahomed Akbar. This is, of course, a point of peculiar interest to those officers, especially as misrepresentation upon it has gone forth. — Editor. Extract from a Memorandum by Major-General W. K. Elphinstone, C. B., of the Events preceding and during the Insurrection at Cabul. “ On the 9th (January) the march was ordered at 10 A. m., but, consequent on a message from the Sir- dar, requesting us to halt till he could organize an escort for us, and promising supplies and firewood, it was countermanded. But a similar scene of confusion to that of the day before had taken place, and it was past mid-day before any thing like order was restored. “ Captain Skinner returned to the Sirdar, by whom he w r as again sent back with a proposal that the married people and their families should be made over to him, promising honourable treatment to the ladies. I com- plied with his wish, being desirous to remove the ladies and children, after the horrors they had already wit- nessed, from the further dangers of a camp, and hoping that, as from the very commencement of negotiations the Sirdar had shown the greatest anxiety to have the married people as hostages, this mark of trust might elicit a corresponding feeling in him. “ (Signed) W. K. Elphinstone, Major-General.” APPENDIX. 391 C. No. 1. Parliamentary Papers, No. 322. Translation of a Paper from Mahomed Akbar Khan , received by Gen. Pollock on the 8 th of May, 184-2, by the hands of Capt. Mackenzie. My Friend, — In the letter for Pottinger Saheb, which Mackenzie has brought, there is nothing to give me confidence. I have, therefore, thought it necessary to send Mackenzie Saheb to you a second time. When first Seconder Burnes came, I did all in my power that the wishes of the English Government might be realized ; but the English Government would not agree to give assistance, if a foreign enemy invaded this country, and nothing was settled. After that, when an English army entered my country, I was compelled to be your enemy, and was three years a wanderer, and returned at the end of the confusion (Cabul insurrection). In the time when Pottinger, Lawrence, and Mackenzie Sahebs came, at the stage of Bootkak, I agreed to their wishes, and did all in my power to protect the army, as is well known to the above-mentioned Sahebs : but I could not save them from the hands of the multitude*, as all the army was disorganized, and the British soldiers could not protect themselves on account of the frost, and, moreover, the gentlemen did not attend to my advice. 2dly. If I allow the English, who are my guests, to depart according to your suggestion, or, according to Pottinger Saheb’s advice, if I allow the English ladies * The word alludes to the mob of Affghans, whom the Sirdar means to say he could not govern. S 4 392 APPENDIX. to depart before the gentlemen, in either case all Ma- homedans will look upon me as their enemy, and the whole multitude will be opposed to me. Under these circumstances, I beg you to reflect that, not having come to an understanding with you, and having made enemies of them (Mahomedans), how can I exist? At present my friends and allies have possessed them- selves of the government of Cabul, and all of them send daily to me three or four men with oaths and protestations, requesting me to come and be their king, and Mahomed Zeeman, Wuzeer. All the Gliil- zies are my friends ; and I, from the friendship I bear you, do not consent to be King of Cabul, since to be so must involve the necessity of being your enemy. I prefer your friendship to the throne (of Cabul), because, if I was to go to Cabul now, the men of Ca- bul would push me forward, and then it would be dif- ficult to release my guests, and to be on friendly terms with you. On this account I have written, to show my friendship to your government. Please God, my services shall exceed the injuries I have done you. On condition that we are friends, let the terms of friendship between me and my friends, such as Ma- homed Shah Khan and others, be written out, and be sent before the receipt of my guests in your camp, that I may feel confidence. The other matters have been explained to Capt. Mackenzie verbally, and he will make them known to you. I hope you will write down every article in a treaty signed * and sealed. (There is no seal f to this document.) * “ The Sirdar has not signed it, as he fears it may be used against him, incase of your not closing with his terms .” — Major Pottinger to Gen. Pollock, Pari. Papers, 320. t “ The circumstance of receiving a Persian memorandum APPENDIX. 393 C. No. 2. From the Papers presented to Parliament on the Military Operations in Affghanistan. No. 461. Conversation between Sirdar Mahomed Akbar Khan , Major Pottinger, and Capt. Tronp, on the Morning of the 29th of July , 1 842. Mahomed Akbar opened the conversation by stating that it was recommended that great men should ask advice of each other, and related the fable of the besieged king. He then told us he wanted advice as to what he should do ; and, in answer to the question what his own wishes were, declared he required only our promise of friendship. Major Pottinger then — premising that he must bear in mind that, though the Vizier had his own authority in full, we were servants , and could, therefore, not give advice if our opinions were contrary to our king’s interests — said, however, that, as far as did not clash with our duty, we would be happy to do so, and therefore advised that the prisoners should be at once sent down ; for if a delay took place, it would come within the declaration of Gen. Pollock, “ that the business was off, if any delay took place;” however, as the Chief stated he agreed to the General’s proposition, it might pass, if he wrote down “ that he agreed to the proposition ; but, as the Affghans considered the statement confused and a little doubtful, he sent a memorandum of what they without seal or signature does not evince that confidence and good faith, which ought to he shown when a good understanding between parties is desired.” — Gen. Pollock to Major Pottinger, Pari. Papers, 323. 394 APPENDIX. thought was the meaning, and begged, if it were correct, that the General would kindly inform him of it, by affixing his seal to such a writing.” Under these circumstances, the General might not consider the stipulation broken ; but, as it would virtually be so, we thought it most advisable for him at once to send down the prisoners , if he really wished to make terms. The Vizier said that he would not give up the prisoners without a written promise, and that the people were all determined to support him ; that we must put it out of our thoughts that we could release the prisoners by force ; that, as soon as he heard that our troops had reached Charbagh, he would send the ladies, &c. off to Toorkistan, and fight here so long as he could ; and that, if obliged to flee, he would take care not one of the prisoners should return to the English, for he would scatter them by twos and threes through Toorkistan with all the chiefs. C. No. 3. Parliamentary Papers, No. 460. Major- Gen. Pollock to Mr. Maddock. Jellalabad, August 6. 