The battles of the world : $b or, cyclopedia of battles, sieges, and important military eventsBorthwick, J. Douglas (John Douglas)
History
The battles of the world : $b or, cyclopedia of battles, sieges, and important military events
Borthwick, J. Douglas (John Douglas)
Battles; Military history
void of all chances of fertility, that one could scarcely doubt the
tradition.
Our next day led on to Kutta Sang, and of all the roads I had
ever seen or traversed, as yet, this was the worst. The route led
from hill to hill, the ascents being difficult and stony, and the
descents in addition being very dangerous, as a fearful precipice
presented itself should you happen to fall. These unwelcome views
were many in number, and coupled with the tedious progress of the
cattle and baggage, and the difficulty experienced in dragging the
guns and loads up these many steep hills, and nothing but a dreary
road to travel onward, made the march bad indeed. After the main
body reached camp, the rear guard was attacked; a reinforcement
was despatched, and a smart skirmish ensued; the Affghans seemed
to delight in annoying us, and from their hidden positions most
peremptorily carried their plan into effect; we lost few men
compared with them, and the whole reached camp about midnight.
Still the poor soldier found misery destined for him in every
direction. On arriving at a new ground, two regiments had to mount
duty on the summits of the hills bordering the route, which had to
be ascended after the day’s harassing march, thus forming a second,
much more so. The scanty, coarse meal, being nothing more than a
quantity of meat and broth made from an allowance of a scarcely
lifeless carcass, of the hard-driven, skeletonized bullock, and
this of times not prepared before the dead hour of night; and then
carried up to the men cold and tasteless. The bread or cake made of
coarse, hand-ground flour, full of grit and small straw, half-baked
and calculated to produce disease by its use; and ere this was well
eaten, the rouse would sound, and the weary instrument of Britain’s
safety would be wending his way through the dreary and unknown
regions, ’mid almost perpendicular rocks, and perilous tracks. Such
was the road of the next day’s march, to Jugdulluk Pass: this is
by no means the most difficult one to explore--the sides not being
near so high as those already traversed; it had some appearance
of fertility, being studded with many small bushes. There were
innumerable small caves, or recesses in the rocks, and it was from
those dark-dens, forming cover for the enemy, that they succeeded
so well in cutting off our unfortunate brethren, whose skeletons
here were very numerously strewed about the path, and thus rendered
the Pass more horrible than it would have been; for the light shone
brighter here than we had it for some time. Nay, so stupendous were
the mountains, hemming the ravines we had passed, that it would be
often far advanced in the day before the sun would be seen by those
beneath.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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