In 1878 a change was made in the armament of the Seventeenth which takes us back to the earliest days of the British army. Martini-Henry carbines were issued, and pistols returned into store. Carbines, of course, were no new thing in the regiment, though they had been unknown therein since they were withdrawn (weapons very different from the Martini) in 1823. The bound from the old flint-lock to the Martini is remarkable; but the abolition of the pistol is even more noteworthy, for the pistol was a direct survival from the days of the Ironsides. Quite unconsciously the five regiments of Lancers carried the armament of Cromwell’s troopers into the forty-first year of Queen Victoria. [Sidenote: 1878.] As a weapon the pistol had long been regarded as of no account: it was a muzzle loader to the last, and as but ten rounds annually were allowed to each man for practice therewith, it was hardly taken seriously as a weapon at all. Still the abandonment of the pistol, as a point of historical interest, deserves at least so much notice. Sergeant-majors, and trumpeters were now provided with revolvers, a change which was fated to have serious influence on the careers of two officers of the regiment. This year saw England committed to two wars, in Afghanistan and in Zululand. It must now be told how the Seventeenth Lancers played a part in both of them. CHAPTER XV THE ZULU WAR--PEACE SERVICE IN INDIA AND AT HOME, 1879–1894 [Sidenote: 1879.] At the beginning of February England was shocked by the intelligence that one of Lord Chelmsford’s columns, consisting of the 24th Regiment, had been surprised and annihilated by the Zulus at Isandlhwana (22nd January). [Sidenote: 10th Feb.] The Seventeenth Lancers was at once warned to proceed on active service in South Africa, and the regiment was augmented by the transfer of sixty-five men and horses from the 5th and 16th Lancers. In the short interval between the warning and the embarkation the Commanding Officer, Colonel Gonne, was accidentally shot while superintending the practice of the non-commissioned officers with the newly issued revolver, and so severely wounded as to be unable to proceed on active service. Accordingly, on the 22nd February, Colonel Drury Lowe was gazetted as supernumerary Lieutenant-Colonel, and reassumed command of the regiment, his return being joyfully welcomed by all ranks, without exception, from the second in command downwards. On the same day the regiment was inspected by the Colonel-in-Chief at Hounslow, [Sidenote: 24th Feb.] and two days later one wing, under the command of Major Boulderson, embarked on board the hired transport _France_ at Victoria Docks; headquarters and the other wing embarking on board the _England_ at Southampton on the 25th. A depôt of 121 men with 30 horses was left under the command of Captain Benson at Hounslow. [Sidenote: 1879.] The strength of the regiment, as embarked, was as follows:--