Larkhana.—Departure of the Commander-in-Chief for Candahar.—Capture of Belochee Thieves.—Ludicrous scene in the Bazaar.—Tremendous Hurricane.—An Irish Colonel's appeal to his men.—Murder of cooks belonging to the Army.—A native funeral.—The Bholun Pass.—Massacre of Camp Followers.—Ill-timed Merriment.—Animal Instinct.

Leaving Sehwan we crossed the Indus in pontoons, and entered a fertile tract of country. Our route lay through rich pasturage and waving fields of corn, occasionally diversified by rivers and lakes, the latter of which we found well stocked with fish and game. The natives did not exhibit any symptoms of fear at our approach, but continued peaceably tilling and cultivating their lands. Proceeding by rapid marches we at length reached Larkhana, the boundary which divides Upper and Lower Scinde. It is a place of considerable importance, and contains from seven to eight thousand inhabitants. Long cloths are manufactured here in considerable quantities, and a brisk trade is carried on, in various other articles with the mountain tribes. Sir John Keane now quitted us to proceed to Candahar, where he was to assume the command of the Grand Army of the Indus. He was accompanied by two squadrons of Native Cavalry, one resselah of Local Horse, a regiment of Native Infantry, and two pieces of artillery. The command of this division consequently devolved upon Major General Wiltshire.

The Belochees again favoured us with a visit and carried away about a dozen camels from the encampment. A troop of cavalry was ordered out in pursuit, and after a hot chase succeeded in coming up with the marauders. They immediately abandoned their prey and made off to the hills, but not before they had left three or four of their party in our hands. Resolved to make an example which would deter them from repeating the offence, General Wiltshire ordered the cat to be liberally administered to them in the Bazaar. The senior of the party was first tied up, and it was evident, from the trepidation he was in, that he expected no less than the punishment of death. He begged and implored for mercy, and finding that no attention was paid to his supplications, he took leave of one of the other culprits, who turned out to be his son, and resigned himself to die. Tied up, as he was, and unable to observe the expression of our countenances, which were convulsed with laughter, in anticipation of the scene that was about to follow, he every moment expected to hear the report of the musket, or feel the blow of the sabre that was to deal out his doom. The moment, however, the cat descended on his shoulders, the terrified expression of his face changed into that of the most extravagant joy. He smiled and nodded at his son, and bore his four dozen lashes with the joyful patience of a martyr, suffering in the vindication of some holy cause.

On being set loose the culprits were informed that if they were ever again detected in the commission of similar offences they would be shot, without mercy, and they were ordered to disseminate this useful piece of information amongst their comrades of the hills.

Pursuing our route from Larkhana we encamped the same evening at Dooson, and were visited during the night by a terrific hurricane. Arising without any previous indication, the tempest came suddenly upon us in our sleep, sweeping the tents before it, and enveloping us in whirlwinds of white sand. The night being pitch dark we were soon in the greatest distress and confusion, and to add to our embarrassments the horses broke loose and ran wild amongst us. They killed two of the camp followers, and injured several others by treading them under foot, and the alarm which they created was as great as if the enemy had made a sudden irruption amongst us. To this succeeded a scene of rioting and squabbling, one having lost a shaco, another a jacket, and another his shoes. Accusations and denials, oaths, vociferations, and complaints of injuries received, formed altogether a pleasant medley; and glad enough we were when the first streak of dawn threw some light on this scene of horrible confusion. After lasting about two hours, heavy drops of rain announced the approaching cessation of the tempest, but we only exchanged one discomfort for another, being soon drenched to the skin.

After two days further march we arrived at a wretched village, which separates Upper Scinde from Belochistan, and which is only entitled to notice as forming the boundary of a desert plain, about fifty miles in extent, and completely divested of vegetation, the white soil lying exposed to, and reflecting back with intensity, the scorching rays of the sun. There were only two wells at the village, and there was a fierce contest for precedence at them, it being known that there was neither spring nor stream of any kind in the desert which we were about to traverse. The Infantry entered on this cheerless waste about three in the afternoon and the Cavalry followed about five. The former were fully accoutred, and carried sixty rounds of ball cartridge each. At two o'clock the following morning the cavalry overtook them and the general halt sounded. So great was the fatigue of the infantry that numbers threw themselves upon the ground in despair, declaring, it was impossible for human nature to sustain more, and they could proceed no further. It must be borne in mind that our rations had, for two months previous, consisted of only half a pound of flour and an equal quantity of red rice, with about four ounces of meat, and the latter was in some instances of no use to us, from the difficulty of procuring fuel to cook it. The order of march having been again given, several refused to move from sheer exhaustion, and their situation became one of great embarrassment to their colonel, who was aware that if he left them behind, they would be instantly sabred by the enemy, who were always hovering on our rear. Recollecting it was St. Patrick's Day, and that most of the recusants were Irishmen, he ordered, as a last resource, that the band of the regiment should strike up their national anthem. The effect was electrical, the poor devils, whose limbs, a short time previous, had refused to perform their accustomed office, and whose countenances wore the aspect of the most abject despondency, seemed at once to have new life and energy infused into them. They felt that this was an appeal to their proverbial bravery and powers of endurance, and gratified vanity did that which threats and remonstrances had failed to effect. A faint smile lit up their features, and slowly rising from the ground they tottered on their way. Had they adhered to their first determination they would have fallen victims to the most savage cruelties, as the following circumstance will soon convince the reader:—

