Sir Alexander Burnes having reached Mehrab Khan's residence, now sent intimation that no assistance could be expected from that chief, who, so far from procuring grain for the army, had instigated the tribes to annoy us in every way, and to conceal or carry away the produce of the country. Time could not now be wasted in punishing Mehrab for his duplicity, but a day of severe retribution awaited him on the return of the Bombay division of the army from Caubul.
Our position was now far from comfortable. If the army advanced, and all supplies were removed out of our way by the natives, starvation and the loss of all our cattle appeared the probable result. And in case of a retreat through the Bolan pass, every crag would, of course, have held an enemy to oppose such invaders. Independently of this, the moral effect of a retreat at the commencement of a campaign would have been in the last degree disastrous; yet such an alternative was advocated by many officers on whose shoulders the main responsibility did not rest. Sir John Keane could not but see that entering the Bolan pass was the passage of the Rubicon, and orders were issued for the army to advance towards Kandahar on the morning of the 7th of April: the men were reduced to an allowance of one pound of flour, and non-combatants to half a pound per diem; meat and spirits were issued as usual.
No grain was in store for the cavalry, but the horse artillery were allotted rations of three seers a horse daily, without which the guns could never have been drawn. The cavalry troop horses subsisted almost entirely on green wheat, collected by foraging parties. The officers were occasionally able to purchase small quantities of barley, or Indian corn, for their chargers, by paying an exorbitant sum to an Afghan extortioner.
On the morning we left Quetta, fifty horses of the cavalry brigade were shot, in the lines, being too weak to carry their load. This melancholy process of slaughtering horses was repeated daily, before or on the march.
The first morning, on leaving Quetta, we descended, through a steep and rocky pass, into an extensive valley. A few scattered villages were seen, whose inhabitants had betaken themselves to the hills, whence they sallied occasionally to commit atrocities on any stragglers from the lines in retaliation for the damages committed by the camp followers on their habitations, and by our horses on their corn fields.
It was carefully circulated amongst the natives who came near us, that grain and all other supplies would be paid for, and also that a reimbursement would be made for damages done to their property. It was further hinted to them that we were friends (not enemies) who were bringing a virtuous monarch to rule their country; but this they were unable to comprehend.
As we advanced, however, the same system prevailed with the inhabitants, and not a soul was to be seen in the villages or on the line of march, except when levelling a matchlock from some almost inaccessible crag. Our foraging parties occasionally found young wheat fields, which were demolished in a few minutes; but had it not been for that inestimable little aromatic shrub, which grew in the most hopeless solitudes, it would have been impossible for us to proceed, as it afforded almost the only food for the camels and beasts of burden, as well as fuel for the army, which it would have been a difficulty to dispense with, man having been essentially a cooking animal from the days of Prometheus, before whose well authenticated exploits it is difficult to say how mortals fared.
Having crossed a succession of rocky mountains and barren valleys, the fourth march from Quetta brought us to the Pisheen valley, which is said to be the best cultivated part of lower Afghanistan, which it might well be without exhibiting much fertility.
The valley is very extensive, and appeared, as we advanced into it, to be well inhabited. The corn and barley fields were rich and numerous. The natives of Pisheen had not deserted their homes, and flocked to our camp, bringing camels, horses, bullocks, sheep, and grain for sale, but all at the same exorbitant rate which had been exacted at Quetta. The better class of inhabitants, terming themselves Synds, or descendants of the Prophet, (the prolific Mahomet,) were well attired, and certainly the finest men I have seen in the East. I was much taken with a richly-mounted cimeter worn by a noble-looking Afghan, and endeavoured to tempt his cupidity by offering in exchange a pair of English pistols liberally bedizened with silver ornaments, money being out of the question, as that article was more than usually scarce, and more than usually necessary, in those days of famine: but though the pistols took his fancy much, they still did not succeed, and he returned them, saying, "It would be unjust to take these weapons which you will soon stand in need of, for the Ameers of Kandahar will meet you in the field before you have approached much nearer their city." "We shall be happy to see them," I replied, "and after the rencontre, cimeters will be cheap and plentiful in the British camp."
The Synd had some authority for his assertion, as that day intelligence was received that the Kandahar chiefs were concerting measures to oppose our advance.