On service with Lord Lake, it is said that frequently neither officers nor men got any breakfast at all, but broke their fast at sunset; similar privations no doubt often occurred in the Peninsula; but this is very undesirable when it can be obviated, for especially in hot countries, European soldiers require more nourishment than in colder climates.
Samana contains a large brick-built fort; it appears at one time to have been very strong, but is now falling to decay. There are many of these forts, and their origin is long anterior to 1809, when the British obtained possession of the protected Sikh states. They were built by Runjeet Singh, when he was lord and master of the country on the left bank of the Sutlej, governing, in fact, the whole district between the Jumna and the Sutlej. At that time he fortified all the towns and villages, to defend not only the inhabitants against the attacks of their neighbours, but also to prevent the cattle sheltered under the walls, from being carried off by marauders.
Before proceeding further on our route, we will take a brief survey of the territory of the Sikhs, and of the history of the singular race whom we were marching to encounter.
The Punjaub, or country of five waters, from punj, "five," and āb, "water," forms the northern portion of the plain of the Indus. It covers an area of 6,000 geographical miles, and extends from the lower ranges of the Himalaya mountains to the confluence of the Chenāb with the Indus. The four streams or arms of the Indus which rise in the Himalayas, namely, the Jelum, the Chenāb, the Rāvee and the Sutlej, intersect the country, and, with the Indus, divide it into four Doabs or Provinces.
The first Doab ("country between two rivers"), lying between the Indus and the Jelum, is 147 miles in breadth; this Doab is intersected with defiles and mountain chains, and covered with thickets. It is the worst cultivated, the most barren and thinly peopled of all the Doabs.
The second Doab is formed by the rivers Jelum and Chenāb. At its narrowest breadth it is forty-six miles across; this country is flat, except the low range of hills terminating the beds of rock salt that run through the Jelum. It is capable of very improved cultivation.
The third Doab lies between the Chenāb and the Rāvee. This Doab might with the greatest ease be converted into a most fertile country, were the land irrigated by the mountain streams, which could be conveyed in artificial canals. It is seventy-six miles in breadth at its widest part.
The fourth Doab is considerably the smallest, being only forty-four miles in breadth. It, however, comprises some of the most important cities, namely, Lahore, Umritsur and Kussoor. It lies between the Rāvee and the Sutlej.
Besides this fine country, the rule of the Sikhs at this time extended over the rich Province of Mooltan, on the right bank of the Indus. The territory under the sway of the Maharajah might be estimated at 8,000 geographical square miles, with a population of about 5,000,000 inhabitants, and an annual revenue of between £2,000,000 and £3,000,000 sterling.