Narrative of the War in Affghanistan in 1838-39, Volume 1Henry Colburn, Publisher, 1840 - Afghan Wars A personal narrative of the British intervention in Afghanistan. |
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advance Affghanistan Affghans Ameers amongst animals army artillery baggage Barukzye Beebee Nanee Belooche Bengal force Bhag Bhawul Khan Bolan pass Bombay Brahoick brigade British Bukkur Burshoree Cabul camels camp Candahar capital columns command commander-in-chief contingent corps crossed Cutch Gundava Dadur debouche defile Dera desert division durru dusht encampment Ferozepore frontier Gharra Ghuznee gorge governor-general halt head-quarters Herat Hindoostan Hydrabad India Indus Kafila Kakurs Kanhee Kelat Khyrpore Kozuk Kurnal Kwettah labour Lieutenant light cavalry lofty Lord Auckland lower Sinde Meer Roostum Meerpore Meerut ment Mihrab Khan miles morning mountains moved Muhesir native infantry Noushuhra OBSERVATIONS officers Persian Peshawur plains provinces Punjab range reached regiments right bank river road Rojhan Roree route ruler Shah Shooja Shawl Shikarpore siege train Sikh Sindian Sir Alexander Burnes Sir Henry Fane Sir John Keane Sir Willoughby Cotton sirdars Siriab soldiers stream Sutlege tents tion town traversed troops valley whilst
Popular passages
Page x - But war's a game, which, were their subjects wise, Kings would not play at.
Page 320 - Kozuk pass, recognising all the distinctive peaks of the scattered hills, which we had observed from that commanding height. We saw them now magnified, as we approached them, and casting a dark shade over the plains, which they overhung. Anxious looks were from time to time cast towards these green...
Page vii - ... defrayed the cost of giving it to a limited number of readers. Yet a counterpoise to these mortifications was not wanting. A few officers of rank, whose discernment and candour I could not doubt, even in my own cause, had characterized the performance as honest and faithful ; three Commanders-in-Chief in India had spoken favourably of it to others as well as to myself; and I have been deceived if, when war was likely to be renewed in the Burman Empire, and information regarding it had...
Page 157 - Vainly repining, therefore, at the change in events which had given this small sum [ten lacs] to the state, instead of endowing the army with eight crores, its officers and men, with light purses and heavy hearts, turned their backs on Hydrabad, from which they had hoped never to recede until they had made its treasure their own, and put to a stern proof that Belooche valour which had so loudly vaunted its power to arrest their further progress ; and fix on the banks of the Indus the war which they...
Page 324 - British dragoons and native troopers were seen eagerly sharing with their chargers muddy and foetid water drawn from puddles at the side of the road, the very sight of which would, in Hindostan, have equally sickened all to whom it was offered ; they struck into a by-road on their left, and winding their way by a narrow path through an opening in the undulating eminences, found themselves towards evening on the banks of a plentiful stream. The rush of unbridled indulgence of the troops and their...
Page 87 - But it was impossible not to feel that this complaisance was carried a little too far, when he was exhibited in the character of a Bacchus or Silenus urging others to take part in his orgies, in the presence of an assemblage of English gentlewomen, and when their notions of decency were further outraged by the introduction, to whatever extent sanctioned by culpable usage in other parts of India, of bands of singing and dancing courtesans.
Page 319 - Candahar sirdars have caused to be dammed up near its source in the hills, and behold two bold brigades, and the levy of the Shah, reduced to the greatest straits. Horses already half starved for want of grain and good grass, were throughout the day panting in all the agonies of thirst, and in the evening a few drops of water could not be obtained even to mix the medicines of the sick in our hospitals, or to supply them with the refreshment and comfort of a few spoonfuls of tea.
Page 62 - had never been brought together in any country in a manner more creditable and soldierlike than was the Bengal portion of the Army of the Indus." The Sikh forces marched in from the opposite direction and the first meeting between the Governor-General and the little wizened one-eyed ruler of the Punjab took place "amidst a scene of indescribable uproar and confusion".
Page 322 - ... and trying to be cheerful, under this form of privation. At Killa Puttoollah, officers of the highest rank were brought to acknowledge the value of this simple element. This was no time for the luxurious ablutions which, under the sun of Central Asia, preserve health and restore strength; no time to waste a single drop of the precious fluid on any bodily comfort, or for any purpose but preparing food or slaking a raging thirst ; and thousands felt this day that all the gifts of that God, whose...