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
track clear from stones or serious inequalities along which carts can
go. At Pir-Chokey are stored thousands of pounds of grain of all sorts,
flour, rice, sugar, tea, potatoes, &c., &c., indeed everything required
to ration both man and beast, and many extras also, as we were able to
obtain from the Government stores there, on payment, such things as
Ropf's concentrated soups, French preserved vegetables, &c., &c. There
is a shed for the use of officers and a couple for the men, as there is
at nearly all the stages in the Pass, which is a very good arrangement,
as it saves us pitching tents, and the huts are much cooler than tents
during the day; and as dew or damp are unknown here everyone sleeps in
the open at night. We were in bed at half-past 8, and I was so dead
tired that I never woke through all the row of the packing, but had the
satisfaction when I woke to find the camels gone and everything packed.
Captain Collis, my Brigade Major, is very good in this way, and does
a great deal for me, which my orderly officer would have to do if I
had one, and as I might have had, had General Warre been agreeable and
allowed me to take the officer I wanted.
[Sidenote: March out of Pir-Chokey.]
APRIL 5th.--As we had a very long march (between 19 and 21 miles) we
had to move off very early, the more especially as I had two sets of
depots to inspect on the way; we had let the baggage have three hours
start of us, having sent the native officer and 16 men with it, keeping
only 4 men for ourselves, as we considered our five selves good for
any number of the cowardly marauders who hang about the Pass, but who
never seem to venture to attack armed parties, but always to swoop down
on one or two unarmed natives if they get the chance. 500 yards out of
Pir-Chokey we had to ford the Bolan River, and the winding course it
takes may be imagined from the fact that in the first 10 miles of the
march we forded it 18 times. It is, however, never more than a couple
of feet deep, and from ten to fifty yards wide. The whole of the road
from Pir-Chokey to Dirwaza (78 miles) is called the Bolan Pass, and
most of the way is properly so called, though there is a great plain
of 20 miles across, which, though surrounded in the distance by hills,
has none of the appearance of what one understands as a Pass. For the
first 12 miles the road is indeed a pass or gorge in the mountains,
as in places the cliffs are not more than 60 to 100 yards apart, and
rarely open out to more than 150 to 200 yards apart. Passing along
this in the early morning with the moon just setting is very striking
and dismal, as the hills, which are very peculiarly shaped, are very
high and abrupt, and are absolutely bare of vegetation of any kind,
except that the banks of the river are here and there fringed with
Pampas grass and Oleanders, the latter just now in full blow, and very
sweet. It is quite the most desolate, forsaken scene I have ever
witnessed, and the least enlivening.
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