[Footnote 1:  Twenty sabres, 9th Lancers, one squadron 5th Punjab Cavalry, two guns, No. 2 Mountain battery, 284 rifles, 92nd Highlanders, and 450 rifles, 23rd Pioneers.]

[Footnote 2:  Two guns, No. 2 Mountain battery, two Gatling guns, detachment 12th Bengal Cavalry, 72nd Highlanders, 5th Gurkhas (300 rifles), 5th Punjab Infantry (200 rifles), No. 7 Company Sappers and Miners.]

[Footnote 3:  During the fight the Infantry expended 41,090 rounds, of which over 20,000 were fired by the 72nd Highlanders.  The half-battery G/3 R.A. fired 6 common shell (percussion fuses) and 71 shrapnel (time fuses); total, 77 rounds.  No. 2 Mountain Battery fired 10 common shell and 94 shrapnel, total, 104 rounds.  The two Gatlings fired 150 rounds.

At the tenth round one of the Gatlings jammed, and had to be taken to pieces.  This was the first occasion on which Gatling guns were used in action.  They were not of the present improved make, and, being found unsatisfactory, were made but little use of.]

[Footnote 4:  The troops available for this purpose were:  One squadron 9th Lancers, 5th Punjab Cavalry, 12th Bengal Cavalry, and 14th Bengal Lancers; total, 720 of all ranks.]

[Footnote 5:  The guns included four English 18-pounders, one English 8-inch howitzer and two Afghan imitations of this weapon, and forty-two bronze Mountain guns.]

[Footnote 6:  The Asmai heights.]

[Footnote 7:  The Deh-i-Mazang gorge.]

* * * * *

CHAPTER LII. 1879

Guiding instructions—­Visit to the Bala Hissar—­Yakub Khan abdicates —­The Proclamation—­Administrative measures —­Explosions in the Bala Hissar

At last I was at Kabul, the place I had heard so much of from my boy-hood, and had so often wished to see!  The city lay beneath me, with its mud-coloured buildings and its 50,000 inhabitants, covering a considerable extent of ground.  To the south-east corner of the city appeared the Bala Hissar, picturesquely perched on a saddle just beneath the Shahr-i-Darwaza heights, along the top of which ran a fortified wall, enclosing the upper portion of the citadel and extending to the Deh-i-Mazang gorge.

Kabul was reported to be perfectly quiet, and numbers of traders came into our camp to dispose of their wares; but I forbade anyone to enter the city until I had been able to decide upon the best means of maintaining order amongst a population for the most part extremely fanatical, treacherous, and vindictive.