The Inquiry into Yakub Khan’s Conduct—Visit to the Chardeh
Valley—Dismantlement of the Bala Hissar—The Amir’s Palace—A curious
Picture—A Sirdar’s House in the Fortress—General Baker’s Raid upon
Indikee—Arrest of Sepoys—Seizure of Arms—The Guilt of the Herat
Regiments—Opening up of Communication with General Bright—Failure to
keep the Road Open—The Execution of Forty-nine Sepoys—An Amnesty
Issued—The probable Fate of the Amir—Punishment of the Shutargardan
Tribes—First Signs of Winter.
SHERPUR, _7th November_.
The Commission which is inquiring into the massacre of Sir Louis
Cavagnari and his escort may be said to have reached the first stage of
its work—the examination of nearly 100 witnesses, who have spoken as to
what occurred at the Bala Hissar and in Cabul afterwards, having been
completed. This has furnished materials, so to say, for the brief
against the Amir, who, from the 5th, may he considered to have been on
his trial. Explanations will, of course, be required of him of such
suspicious circumstances as point to something beyond mere helplessness
and vacillation, and his statements will be weighed against those
already in the hands of the Commission. In the present stage of the
inquiry great reticence is observed as to what evidence has been taken,
and it would be idle to indulge in too free conjectures. This much may
be taken as certain, that not the least respect of persons will be shown
in the decisions arrived at by the Commissioners. The hanging of such
wretches as the Kotwal of Cabul and the _chowkidar_ of Mundai was an
example to such small fry as those who make up the rabble population of
Cabul; but higher game may be flown at, as the faithlessness of chiefs
and influential leaders must be punished. The Mustaufi and the other
Ministers under arrest have yet to be dealt with; and if their
complicity in the treachery which we are punishing is established, they
will have short shrift.
Yesterday General Roberts, taking his usual personal escort and a troop
of the 9th Lancers, rode into the Chardeh Valley with General Baker. The
position of the enemy on the Asmai Heights on the 8th of October was
explained by General Baker, and also the disposition for the attack. The
Cabul gorge was passed through, the river crossed, and the road at the
foot of the hills blocking Chardeh from Charasia followed. Walled
homesteads and richly-cultivated fields alternated with orchards, on the
right; and as the road gradually ascended, a beautiful view of the whole
valley was obtained. Even so late in the year as now it will answer the
description given of it by a member of the Embassy: “a mass of
vegetation.” Rows of willow-trees rise from the sides of every
irrigation channel, and orchards innumerable are scattered on all sides.
The walled enclosures, with their small towers, are dotted here and
there, breaking the even monotony of the view, and whichever way one may
turn, the steep hills which run out from the Pughman Range shut in this
fertile valley. We followed the path from the gorge to the village of
Indikee, and halted on the plain immediately in rear of the heights
which the 72nd Highlanders and 5th Ghoorkas stormed on October 6th. It
was across this plain that the enemy fled; and, seeing how clear it is
of all obstacles, one can well understand General Baker’s regret that he
had not cavalry ready at hand to cut up the retreating Afghans. If the
nature of the ground had been better known to us, the loss of Nek
Mahomed’s force would have been much heavier. Turning back from Indikee,
we retraced our steps through the narrow, winding streets of the
village, perched on the steep hillside with a roaring brook running
through it, and struck the Bamian Road. This was followed for three
miles into the heart of the valley, where nothing but wheat-fields and
irrigated plots under water, or lying fallow for the plough, was seen.
Then a bee-line was taken to the break in the hills to the east, and
after a good gallop the northern suburbs of Cabul were reached, and the
road to Sherpur followed until Camp was gained. Such villagers as we had
seen were quiet enough: and if any sepoys were hidden away, they did not
think it worth while to risk a shot at the General. Fanaticism seems at
present incapable of producing a Ghazi equal to the fear of meeting
certain death.
The dismantlement of the Bala Hissar has made such rapid progress, that
within the walls the houses are now in ruins, all the beams and wooden
supports, as well as every scrap of timber of every kind, being in
course of removal to Sherpur. We are looking forward to a severe winter;
and, however snug our quarters may be in the long ranges of barracks
built here by Shere Ali, there will be much discomfort, not to say
sickness, if firewood runs short. There are no forests from which large
supplies can be drawn: the hillsides all around being bare rock or
shingly deposit on which no vegetation can grow.
