Through the Khyber Pass to Sherpore Camp, Cabul. An account of Temperance Work among our soldiers in the Cabul Field Force

Front matter

C THROUGH THE KHYBER PASS TO SHERPORE CAMP, CABUL. AN account OF (Ettntpcrancr? Wvxh among aux Bolttitxs IN THE CABUL FIELD FORCE. BY THE REV. J. GELSON GREGSON, SECRETARY TO THE SOLDIERS' TOTAL ABSTINENCE ASSOCIATION, INDIA. LONDON : ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW, E. 1883. |3 £ ti teats; b TO the BRITISH SOLDIER IN INDIA. CONTENTS. CHAPTER TAGE I. FROM LAHORE TO PESHAWUR - II. FROM PESHAWUR TO DAKKA - III. FROM DAKKA TO JELLALABAD - IV. FROM JELLALABAD TO PESWAN I 7 17 24 40 47 69 89 no V. ACROSS THE LUTABUND PASS - VI. SHERPORE CAMP VII. THE RELIEF OF SHERPORE VIII. THE RETURN MARCH - IX. FROM CABUL TO CEYLON

Appendix

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Frontispiece PORTRAIT KHYBER PASS 12 JELLALABAD 23 HAVELOCK 35 SHERPORE CANTONMENT 49 SIR FRED. ROBERTS So CONVOY OF SICK AND WOUNDED

Introduction

. This ' Diary ' originally appeared in the Indian Temperance Magazine — On Guard — and at the request of friends inter ested in the welfare of our soldiers in India, I now publish it in a more permanent form. There is no attempt on my part to make a book ; my sole object has been to give permanency to a simple record of work among soldiers in the late Afghan campaign. Having shared their trials and dangers, I have much pleasure in bearing my testimony to their courage in battle, and to their patience in sickness — cheerfully enduring privations for the maintenance of the honour of their country, and dying at the post of duty rather than be faithless to their trust. As Secretary to the Soldiers' Total Abstinence Association it was my duty to visit our regimental societies in Afghanistan, as well as the Cantonments in India, which will explain the VI

INTRODUCTION.

. object I had in visiting Cabul. In every camp we had members of the Association, and we have the gratification of knowing that our men were better able to discharge their duties than those who drank their rum. A lower percentage of sickness among the abstainers is ample proof of the fact that abstainers are better able to endure fatiguing marches than non-abstainers, and more to be relied upon in the hour of battle, when steadiness is essential to victory. In every camp between Peshawur and Cabul men were punished for drunkenness ; at Jellalabad the whole guard got drunk by breaking into the Commissariat rum-store, which not only disgraced the regiment, but the whole brigade, as a native sepoy had to supersede a British guard. How different was the condition of the Jellalabad Garrison in 1842, when, under more trying circumstances, Sir Robert Sale's brigade had to defend the city against overwhelming numbers, and also fought a pitched battle against Akbar Khan, thoroughly defeating his army, and taking the whole of his camp.

To quote the words of Sir Robert Sale : ' The European troops, besides having insufficient rations, were without their allowance of spirits. I will not mention this as a privation, because I verily believe that this circumstance and constant employment have contributed to keep them in the highest health and most remarkable discipline. These facts are so striking, that officers and men acknowledge that

INTRODUCTION.

. VII we were much better off without the ration of spirits than we could possibly have been with it.' This garrison would never have gained the title of ' Illustrious ' had spirit-drinking been possible. It always has been most productive of insubordination and sickness in the ranks of the army. Whenever British troops have been deprived of this dangerous ration, they have always done their duty more cheerfully, and endured hardship more patiently. It is to be expected, as evidence accumulates on this subject, that the spirit ration will be abolished, and tea substituted for men on active service. Frequent reference is made to the distribution of Afghan Temperance honours. The honour consisted of a silver bar, with 'Afghanistan, 1879,' in raised letters, being presented to every man who faithfully kept his pledge through the campaign; and, according to our returns, 422 bars were distri buted.