1842. Sir, — * * * I take this opportunity of stating that it is my opinion that Mahomed Akbar’s chief object in desiring me to give a sealed paper, specifying that I will withdraw all troops from Afghanistan, is to strengthen himself by the publication of such a docu- APPENDIX. 395 ment at Cabul, the effect of which would be to thoroughly dishearten such chiefs as look to our assist- ance for the means of freeing themselves from his tyranny. Were I to say that I should leave this valley in October, the reply would be that the prisoners would be sent then ; but such a promise would so strengthen Mahomed Akbar, that I think it pro- bable that he, when the time arrived, finding that our advance on Cabul was impossible for the next seven months, might be tempted to procrastinate, under the idea that we had determined to withdraw our troops, and that, after our departure, he might obtain a large sum as ransom for the prisoners. Apart from this, it is impossible for me to pledge myself to withdraw on a certain date ; and I, of course, could not take upon myself to issue any order to General Nott. The advance of a brigade to Futteeabad will tend to alarm Mahomed Akbar, and make him the more anxious to induce us to quit the country. Capt. Troup has expressed a doubt on this subject, and fears that this step may induce Mahomed Akbar to send the prisoners to Toorkistan ; but I cannot think this will occur, as I have reason to suppose there is a strong party at Cabul, which has determined not to allow the removal of our prisoners ; and I also believe that the Wallee of Khooloom has written refusing to receive Mahomed Akbar if accompanied by the prisoners. I have, &c. G. Pollock. S9G APPENDIX. D. The following account by Lieut. Crawford, of the 3d Bombay N. I., of the loss of Ghuznee, and the imprisonment of himself and his brother officers, is taken from the Bombay Courier. — Editor. “ In my letter of the 8th instant, I promised that at my earliest convenience I would send you a full, true, and particular account of all my adventures during the past year, and I nowtake up my pen to fulfil my promise, and, without further preamble, commence my narra- tive at once from the period of my quitting Candahar. “I left that city on the 30th October last year, hav- ing under my charge three state prisoners and seven hostages to be escorted to Cabool ; and, for the safe- guard of the same, I was accompanied by a troop from my own corps, and about forty Affghan horse under a chief called Guddoo Khan. It was on the 7th November we reached Oha ; we had marched rapidly, but in perfect peace, and as little expected to be attacked on the road as I do at this moment. You may imagine, therefore, how thunderstruck I was, when Guddoo Khan entered my tent, bringing with him a native official of that part of the country, styled the Urz Beggie, who gave me an account of the dis- asters in Cabool on the second of the month, and, as I afterwards found, bad as matters really were at the capital, be made them out to be much more so. He strongly pressed my returning to Khelat-i-Ghilzie, saying that there were 20,000 men round Ghuznee, and to go on would be to certain death. I considered, however, it would never do for an officer to turn back APPENDIX. 397 on a mere rumour of danger, and that, should the man’s story really be true, still I had a better chance of reaching Ghuznee, which was only fifty-four miles off, than Khelat, which was ninety. Tired though my horses were, they might make Ghuznee in one forced march, but they would not be able to get to the other station under a couple of days ; the road lay through the barren and hostile country of the Ghiljies, and, as I subsequently discovered, it proved that Urz Beggie was a traitor ; he wished to get me back through the Ghiljie districts, as he himself was a man of that tribe, and would have raised the whole country about my ears ; not a man of us would have escaped to tell the tale. After duly considering all the pros and cons of the case, I mounted my detachment at 8 p. m. and moved on toward Ghuznee. We marched rapidly the whole night, and by daylight had reached Nanee, about thirteen miles from Ghuznee ; but the first streak of dawn showed us that the people were on the alert ; there were videttes on every hill ; and in a very short time word was passed from fort to fort, and their inhabitants turned out, hanging on my flanks and rear, and firing with their rifles at us. Their horse- men were bolder ; they swarmed round us like wasps, riding up, firing their pieces into our troop, and gal- loping off to re-load. We were nearly helpless against such a foe ; twice we charged and cut up a few, but the rascals always sought shelter near the nu- merous forts that covered the plain, and then laughed at us. In addition to not being able to catch the villains, we found that every time we charged or halted to show a front, it only gave the enemy time to circle round our flanks and head us ; and their 398 APPENDIX. footmen also came up from the rear. Accordingly we left the high road altogether, and turned out into the plain, where the foot would scarcely dare to follow us ; and indeed by proceeding at the trot we pretty well shook off these gentry, but the horsemen still fol- lowed ; and, to add to our troubles, I found that the ponies, on which the prisoners were mounted, were exhausted, and could proceed no further. As they knocked up, I doubled the riders on the other animals ; but, one after another, they gave in. One prisoner was cut down by a horseman of the enemy (plainly show- ing there was no collusion between them) ; two others rolled over in a ditch, where, with their horse a-top of them, and their legs chained under his belly, I left them; indeed, I now found it was impossible I could ever get my charge into Ghuznee alive, and I had only to decide on putting them to death or setting them at liberty. My instructions would have justified my pursuing the former course, but the poor wretches had clearly made no attempt to escape ; they were in no manner answerable for the attack made on my party, as was evident from one of their number falling by the sword of our adversaries ; and I con- ceived then, and do now conceive, that, in letting these men go with their lives, I was not only acting accord- ing to the strict letter of my instructions, but that justice and humanity required I should not slay them in cold blood. Had I put them to death, then Shuin- soodeen or Mahomed Akbar would have been equally justified in taking our lives (the lives of all their pri- soners) on the advance of Pollock and Nott on Cabul. I may add, that the court of inquiry, which I called for, after investigating all the circumstances, decided that APPENDIX. 