Private Journal of Henry Francis Brooke: Late Brigadier-General Commanding 2nd Infantry Brigade, Kandahar Field Force, Southern Afghanistan, from April 22nd to August 16th, 1880Brooke, Henry Francis
History
Private Journal of Henry Francis Brooke: Late Brigadier-General Commanding 2nd Infantry Brigade, Kandahar Field Force, Southern Afghanistan, from April 22nd to August 16th, 1880
Brooke, Henry Francis
Afghan Wars; Brooke, Henry Francis, 1836-1880
SATURDAY, 3rd APRIL.--I was woke at 1 o'clock, and after dressing
almost in the dark began to have the camels loaded, but everything
was against us. First of all, for the 6 camels sent for mine and
Wm. French's baggage, only one camel driver appeared, and he seemed
perfectly ignorant of everything connected with camels, and more
especially with that most delicate of arrangements, the loading of
a camel; and to make matters worse he proved to be a wild villager
from the neighbouring hills, whose language we could not understand,
nor could he understand us. Then nearly all the ropes and harness
required for the pack saddles were wanting, and the saddles themselves
were of the most antiquated patterns. After many delays these minor
difficulties were partially overcome, and after at least an hour spent
in vain attempts to load the 6 camels, we had the proud satisfaction
of seeing two of the lot ready for a start, when a demon entered into
the two loaded animals, who rose from the ground (camels sit down to be
loaded) and kicked the whole of their loads off. In the first instance
this was rather ludicrous, and we laughed at it, and began again; but
when 4 o'clock came, and daylight (which meant intense heat) began
to appear, and yet not one camel could be induced to let the loads
remain on their backs, things looked serious, and we despaired of
getting off at all. However, we determined to make one final effort,
and this time were so far successful that we made a start at 5 a.m.,
meeting the rest of our party about a mile out of Sibi, and heard to
our distinct satisfaction that they had been equally unfortunate, and
had only succeeded in getting off after many failures. The only wonder
was that we got off at all, as it turned out that the camels had only
been purchased two or three days, and were perfectly untrained. Our
satisfaction at effecting a move was but of short duration, as we had
not gone a mile before half the loads were on the ground, and had to be
repacked again and again. The sun was by this time too high to allow
us to think of our completing the distance originally intended, so at
8 o'clock we halted for the day on the banks of the Nari River, where
there is a depot of transport animals to supply changes of bullocks for
the cart train which passes daily each way between Sibi and Quetta. To
carry this out there are reliefs of bullocks every 6 or 7 miles, and
the arrangement works with wonderful regularity. We could not afford
time to march only 6 or 7 miles a day, so could not avail ourselves of
the cart train, but are condemned to the daily trial of loading camels,
than which nothing is more trying to the temper, I am bound to say.
The transport officer at the halting place was good enough to allow
us to share his hut, and so saved us going into tents in which the
thermometer during the day stood at 120 degrees, and even in our kind
friend's hut was over 100 degrees, a heat which is required to be felt
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account