Some of the large houses in the Bala Hissar, though now deserted and
partially demolished, show signs of luxury and comfort which speak
highly of the pains taken by rich sirdars to enjoy life in their own
rude way. The palace in which Yakub Khan lived was furnished
luxuriously, no doubt, in his estimation; thick Persian carpets,
bright-coloured rugs and _dhurries_ covering the floors; while
English-made tables, sideboards, and chairs were ranged side by side
with the usual Eastern pillows, cushions, and _rezais_, which are the
delight of indolent loungers. In one small room the ceiling was so
closely hung with glass chandeliers that to move about was to risk a
small shower of pendants falling; while the shades for the candles were
of such brilliancy in light green and pink that the effect in the bright
sunshine was quite dazzling. “Pearls and barbaric gold” there were none
to be seen,—they had been removed for safe-keeping to his
father-in-law’s house in the city, where the ladies of the harem were
also lodged,—but such gimcracks as usually light up the houses of the
poorest classes in England were not wanting. Cheap pictures in common
gilded frames, the kind turned out by the thousand in Germany, all gaudy
colours and painfully real, were hanging on the walls; while a few
well-executed portraits of Russian officers, in full uniform and
bedecked with orders, were found scattered about. These were all neatly
framed in wood, and were so well got up that most probably they had been
presents to Shere Ali from the Embassy, whose stay in Cabul gave rise to
such serious results. One small picture was discovered, which is
certainly a great curiosity. It is plainly the work of an Afghan artist,
and carries us back to the disasters of 1841-42, when for a time our
arms suffered so serious a reverse. The subject of the drawing is an
Afghan on horseback, in full splendour of gold-braided coat of many
colours, enormous black Astrakan hat with its characteristic cone shape,
small black boots peeping out of the white drapery of his wide-flowing
trouser, and the silver scabbard of his sword dangling at his side. His
saddle is gorgeous in red and gold, while the trappings of his charger
are bright with elaborate gilding. The horse is, in the language of
heraldry, _rampant_, while his rider sits proudly in the saddle, staring
out over the wide, wide world with an expression of haughty contempt,
which is almost awe-inspiring. On the green foreground, which represents
the grassy sward of the Cabul plain, a dog, abnormally developed in some
particulars, gambols along, barking joyously (if the protrusion of a
crimson tongue as big as his head means anything), and thoroughly
enjoying his master’s triumph. What that triumph is has yet to be told!
On the flank of the horse, and so close as to be in danger of its heels,
is the figure of a British officer, clad in the old Pandy uniform, with
a musket at the trail in his hand, and crouching in the most abject
terror. His face, that of a boy subaltern, is turned upwards; while his
eye, full of fear and respect, is watching his Afghan conqueror with
great intentness. He is at the double, to keep up with the horse, and
the artist has cleverly depicted in figure and expression the
humiliation he is undergoing. Nothing could be finer than the contrast
between the black-bearded Afghan, with his enormous pouting lips of a
purple tinge, and staring eyes, and the smooth boyish face, full of
timidity, of the unlucky Briton he is leading captive. We can afford to
laugh at the picture, for “the wheel has come full circle,” and the
subject now for an artist to draw would be an English Lancer, perfect in
his array as a lily of the field, leading captive at his stirrup a
typical Afghan (say Yakub Khan, for example) with a halter round his
neck and clad in all the simplicity of a _dhotie_. The picture I have
described is a standing curiosity in Camp, and is to be the nucleus of a
future Cabul Picture Gallery.
In Cabul the better class of houses all present the same appearance
outside: that of high brown mud walls, with one or two small doorways.
Nothing can be more uninviting than these sun-baked walls, which, from
the Mediterranean eastwards, always mark the residence of a Mussulman
population. But within them there is much to atone for their forbidding
exterior. Entering one of these large houses in the Bala Hissar some
days ago, I found myself in an inner courtyard full 20 yards square. At
either end were sets of rooms with open verandahs in front, built of a
framework of wood fitted in with bricks, and then carefully plastered
over. The lower rooms were four or five feet above the level of the
courtyard, and broad flights of steps led up to them. Every bit of wood
used as supports or for partition walls had been carved and fretted with
great skill, while the inner rooms were cut off from the glare outside
by carved wooden screens, some of the patterns being extremely pretty.