399 I had acted perfectly right. But to return to my story. After following and harassing us for miles, the enemy drew off when we got near Ghuznee, and I reached that place about 10 A. m. on the 8th, with the loss of all my baggage and prisoners, and fifteen men and twenty horses killed, and several wounded, out of my little party. Every day now brought us bad ac- counts from Cabul ; and the infatuation, that appears to have seized the chief authorities there, not only hurried them on to ruin at the capital, but also para- lysed us at Ghuznee. Can you imagine that the ne- cessary repairs and alterations in the citadel were not sanctioned, nor was Palmer permitted to lay in pro- visions? At the eleventh hour, the Colonel took the responsibility upon himself, and set to work ; but most invaluable time had been suffered to pass unimproved, and, when the enemy made their appearance under our walls, they found us but ill prepared for a siege, especially when it was not man alone we had to com- bat with, but the rigours of a winter as intense as that of Canada. The enemy and the snow made their appearance together : on the 20th of November the town was surrounded with the one, and the ground covered with the other ; but in a week afterwards the insurgents broke up their investment of the place, on report of M'Laren’s brigade advancing to our relief. This permitted our destroying the villages and build- ings within musket shot of the walls, and also afforded us a week’s skating on the ditch ; but on the 7th of December the enemy returned in increased numbers, and we were then closely confined to the walls. The necessity and advantage of turning the inhabitants out of the town was not lost sight of; but, unfortu- 400 APPENDIX. nately for us, an idea had got abroad that the towns- people were strongly attached to us, and that the sending out so many poor people to perish in the snow was an act of cruelty too great to be dreamt of. The consequence was, that the townsmen entered into a correspondence with their countrymen on the out- side; and on the night of the 16th of December, having dug a hole through the town, they admitted their friends, who poured in by thousands, and compelled us, after fighting all that night and the next day, to retire into the citadel. It so happened that from this day the winter set in with increased severity, and its effects soon told fearfully upon the men. The whole garrison, officers and men, were told off into three watches, one of which was constantly on duty ; so that every one in the place was eight hours on duty out of the twenty-four, and you may imagine that such constant work and exposure to the intense cold very soon rendered the sepoys useless. The snow lay deep, very deep, and often in the course of a single night would fall to the depth of a couple of feet ! The thermometer sunk to ten, twelve, and even four- teen degrees beloio zero! and to such weather were the natives of India exposed day and night, with no pros- pect of relief, and with no comforts to enable them to support their sufferings ! We were reduced to half rations of bad flour and raw grain on alternate days, and a seer of wood per man each day was all that could be allowed either for cooking or warmth. The sepoys, constantly soaked and unable to dry themselves, got sickly, and the hospital was crowded with men, whose feet had ulcerated from frost bites. I do think, that if the enemy had had pluck enough to have made APPENDIX. 401 a rush upon us, they could at any time, after Christ- mas-day, have carried the works with very little diffi- culty ; as it was, however, they contented themselves with keeping up a smart fire with their rifles, and not a man could show his head above the walls for a mo- ment. Up to the 15th of January this work continued, and we lost three or four men daily from the fire of their marksmen ; but on the day mentioned some sort of a truce was entered into, and active hostilities ceased, it being understood we were to evacuate the place on the arrival of Shumsoodeen Khan. This worthy did not arrive till the middle of the following month, and even then the Colonel managed to keep him in play till the beginning of March ; but at last he and his chiefs would stand it no longer, and said that, if we did not give up the place immediately, they would recommence hostilities ; and we, being utterly helpless, having no water in the citadel, and the snow (on which we had depended for a supply) having all vanished, our provisions being exhausted, and there being no prospect of the arrival of succour, had no resource but to make the best terms we could, and trust to Providence that the enemy would abide by them. On the 6th of March we marched out from the citadel, under a treaty signed and solemnly sworn to by all the chiefs, that we should be escorted in safety and honour to Peshawur, with our colours, arms, and baggage, and fifty rounds of ammunition per man. There was still some snow in the passes between Ghuznee and Cabul ; and till that should melt, and the necessary carriage could be procured for us, we were quartered in a portion of the town immediately below the citadel. Scarcely had we entered our new 402 APPENDIX. abode, when our enemies flung off the mask, and showed how much they valued oaths made to infidels. At noon on the 7th, whilst nearly every man of ours was cooking, and we were totally unprepared for an outbreak, the Ghazees rushed upon our lines, and suc- ceeded in carrying the houses in which my squadron had been placed. I was in the next house, with Burnett of the 54th, and Nicholson of the 27th, there being no decent room for me in my own proper quarters. On hearing the uproar, I ran to the roof to see what was the matter; and finding what had taken place among my men, and that balls were flying thick, I called up Burnett. He had scarcely joined me, when he was struck down by a rifle ball, which knocked his eye out ; and, as he was then rendered hors de combat, I assumed command of the two com- panies of the 27th that had been under him, and Nicholson and myself proceeded to defend ourselves as well as circumstances would permit. We were on the left of the mass of houses occupied by our troops, and the first and sharpest attacks were directed at us: the enemy fired our house, and gradually, as room after room caught fire, we were forced to retreat to the others, till at last by midnight of the 9th our house was nearly burnt in halves. We were exhausted with hunger and thirst, having had nothing to eat or drink since the morning of the 7th. Our ammunition was expended, the place was filled with dead and dying men, and our position was no longer tenable ; but the only entrance, in front of the house, was surrounded by the enemy, and we scarcely knew how to get out, and endeavour to join Col. Palmer. At last we dug a hole through the wall of the back of the house : we APPENDIX. 