On the 20th the pass was entered and traversed, the head of the pass being held by some 250 Bunerwals, who were, however, dislodged without any great difficulty, and Colonel Wilde’s column encamped on and beyond the pass on tolerably open and level ground; he posted picquets to hold the most important points, but was not strong enough to do more. The main column had left Nawa Kala at 1 a.m. on the 20th October, and, after a short halt at Rustam, closed up to the rear of the advanced troops late in the afternoon. Both parties had found the road extraordinarily difficult; the track was tolerably good up to the village of Surkhabi, in our own territory, but thereafter deteriorated, in the pass often lying in the bed of a stream, and in other places being overgrown with jungle. In most parts it was possible to move only in single file; the rear guard did not get beyond Surkhabi; and though the ammunition mules managed, with difficulty, to keep up with their units, not a single baggage animal reached camp during the night of the 20th–21st, and only few had arrived there twenty-four hours later. It had been intended that Colonel Wilde should push forward the few cavalry with him, supported by the other arms, to reconnoitre the road down the further side of the pass and the head of the Chamla Valley, but in view of the difficulties of the road, it was deemed best to postpone any forward movement. [Sidenote: The Advance Commences] While halted on the pass, representatives came in from the people of Chamla and Buner expressing feelings of friendship, and no opposition seems therefore to have been anticipated from these tribes when the force again moved forward on the morning of the 22nd. To prevent any misunderstanding, a full explanation of our intentions was sent to the Buner maliks, and careful instructions were given to our reconnoitring party of cavalry and infantry, now sent on, to follow a road avoiding Buner territory as far as possible. The descent from the top of the Kotal was found to be tolerably good going, and the rest of the pass was unoccupied by any of the tribesmen. From the foot of the range on the northern side, two roads passed through the Chamla Valley; one skirted the village of Ambela and lay under the hills dividing Chamla from Buner on the north side of the valley, while the other went by Koga on the south; and as Ambela, though actually in Chamla, was regarded by the Bunerwals as one of their own villages, the advance guard was ordered to proceed by the Koga road so as to avoid all possibility of offence or misunderstanding.