But the greatest wealth of ornamentation had been lavished above, in
what were the quarters of the women. A handsome wooden staircase, broad
enough for four persons to walk abreast, led up to these; and once on
the higher level the change from the dull brown below was quite
refreshing. There was the same repetition of carved woodwork and open
screens; but the inner walls were gay with frescoes in every colour, the
plaster being covered with native designs of scroll-work, filled in with
birds of startling plumage and flowers of hues to shame the rainbow. The
ceilings and cornices were similarly adorned, the latter being set with
mirrors in long narrow strips of various sizes. The recesses for lamps
and the lintels of the doors had all shared in the general
ornamentation, and to its inmates the _zenana_ must have seemed a
triumph of artistic skill. All was deserted now, not even a door
remaining on its hinges. The carved work was smashed as if some reckless
soldier had thrust his rifle stock through it; the bits of mirror were
starred with stray blows, and the plaster had been broken from the walls
as the woodwork had been torn away. The wood from the staircases leading
to the roof, the favourite evening gossiping place of the sirdars,
ladies, and attendants, had all been carried away, and the gaping holes
through which the sunlight poured were eloquent of desolation. And it is
a desolation well deserved, for it was in just such a house, with
courtyard and pleasant upper rooms (perhaps not so elaborately
decorated, the whitewash covering the beauties of the frescoes) that
Cavagnari was lodged. The Bala Hissar may at last meet with the fate
which it deserved, and narrowly escaped, when Pollock was master of
Cabul in 1842: and soon not one mud wall may remain to stare its
neighbour out of countenance. The large godowns in the Upper Fortress
are still full of powder—nearly a million pounds; but, with this
exception, the place has been cleared of all its warlike stores. The
excavations at the Residency are still carried on, but the remains of
our officers have not been found. Two English watches were unearthed a
few days ago: one had stopped at 2.45 P.M., and the other at 8.15 P.M.
_9th November._
There seems to be an impression gaining ground outside that the army
here has been rather tardy in its work of vengeance, and has not
fulfilled its mission in so bloodthirsty a way as might have been
expected. Much, however, has had to be done in the clearing of the
Shutargardan, laying in stores for the winter, and making inquiry
quietly into the probable intention of the scattered regiments. It would
not have been advisable to alarm such of the Afghan sepoys as had left
their homes in Cabul and the villages near, and we have, therefore,
hitherto only picked out a few of the worst characters and hanged them
as an “encouragement to the others.” Seeing that no general action was
taken in thoroughly searching such villages as were close at hand, the
disbanded soldiers have returned in many instances to their homes, and
now that we have some of the muster-rolls of the regiments in our
possession, we have suddenly begun to sweep into the net of the Military
Commission every one against whom suspicion exists. Flying parties of
cavalry are sent out, some with sealed orders, to bring in such men as
have been marked down by informers eager to earn the rewards offered for
the apprehension of guilty persons, and yesterday a swoop was made into
the Chardeh Valley, only two or three miles from Camp. The village of
Indikee and its neighbours sent out most of their armed men to fight
against us, and for the last month they have been revelling in fancied
security, in the belief that their misdeeds were unknown. They have just
been rudely awakened from their pleasant dream. On Friday evening the
3rd Sikhs, 5th Punjab Cavalry, and two mountain guns of the Kohat
Battery were warned for service with General Baker for the morrow, but
their destination was kept a secret. There are so many channels by which
information may leak out that if it had been stated whither they were
bound, some kind friends of the Afghans, who are favourably received in
Camp, might have given warning to the men whose lives were in danger.
General Baker formed up the troops outside the walls of the cantonments
at daybreak yesterday morning, and at once moved off through the suburbs
of Cabul to the gorge through which the rivers enters the city. The road
to the left was taken after Dehmazung village had been passed just
beyond the gorge, and the cavalry pushing on formed a _cordon_ round
Indikee. In my last letter I described the village, which General
Roberts visited three days ago. It is commanded from several points on
the hillside, and at one of these the two guns were posted ready to open
fire if resistance were offered. There was, however, no thought of
fighting: the village was taken quite by surprise, and the headmen came
out in fear and trembling as General Baker and the 3rd Sikhs marched up.