403 had only bayonets to work with, and it cost us much labour to make a hole sufficiently large to admit of one man at a time dropping from it into the street below ; but we were fortunate enough to get clear out of our ruined quarters in this way, and join the Colonel un- perceived by the savages round us. As soon as day broke on the 9th, they occupied our abandoned post, and shortly afterwards attacked and carried the next house, in which were poor Luinsden and his wife, and thirty sepoys, every one of whom, and their servants, were put to death. On the morning of the 10th, Poett and Davis were obliged to retire from their posts, and the survivors here now assembled in the two houses, held by Col. Palmer and the head-quarters of the corps. You cannot picture to yourself the scene these two houses presented ; every room was crammed, not only with sepoys, but camp followers, men, women, and children ; and it is astonishing the slaughter among them was not greater, seeing that the guns of the citadel sent round-shot crashing through and through the walls. I saw high-caste men groping in the mud, endeavouring to discover pieces of unmelted ice, that, by sucking them, they might relieve the thirst that tormented them ! Certainly, when that morning dawned, I thought it was the last I should see on this eartli ; and so did we all, and proceeded to make a few little arrangements, ere the final attack on us took place. The regimental colours were burnt, to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy, and I destroyed my watch, and flung it, and what money I had, over the wall into the ditch. I also burnt my poor wife’s miniature, first cramming the gold frame of it into a musket, being determined that one 404 APPENDIX. of the Ghazees should have his belly full of gold ere I died. Hour after hour passed on, and still we sat expecting every minute to hear the shout of the final attack ; but it came not. From our loopholes we saw the enemy swarming all around us in every lane and house, and on the hill of the citadel. The place was black with their masses ; and, as they themselves after- wards told us, there were not less than 10,000 men there thirsting for our blood. But it appears that Shuin- soodeen had been affected with some qualms of con- science, and had held a council of his chiefs on the sub- ject of admitting us to quarter. I should tell you that during the three previous days’ fighting, Shumsoodeen had repeatedly offered us terms, but they were such as we could not accede to ; inasmuch as they com- menced by desiring we would surrender ourselves to him, and abandon the sepoys to the fury of the Ghazees. The sepoys, it appears, had held a con- sultation among themselves, and, believing they had no chance of their lives, determined on forcing their way out of the town, and endeavouring to get to Peshawur. When we first heard of this mad design, and spoke to the men about it, they denied it; but on the 10th two native officers came forward, and told us they had made up' their minds to go off that night; that, if we chose to accompany them, they would be exceedingly glad, but if otherwise, they would go alone. It was in vain we pointed out the utter impracticability of their plan ; they had got an idea among them, that Pe- shawur was not above fifty or sixty miles off across country, and that there was a short cut to it, through the mountains : they immediately commenced digging a hole through the outer wall of the town, by which, APPENDIX. 405 as soon as it got dark, they might march out into the country. Seeing that our men had now flung off all authority, and were about to desert us, we had nothing further to do but to make the best bargain we could for our lives. Shumsoodeen and all the Gliazee chiefs again swore by all that was holy, that if we laid down our arms we should be honourably treated, and sent to Cabul to the Shah as soon as possible. At 10 p. m. we surrendered. The chief sent and begged the officers to come into the citadel immediately, as the Ghazees were yelling for the blood of the Feringee Kaffirs, and he could not answer for our safety, if we delayed till daylight ; and accordingly we went up to the cita- del and gave up our swords, the chief placing bodies of his men round our late quarters, to keep the Gha- zees from molesting the sepoys. A large party of these latter, however, during the night, endeavoured to put their ridiculous plan of flight into execution, and made their way about two or three miles from the town : it came on to snow heavily ; they got bewildered in the fields, and in the morning were all cut to pieces or made prisoners. For the first few days after we had surrendered, we were treated pretty tolerably ; the chief and his brother used to visit and condole with us on the change of fortune we had experienced, and expressed their sorrow at the violence of their fanati- cal followers not having permitted their strict observ- ance of the treaty, on which we had yielded up the citadel to them ; but gradually they discontinued their visits ; every little thing we had managed to secure, such as watches, penknives, money, &c., was taken from us, and we were strictly confined to a small 406 APPENDIX. room eighteen feet by thirteen. In it there were ten of us, so you may imagine we had not much room to spare ; indeed, when we lay down at night we exactly occupied the whole floor, and when we wanted to take a little exercise we were obliged to walk up and down (six paces) in turns. Few of us had a change of linen, and the consequence was we were soon swarm- ing with vermin, the catching of which afforded an hour’s employment every morning. I wore my soli- tary shirt for five weeks, till it became literally black and rotten ; and I am really surprised none of us con- tracted any loathsome disease, from the state of filth we were compelled to live in. On the 7th April we heard of Shah Soojah’s murder, and from that date the severities of our confinement were redoubled ; they shut and darkened the solitary window from which we had hitherto derived light and air; and they also kept the door of our room constantly closed, so that the air we breathed became perfectly pestiferous. On the 21st of the month they tortured Col. Palmer with a tent-peg and rope, in such a manner that it is wonderful he ever recovered the use of his foot. I cannot, in a letter, explain the process of the torture, but we all witnessed it, and it was something on the principle of the Scotch boot described in “ Old Mor- tality.” We were told we should each be tortured in our turn, unless we gave up four lacs of rupees, which the rascals swore we had buried ; and, in case we con- tinued obstinate, they told us we should be blown from guns, beginning with the junior. This was a pleasant sort of a life to lead, never being certain of that life for twenty-four hours together. I think a little similar experience would do some of the news- APPENDIX. 