The army in India presents a vast field of labour for Chris tian workers. Our soldiers are on foreign service, and in a heathen land where they are isolated from the people amongst whom they live, and separated from their friends at home, they specially appeal to our sympathy and need our minis trations in the cantonments in which they are garrisoned. Those who have been privileged to work amongst them are sensible of the gratitude they manifest for any interest that

INTRODUCTION.

. may have been taken in them. No class of men are more grateful to those who labour amongst them than British soldiers in India. If in any degree the perusal of this record of work among them should arouse in the hearts of my readers a desire to do something for their welfare in India, I shall feel amply repaid for the privations I endured and the dangers I encoun tered in walking through the Khyber Pass to Cabul. J. GELSON GREGSON. MUNDESLEY VlLLA, SOUTHSEA, December, 18S2. — foJe^L^ —

Chapter I. From Lahore To Peshawur

The railway journey to Jhelum is through a deeply interesting part of the Punjaub, it crosses the winding Ravee and the wide-spreading Chenab, which is spanned by one of the longest railway bridges in the world, its length being three miles and a half. The Chenab recalls to mind the sad disaster of Chillianwallah, where our army was nearly cut to pieces. At Wuzeerabad the usual knives, horn-glasses, and walking-sticks, which screw together in three parts, were brought round for sale. This was the Sheffield of the Punjaub, in the days when Run jeet Singh made his swords, and spears, which did so much mischief, when fighting against our troops. Although these Wuzeerabad knives are not equal to the Sheffield blades, they are very good specimens of native work, and quite worth the money they ask for them, which is from one to five rupees.

As soon as we crossed the railway bridge at Jhelum, we saw the vast preparations which were being made in the Transport Department for conveying stores to the front. Some of the ponies and camels were in a very wretched condition, certainly I they had not the appearance of being fit for baggage animals ; in fact they were hardly strong enough to carry the packs on which the loads had to be secured. In consequence of the herding together of cattle, and the crowding of natives who attended on them, cholera had broken out in the station, and the officer in charge of the Transport Department died a few days before I passed through. Nothing could be more uninviting than a dirty house next to the dak bungalow, miscalled the Jhelum Hotel ; everything was simply filthy — dirty servants, broken-down chairs, walls that had not been whitewashed for an age, and food that satis fied one by looking at it.

Most fortunately for me, my telegram from Lahore had secured a seat in the dak* for Rawul Pindee, or I should have been obliged to make the best of this Jhelum Hotel for five days. When the time came for starting, my companion had a most unreasonable quantity of luggage, to which the dak baboo t very respectfully objected. The bare thought of a native raising an objection seemed to ignite a mine of bad temper in this fellow-traveller, who was fresh from England, and consequently could neither understand what was said nor could he explain himself, and so roared in his wrath like an English bull, and kicked the unfortunate driver for pre suming to refi^ to take his baggage. At this I thought I might offer my services as interpreter, and tried to make him understand in his own language, that the native baboo was only objecting in accordance with the regulations to his heavy baggage : by this time the baboo had retired from the scene somewhat afraid of the enlightened Englishman's boot-maker, who is too frequently introduced to the natives, giving them a taste of British shoe-leather.

The end of the matter was, that after half an hour's delay we started, and the enraged Britisher was sleeping and snoring away his anger. It is to be hoped that this ' New-come ' will soon pass the lower standard exami- * Dak, a mail cart. f Dak baboo, a post-office clerk. FROM LAHORE TO PESHAWUR. 3 nation in the language, and treat the natives with their own vocabulary instead of English leather. The road from Jhelum to Rawul Pindee was almost in a condition of block : a long line of weary bullocks were dragging their heavy loads on to Peshawur, and what with drivers fast asleep in the carts ; and teams of four bullocks to huge hackeries, and long strings of camels, we were constantly coming to a standstill : every now and then we banged against some un fortunate cart that had come to grief on the road; left just where the wheel came off, in the middle of the road or on the side, no matter where.