The headmen were briefly told that all sepoys belonging to the Afghan
army must be brought out and surrendered. They were given five minutes
to produce the men, the threat of a forcible search, with, perhaps,
worse to follow, giving point to the request. In a very few minutes they
brought forward thirty men, unarmed, and with no uniform on their backs,
and these were at once made prisoners. The General had a list in which
the names of certain sepoys known to be in Indikee were entered; and,
upon calling this over, several were found to be missing. The _maliks_
explained that twenty-two sepoys were absent in various directions, and
promised faithfully to bring them into Sherpur when they should return.
This promise was accepted, and the disarmament of the village then
began. The orders were that all arms, even to the knives so commonly
worn by Afghans, should be laid at the door of every house before our
sepoys entered. This was done, the whole place being divided into three
parts: two companies of Sikhs were sent to each section to collect the
weapons. Wherever the arms were not before the doors the houses were
searched, and in such a manner that but few weapons could remain hidden.
Indikee having made itself so particularly obnoxious, was further
punished by a fine of 1,300 maunds of grain and 800 loads of _bhoosa_
being levied upon it. This quantity of grain and forage was ordered to
be delivered in Sherpur within a week, and two headmen were taken as
hostages for the due fulfilment of the bargain. In case of their failing
to carry out the order, the village will be burnt to the ground. Other
villages which had shared in the guilt of Indikee were then visited, and
eighteen more Afghan soldiers taken. Many of these belong to the Herat
regiments, and answered to their names when called upon. They fell into
rank at the word of command; and, when “right about face” was called
out, preparatory to marching back to Sherpur, obeyed with alacrity. All
the arms taken were humbly carried into camp by the villagers, escorted
by our sepoys and _sowars_, much to the edification of such Cabulis as
were met upon the road. The raid was altogether a very successful one:
and if all the towers in the Chardeh Valley are blown up as a pendant to
the excursion, the villagers will have been taught a severe lesson.
To-day the _maliks_, true to their word, brought in between twenty and
thirty sepoys, many of the latter marching quietly in, and surrendering
themselves as calmly as if they were our own soldiers who had overstayed
their leave and expected a slight punishment. What their fate is likely
to be, appears from the result of the sitting of the Military Commission
to-day. Sixteen prisoners were brought up, and eleven of these will be
hanged to-morrow morning. Five poor wretches, _khalassies_ belonging to
the Artillery, were released, as there was nothing to inculpate them. We
seem at last to have got hold of certain sepoys who were concerned in
the first outbreak in the Bala Hissar. They do not attempt to conceal
their names, or those of the regiments to which they belong, and hear
their sentence of death as stoically as if each man were a Spartan. It
makes one exasperated to see the rank and file of these wretches being
marched off to execution, while their leaders are still at large, and
but few of the Cabul rabble have been brought to account. One grows sick
of hanging ten common men a day; and there is already a talk of an
amnesty being shortly proclaimed—only ringleaders and certain marked men
being excepted. There will be no difficulty, I imagine, in the future in
capturing a few score sepoys if the executions have to be begun over
again, as the muster-rolls give very fully the names and residences of
the sepoys. The rolls are framed somewhat on the Indian pattern, and are
fairly complete. One is the crack regiment, called the “Asnider
Regiment,” and these men are still at large with good rifles in their
hands. Perhaps they may have courage enough to die as soldiers, fighting
openly, rather than come to an end on the scaffold.
