Campaign of the Indus: In a Series of Letters from an Officer of the Bombay Division — John Shaqi
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
We kept on coming also upon an arm or a leg, or an
ugly-looking skull; but the most disgusting sight was an arm and leg,
protruding out of the centre of the stream, washed to the consistency of
a washer-woman's hand after a hard day's washing. If you can fancy all
this on a dark, sluggish-looking stream, surrounded by high and barren
rocks, you may, perhaps, guess what feelings of disgust it excited in
us. However, before reaching Candahar we were pretty well accustomed to
these sights, and got rather callous on the subject, as there was a fair
sprinkling of them to be met with all the way to that town. Well; we
made five marches through this delightful Pass, and debouched on a fine
wide plain on the 17th. Not a stick, not a particle of forage, except
some high rank grass, was to be got in all this time, and we had been
obliged to take on supplies for our camels and horses from Dadur; so
there was a new expense, and new carriage to be provided. The robbers
did not attempt any attack upon us at all (though, if they had had the
slightest pluck, they might have crippled us pretty considerably) except
in the last march, but then we fired on them first. My company was on
baggage-guard this day, which was sent on in advance of the column; and
Halket, seeing some of the rascals on the hills, had a crack at them
with his double-barrel, which produced a reply of three shots from them;
but a soldier of the company taking a beautiful aim at one of them, at a
distance I am afraid to mention, and nearly knocking a fellow's head
off, the rest took to their heels, and we saw no more of them. Our
Grenadiers, however, who were bringing up the rear, had a slight
skrimmage with them, and killed five or six, without any of their shots
taking effect, although one man's firelock and another man's belt were
cut in half by a bullet. They fired on the column which came on
afterwards, and wounded one trooper of the Light Dragoons, and a few
native followers, and killed three horses. Most of us lost a deal of kit
in this Pass, owing to the camels' feet knocking up, from the sharpness
of the stones; and the very moment the column was off the ground the
rascals would be down and fighting for what was left behind. I was on
rear-guard the second day's march, and the very moment we cleared the
ground it was most amusing to see the rascals popping out of the holes
in the rocks in every direction.
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