watercourses, over which our active Engineers and Sappers had erected temporary cask and plank bridges, strong enough for the passage of field artillery, afforded plenty of space for the troops. On the General's arrival the troops were wheeled from column into line, and were formed up as follows:-On the right and left flanks were half-batteries of the E B., R.H.A., looking in splendid condition, the guns, harness, men, and horses, showing admirably the care bestowed on this branch of our little force; next, on the right, came the 3rd Bombay Cavalry, admirably horsed and commanded; on the left flank the two squadrons of the Scinde Horse, dressed in that most picturesque of military costumes, the thick turban and loose collarless shirt, with smart cummerbund round the waist, their arms being the long and deadly bamboo lance which has lately proved such an admirable weapon. The 66th, or 'Old Berkshires,' with six strong companies, occupied the centre of the line, commanded by as gallant a soldier as we have in the service, Lieut.-Colonel James Galbraith, with Majors Oliver and Ready as his seconds in command. The native regiments were on either flank next to the cavalry, while the camels, elephants, and baggage-carts, were formed in rear. With General Primrose rode Major Burnett, 2nd battalion 15th Foot, his assistant adjutant-general; Major Adam, assistant quartermastergeneral; Colonel French, commanding Royal Artillery; Lieut.-Colonel Hills, commanding Royal Engineers; the two brigade majors, and Deputy Surgeon-General O'Nial, principal medical officer. This brigade is under the command of Brigadier - General Burrows, and is under orders to march towards Girishk, on the Helmund river, where the Wali Shere Ali will join us with his troops, and where the combined fur v hold in check the troops of Ayub acvancy in her. Meanwhile these preparations with our usual garrison amusement. 2 roads between Cabul and Inna rule. Bahadur Khan Abdul Gover occurred between them and the ver The supplies are becoming a poorer classes of the poplatoon en ver Such are the prospects to gowng; bazow those who have already comes the pre 'peace at any price for the por comme our protégé, Abdurrahman. Las taken atramage of or overtures to send a circar to the Sircar amounting that the English Government has ofered him the suve Ameership of united Afghanistan; meaning, of course to include Kandahar. This has so disconcerted and alarmed Hashim Khan that he has filed from Cabul and established himself at Cherki, near Khurd Cabul, where a large collection of Yakub's Sepoys are daily flocking in to his colours. In deciding the future of Afghanistan we cannot forget those who have thrown in their fortunes with us, nor can we leave, by the too hurried withdrawal of our troops, these unfortunate people to be plundered and massacred. Afghanistan has been for years the hardest problem Indian statesmen have had to solve. It would scarcely seem that the recent change of politics and Ministry at home has strengthened our position in the country, or improved our prestige amongst the people. I sincerely hope that my forebodings may be eventually cleared away by the course of events; but, being on the spot, we who are actors on the scene have more opportunities of forming opinions than those whose wish is father to the thought, and who tell us in print that the present war is over. Girishk, towards which General Burrows is ordered, is a village situate on the right bank of the river Helmund, 73 miles west of Kandahar, and 290 south-east of Herat. Its strategical value is great, and, guarding as it does the high road to Merv and the fords on the Helmund, its possession is of vital importance. Conflicting opinions are held as to its strength, but as none of these are of modern date they are comparatively valueless. There is no doubt it might, with the expenditure of labour and money, be made an admirable advanced post for an army occupying Kandahar, and its occupation at a future time will be an earnest that we intend to delineate our new frontier on truly strategical grounds. But with our small garrison I cannot but consider that we should not divide our strength, and repeat the errors which led to Isandwhlana. ON RECONNAISSANCE WITH GENERAL HILLS. Cavalry Camp, Zurgun Shahr, July 2. FIFTEEN hours in the saddle, forty miles' ride, and as pretty an affair, won almost entirely by l'arme blanche, as we soldiers can ever hope to get, must be my excuse for a short despatch by this mail. And all this it was my good fortune to share in but yesterday. When, not many years back, as I remember, under the last Gladstonian Ministry and Cardwellian régime, Sir William Harcourt and Mr. George Trevelyan talked of our military dandies, who preferred to hard knocks the 'sweet shady side of Pall Mall,' I opine we did not much care for such a sneer, and since then we have had, I venture to say, sufficient examples to show that the hard fare and hard knocks of camp life are more envied by our jeunesse dorée than the club and drawing-room luxuries enjoyed by our brethren in your little village' on the Thames. Such are our egotistical reflections, and to such conclusions did we arrive when last evening the 'calumet of peace' was smoked around the campfire in front of my tent; and when we were honoured, when the fight was over and our horses and wounded cared for, by the presence of two of the most popular men in our service-General (Jemmy') Hills, V.C., and his dashing brigadier and beau sabreur, Brigadier Palliser. The affair came to pass in this wise. Towards the end of the last month General Hills was told to organize an expedition for the purpose of dispersing a somewhat threatening gathering in the Logar Valley, and for this purpose he took with him a small force of infantry and Palliser's cavalry brigade, consisting of the 1st and 2nd Punjab Cavalry and the 10th Bengal Lancers, making at most not more than 550 sabres and lances. Meanwhile, on the afternoon of the 28th, Major Evans Smith, General Hills' chief political officer, came into camp with news to the effect that our old enemy, Mahomed Hassan Khan, had instigated a large number of the Zurmuts to gather under his command in the fastnesses of the valley. It would not be easy, nor even will it be now necessary, for me to describe the variety of scenery, of rock, vale, hill, mountain, forest, and stream, of this beautiful portion of the Ameer's dominions, inhabited, however, by as troublesome sets of clans as this country of clans can produce. Imagine Scotland-say a portion of the Trossachs-combined with a little of Norway and a soupçon of the tropical features of the West Indies, where alternate sunshine and snow, fertile corn-field and palm-grove, are neighbours to, and overshadowed by, terrific crags and inaccessible peaks, over which the savage beast of prey ranges and the leaping torrent foams-then perhaps you can, in your mind's eye,' picture the scenes through which good steeds carried us during our late expedition. But on service the soldier, and above all the cavalry man, has but little time to linger over the beauties of river or tree, of stream or mountain; and as our advanced pickets and flankers felt their way with stealthy caution by the fertile plain, through the dense groves of date and palm, and as we watered our horses in each rippling stream, a vigilant look-out was kept by our vedettes in front and rear. I rode with General Palliser part of the way, and afterwards with Major Atkinson, Ist Punjab Cavalry, and with Captain Bishop, 2nd |