Afghanistan and the Anglo-Russian Dispute — John Shaqi
Afghanistan and the Anglo-Russian DisputeRodenbough, Theophilus F. (Theophilus Francis)
History
Afghanistan and the Anglo-Russian Dispute
Rodenbough, Theophilus F. (Theophilus Francis)
Afghanistan; Eastern question (Central Asia); India -- Defenses; Russians -- Asia, Central
employed required a corresponding force of attendants, inspectors,
and native doctors, all of whom served to make up that excessive
army of "followers" for which Anglo-Indian expeditions are famous.
Drivers were required at the following rate: one driver for each
pair of bullocks, every four camels, every three mules and ponies,
every six donkeys. [Footnote: The average carrying power of certain
kinds of transport, in pounds, is as follows: _bullock-carts_ (with
two pairs), on fairly level ground, 1,400; on hilly ground, 1,000;
(with one pair) on fairly level ground, 850; on hilly ground, 650;
_camels_, 400; _mules_, 200; _ponies_, 175; _men_, 50.]
[Illustration: Khelat-i-Ghilzi, between Kandahar and Ghazni.]
The great obstacle to the satisfactory operation of the transport
system was its novelty and experimental character, and that its
organization had to be combined with its execution. Besides which,
cholera broke out in June and swept away three hundred employes.
Grazing camps were established in the neighborhood of the Bolan Pass
for the bullocks, and aqueducts built for the conveyance of a water
supply; one of these was of masonry, more than a mile in length,
from Dozan down to the Bolan. It has been stated that grazing was
scarce in the region of the Bolan: in 1879 more than four thousand
bullocks were grazed there during the summer, and large quantities
of forage were cut for winter use.
Any prolonged military operations in Afghanistan must, to a certain
extent, utilize hired transport, although there are many objections
urged.
Sir Richard Temple said (1879): "That the amount of transport
required for active service, such as the late campaign in
Afghanistan, is so great that to hire transport is synonymous to
pressing it from the people of the district from which it is hired,
and impressment of the means of transport must lead to impressment
of drivers, who naturally (having no interest whatever in the
campaign in which they are called upon to serve) render the most
unwilling service and take the earliest opportunity of rendering
their animals unserviceable in hopes of escaping a distasteful duty.
This service is frequently so unpopular that, sooner than leave the
boundaries of their native country, the impressed drivers desert,
leaving their animals in the hands of the transport authorities or
take them away with them. . . . For the above reasons I should
recommend that all transport for a campaign should be the property
of Government."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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