Then in addition to the constant blow ing of the driver's bugle, the dust was fearful, rendering a night's dak from Jhelum to Pindee as uncomfortable, wretched, and wearisome as it was possible to be, and making me long for the old iron-horse and the two iron rails, which enable the traveller to sleep comfortably and get over the ground rapidly. There is this consolation, the railway is being made, and extra rates and extra labour are now making the opening of the line a possibility next year. Coolies of every description are ex ceedingly scarce at Pindee, on account of the high rates paid on the railway-works. At Pindee I was most kindly and hospitably received by Mr. Thackwell, of the American Presbyterian Mission. Although the whole of his time is given to native work, he has deep sympathy with work among soldiers, and would gladly hold a service for them, but for the unsatisfactory condition of his health, which will not admit of extra work.

The first meeting I held was in the theatre of the Eighty-first. The men of the regiment are suffering very badly from fever, the hospital is crowded, and I noticed in going through the barracks that numbers of men had been obliged to cover themselves with their blankets, as they were suffering from ague. Fever has never been known to be so bad at this station before : while Europeans are reduced to a condition of extreme weak- I ness, natives are dying by hundreds. After the meeting I started for Attock, this time with a fellow-traveller who had evidently passed the 'lower standard;'* consequently there was no trouble or difficulty of any deseription, and we reached Fort Attock early the following morning. There can be no doubt that this looks like the natural boundary of British India, as so many Indian statesmen of the old school have thought.

The mighty Indus, swelled by the Cabul river, roars with great im petuosity through the bold rocks which keep the river in a narrow channel. There is no chance of the river overflowing the rocky bank, though it has been known to rise sixty feet in twenty-four hours. During the cold season the river is bridged with boats, which have to be removed as soon as the rains set in ; and I suppose this suggested to some enterprising engineer the happy or unhappy thought of boring a tunnel under the Indus, which has been done at an enormous cost, and only to result in a most useless and expensive piece of work, which has never been of any service, and now never can be, as the river will soon be bridged by the railway, and the water will be allowed to remain in the tunnel, although the splendid steam pumps which were sent from England to pump the tunnel dry, and keep it so, are rusting on the rocks at Attock.

In crossing the bridge one could not help wondering whether this was the spot where the great Macedonian crossed the Indus, and who, when he had conquered the world, cried because there were no more worlds to be crushed ; and then at last was himself con quered by drink, and died a drunkard's death after leading armies to conquest in every part of the civilized world. Not far from the bridge of boats at the junction of the Indus and the Cabul, the difference in the two rivers is most marked and distinct ; the clear water of the Indus flows for some distance by the side of the muddy Cabul river without uniting with it. We had a meeting for the Attock Garrison in the evening, and * The lower standard is the first examination in Hindoostanee. FROM LAHORE TO PESHAWUR. 5 the men of the artillery and the Seventeenth united together.

The garrison is very small, only consisting of a battery of artillery and a company of the Seventeenth. Early the next morning I went on to Nowshera, which is just half-way between Attock and Peshawur. There is a very com fortable dak bungalow, where I stayed the Sunday. On Satur day evening I had a very good meeting with the Seventeenth Regiment, and presented Afghan bars, as I did at Pindee, to those who were entitled to them. It will be an honour which they never need be ashamed of wearing, and will be an inter esting reminder of hard marches and great privations on the Afghan expedition of 1879. On Sunday morning I had a prayer-meeting, and in the evening an evangelistic meeting in the prayer-room, which is at the end of one of the barracks. How I long to find our abstinence men working for Christ, and leading their comrades on to a higher and truer life than that which they can find in themselves.

I got into Peshawur about half-past ten, and was very hos pitably received by Mr. Davis. Here I found the Twenty-fifth regiment, and arranged with Colonel Ruddell for a meeting in the theatre. The Colonel very kindly presented the Afghan bars. The men have suffered, and are suffering a great deal from the fever, which seems to be inseparable from this station. In addition to the Temperance meeting, we had an Evange listic meeting in the soldiers' prayer-room. There is something exceedingly interesting in the fact that this room was built for the good of our soldiers by that fine Christian soldier, the late Colonel Wheeler, who lies buried in Agra. He not only erected this prayer-room for his own countrymen, but also preached the Gospel of Christ in the bazaars to the Mohammedans. On one occasion, when they were abusing him in a very violent manner, his syce* retaliated, and abused them back again.