Three of the cooks belonging to our division, who followed with the camp kettles at a short distance in its wake, lost their way in the darkness of the night, and as chance would have it, stumbled upon a party of the enemy. They were immediately seized, and each man was bound by the wrist to the saddle of a Belochee horseman. The cries of the unfortunate men having reached the rear-guard, which consisted of the Native Auxiliary Horse, they turned in pursuit, and soon came in sight of the enemy, whose figures were dimly visible in the obscurity which prevailed. As soon as they heard them galloping up the Belochees spurred their horses to their utmost speed, dragging their prisoners along with them at a terrific pace. Finding their pursuers gained upon them they stooped down, and with their broad knives ripped up two of their victims from the abdomen to the throat, and then cast them loose. The third, more fortunate, escaped with life, the Belochee to whose saddle he was attached having freed him by cutting off his left arm with a blow of his sabre: then wheeling round on our horse, who were now almost up with them, the enemy took deliberate aim at the advancing troopers, and having killed two, and severely wounded another, they plunged into the darkness and succeeded in baffling pursuit.

We reached the extremity of this barren waste by seven o'clock next morning, and encamped at the bottom of a steep hill where there was abundance of excellent water. The cupidity of the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages, having got the better of their apprehensions, several of them ventured into the camp with supplies of flour, which was eagerly purchased from them by the soldiery, at the rate of about half a crown the lb. The risk which they ran was great, for if the fact had been discovered, they would, in all probability, have been massacred by the mountain chief. The profits which they realised by the adventure, must however, have well repaid them for the hazard.

Descending the hills to our right, we one day observed a funeral procession; and curious to witness the ceremonies performed on those occasions I followed at a little distance. The corpse was swathed in cotton bandages like a mummy, the head only being left exposed, and it was borne on a bamboo bier, or stretcher, on the shoulders of four men. The relations and friends of the deceased gave vent to their grief in the bitterest lamentations, and there appeared a depth and sincerity in their woe which is but too often wanting at our European rites. The procession was headed by a Faquir or priest, whose rolling eyes, and long dishevelled locks, gave him a wild and unearthly appearance. His costume was no less singular than his looks, for it consisted of a motley sort of garment, composed of patches of almost every colored cloth, with a cap or rather a crown of peacock's feathers. Arrived at the place of interment, which was situated in the valley, the procession halted at a freshly dug grave, and the bier was laid beside it. The crowd formed themselves into a circle round it, and the Faquir holding up a small idol, commenced an oration in which he expatiated on the merits of the deceased. The crowd having prostrated themselves, the Faquir took a reddish sort of powder, and made a large mark with it on the forehead of the dead man; then taking a basket of freshly pulled flowers and herbs he scattered them over the body and into the grave. The mourners rising from the ground, and walking in single files round the bier made a respectful salaam towards it, after which the corpse was lowered perpendicularly into the earth, and the grave filled up. At the conclusion, the Faquir sat himself on a stone at a short distance from the grave, and remained there quietly smoking his hookah, and philosophising, as all good Faquirs should do, on the uncertainty of mundane things.

Our next destination was Dadur, where we were to form a junction with a portion of the Bengal forces. The distance is only a day's march, and nothing of interest occurred on the route. On approaching the encampment of the Bengal troops, I could not help being struck with their superior appearance. It was evident that their commissariat was better organized than ours, for their camp equipage and other appointments were in all respects complete, and they were abundantly supplied with necessaries of every kind. This disparity was, in some degree, removed before we left Dadur, by the arrival of additional supplies from Bombay.

