s. He kept an excellent table along the
route, and an invitation to it, was always regarded as amongst the lucky
chances by which fortune signified her favour. Good living could not
however protect the General against disease, and he fell ill at Candahar
of a malady which is often said to be the result of it. He was carried
from Candahar to Cabul in a palankeen, and took no part whatever in the
events which occurred between those places. His remains were interred in
the Armenian burial ground, outside the walls of the city, and his
effects were publicly sold by auction a few days after. The General had
left Bengal with about eighty camels laden with baggage and necessaries,
of which about five and twenty remained at the time of the sale. His
trunks were filled with quantities of plate, a goodly provision of snuff
and cigars, and such an immense stock of linen that it occupied two days
of the sale. His cooking apparatus was most elaborate and ingenious, and
we could not help wondering at the uses to which the infinite varieties
of small and curious articles of which it was composed were devoted. The
prices at which these effects were sold will appear incredible to the
European reader, but it must be remembered that it was the scarcity, in
fact the almost total impossibility of getting them, that enhanced their
value. The cigars sold at the rate of about two shillings and six pence
each, the snuff at ten shillings an ounce, a few bottles of beer, a
liquor of which no other officer in the army possessed a drop, at thirty
shillings each, and some choice wines at from three to four pounds the
bottle. The other things brought proportionate prices, the shirts
fetching from thirty to forty shillings each. The amount realised at
this sale must have been enormous.

Prince Timour, the eldest son of Shah Soojah, arrived at Cabul early in
September, escorted by the troops of Runjeet Singh. We expected to find
the Sikhs an undisciplined horde of barbarians, but they turned out on
the contrary to be nearly as well organized as ourselves, being
disciplined by French officers, and marching with the same order and
regularity as a European regiment. Each division was headed by an
excellent military band and officered by the same number of grades as
ourselves. The men were in general about the middle height, and not so
muscular or well formed as the Affghans. They are made, however, of the
right material for the soldier, being brave, orderl