We are unhappy in our minds as to our winter line of communications, our
hopes of the road to Gundamak being secured by the meeting of General
Macpherson’s and General Charles Gough’s forces having suddenly dropped
below zero. It is difficult to understand what has occurred: but the
most important step in our recent operations has certainly been
neutralized in some way. Whether it is divided authority,—General
Roberts on the Cabul side being unable to give orders to General Bright
on the Gundamak line so long as the latter remains senior in army
rank,—or some local exigency, is not at all clear; but this much is only
too plainly evident, that the force under General Charles Gough, after
joining hands with our brigade at Kata Sung, four miles west of
Jugdulluck, has fallen back upon Jugdulluck, while General Macpherson
has marched down the Tezin river to the Lughman country. Consequently we
have been cut off again from the Khyber Force for several days. We are
most anxious to ensure the safety of our postal and telegraphic line
through the belt of mountains which shuts us off from our reinforcements
if we chance to need them. Besides, we are anxious to send our sick and
wounded back to India before the full rigour of winter comes upon them
here; and, with snow likely to fall early in December, there is not much
time to spare. General Macpherson, on his part, has crossed the Cabul
river at a point where, it is said, a pile-bridge could be easily built,
and has explored the Lughman Valley at its western end. Shortness of
supplies is given as his reason for leaving Kata Sung. He has found a
good road running for 30 or 40 miles over nearly a hill country; but
whether it will be of service is quite another matter, which may be
dealt with when we have _one_ route open. The troops with him are needed
here, as one or two local punitive expeditions have to be sent out; and
he has therefore been recalled. The Luttabund route is to be adopted as
the one best calculated to be followed to Jugdulluck, and the Pioneers
will be left behind to make it practicable. Blasting powder is being
sent up to the Kotal, and the work will, it is thought, soon be
accomplished. In the meantime, General Hugh Gough has left Sherpur to
arrange for all the posts between Luttabund and Jugdulluck being held.
There was no opposition to the advance from Gundamak beyond a few shots
fired by a knot of men near Jugdulluck; the only damage they inflicted
was the wounding of one of the Guides’ horses.
_12th November._
The last few days have been remarkable for the trial and execution of no
less than forty-nine prisoners, nearly all of whom were sepoys belonging
to the Herat regiments which attacked the Residency. As already
mentioned, General Baker captured forty-eight men in the Chardeh
villages in his excursion of the 8th; and others were brought in by the
headmen in fulfilment of their promise. In all, eighty-nine were tried
by the Military Commission; and of these, eleven, twenty-eight, and ten
were hanged on the 10th, 11th, and 12th instant. The remainder were
released, as they were able to give a fairly satisfactory account of
themselves, two only being retained, as they have promised to lead our
search parties to villages where men are still lying hidden. These two
men were to have been hanged this morning, and were only reprieved at
the last moment. Every opportunity was given to these Afghan sepoys to
explain their actions, and such lame stories as were invented were easy
of disproof. Their _maliks_ stated what men were absent from the
villages, and whether they were with their regiments, or away at distant
points during September and October. The muster-rolls in our possession
showed the rank and regiment of the men, and in no case did the
prisoners deny their identity. Such as were released were either poor
wretches like gun-_khalassies_, or sepoys, who could show that they were
nowhere near Cabul from September 1st to October 8th, and could not
consequently have shared in the attack upon the Embassy, the battle of
Charasia, or the fight on the Cabul Heights. These wholesale executions
were mainly intended as a punishment to such as disregarded the
Proclamation issued at Zerghun Shahr by General Roberts on October 3rd,
and it is now thought an example, severe enough, has been made. The
Afghan army, or such of it as exists, must see that we were thoroughly
in earnest in threatening with death all who chose to appear as rebels
against the then Amir, in whose name we were advancing. Of course the
instant men came in and surrendered, putting themselves at our mercy,
the task of hanging them became a very ungracious one—if they had only
been guilty of contesting an advance. To-day, therefore, an amnesty was
issued, under which all of this latter class were pardoned on condition
of surrendering their arms. The following is the full text of the
amnesty
PROCLAMATION OF NOVEMBER 12TH, 1879.
