CHAPTER II.
The Advance through the Sher-i-Dahan Pass—The Tomb of Mahmood at Roza—Arrival at Ghazni—State of the Citadel—A Miserable-looking City—Condition of the Camp-Followers—Splendid Marching—Losses by the Road—Cavalry Scouts—The field[field] of Ahmed Khel—A Raid on Powindah Traders at Chardeh—News from Khelat-i-Ghilzai and Candahar—Mukur to Panjak: a Trying March—Sir F. Roberts and the Troops—The Candahar Province entered at Shahjui—Heliographic Communication with Khelat-i-Ghilzai—Relief of Colonel Tanner’s Troops—Disastrous Sortie at Candahar—Ayub Khan Raises the Siege—Cavalry March to Robat—Heliographing with General Primrose—General H. Gough meets Colonel St. John—“In Touch” of Ayub Khan—Diary of the March from Cabul.
Ghazni, 15th August, 1880.
Nothing occurred to disturb us last night in our camping-ground at Shashgao, and we turned out as usual at three o’clock and loaded up for the day’s march. It was well known yesterday that no armed gathering was at Ghazni; but in this country no one can say what a night may bring forth, and orders were accordingly issued for the advance through the Sher-i-Dahan Pass to be made as if an enemy were actually at hand. With between 8,000 and 9,000 baggage animals to be guarded, great precautions had to be taken to make the line of march as compact as possible, and this object was gained by the following disposition:—
| 1.— |  | 1 Regiment of Cavalry. 1 Company 23rd Pioneers. 2 Guns No. 2 Mountain Battery. 1 Regiment Infantry from 1st Brigade. |
| 2.— | Remainder of 1st Brigade with 4 guns No. 2 Mountain Battery preceding 6-8 Royal Artillery in order of march. | |
| 3.— | 2nd Infantry Brigade. | |
| 4.— | Cavalry Brigade, with the exception of one troop attached to 3rd Brigade. | |
| 5.— | Baggage Column, marshalled by Lieutenant-Colonel Low. | |
| 6.— | Rear-guard, consisting of the whole of 3rd Brigade with a troop of Cavalry. | |
Owing to the darkness of the morning and the nature of the road it was found necessary to modify this disposition; the 92nd Highlanders went first, with the Cavalry Brigade following, until the southern end of the Pass was reached, when a squadron of cavalry trotted forward to reconnoitre the country towards Ghazni.
The Sher-i-Dahan Pass might, from its name (the lion’s mouth) be expected to be very formidable, whereas it is one of the easiest in Afghanistan. The rise from the Shashgao plain to the Kotal is only 400 feet, and is so gradual that it is scarcely noticeable. The road is not at all shut in for the first 2 miles, the hills rolling away on either hand in easy undulations. The Kotal is marked on our maps as 9,000 feet high, but it was found by aneroid measurements to be only 8,300. The road is sufficiently broad to allow of four horsemen riding abreast, and is in very good order. For about a mile after the Kotal is crossed there is a gradual descent and the hills close in; but they soon recede, and one enters upon an open plain, basin-shaped, in which is a line of karez furnishing water for a few score acres of cultivation. The road crosses the plain, and goes in nearly a straight line up a second low Kotal, from the top of which the Ghazni plain is overlooked. The villages of Kila Hindu and Khodobad are seen on the left; Roza is directly in front; while in the distance, over a mass of vegetation, rises the Ghazni citadel, the town itself not being visible. The Sher-i-Dahan could scarcely be held against any large force, as it can be turned on either hand, all the hills being accessible to infantry and mountain guns. There are no positions such as can be held by a few hundred men, as in the Khyber, Shutargardan, and Jugdulluck Passes; only sloping sides of hills, many of which horsemen can ride up. These hills are as bare and barren as Afghan hills generally are, not a tree being seen for miles.
