ch is
little better than a desert, and the weather cruelly hot. I remember
very little of what occurred after I was on the sick-list, except that
on arriving at our ground at one place, after a march of eighteen miles,
we found that the natives had destroyed the well which was to have
supplied us with water,--pleasant news for a man laid up with fever; in
consequence of which they made a good profit by bringing it in for sale.
About as much as would fill two moderate-sized pitchers was sold for
half a rupee, about 14d. My European servant came and begged to be
allowed to drink the water in my basin with which I had just washed
myself, and before I could say anything, drank down the whole of it with
a zest as if it had been champagne.

We reached Candahar on the 4th, and on the 8th his Majesty Shah
Shooja-ool-Moolk was crowned, after which there was a review of all the
troops that were here by his Majesty, a grand "tomasha;" but such, I am
told, was the unpopularity of the Shah that out of the whole population
of Candahar very few persons were looking on, though the Easterns are
devoted sight-hunters. On the -- he held a levee, where every officer
had the honour of making his leg to his Majesty. I was not present at
either of these grand occasions, being at the time still on the
sick-list. I, however, had a glimpse of his Majesty the other morning as
he was taking his airing. He is a fine-looking man, with a splendid
black beard. I am told that he is a very accomplished man, but an
exceedingly bad ruler. He has written his own life, which is said to be
very interesting: I should think it must be so, as few men have
experienced so many changes of fortune as he has. You will find a very
good description of him, as well as of Cabool and Sinde, in "Burnes'
Travels in Bokhara," the present Sir Alexander Burnes, who is second in
command to Macnaghten, and a great deal with the Shah. I read also an
excellent article on this country &c. in the last December or January
number of "Blackwood's Magazine."

Another horrible murder, somewhat similar to that of Capt. Hand,
occurred here about the middle of last month. Two officers of the 16th
Lancers, Inverarity and Wilmer, went one day on a fishing excursion to a
small river about seven miles from this; several parties had been there
before on pic-nic excursions, as it was much cooler, and there were some
beautiful gardens, with lots of fruit, on the banks of the stream. There
is a