merically strong
enough for the very difficult task before it--in the first instance,
the occupation of the Kuram valley and the expulsion of all Afghan
garrisons south of the Shutargardan Pass, and in the second, as
opportunity might offer, the pushing my reconnaissances into the Khost
valley, and, if military considerations would admit, the dislodging
the Amir's administration from that tract of country, so as to prevent
the Kabul Government drawing supplies from it. Finally, I was directed
to explore the roads leading to the unknown region beyond Khost.

The Shutargardan was not less than 180 miles from Kohat, the garrison
of which station would, on my departure, be reduced to a minimum, and
Rawal Pindi, the nearest place from which aid could be procured, was
130 miles still further off, separated from Kohat by an execrable road
and the swiftly-flowing river Indus, crossed by a precarious bridge of
boats. It had to be taken into account also that the various Afridi
tribes were watching their opportunity, and at the first favourable
moment, in common with the tribesmen nearer Kuram, they might be
expected to take advantage of our weakness and attack our convoys and
the small posts which had necessarily to be established along our line
of communication.

The attitude of the Mahomedan sepoys, of whom there were large numbers
in four out of my six Native Infantry regiments, was also a cause of
considerable anxiety; for I was aware that they were not altogether
happy at the prospect of taking part in a war against their
co-religionist, the Ruler of Afghanistan, and that the mullas were
already urging them to desert our cause.

Furthermore, I discovered that my only British Infantry Regiment, the
2nd Battalion of the 8th Foot, was sickly to a degree, and therefore
in an unserviceable condition. It was largely composed of quite
young, unacclimatized soldiers, peculiarly susceptible to fever--that
terrible scourge which fills the hospitals of our Punjab stations in
the autumn of each year. I rode out to meet the battalion on its way
into Kohat, and was horrified to see the long line of doolies and
ambulance-carts by which it was accompanied.

The inefficient state of the transport added to my anxieties.
Notwithstanding the difficulties experienced in former campaigns from
the same cause, the Government had neglected to take any steps for the
organization of a proper transport service while we were at peace;
consequently