A few days having been passed in recruiting our strength after these fatiguing marches, we at length received orders to advance on the celebrated Bholun Pass. Nothing could be more calculated to awaken us to the difficulties of our position, or to impress us with the uncertainty of the fate that awaited us, than the imposing grandeur of the scenery on which we now entered. Let the reader picture to himself a gloomy looking gorge winding through two ranges of stupendous hills, whose rugged masses of rock and hanging declivities impend over the narrow route as if about to choke it up, or recede a short distance to some fortress-like looking freak of nature from whose imaginary bastions and parapets it seemed easy to hurl down destruction and death on the passenger, and he may easily imagine that our feelings were not of the liveliest or most comfortable nature. A handful of men could have effectually stopped our progress had there been but another Leonidas amongst the wild inhabitants of this magnificent defile, whose military skill and resolution would have enabled him to seize upon, and maintain its many points of defence. We could not conceal from ourselves difficulties so apparent, and a general and undefined feeling of uneasiness pervaded us all. We felt that if the enemy had any intention of resisting us they would not lose opportunities which nature herself appeared to indicate; and it was but too obvious that if they only knew how to avail themselves of the formidable barriers which she had placed against invasion, our situation would become critical in the extreme. Once involved in the intricacies of the Pass, the superior knowledge of the country possessed by the natives, and their familiarity with mountain warfare would enable them to harrass us at every step, and a well planned and daring attack might at once overwhelm us. Such were the reflections that suggested themselves to almost every man's mind, and many there were, I dare say, who just then thought of home, and speculated whether it would ever be his lot to revisit its peaceful fireside, and recount the dangers of which he had been the hero.

The Bengal troops who preceded us through the Pass left behind them sad proofs of the justice of some of these conclusions. We found from five and twenty to thirty camp followers lying dead upon their track, the throats of several having been cut, and the others bearing on their mutilated persons the unequivocal evidence of a desperate hand to hand struggle. As we advanced through the gorge we could observe the Belochees peering at us over the jutting points of the precipices, and the sharp report of their gingalls and matchlocks, which, luckily for us, were not very sure in their aim, usually followed the brief inspection by which we were favoured. Observing a camp follower leading a camel at some distance in the rear, three of the mountaineers suddenly darted from a fissure in the rock in which they had lain concealed, and having cut the poor fellow down, led the animal up the ascent by one of those diverging tracks like sheep walks, with which these hills abound. A serjeant belonging to the Horse Artillery, who happened to witness the circumstance, instantly galloped back, and gallantly dashing his horse up the mountain succeeded in sabreing the nearest of the thieves, and brought back the camel amidst a shower of balls from the neighbouring heights.

Within a few miles of the Affghanistan boundary the gorge is traversed by a stream which winds like a snake through the sinuosities of the Pass, and crosses it no less than sixteen times. Although it presents for the most part, the appearance of an insignificant mountain rivulet, it is, in many places studded with deep and dangerous holes, into which the cavalry often plunged, and got a good sousing before they were aware of it. Shouts of laughter usually escaped the comrades of the luckless wight who became thus involved, and on one occasion a tragedy had nearly resulted from their ill-timed merriment. An Irish trooper, named Dwyer, a brave, but hot-blooded fellow, like most of his countrymen, was feeling his way cautiously through the stream, when both horse and rider stumbled, and became instantly lost to view. Some alarm was at first experienced for their safety, but it gave way to a roar of laughter when we beheld them again emerging from the water. After several successive attempts to disengage himself, the horse at length obtained a secure footing, and Dwyer, wheeling him suddenly round upon us with a countenance furious with rage, drew a pistol from his holster and fired at a group of seven or eight men, who stood close to the spot, but fortunately without effect. The madman was immediately placed under arrest, but was released after a few days' confinement.

On approaching Beebenaunce towards the close of the fourth day's march, we found another stream where the Cavalry dismounted, for the purpose of filling their canteens with water, while the Infantry were distributed so as to protect them. We had been marching for several hours under a scorching sun, and over a stony and rugged road, which rendered constant watchfulness and exertion necessary to prevent the horses from falling on their knees. Tormented by an insatiable thirst, we were about to slake it, when it was discovered that the stream was polluted by the putrifying bodies of several of dead Affghans, and followers of the Bengal Army; the spot having been the scene of a deadly contest which had occurred some days previous. The struggle between the loathing which this circumstance created and the pressing calls of nature was however of short duration. Not a man of us hesitated to drink from the contaminated liquid, but the horse which I rode, being imbued with keener senses than his master, positively refused to partake of it, though almost dropping with fatigue and thirst. I took him lower down the stream, where his fastidiousness being no longer offended he indulged in a long and copious draught.