Campaign of the Indus: In a Series of Letters from an Officer of the Bombay DivisionHoldsworth, T. W. E.
History
Campaign of the Indus: In a Series of Letters from an Officer of the Bombay Division
Holdsworth, T. W. E.
Afghan Wars
Well; we got the steam up again on the 12th, and, together with the 4th
Light Dragoons, and about sixty Irregulars, started for the celebrated
Bolan Pass, with a great quantity of commissariat stores from Bukkur,
for the army in advance, under our charge. This celebrated Pass would be
the best line of communication between the countries of Central Asia and
Sinde; and as far as the Pass is concerned itself, it is quite guiltless
of the bad character it holds. It is merely the bed of a winter torrent,
and is an easy ascent the whole way through; and during the greater
part of the year quite passable for any description, of conveyance; but
in consequence of the great number of robbers, from all parts of
Beloochistan and Sinde, who infest it, no one thinks of travelling this
route, unless with a very strong escort. A great number, therefore, of
native merchants, &c., took advantage of the opportunities offered by
the passage of it by the different divisions of our army. We had with us
a native horse-dealer, who had travelled the same way down the year
before, with horses for the Bombay market, and, as he considered, with a
sufficient escort; but they were suddenly attacked, his brother killed,
and he only saved himself by the swiftness of his horse. These robbers
are several degrees more savage than even their brother Beloochees in
the south of Sinde. There are two clans of them. The Kaukers and
Tuckers; of these, the Kaukers are by far the worst. They are
represented as being regular barbarians, and are even said to be
cannibals, though perhaps that is a little too melodramatic. They
possess few fire-arms, but roll down large pieces of rock in the narrow
passes, and rush out from the small recesses of the rocks, leading God
knows where, which abound in every part. They never spare any one, and
cut and hack about the bodies of their victims in the most frightful
manner. With all this they are the greatest cowards possible; a few
determined men would be a match for the greatest odds; but the very name
of Kauker seems to convey terror in it to a traveller. I saw the head
of one of these rascals lying about at Dadur, and it was the most
frightful face I ever beheld, more like a wild beast's than a human
being's. On entering the Pass, which we did as if expecting an enemy,
with skirmishers, flanking parties, &c., we were nearly stifled by the
horrible smell arising from the number of dead camels which were lying
on the ground, in every degree of putrefaction. We soon, however, came
to bodies of a different sort; for on the banks of a small rivulet, and
in the water, most in the long reeds, some in the middle of the road,
were about twenty or thirty dead Sepoys and followers. They were in
every kind of shape and contortion that could indicate a violent death.
Some were in a tolerable state of preservation, but others, again, had
been sadly mauled; tripes torn out by jackals, and one or two were
perfect skeletons.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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