There is one pleasing change which has taken place since I last left
Senafe, and which I have not yet spoken of. I mentioned that Sir Charles
Staveley, when he was up here, ordered huts to be built for the muleteers
by the 10th Native Infantry. These are now completed. They are long, leafy
bowers, running along in regular lines between the rows of animals. They
are very well and neatly built—so regular, indeed, that it is difficult at
a short distance to believe that they are really built of boughs. They may
not be as warm as houses, but they keep off the wind, and afford a great
protection to the muleteers at night. The division here, that of Captain
Griffiths, is the first which landed. It is now in very good order, and
will accompany the advance brigade. The disease up here is, I am happy to
say, on the decrease. The sick animals are out at Goose Plain with the
artillery.
Yesterday, in the afternoon, there was a parade of the 33d, and 10th
Native Infantry; small parties of the Royal Engineers, of 3d Native
Cavalry, and of Scinde Horse were also present. Sir Robert Napier rode
along the line, and the regiments then marched past. The little party of
the 3d Cavalry came first, followed by the Scinde Horse, and offering as
strong a contrast to each other as could be well imagined. The one was
upon the European, the other upon the Asiatic model. The Scinde horsemen
were much the heavier and more powerful men; and although they have not
the military seat or the dashing air of the 3d, they had in their dark
dresses, and quiet, determined look, the appearance of men who would be
most formidable antagonists. Their horses, although ugly, are strong; and
in a charge, it was the opinion of many of those who were looking on, that
they would be much more than a match for their more showy rivals. The
Scinde Horse are more discussed than any regiment out here; and, indeed,
it is so famous a regiment, and is always stationed so much upon the
frontiers, that its coming was looked forward to with considerable
curiosity. Its appearance is certainly against it; that is, its horses are
very ugly animals; but this is not the fault of the regiment, for its
station is so far in Northern India that it cannot procure, except at very
great cost, any but the native horses. I believe that this is almost the
only objection which can be urged against the regiment; the men are
remarkably fine; indeed, as I before stated, they are too heavy for
cavalry. They are, as a whole, drawn from a much higher and wealthier
class of natives than the men of any other regiment; they enlist in the
Scinde Horse just as a young nobleman takes a commission in the Guards.
There is a very great feeling of _esprit de corps_, and mutual
good-feeling between officers and men; and all are proud of their
regiment. The uniform, as I have said in a previous letter, is a long,
dark-green coat, with red turban. It is the men’s own choice, and is quite
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