ght Cavalry, and two troops of Bombay Horse Artillery, the
whole under the command of Major General Sir Thomas Wiltshire. It would
naturally be supposed that after so long an absence from quarters, we
hailed this intimation with something like pleasure, but such was far
from being the fact. We had rioted in profusion and luxury, and did not
relish the idea of again encountering the privations of the long and
dreary route which lay between us and India. Added to this we had seen
but little of actual fighting, and the promotions had been consequently
few.

Promotion and prize money are the all engrossing subjects of a soldier's
ambition, and this speedy return put an end at once to our long
cherished hopes. We well knew that the restless and turbulent spirit of
the Affghan Chiefs would not permit them to remain long in subjection to
Shah Soojah, and that there would consequently be more work for the
British troops. Regret and envy of our more fortunate comrades were
therefore the predominant feelings which pervaded nearly the whole of
the departing troops.

We left Cabul on the 14th of September, and arrived at Ghuznee, the
scene of our former exploits, after eight days' march, during which
nothing worthy of mention occurred. It is astonishing how soon the
traces of war disappear, and the living gaps caused by its ravages are
filled up. The fortress appeared as perfect in its outline as if the
hand of the destroyer had not recently passed over it, new gates having
been substituted for those which had been damaged, and the breach
immediately above them re-filled with masonry. The inhabitants of the
bazaar had resumed their accustomed occupations, and scolded, and
chaffered, and jested, and laughed, as if they had neither lost
relatives nor friends, nor dabbled through mire freshly reeking with
their blood. Familiarity, they say, breeds contempt and blunts the
feelings, and the Asiatic, before whose eyes such scenes pass almost
daily, thinks of them only as the immutable decrees of fate, which
cannot be shunned, and ought not to be repined at.

The sick and wounded, of whom we had left numbers at Ghuznee, had almost
all died, and were interred in an open space selected for the purpose
outside the walls of the fortress. The last resting-place of our brave
fellows is situated at the foot of one of the adjacent mountains, but
neither stone nor inscription indicates the spot.

The Bengal regiment of Native Infantry, whom we