Being on tolerably good terms with the Afghans, we were now able to see some of their best blood. The Government price for Cavalry remounts was restricted to four hundred and fifty rupees each horse, which was one hundred and fifty under the stud price, and the general opinion was in favour of the Caubul horse, when he could be found of sufficient size; but, generally speaking, they were so well fattened up for the market that it required the eye of a good judge to detect faults under this general rotundity. The horse dealers were also found, in every respect, capable of competing with their brotherhood in England.
The only instance of an Afghan dealer being "done," which I saw or heard of, occurred on our march towards Caubul.
A dealer, one morning, came into the Cavalry lines, bringing a showy-looking nag for sale, which seemed a well bred animal, and certainly cocked its tail and pawed the ground in a most imposing manner. J——, a young Dragoon officer, who was a very respectable jockey, asked the animal's price. "Fifteen hundred rupees," was the modest request; "and you have not a sounder or fleeter animal in the Feringhee camp," added the Afghan. J—— quietly noticed one or two defects; and pointing to a little old chesnut Arab, who certainly looked as if he were the ghost of some departed racer, but whose muscle and sinews only required the hand upon them to be acknowledged, offered to ride him a mile against the Afghan on his vaunted steed. The dealer eagerly closed the wager for a hundred rupees, and the ground was selected, as nearly as it could be guessed, for the distance. The riders were soon up, (the Afghan apparently the heavier;) the word was given, and away they went, the Afghan leading at a tearing pace, flourishing his legs and whip, and chuckling and hallooing with delight. J—— saw there was no necessity for collaring him, the Afghan doing all that could be desired. When within fifty yards of the winning-post, J——, having waited steadily on his competitor until the sleek animal was beat, gave the gallant little Arab his head and the Afghan the go-by, telling him to take his useless fifteen hundred rupees' worth home, as he had beaten him with the slowest horse in the regiment.
The fame of this race must have preceded the army, for I never heard another instance of an Afghan dealer wishing to match his horse for speed against any of our chargers. Their own races are generally for great distances, and the race-course is usually in the main road, where rocks and sharp stones are not scarce; but the horses are shod with a plate of steel which covers nearly the whole foot—a mode of shoeing adopted almost throughout the army. The Caubul ponies were very powerful and hardy animals, and have been much sought after and prized in Hindostan.
The Afghans do not appear to possess much attachment to their sovereign, though the feudal system prevalent would induce a contrary inference. Their merchandize fetching a favourable price, or the success of a marauding party, constitute their chief concernment; and the occupation of the musnud by a Barukzye, or Suddozye, is a matter of secondary importance to all, save, perhaps, the members of those two families, provided the people are unmolested in their avocations. In such a case, the usual practice has been to get rid of the obnoxious monarch as soon as a convenient conspiracy can be organized, which has been rarely unsuccessful. An escort, or pass, from a mountain-chief, will carry the bearer safely through that chief's territory; but he must beware how he uses it beyond the assigned boundary, where it may prove worse than useless. Afghanistan is occupied by such a variety of tribes, each possessing their mountain fastnesses to retreat upon in case of need—men under no control beyond the temporary influence of their several leaders and chiefs—that it would certainly be an arduous undertaking to reduce the country to a complete state of subordination.
Under the different Shahs of Afghanistan, that portion of the people only who could be attracted and held by interested motives rallied round their king in times of trouble; and amongst so capricious and disunited a people, the connecting link with their sovereign has always been weak, and often broken.
Whilst encamped in the vicinity of Caubul, a party of officers visited some hills about ten miles distant, under the escort of a petty mountain-chief, tributary to the Shah; the party were, of course, hospitably received by himself and the tribe, but his jurisdiction did not extend far. Pointing out the limits of his domain, he showed a dark range of hills, barely thirty miles' distant, belonging, as he said, to two chiefs, from whom Dost Mahomed had been unable to exact tribute or submission, although their dwellings were almost within sight of his palace-windows.
Even at this time, the British authority could not be said to extend beyond the chain of guards encircling our camp; for any soldiers or camp-followers straying far from the lines at night, and not unfrequently in the daytime also, stood a good chance of being shot, or cut down by some band of marauders. This hapless state of affairs remained unaltered during the whole time of our residence at Caubul.
Having been encamped for a fortnight, eight miles south of Caubul, the army were ordered to change ground to the north-eastern side, about two miles from the Bala Hissar, and on the Peshawur Road.
The day before moving, Brigadier Arnold (who had been suffering severely from illness since the army left Kandahar) died, universally regretted by the whole army, and especially by the 16th Lancers, which regiment he commanded, and to whom his loss was irreparable. We marched, in the evening, to the city; and the Lancers attended the remains of their colonel to the grave, which was dug at the foot of a steep, rocky mountain, about a quarter of a mile distant from the Bala Hissar. The funeral procession was attended by nearly all the officers of the army; and amongst them were few who had not experienced and appreciated the merits of that gallant soldier, who was now borne to the grave, from the effects of a bullet, which had pierced his breast when charging with the 10th Hussars at Waterloo.[41]