407 paper editors a deal of good, and render them not quite so prone to lavish their criticisms on the con- duct of unfortunates like ourselves. They sit under their punkahs, drink lall shrub, and write leading arti- cles, laying down the law and talking as familiarly on military matters “ as maids ” do “ of puppy dogs,” — the self-elected, self-constituted judges of mankind. In the end of April, our guards suddenly became par- ticularly civil to us for a few days, and we found out they had a report of the advance of our troops : in- deed, on to the period of our actual release, we could always form a pretty shrewd guess of what our troops were about by the treatment we experienced at the hands of our captors : if there was any forward move- ment among our people, any arrival of reinforcements at Jellalabad or Candahar, &c., then we were treated well for a few days, and we got better food ; but if our people appeared to be idle, and things remained in statu quo for a week, then our guards taunted us on the unwarlike spirit of Feringee armies, and boasted how they would exterminate them, if they advanced. Gool Mahomed Khan, the brother of Shumshoodeen, who had always behaved more civilly towards us than the big chief, was, unfortunately for us, despatched to Cabul on business about the middle of April ; but I believe it was owing to the receipt of a letter from him, that on the 12th May we were permitted to quit our prison room, and walk on the terrace of the citadel for one hour, and we were told that similar kindness would be shown us once a week!!! — namely, on Friday, when Shumshoodeen was wont to make a kind of religious nic nic to a neighbouring shrine. Even this we thought a'great blessing, and used to count the 408 APPENDIX. days and hours to each succeeding Friday, anxiously expecting the moment when our guard would tell us we might breathe God’s fresh air, and look out on the green fields for the allotted period. I thought I had always been an admirer of the beauties of nature, but I had never imagined that the time would have come, when the sight of a few ordinary fields of clover and wheat would have caused me such delight in their contemplation ! On the 15th of June, Gool Mahomed returned from Cabul, bringing with him some of the ladies of his brother’s family. On their account we were told we should be removed to other quarters, and of course we expected a change for the worse ; but, as it eventually proved, we were agreeably disappointed. Just at this period one of our number, Lieut. Davies, 27th N. I., had sickened with typhus fever ; we had no medicines, no comforts for him, and he lay on the ground delirious, raving about home and his family, and every hour proving worse, till, on the 19th, death put an end to his sufferings. We read the burial ser- vice over him, and then made his body over to the guard to bury; but I am afraid they merely flung the poor fellow into a ditch outside the gate. It was a melancholy ceremony that burial service: few among us, I imagine, but thought it might be his turn next, especially now that sickness had broken out in such a shape ; however, on the following day, we were re- moved to another building, where we had three or four rooms to ourselves, and a court-yard to walk about in, and our guard was replaced by a more civil set. This was a delightful change; and being greedy of fresh air after so long a deprivation of it, we made the APPENDIX. 409 most of our new berth by always sleeping in the open air in the court-yard. It is true, it was utterly impos- sible to get a minute’s rest in any of the rooms allotted to us, as they were swarming with the foulest vermin, so we thought it no hardship to have the stars for a canopy, and for three months we never slept under a roof, or with any other covering beyond our sheepskin cloaks. From this date the conduct of Shumshoodeen towards us improved greatly ; he came to see us frequently, and chatted in a kind manner, always telling us we should shortly be set at liberty in exchange for Dost Mahomed, who was returning to Cabul, having been freed by our Government. This gave us renewed hopes of soon again becoming free agents ; and, as our circumstances were improved, and our guards more friendly toward us, our captivity was more easily borne ; but still as time wore on, and no- thing definite was learnt regarding our release, we again began to despair, especially when the middle of August arrived, and we seemed as far as ever from the attainment of our wishes. It was on the 19 th of August we had, as usual, wrapped ourselves up in our cloaks, and taken lodgings on the cold ground for the night, when the chief suddenly entered the yard, and told us we were to march immediately for Cabul ; and, sure enough, in half an hour afterwards we found our- selves slung in pairs in kujawurs, on each side of camels, and moving towards the capital. How de- lighted we were to bid adieu to the walls of Ghuznee ! I do believe, if we had known we were going to exe- cution, the change would nevertheless have gladdened us. We reached Cabul in three days, without meeting any adventure on the road ; but we were abused most T 410 APPENDIX. grossly by the populace as we proceeded through the streets of the city : fortunately it was in the dusk of the evening, and but few people witnessed our arrival ; otherwise they might not have confined their ill treat- ment to words. We were taken direct to Mahomed Akbar’s quarters in the Bala Hissar, and from him we met with the kindest reception. I could not bring myself to believe that the stout, good-humoured, open-hearted-looking young man, who was making such kind inquiries after our health, and how we had borne the fatigues of the journey, could be the mur- derer of M‘Naghten, and the leader of the massacre of our troops. He told us we had come most un- expectedly ; that, though he had written repeatedly to have us sent to him (as he had heard we were ill treated by Shumshoodeen), yet no attention had been paid to his orders ; and now that we had come, it was without any intimation of our approach : he bade us be of good cheer, as our future comfort would be his care, and we should find ourselves treated like officers and gentlemen. After many similarly civil speeches, he ordered dinner, and sent for Troup and Pottinger to see us. When they arrived, the whole of us, Mahomed Akbar, his chiefs, and ourselves, all sat down to the best meal I had had for many a month. The Wuzeer fas he always styled himself) chatted and joked away on indifferent subjects during the meal, and shortly after its conclusion dismissed us, saying he would make us over to the care of Pottinger and Troup for the night, and we might go and have a chat with them in private, as doubtless we were anxious to do so. On the following morning the arch Jiend sent us an excellent breakfast, and horses to carry us out a APPENDIX. 