more than 5,000 men available for duty, the work was so terrible and severe, the constant watch by day and night so trying, that over 800 sick and wounded are now in our hospitals. With these 5,000 we could repulse assaults, but could not move outside to give battle to the enemy who flaunted their standards on Siah Sung Heights, and planted others within 250 yards of our bastions. Never was there a case in which the motto “fore-warned is fore-armed” was more applicable than now: our warning has been a rude one, and has cost us many lives; but it has done this service—that it has shown us how to guard against another such shock. Ten thousand men in Sherpur and the Bala Hissar can laugh at even 50,000 tribesmen; for, with such a force at our disposal, we could always spare 3,000 or 4,000 infantry to fight beyond the walls; and our past experience has shown that we have nothing to fear with brigades of this strength. It is only when we invite attack by weakness that hands-ful of our men are overwhelmed by sheer weight of numbers. If we are to continue in the country, and operations are to be extended in the spring to Ghazni, Charikar, or Balkh, not less than 10,000 men should be garrisoned in and about Cabul by the end of March. Our power now extends just as far as our rifles can shoot; for we can no more rely upon the fidelity of Chiefs who come into Sherpur, than Macnaghten could upon the promises of Akhbar Khan. Every man’s hand would be against us, if we again were encompassed about in these cantonments.