“To all whom it may concern. On the 12th of October a Proclamation was
issued, in which I offered a reward for the surrender of any persons
who had fought against the British troops since the 3rd of September,
and had thereby become rebels against the Amir Yakub Khan. I have now
received information which tends to show that some at least of those
who shared in the opposition encountered by the British troops during
their advance on Cabul, were led to do so by a belief that the Amir
was a prisoner in my camp, and had called upon the soldiery and people
of Cabul to rise on his behalf. Such persons, although enemies to the
British Government, were not rebels against their own sovereign, and
the great British Government does not seek for vengeance against
enemies who no longer resist. It may be that few only of those who
took up arms were thus led away by the statement of evil-minded men,
but rather than punish the innocent with the guilty, I am willing to
believe that all were alike deceived. On behalf of the British
Government, therefore, I proclaim a free and complete amnesty to all
persons who have fought against the British troops since the 3rd of
September, provided that they now give up any arms in their possession
and return to their homes. The offer of reward for the surrender of
such persons is now withdrawn, and they will not, for the future, be
molested in any way on account of their opposition to the British
advance. But it must be clearly understood that the benefit of this
amnesty does not extend to any one, whether soldier or civilian, who
was concerned, directly or indirectly, in the attack upon the
Residency, or who may hereafter be found in possession of any property
belonging to members of the Embassy. To such persons no mercy will be
shown. Further, I hold out no promise of pardon to those who, well
knowing the Amir’s position in the British camp, instigated the troops
and people of Cabul to take up arms against the British troops. They
have been guilty of wilful rebellion against the Amir’s authority, and
they will be considered and treated as rebels wherever they may be
found.”
It was not to be expected that clemency would be extended to such men as
joined in the actual attack upon the Residency, or to the leaders, who
misled the sepoys afterwards, by declaring that the Amir was an
unwilling prisoner in our hands, and was calling, from his captivity,
upon all true Mussulmans to resist the British, and to release him from
the hands of his own and his country’s enemies. As we have had daily to
watch the string of men passing along under escort to the Bala Hissar,
many a keen regret has been felt that leaders like Nek Mahomed and
Kushdil Khan have not been in their ranks. The demeanour of the men
hanged has, in all cases, been one of stolid indifference: they accepted
their fate as a matter of course, and, when surrounded by the bayonets
of the Highlanders, tried to keep up a semblance of soldierly bearing,
by marching in time and keeping shoulder to shoulder. But that one
remembers the bitter treachery we have come to punish, and can almost
look down from the foot of the scaffold into the pit in which the bodies
of our brave Guides are lying, one might feel pity for the wretches
whose fanaticism has put their heads into the noose. There were no extra
precautions taken, even when twenty-eight men had to be hanged; a small
guard of fifty men under a commissioned officer was told off from one of
the British regiments, and the prisoners were marched off in the usual
way. They apparently never thought of attempting to escape; and Cabul is
so cowed by the military law it is now enjoying, that its rabble
population has not spirit enough left to cry “a rescue.” Nothing can be
quieter than the city, which has always been so notorious for bloodshed
and turbulence: the shadow of the scaffold is over it, and not one among
the ruffians who throng its narrow streets, and hide in its filthy
purlieus, but feels its influence. They have hitherto traded upon our
known weakness—the worship of the quality of mercy,—and it is only now
that they understand the new principle of retribution we have introduced
into our policy. Like Pollock, General Roberts might have destroyed
their bazaar and left Cabul to its fate; but whether we withdraw again
or not, there will be the tale of lives taken by our hangmen still to be
counted over in the city and the villages; and who knows yet what
powerful names may not top the list?