411 few miles to the fort where the other British prisoners were living, and he desired a list of our wants re- garding clothes, &c. might be made out, and they should be furnished. We found our countrymen living in what appeared to us a small paradise ; they had comfortable quarters, servants, money, and no little baggage, and a beautiful garden to walk about in. To our great regret, we had only been four or five days in this Elysium, when we were sent off to Bameean. Being thus away from the immediate care of Mahomed Akbar, we soon found ourselves called on to rough it once more. Tents had been sent for the use of the ladies, but our guards would only pitch them when it suited their convenience, and consequently the poor women and children had frequently to bivouac with us men, and that, too, in the nipping night air of the mountains ; none of them, however, I am happy to say, suffered in the least, and they one and all bore their privations most admirably. I see that Johnson and one or two others have already given very good accounts in the public prints of our doings at Ba- meean, and our return from thence to the blessings of freedom, so I will not inflict a second edition of the tale upon you. The public papers will also, long ere this reaches you, have given you some information about our doings at Istaliff, and our retrogade march from Cabul, during which there was a good deal more fighting than on the advance.” T O 412 APPENDIX. E. Letter from Moiujn Lal. ( From the Calcutta Englishman.') Having been favoured with the perusal of a late letter from Mohun Lal to a friend in Calcutta, and been permitted to give the substance of it to the public, we have decided that it will do best in the writer’s own language, as he expresses himself with perfect clearness and intelligibility in English, though not with very idiomatic correctness. Ilis summary account of the events from the 2d of November 1841 down to the liberation of the prisoners, cannot be ex- pected to contain much that is actually new to our readers ; but still it is both interesting and historically valuable. Mohun Lai’s brief and unassuming ac- count of his own exertions, intrepidity, risks, and sufferings, is very little calculated to do him full justice ; but his great merits are well known to, and will be amply appreciated and rewarded by, the Go- vernment of India. But now let Mohun Lal speak : — “ Since the year of 1838, I have been in regular correspondence with my patron, Mr. Trevelyan, in London, and had repeatedly written to him, that if we do not rectify our conduct in the policy of Affghan- istan, we will excite the whole country against us. These communications I believe have always been shown to the chairman of the Court of Directors, and it is great pity notwithstanding the late lamented Sir William M‘Naghten and Sir Alexander Burnes were aware of the impending dangers which threatened the APPENDIX. 413 British authority , hut they never took steps either to prepare to meet the evils or to conciliate the chiefs. Their pay was reduced , and the manner of our pro- ceedings had convinced them that they shall be all banished. In October last the chief's entered into the solemn agreement with each other, and thus the Eastern Ghiljies stood up against our arms. General Sale bravely defeated the enemy, and forced his road through the different passes down to Jellal- abad. While these discontented chiefs were intriguing, we bore every thing silently till the fatal day of the 2d of November arrived, and the houses of Sir Alexander Burnes and myself were surrounded by the rebels. They were not accompanied with more than fifty men, but not a battalion was sent to our protection. After poor Sir Alexander Burnes was murdered and his house set on fire, I made a hole through the neighbouring house and was nearly cut to pieces, had I not been protected by the good-natured Nuwab Mohammed Zernan Khan, and kept secretly a whole day in his house. All my property saved during the last twelve years was plundered, one of my servants murdered, and the house destroyed. For three days not many people had assembled under the flag of the rebels, and the Persians were not joined the enemy. “ From the house of Nuwab Mohammed Zeman Khan, I w 7 as conducted by our old friend Nayab Mah- med Sherif Khan to the house of the Persian chief, named Khan Shereen Khan, where I lived most clan- destinely. Agreeably to the request of the late Envoy, I was daily in correspondence with him, and dis- charged my duties at the risk of my life. Nayab Shereef was employed by the Envoy and myself in t 3 414 - appendix. several negotiations with the Ghiljies and the Persians. Every thing bid fair of our success formerly, and not- withstanding the Ghiljie, Cabulee, Kohistanee, and the Persian chiefs made solemn oaths with us, wrote the agreements on the Holy Koran to take our cause, received abundant money from us, but every body cheated us like a devil. Khan Shereen, the Persian chief, promised to give every assistance, which he never did. In short, every one of us was deceived. “Mahomed Akbar Khan opened the negotiation with the Envoy, and promised to be useful to us, if w-e w r ere to appoint him as a minister in Affghanistan ; but I always cautioned the Envoy against Akbar, though I wrote him at the request of Nayab Shereef on part of Mahomed Shah Khan, that the latter will persuade Akbar to attach himself to the British Government. On the 23d of December, about 6 a. m., wrote to the Envoy not to meet Akbar so often , as he will catch and bring him into the city ; but that gentleman, consi- dering the treacherous Akbar as honest as himself, trusted him in every thing, while he became a victim to the pistol of that villain. “ Before the departure of General Elphinstone’s force from Cabul, I wrote to Major Pottinger, that if any of us were to move from the cantonment, he will either be murdered or taken prisoner by Akbar ; and so it happened : all the force was destroyed, the ladies and the officers taken prisoners. I w r as brought again by a friend in the house of Khan Shereen Khan, where I lived all the time corresponding with General Pollock, and was a channel of his communications with the Prince Futeh Jung and the chiefs, under a very great personal risk. APPENDIX. 