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------ | |Yabus, | |Indian | | | | | or |Mules.|ponies.|Donkeys.|Camels. | | |Afghan | | | | | | |ponies.| | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------
- |Number of animals | | | | | | | that left Kabul | 1,589 | 4,510| 1,244 | 912 | 6[1*]| |Purchased during | | | | | | | the march[2*] | 35 | 1| -- | 208 | 171 | |Number of animals | | | | | | | that reached | | | | | | | Kandahar | 1,179 | 4,293| 1,138 | 1,078 | 177 | |Casualties during | | | | | | | the march | 445 | 218| 106 | 42 | | ------------------------------------------------------------
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Note 1*: With hospital equipment.
Note 2*: Only twice had animals to
be taken against the will of the
owners, and on both occasions the matter
was amicably settled in the
end.]
[Footnote 13: Major E. Hastings, Captain West Ridgeway, Major Euan Smith, C.S.I., and Major M. Prothero.]
[Footnote 14: Major A. Badcock, Captain A. Rind, and Lieutenants C. Fitzgerald, H. Hawkes, and H. Lyons Montgomery, all of the Bengal Staff Corps.]
[Footnote 15: Lieutenant-Colonel R. Low, Bengal Staff Corps; Captain W. Wynter, 33rd Foot; Captains G. H. Eliot and C. R. Macgregor, Bengal Staff Corps; Lieutenants L. Booth, 33rd Foot, H. Elverson, 2nd Foot, R. Fisher, 10th Hussars, R. Wilson, 10th Hussars, and C. Robertson, 8th Foot.]
* * * * *
The order of marching—Ghazni and Kelat-i-Ghilzai —Food required daily for the force—A letter from General Phayre —Kandahar—Reconnoitring the enemy’s position—A turning movement
Before daybreak on the 11th August, as I was starting from camp, I received my last communication from the outside world in the shape of a telegram from my wife, sent off from a little village in Somersetshire, congratulating me and the force, and wishing us all God’s speed. She had taken our children to England a few months before, thinking that the war in Afghanistan was over, and that I would soon be able to follow.
Four days brought us to the end of the Logar valley, a distance of forty-six miles. So far the country was easy and supplies plentiful. I thought it wise, however, not to attempt long distances at first, that both men and animals might become gradually hardened before entering on the difficult and scantily cultivated ground between Ghazni and Kelat-i-Ghilzai, where I knew that forced marches were inevitable, and that their powers of endurance would be sorely taxed. Moreover, it was necessary to begin quietly, and organize some system by which confusion in the crowded camping-grounds might be avoided, and the physical strain upon everyone lightened as much as possible.
