se in Cabul should
be razed to the ground. At length, on the 20th of August, General
Pollock advanced from Jellalabad. The first conflict with the enemy
took place at Mammoo Khail, about two miles from Gundamuck, where about
12,000 troops under the command of the chiefs Hadji Ali and Kyrrollah
Khan were defeated. The two chiefs retreated towards Cabul, and General
Pollock advanced thither on the 7th of September. On the 8th he reached
the Soorkah, a small river, from which he had to traverse the formidable
pass in order to arrive at Jugdulluck, which is about twenty miles
distant. An obstinate opposition was made to his progress from the
heights by which this pass is surrounded; but it was overcome by the
prowess of the British forces, and the enemy took refuge in flight.
Their onward march still lay through a difficult country; but General
Pollock did not again encounter the enemy until he arrived at the valley
of Tezeen. Here the pass was occupied by Akbar Khan himself; and while
the British troops were halting to allow the cattle to recover from the
effects of the fatigue of their forced march, they were attacked by the
Affghans, though without success. A general action took place on the
13th of September, which General Pollock has thus described:--"The
valley of Tezeen, where we were encamped, is completely encircled by
lofty hills; and on the morning of the 13th it was perceived that the
Affghans had occupied in great force every height not already occupied
by our troops. I commenced my march towards the mouth of the Tezeen
Pass, where I had left two guns, two squadrons of her majesty's third
dragoons, a party of first light cavalry, and the third irregular
cavalry. The enemy's horse appeared in the valley, with the intention
of falling upon the baggage; but the dragoons and native cavalry made a
most brilliant charge, and with such effect that the whole body of the
enemy's force was completely routed, and a number of them cut up.
The Pass of Tezeen affords great advantages to an enemy occupying the
heights; and on the present occasion Mahomed Akbar neglected nothing to
render its natural difficulties as formidable as numbers could make
it. Our troops mounted the heights, and the Affghans, contrary to their
general custom, advanced to meet them, and a desperate struggle ensued;
indeed their defence was so obstinate that the British bayonet, in many
instances, alone decided the contest. The light company of her majest