415 “ When Mahomed Akbar gained an ascendancy, I was caught, closely confined , ill-treated, bastinadoed, threatened to be murdered, and forced to raise and pay him the money. While I was under such suffer- ing, I neither left writing to Gen. Pollock nor relaxed in my exertions to cause the liberty of the pri- soners. Finding that my endeavours to induce the chiefs in the city, as ivell as the letters of Gen. Pollock to their address, availed nothing in behalf of the prisoners, I took the most dangerous step with the full belief either to lose my life or gain my object. To effect this cause I supplicated, and asked Mahomed Akbar Khan to allow me to remain in the house near himself, under the pretence that my visiting him occa- sionally will show his kindness to me in future. It was agreed, and I was placed under a guard as before, but not sent out of the city ; after this I sent for my ac- quaintance Moortza Shah in the confinement, on the pretence of selling some cloth to me, and told him if he goes to Bameean and speak to Saleh Mahomed on my part to restore the prisoners, I shall give the latter a reward of 20,000 rupees, and to himself of 5000, and besides this they will have some pension from Go- vernment for life. Saleh Mahomed was an officer of infantry under Mahomed Akbar, and then proceeding with our prisoners to Toorkistan. Moortza Shah reached Bameean, andSalehMahomed happily accepted my offers. In the mean time I stole my escape from confinement, and induced the Persian chiefs to desert Mahomed Akbar Khan. I was joined with about 2000 horsemen in the Afshar Fort ; and as soon as Mahomed Akbar was defeated by General Pollock, I forced a party of them to go and meet the prisoners, T 4 41 G APPENDIX. who, in charge of Saleh Mahomed and my agent Moortza Shah, were returning from Bameean. Sir R. Shakespear also accompanied this party. “If I would fear [had feared for] my life, there was not a single man to send intelligence to Government at such a crisis; and it is the most wonderful thing that I managed the despatch of letters so regularly and safely, that none of them was ever intercepted by the enemy, while the roads to Jellalabad were watched on every step. If I w r ere not to run the personal risk while myself in confinement, and not induce Saleh Mahomed to restore our prisoners, they would never be released until we were to meet the wishes of Maho- med Akbar Khan, and would by this time be wan- dering and suffering on the deserts of Toorkistan. If Government take these my humble services into their just, impartial, and favourable view, I hope I shall be highly rewarded, because I have saved the British name, which, if the English ladies and officers were taken into Toorkistan, would deeply suffer. I have not only done this, but spent not the fourth of the money which was offered by General Pollock for re- covering the prisoners, and thus saved the Company’s cash. I am very proud indeed of what I have done.” APPENDIX. 417 F. Letter from the released Prisoners to Sir .Richard Shakespear, and his Reply. Sir Richard Shakespear, Military Secretary , fyc. Dear Sir, — Rescued as we have so lately been from a state of prolonged and cheerless captivity, which threatened soon to terminate in hopeless slavery, in a land where the laws of humanity are unknown or unacknowledged ; restored by a wonderful interposi- tion of Providence to country, friends, and all that renders life desirable ; it would ill become us, in the midst of our rejoicings, to forget those friends, through whose agency this happy change in our prospects has been effected. To you we are bound to express our heartfelt thanks, for the promptitude, with which you led a body of Kuzzilbash horsemen to our assistance at a most critical period, to whose timely arrival amongst us at Kaloo it may be chiefly attributed that our flight from Bameean was not intercepted. To thank you adequately in words for so signal a service would be impossible, but we trust you will accept of this, as a token of the gratitude we feel, and, with every good wish for your happiness and prosperity, we subscribe ourselves, Fanny Macnaghten, Florentia Sale, Alexandrina Sturt, Jean Boyd, F. Boyd, Yours very faithfully, ten, A. Waller, R. Waller, G. Mein, Emily Eyre, Vincent Eyre, T 5 418 APPENDIX. C. Mackenzie, J. Nicholson, Eldred Pottinger, — Airey, Edward Webb, — Souter, B. Melville, John Shelton, Georgiana Maimvaring, — Evans, H. Johnson, T. P. Walsh, G. St. P. Lawrence, R. Warburton, C. Harris, H. Drummond, C. Griffiths, R. L. Burnett, T. Palmer, H. M. Williams, J. S. Alston, A. Crawford, T. Thomson, — Haughton. J. M'Grath, Camp Cabul, Sept. 24. 1842. Answer. To Lady Mctcnaghten , Lady Sale, Hjc. General Shelton and Major Pottinger. Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, — I was this morning greatly gratified by receiving a very kind and flattering letter, signed by the ladies and officers, who were lately prisoners at Bameean, and I hasten to request that you will express to them my sincere thanks for the very handsome terms, in which they have spoken of my poor services. I shall ever consider it one of the happiest events of my life, that I should have had the good fortune to have been in any way instrumental in effecting your escape from Affghanistan. I remain, dear Ladies and Gentlemen, Your most obedient servant, R. C. Shakespear, Camp Jellalabad, Oct. 26. 1842. APPENDIX, 419 G. List of Civil and Military Officers killed during the Rebellion, at and near Cabul, Between 12th October 1841, and Qth January 1842, the day of leaving Cabul. Political. Sir W. H. Macnaghten, Bart. Murdered at a conference on 23d Dec. Sir Alexander Burnes Ditto in his own house in the city on - - 2d Nov. Capt.Broadfoot,lst Eng. Regt. Ditto in Sir A. B.’s house in the city on - - 2d ” Lieut. Burnes, Bombay Infty. Ditto in Sir A. B.’s house in Lieut. Rattray the city on Ditto at a conference ; at 2d ” Lughmanee in Kohistan - 3d ” H. M. 44th. Lieut. Col. Mackrell - _ Killed in action at Cabul -- 10 th Nov. Capt. Swayne - - Ditto Ditto - 4th ” Capt. M‘Crea - Ditto Ditto - 10 th ” Capt. Robinson - Ditto Ditto - 4th ” Lieut. Raban - Ditto Ditto - 6th ” 5th N. I. Lieut. Col. Oliver _ Ditto Ditto - 23d Nov. Capt. Mackintosh * Ditto Ditto - 23d ” 37 th N. I. Capt. Westmacott _ Ditto Ditto _ 10th Nov. Ensign Gordon - Ditto Ditto - 4th ” 3 5th N. I. Lieut. Jenkins _ Ditto at Khoord- Cabul _ 12th Oct. Capt. Wyndham Ditto at Jugdulluk - 12 th ” 11. M. 13 th Light Infantry. Lieut. King - - Killed at Tezeen - 12th Oct. Local Horse. Capt. Walker, 1st N. I. - Ditto at Cabul - - 23d Nov. 420 APPENDIX, 27 th N. I. Lieut. Laing - Shah's Service. Capt. Woodburn, 44th N. I. - Capt. Codrington, 49th N. I. - Ensign Salisbury, 1st V. Regt. Ensign Rose, 54th N. I. Doctor Grant, Bombay Estab. - Lieut. Maule, Artillery Capt. Trevor, 3d Light Cav. - Local Lieut. Wheeler Killed at Cabul - 23d Nov. Ditto Ditto - 23d Nov. Ditto at Chareeker - 23d ” Ditto Ditto - 23d ” Ditto Ditto - 23d ” Ditto Ditto - 23d ” Ditto in his camp at Kah- darrah - - 3d ” Ditto at a conference - 23d Dec. Ditto in his camp at Kah- darrah - - 3d Nov. From 6th January up to the 12 th January 1842 inclusive on the retreat. Staff. Dr. Duff, Superin. -Surgeon Capt. Skinner, 61st N. I. Capt. Paton *, 58th N. I. Lieut. Sturt *, Engineers Horse Artillery. Dr. Bryce Killed between Tezeen and Seh Baba - - 10th Jan. Ditto at Jugdulluk - 12th ” Ditto Khoord- Cabul pass 8th ” Ditto Ditto - 8th ” Ditto on march to Tezeen 10th Jan. 5th Light Cavalry. Lieut. Hardyman II. M. 44th. Major Scott Capt. Leighton Lieut. White Lieut. Fortye * 5th N. I. Major Swayne * Capt. Miles Lieut. Deas * Lieut. Alexander Lieut. Warren Ditto outside the canton- ment - - 6th Jan. Ditto on march to Tezeen 10th Jan. Ditto Ditto - 10th ” Ditto Junga Fareekee - 10th ” Ditto Jugdulluk - 10th ” Killed at Jung. a Fareekee Ditto Ditto Ditto Ditto Ditto Ditto Ditto Ditto - 10th Jan. - 10th ” - 10th ” - 10th ” - 10th ” * These officers had been previously wounded at Cabul. Captain Paton’s left arm had been amputated. APPENDIX. 