The work of the Special Commission dealing with the Massacre and
intrigues of the Ministers has so far progressed, that, in a few days, I
believe, the report will be ready. Each of the members—Colonel
Macgregor, Dr. Bellew, and Hyat Khan—is writing a report; and from the
three will be framed a final one, to be submitted to the Government,
with such recommendations as General Roberts and his advisers may deem
fit to make. The chief interest, of course, attaches to the Amir, whose
fate now hangs in the balance. That he will at least be deported to
India seems beyond doubt. What punishment will be meted out to the
Mustaufi, the Wazir, Yahiya Khan, and Zakariah Khan, cannot of course be
estimated; but if the evidence against them of inciting the rebel
regiments to continue in arms is at all clear, they ought certainly not
to be spared. They see day by day how unyielding we are in carrying out
the work we have undertaken; and, if guilty, they must uneasily count
their beads while calculating the chances of ultimate escape. The
amnesty is so framed that they do not at present come within its scope,
and they cannot tell the exact evidence which has been forthcoming as to
their intrigues. They are closely guarded, and all access to them will
be forbidden until their sentence is pronounced. There is one prisoner
in the row of tents where our captives are confined who is to be treated
to-morrow to the smart punishment of fifty lashes, and his case is a
peculiar one. When the Ghilzais and their allies were investing the
Shutargardan, Colonel Money received a _jirgah_ who proposed certain
terms which I have before characterized as absurd. The tribes proposed,
first, that the force then in Shutargardan should retire to Ali Kheyl,
the Ghilzais finding carriage for their stores and giving hostages as a
guarantee of good faith. This was declined, and they then made a similar
proposition, giving Kushi as the destination of the troops instead of
Ali Kheyl. On this also being rejected, the _jirgah_ said that on
promise of payment of two lakhs of rupees they would disperse the
tribes. This was laughed at by Colonel Money and Dr. Bellew, and the
_jirgah_ were dismissed. One Ghilzai chief, losing his temper,
said:—“Very well, to-morrow morning we will come and cut all your
throats.” This part of the programme did not come off, and this man had
afterwards the audacity to come into Camp here, no doubt to see how we
were progressing. He was recognized and arrested, and to-morrow he will
be sent back to his tribe well scored with the lash. He will, perhaps,
use greater discretion in future. While on this matter of the
Shutargardan investment, it is worth mentioning that one section of the
tribes has been punished in a manner that may rather astonish their
chiefs. When it was believed that the telegraph line would be
permanently laid to Cabul from Ali Kheyl, large quantities of timber
were purchased from local _maliks_, one section (the Ahmed Kheyls, I
believe) supplying Rs. 6,000 worth. They had been paid half this sum;
but as they broke faith by joining the other tribesmen during the late
disturbances, General Roberts has sanctioned the confiscation of the Rs.
3,000 still due to them. This will be a heavy fine, and is a ready mode
of punishing them. The cost of laying the line from Ali Kheyl westwards
to within a few miles of Dobundi was over Rs. 20,000, and nearly all the
wire and posts have been carried off by the hillmen—a costly experiment
to us, which it is to be hoped will not be repeated.
We are now rejoicing in the probable opening of the road from here to
Jugdulluck, as arrangements have been made by General Hugh Gough for the
garrisoning of the posts. Our quarters in barracks are not quite ready,
and such a sudden access of cold as that now experienced is difficult to
withstand in the light tents our men have to live in. Yesterday there
were signs from the early morning that some change was threatening, the
sun being obscured by a haze which, in the eyes of the natives, meant
snow. Late in the afternoon one of the local _khak-bads_, or small
dust-storms, swept over Camp, and this was followed by light rain, just
sufficient to lay the dust. A great fall of temperature occurred, which
drove us to seek the warmth of poshteens and over-coats, and just before
sunset sleet began to drift down. For about an hour it fell, not very
heavily however, and soon the whole cantonment was whitened over. The
hills about were all obscured by light clouds, which closed down upon
the plain, and we began to fear heavy snow would fall. Fortunately,
however, for our comfort, it cleared up soon after six o’clock; but a
sharp frost set in, and the night was bitterly cold, water freezing even
in our tents. To-day the sky was as blue and clear as in June, and the
frozen sleet soon disappeared as the sun shone out. In sheltered places
little patches of white are still seen, while the Pughman mountains are
covered with snow. An early and severe winter is expected from this
sudden change, although it is possible two or three weeks of bright
genial sunshine may still be in store for us before the real winter
snow-fall covers the country. A flying column, made up from General
Baker’s brigade, was to have started for Ghazni on the 15th, General
Roberts in person accompanying it; but it is probable that the
expedition will now be postponed. It would involve great hardships to
march troops between 80 and 90 miles exposed to sleet and snow storms;
and as the chief object of the journey would be to secure food and
forage, other means may, perhaps, be found to gain the end in view. The
proclamation of an amnesty will give confidence to villagers at a
distance, who may now be tempted to bring in supplies.
There has not been much excitement in Camp apart from the news of a
skirmish at Doaba, in which the 67th had, at last, a chance of
distinguishing themselves. We shall only gain particulars of this little
fight, which has cost us four killed and five wounded, when General
Macpherson comes in on the 14th.
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