As soon as the Colonel heard this, he told the syce to go outside the city- * Syce, groom. gate and wait for him there, and reproved him for giving abuse, the syce tried to justify himself, by saying, ' Sahib, they abused you.' The Sahib, however, had learnt the great lesson of returning good for evil, remembering the action of his divine Master, who, when He was reviled, reviled not again. Thus this noble Christian soldier was the first to preach the Gospel in the bazaar of Peshawur, and also to erect a prayer-room for the European soldiers, years before Lord Lawrence promulgated his memorable order for the erection of prayer-rooms in the canton ments of India. The Church mission may be said to have been founded by another earnest Christian soldier, Sir Herbert Edwards, who, in 1855, was Commissioner of Peshawur.

Some apprehension of danger was felt by those who distrusted and feared the pro pagation of the Gospel in so bigoted a stronghold of Moham medanism. An officer put down his name on the subscription list thus — ■' One rupee towards a Deane and Adam's revolver for the first missionary.' But Herbert Edwards was too brave a man, too wise a politician, and too bold a Christian to share such fears. In his missionary speech at a meeting in Peshawur, he uttered the following memorable words : ' In this crowded city we hear the Brahmin in his temple sound his sunkh and gong ; the muezzin on his lofty minaret fills the air with the azan ; and the civil Government, which protects them both, will take upon itself the duty of protecting the Christian missionary who goes forth to preach the Gospel. Above all, we may be quite sure that we are much safer if we do our duty than if we neglect it, and that He who hath brought us here with His own right arm will shield and bless us, if in simple reliance upon Him we try to do His will.' The Church missionaries have nobly sustained all that these words suggest, and in the present mis sionaries, the Revs.

T. P. Hughes and Jukes, the mission is most ably represented. The mission-house contains a very valuable library, which owes its existence to the liberality of FROM PESHAWUR TO DAKKA. 7 Mr. Hughes, who started it with the proceeds of a reward received from Government for an able Pushtoo work which he edited. Although Dr. Carey's translation of the Bible in Pushtoo has long been superseded, it shows the deep interest that gifted and large-hearted man had in everything which affected the spread of the Gospel in India. While residing at Serampore, and working laboriously among Bengalees, he found time to think of the Afghans, and to translate the Bible into Pushtoo.

Chapter II. From Peshawur To Dakka

Peshawur, November nth, 1879. — The General has granted me permission to go to the front, and directed me to the Quarter master-General for information respecting troops going up. I find that a detachment of the Fifty-first and Seventy-second are going in a day or two, so that I shall have a good escort all the way, the transport officer was somewhat puzzled in giving me my official designation, by which I was allowed a certain rate of baggage ; at last it was decided I should have the baggage allowance of a staff officer, which enabled me to indent for three mules to carry my belongings to Cabul. There is a great deal of sickness in the station ; nearly every one either is, or has been, down with fever. The chaplain told me that he had buried 200 during the year. This heavy mor tality may be accounted for by the troops coming back from the front with cholera.

November 12th. — Busy getting my kit together, which consists of a tent, a charpoy, a stool, and a small teapoy, two saucepans and a tin bowl, a few stores, a small tin box of clothes, and bedding. Not having succeeded in getting a horse, I shall have to walk, and hope I shall be able to manage it, although a medical friend has given a very decided opinion against the attempt. My consolation is that the men have to do it, and I shall be able to understand their difficulties better if I walk with them. November 14th. — Delayed on account of the detachment not starting. I went down to the camp, but could not get any cer tain information, so determined to start for Jumrood to-morrow, which is Saturday, where I can halt till Monday, when the detachment may overtake me. After visiting the men in camp, I went down "to the transport officer, near the fort, to get my three mules.