It was, therefore, a great relief to enter upon the fertile country about Ghazni itself. At this season of the year the crops of Indian-corn and lucerne grass cover the fields with greenness, while the walled orchards surround the villages with belts of foliage, promising shade and coolness most grateful to wearied men. Vineyards also abound, the ground being rich and water plentiful, and delicious grapes are retailed at prices lower than in Cabul itself. A donkey load made up of two large baskets, each weighing 40lbs. or 50lbs., cost us only three rupees when our advanced guard was at Roza, though prices rose enormously as the day wore on. The troops passed by a narrow lane through Roza, the outskirts of which are a mass of vineyards, while the village itself boasts of several high, well-built houses as well as of the tomb of Mahmood of Ghazni. A running stream of pure water pours through the village and crosses the road near the gate, and about this some hundred men were gathered to watch our army file past. Some of us turned into Roza, and made our way to Mahmood’s tomb, to which we were directed with every show of eagerness. It stands in a walled garden, and there is a rude building about it which probably serves as a mosque. In the garden are richly-carved stone gargoyles and images resembling the Assyrian bull, probably the spoil brought by Mahmood to his capital when returning from some of his successful expeditions. The tomb itself is still well preserved, the marble being beautifully polished and kept clear of even a speck of dirt or dust. In place of the gates of Somnath, which Nott carried back to India nearly forty years ago, are richly-carved doors of a wood made to resemble sandal wood, while hundreds of horseshoes and other tokens are nailed on the lintel. The tiger-skin mentioned by Vigne as being the largest he had ever seen, still hangs on the wall just outside the gate. Bits of rich carving and elaborate inscriptions can still be traced on the walls of the room built about the tomb; but there is an air of decay about everything except the marble slabs of the tomb itself. These are about 8 feet long by 2 in breadth, and are raised some 2 feet above the cracked stone flooring. The Kufic inscriptions are still very well preserved. Particoloured banners are stretched across the roof to prevent dust falling from above, and a janitor sits stolidly at the entrance to see that the tomb is not desecrated. The remains of the King who invaded India eleven times rest peacefully enough in the picturesque village overlooked by the Ghazni citadel, but glory has departed from the neighbouring city, once the capital of a most powerful kingdom.
Ghazni is situated at the foot of a long undulating spur which runs down from the west of the Sher-i-Dahan Pass and gradually loses itself in the plain. Two minars—high tapering pillars, said to have been built ages ago by Mahmood—mark the road leading from Roza to the Cabul Gate, with which Durand’s name is inseparably connected; and in the shade of these pillars Sir Frederick Roberts and his Staff halted, while Major Hastings, Chief Political Officer, rode to the citadel to bring in Abdul Reschid, who is nominally acting as Governor of the city in these troublous times. That worthy presently appeared with a score of mounted retainers, all more or less ragged and disreputable, and the General rode on to visit the Bala Hissar and the city itself. From a military point of view the citadel is badly placed, as a knoll on the spur of the hill commands the building at a distance of only 800 yards. Artillery on this knoll could make the fortress quite untenable, while guns could scarcely be worked on the walls in the face of rifle-fire from breech-loaders. But the walls are by no means in the state of ruin reported by Sir Donald Stewart’s force. There are certainly two breaches on the south-western side, but they could be easily repaired, and the walls are so thick and high that to send a storming party against them would involve heavy loss of life, and success would be very problematical if the garrison were at all resolute in defence. The moat is nearly dry, but an irrigation channel runs alongside, from which the water could be diverted. A low wall, 2 feet high, pierced for musketry, and with small flanking bastions on the escarp 8 or 10 yards above the moat, is in utter ruin; but of the main walls above, the parapet only is fallen away, the roadway along the top being still practicable for men lining it. An engineer officer gave it as his opinion that the Cabul Bala Hissar was really in very little better repair, when we entered it last October, than is that of Ghazni now. The approach to the Cabul Gate is by a road over the moat, but the gateway itself is hidden from view, as two flanking walls, 38 feet high and 20 yards in length, stretch out in nearly semicircular shape. Between these one can only see a few yards in advance, until a sharp turn shows the gateway right in front. There is nothing distinctive in its appearance; it is of the pattern common in all Afghan forts: two high wooden doors opening inwards, of great thickness and studded with iron bolts. The masonry on either side and above it is blotched and scarred by time, but is still fairly substantial. A drinking fountain is on the left, the water being carried into the city by a channel from the hill above. The immediate approach from outside is rather steep, but is broad enough to admit a regiment marching up in fours. A crowd of curious citizens blocked the gateway, but they readily gave place as we rode in. Immediately within the gate is an open space some 50 yards square, and rising in front on a mound 100 feet high is the citadel. Two well-worn roads lead up to it at an angle sufficient to make riding up rather difficult. It was down these that a swarm of swordsmen rushed and cut up our leading companies when Nott stormed the place. Two old field-guns, 6-pounders, were standing on the left, mounted on carriages of very recent make, while a mud building with barricaded doors was said to be the “magazine,” and to contain two more guns and some ammunition. The interior approaches to the walls were in bad repair; but there were pathways along them, and plenty of materials in the shape of sun-dried mud and debris to build a new parapet.