orchards have before excited the
admiration of the traveller. But we had still some marches to get over
before reaching the territories of the refractory chiefs, and it
was not till the 29th that we came to Toottum Durrah, or valley of
mulberries. Here we found the enemy posted in force, but it was merely
an affair of detachments, two companies of the 13th and two of the
37th being ordered to make a detour to the right and left, so as to
threaten the enemy's flanks. The main column closing up continued to
advance; the enemy did not make a very determined resistance, yet a
chance shot killed poor Edward Conolly, brother to the victim of the
ruffian king of Bokhara. His--poor fellow!--was a soldier's death;
though we deplore his loss, we know that he died in honorable warfare;
but we have no such consolation for the fate of his poor brother, and
it is with difficulty that his indignant countrymen can refrain from
imprecating the vengeance of God upon the cowardly destroyer of so
much talent and virtue.

The enemy made no further stand this day, and we proceeded about
fifteen miles down the valley to Julghur, destroying before our
departure the mud forts of Toottum Durrah. At Julghur the enemy shewed
more resistance; they trusted in the strength of their fort, and we
perhaps too much to its weakness. The result was, that a wing of the
13th, not more than one hundred and twenty strong, suffered a loss
of fourteen men killed and seventeen wounded, and the enemy were
eventually shelled out by the batteries under the direction of Capt.
Abbott.

The following morning we buried our gallant companions, amongst them
our respected serjeant-major (Airey), in one deep grave; but a report
was current, that shortly after our departure, the bodies had been
disinterred and exposed in front of the grave, that every Affgh[=a]n
might witness and exult in the disgrace to which they had subjected
the corpses of the Feringhis.

This is but a single instance of the hatred which actuated our enemy,
and when we consider the exasperating effects of these cowardly
outrages on the minds of the soldiery, we should the more admire the
generosity and clemency of the British in the hour of victory. I
am aware that ill-informed people have accused our armies in
Affghanist[=a]n, especially after the advance of General Pollock's
force, of many acts of cruelty to the natives, but I can emphatically
deny the justice of the accusation. Some few instances