In one batch of camels I saw three dead ; and of all the wretched, half-starved looking creatures, I never saw anything like the camels, horses, ponies, mules, donkeys, and bullocks that were camped together by hundreds. I was thankful to find that the three which had been told off to me were not the worst I saw, though they were very weak and lean. November 15th. — To enable me to make an early start, I was up before five, when it was pitch-dark, and had everything ready for loading by the time it was light, in the hope that we should be a good distance on the road to Jumrood before the heat of the day. Unfortunately, all this early rising was of no avail ; we were loading and unloading the wretched ponies till eight o'clock ; these unfortunate creatures were so weak that they fell down with the weight of a load that any ordinary coolie would have carried on his head.

After unpacking my boxes and leaving behind my stores, books, and extra blankets, we managed to make a start for the Khyber. The knock-kneed ponies waddled along rather than walked. I dragged the leading pony, my bearer took the second, and the man in charge took the third, and a queer lot we looked dragging these miserable creatures along the road in a most doleful condition. There was no help for it, as they would not move without being dragged along. At last I got relieved of my w7eary task by promising an Afghan a rupee to lead my brute to Jumrood. The road to this fort is exceedingly dreary — no trees, no villages, FROM PESHAWUR TO DAKKA. and no cultivation beyond British territory. Nothing but stones and the skeleton bones of camels and bullocks right and left of the road, the first signs of the break-down, or dead condition of the gigantic Transport Department.

The Jumrood Fort is built of mud, with a large courtyard used by the Commis sariat Department for stores, and is garrisoned by a Madras regiment. The Commissariat sergeant in charge was one of our old members, and soon put me in the way of making out indents for my rations and my transport cattle. My rations were as follows: Bread, i\ lb.; meat, i\ lb.; potatoes, i lb.; rice, 4 oz. ; salt, -j oz. ; tea, f oz. ; sugar, 3 oz. ; firewood, 3 lb. I was in hopes of spending a quiet Sunday at the fort, and left Peshawur to-day for the purpose ; but unfortunately two very bad cases of cholera broke out, and the men go into camp to-morrow morning, and the medical officer thinks I had better leave. A strong escort starts in the morning for Ali Musjid, and I have arranged to go with it, rather than wait for the detachment from Peshawur.

November \6th. — There was a dreadful noise all night — camels constantly growling, drivers cursing, dogs barking, and policemen howling, and the sentry now and then challenging, ' Who goes there ?' I woke rather too early, but hearing so much noise, made sure the convoy was about to start. Having lighted a match, I looked at my watch, and fancied it had stopped, and was going to light my spirit-lamp to make a cup of Leibig's beef-tea, when the fort-gong struck two, which con vinced me that my watch was going rightly enough, and that it was my sleepy head which was wrong. We turned out at five, and had everything ready by half past six for loading. After yesterday's experience, I changed my transport ponies for bullocks, and got on a good deal better. After a long delay of an hour and a half, a very smart little Goorkha sergeant came up and said, ' Guard ready, sahib.' The guard consisted of eight fine stalwart Sikhs, with the smart little Goorkha sergeant in charge.

I marched at the head of my escort armed with a good oak walking-stick. The road was through a country of stones — nothing but stones ; no trees of any description, no grass, no cattle, no villages, nothing but barren ruggedness. A strong wind sweeps over the ground for about two miles before entering the pass. At the entrance of the Khyber the road winds along the bed of a river, and the celebrated Ali Musjid Fort can be seen from the rising ground. After winding along the dry stony bed of the river for some distance, the road ascends the hill on the left of the pass, and rises until a low range of hills has been crossed, and then descends into a wild gorge, where a mountain stream rushes down over its rocky bed : a few trees and some green grass make a bright oasis in a desert of stones, rocks, and barren hills.

These wild mountain-ranges have given the world a race of the wildest-looking creatures ; savage in countenance wild in appearance, dirty and filthy in dress : the Afredee Afghan is the type of a lawless robber. The rocks are bored on all sides with caves, in which these ruffians are in the habit of wait ing for harmless and unprotected travellers, w7ho are sure to lose both their lives and their goods as soon as they enter the Pass. On my way up the hill-road I met a detachment of the Twelfth Regiment, and had the pleasure of shaking hands with some of our abstainers who had remained faithful through the campaign. Even the non-abstainers acknowledged that they could march better on tea than rum. I then asked them where they were going, and they answered, with a smile, ' Home !' At the sound of that word, my heart felt too full to let me speak, and as I walked on, I thought of loved ones who would be quietly attending divine service as I marched through the wild Pass this Sabbath morning.