421 54th N. I. Major Ewart Capt. Shaw * Lieut. Kirby 37th N. I. Lieut. St. George IT. M. 44th. Lieut. Wade 27 th N. I. Dr. Cardew * Killed on march to Tezeen 10th Jan. Ditto Ditto - 10th ” - Ditto Ditto - 10th ” Ditto Khoord-Cabul pass 8th Jan. Ditto Jugdulluk - 12th Jan. Ditto Tezeen - - 10th Jan. After leaving Jugdulluk on the 1 2th to the final massacre. Staff. Major Thain* H.M.21st Ft.A.D.c. Jugdulluk Pass - - 12th Jan. Capt. Bellew, 56th N. I. Futtehabad - - 13th ” Capt. Grant, 27th N. I. Capt. Mackay, Assist. P. M. f - Gundamuk Doubtful. “ 13 th ” Horse Artillery. Capt. Nieholl Jugdulluk Pass - - 12th Jan. Lieut. Stewart Gundamuk 13 th ” 5 th Light Cavalry, Lieut. -Col. Chambers - Jugdulluk Pass • - - 12th Jan. Capt. Blair - Ditto - - 12th ”, Capt. Bott - Ditto - - 12th ” Capt. Hamilton Gundamuk - - 13th ” Capt. Collyer near Jellalabad - - 14th ” Lieut. Bazett - Jugdulluk Pass - - 12th ” Dr. Harpur - Veterinary Surgeon Willis near Jellalabad Doubtful. " “ 14 th ” II. M. 44th. Capt.’Dodgin - Jugdulluk pass - - 12th Jan. Capt. Collins - Gundamuk - - 13 th ” Lieut. Hogg - Ditto - - 13th ” Lieut, Cumberland Ditto - - 13 th ” * These officers had been previously wounded at Cabul. f Capt. Mackay, Assist. P. M. Shah’s Staff, being mentioned in the text twice (pp.216. 220.), I insert his name thus. It is not in the original list. — Editor. 422 APPENDIX, Lieut. Cadett - Soorkab - _ 12th Jan. Lieut. Swinton Gundamuk - _ 13 th ” Ensign Gray - Paymaster Bourkc Doubtful. Jugdulluk - 12th ” Qr.-Master Hal ah an* - Jugdulluk pass - - 12 th ” Surgeon Harcourt Ditto - - 12th ” Assist. Surgeon Balfour Assist. Surgeon Primrose Doubtful. Gundamuk - - 13 th ” 5th N. I. Capt. Haig - Lieut. Horsbrough Doubtful. Gundamuk 13 th Jan. Lieut. Tombs - Ensign Potenger Lieut. Burkinyoung Dr. Metcalfe ... Doubtful. Ditto. Ditto. Gundamuk 13tli Jan. 37 th N. I. Capt. Rind - Gundamuk - - 13th Jan. Lieut. Steer - Jugdulluk pass - - 12 th ” Lieut. Vanrenen near Soorkab - - 12 th ” Lieut. Hawtrey Gundamuk - - 13 th ” Lieut. Carlyon Doubtful. 54 th N. I. Capt. Anstruther Capt. Corrie - - - Capt. Palmer - Lieut. Weaver - Doubtful. Ditto. Ditto. Gundamuk 13th Jan. Lieut. Cunningham Ditto - - 13 th ” Lieut. Pottinger Neemla - - 13 th ” Lieut. Morrison Gundamuk * 13 th ’ H. M. 13 th Lt. Inf Major Kershaw Lieut. Hobhouse Doubtful. Gundamuk - - 13th Jan. Shah’s Service. Brigadier Anquetil Jugdulluk pass - - 12th Jan. Capt. Hay, 35th N. I. - Gundamuk - 13th ” Capt. Hopkins, 27th N. I. near Jellalabad - - 13 th ” Capt. Marshall, 61st N. I. Jugdulluk pass - - 12th Jan. Lieut. Le Geyt, Bombay Cav. Neemla - - 13th ” Lieut. Green, Artillery Gundamuk - - 13th ” Lieut. Bird, Madras Estab. Futtehabad - - 13 th ” Lieut. Macartney Gundamuk - 13th ” * This officer had been previously wounded at Cabul. APPENDIX. 423 List of Officers sated of the Cabul Force In imprisonment in Afghanistan. Political. Major Pottinger, C.B. Capt. Lawrence. Wounded at Charekar on - 6th Nov. Capt. Mackenzie, Madras Estab. Ditto in action at Cabul on 23d ” Staff. Major-Gen. Elphinstone, C.B. Brigadier Shelton. Capt. Boyd, At. Cy. Gl. Ditto on retreat at Jugdulluk 12th Jan. ( Died at Tezeen on April 23d.) Lieut. Eyre, Arty. D. C. 0. Wounded in action at Cabul 22d Nov. Horse Artillery. Lieut. Waller Ditto Ditto - 4th ” H. M. A-ith. Capt. Souter - Ditto on retreat at Gundamuk 13th Jan. H. M. 1 3th. Lieut. Mein - - - Ditto in action under Gen. Sale at Khoord- Cabul pass Oct. 37th N. I. Major Griffiths Dr. Magrath. Ditto on retreat in Khoord- Cabul pass - - 8th Jan. Shah’s Service. Capt. Troup - Capt. Johnson. Capt. Anderson. Ditto on retreat in Khoord- Cabul pass - - 8th ” Paymaster. Capt. Bygrave The toes of one foot nipped off by frost on retreat. Mr. Ryley,conductorof Ordnance. 424 APPENDIX. 54th N. I. Lieut. Melville Wounded on retreat near Huft Kotul - 10th Jan. Shah’s Service. Dr. Brydon Escaped to Jellalabad. H. List of Prisoners released on the arrival of Generals Pollock and Nott at Cabul in September 184 - 2 . Major-Gen. Shelton, Her Majesty’s 44th foot. Lieut. -Col. Palmer#, 27th Bengal native infantry. Major Griffiths, 37th Bengal native infantry. Capt. Troup, Shah’s service. — Anderson, ditto. — Bygrave, paymaster. — Boyd, commissariat. — Johnson, ditto S. S. F., 26th native infantry. — Burnett, 54th native infantry. — Souter, Her Majesty’s 44th foot. — Waller, Bengal horse artillery. — Alston#, 27th native infantry. — Poett*, ditto. — Walsh, 52d Madras native infantry. — Drummond, 3d Bengal light cavalry. Lieut. Eyre, Bengal artillery. — Airey, Her Majesty’s 3d huffs. — Warburton, Bengal artillery, S. S.F. — Webb, 38th Madras native infantry, S. S.F. — Crawford, Bengal 3d native infantry, S. S.F. — Mein, Her Majesty’s 13th light infantry. * Those marked thus * were of the Ghuznee garrison. APPENDIX. 425 Lieut. Harris*, 27th Bengal native infantry. — Melville, 54th Bengal native infantry. — Evans, Her Majesty’s 44th foot. Ensign Haughton, 31st Bengal native infantry. — Williams, 37th Bengal native infantry. — Nicholson, ditto. Conductor Ryley, ordnance commissariat. Doctor Campbell. Surgeon Magrath. Assistant-Surgeon Berwick, left in charge. Lady Macnaghten. — Sale. Mrs. Trevor, 8 children. — Anderson, 3 ditto. — Sturt and 1 child. — Mainwaring, ditto. — Boyd, 3 children. — Eyre, 1 child. — Waller, 2 children. Conductor Ryley’s wife, Mrs. Ryley, 3 children. Private Bourne’s (13th light infantry) wife, Mrs. Bourne. Mrs. Wade, wife of Sergeant Wade. Major Pottinger, Bombay artillery. Captain Lawrence, 11th light cavalry. — Mackenzie, 48th Madras native infantry. Thomson. Ladies. Mr. Fallon, clerk — Blewitt, do. j- not in the service. Her Majesty’s 44tii Foot. Sergeant Wedlock. — Weir. — Fair. Corporal Sumpter. Lovell. Branagan. 426 APPENDIX. Private Burns. — Cresham. — Cronin. — r Driscoll. — Deroney. — Duffy. — Matthews. — M'Dade. — Marron. — M‘Carthy. - — M‘Cabe. — Nowlan. — Robson. — Seyburne. — Sheen. Private Tongue. — Wilson. — Durant. — Arch. — Stott. — Moore. — Miller. — Murphy. — Marshall. — Cox. — Robinson. — Brady. — M‘Glyn. Boys Grier. — Milvvood. Her Majesty’s 13tii Light Infantry. Private Binding. — Murray. — Magary. — Monks. Private Maccullar — M'Connell. — Cuff. Bengal Horse Artillery. Sergeant M‘Nee. — Cleland. Gunner A. Hearn. — Keane. Gunner Dalton. Sergeant Wade, baggage-ser- geant to the Cabul mis- sion. THE END. London : Frinted by A. 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