At Ali Musjid I found the Second N. I. very busy getting ready to start. The commanding officer very kindly invited me to their mess, so that I was well FROM PESHAWUR TO DAKKA. 11 cared for. It was impossible to have a service in the midst of the bustle and confusion inseparable from breaking up camp, so spent the time in reading Dr. C. J. Vaughan's sermons on ' Lessons of Life and Godliness,' which I enjoyed exceedingly. The level ground on which the camp is pitched is completely surrounded with hills. Ali Musjid looks down upon it, and the hill-tops are crowned with small forts, very like the old round Martello towers in England. The whole place is com manded on all sides, and would be absolutely impregnable if held by our troops; new barrack buildings have been erected at the old fort, which has completely changed its original appearance.

At sunset it was very grand to listen to the bugles, as the sound echoed and re-echoed among the mountains, and then far away a faint answer seemed to come as from another camp down the Pass. This regiment has suffered terribly from sick ness, it has lost a hundred men by death, and has a hospital roll of four hundred sick, chiefly from fever: the Thirty-ninth N. I. suffered as much, when camped here. The Second and Thirty-ninth N. I. Regiments will have very sad recollections of Ali Musjid. November 17th. — Up at five, and got my spirit-lamp at work, making an excellent cup of beef-tea before starting. Striking the tent and packing the baggage took some time, and then the shrill blast of the bugles went echoing over the mountains, making the wild gorge reverberate with the sound. Then commenced the general bustle and noise connected with marching.

Knock, knock, knocking all over the camp ; the pegs were soon drawn, and the white canvas tents struck by the word of command. The order was given, and at once the rows of tents were down, so that by time it was light, not a tent was standing; then came the busy task of loading the camels, and what between the growling of these creatures and the loud threats of the camel-drivers, it is impossible to imagine the din of confusion which lasted till the camels were loaded. Every man had to look after his own interests, and I paid some attention to mine, but found to my disgust that my bullocks had gone back to Jumrood ; so there I was, stranded, without any means of going on or getting back. Away I went to the tent of the Commissariat sergeant and woke him up from a comfortable sleep ; after a good deal of rubbing of his eyes, and calling for his bearer, he gradually discovered that it was not a nightmare of camels and bullocks waking him up, but a sihib in real distress, who needed camels or bullocks to take his baggage on to the next camp.

Having impressed upon him the necessity of doing something at once, as the escort was about to start, he gave the chowdry * the order to let me have three mules, which I promised to return as soon as I arrived at Lundi Kotal. Then by using a rupee persuader, I got the chowdry to find the mules in a very short space of time, and was ready to march at half-past seven. The road was by the side of the Khyber river which runs through the gorge. At the base of the bluff rock on which the fort is built, and close to the little Musjid, Ali Musjid, from which the fort takes its name, a new road is being cut, or rather blasted, out of the solid rock, very much higher than the present one, which is liable to be flooded in the rains. About three miles from the fort we came upon an extensive valley, in which there were some deserted villages ; each village had the appearance of a mud fort, with one or two towers, and sometimes a tower was built at each corner of the village.

The first sign of anything like civilization was a flock of goats driven by an Afghan boy over fields that seemed to provide nothing but stones for pasturage. The dead and rotten carcases, of donkeys, ponies, bullocks and camels made the march most offensive and loathsome ; I seemed to be inhaling typhoid every step of the way. A dying camel is a most pathetic sight ; the poor beast dies in harness, carrying his * Chowdry, a native inspector. THE KHYBER PASS. load to death, and when he can bear the burden no longer, sits down with his legs under him, and dies. At the other end of the valley Lundi Kotal camp came in sight ; first the Field Hospital, then the Bengal Cavalry had their camp pitched about two miles from the flag-staff, at the General's tent ; then followed different native regiments, a regular bazaar, and on rising ground the European regiment, the artillery and the headquarters of the brigade.