Читать книгу The Battles of the World or, cyclopedia of battles, sieges, and important military events онлайн

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Our next day led on to Kutta Sang, and of all the roads I had ever seen or traversed, as yet, this was the worst. The route led from hill to hill, the ascents being difficult and stony, and the descents in addition being very dangerous, as a fearful precipice presented itself should you happen to fall. These unwelcome views were many in number, and coupled with the tedious progress of the cattle and baggage, and the difficulty experienced in dragging the guns and loads up these many steep hills, and nothing but a dreary road to travel onward, made the march bad indeed. After the main body reached camp, the rear guard was attacked; a reinforcement was despatched, and a smart skirmish ensued; the Affghans seemed to delight in annoying us, and from their hidden positions most peremptorily carried their plan into effect; we lost few men compared with them, and the whole reached camp about midnight. Still the poor soldier found misery destined for him in every direction. On arriving at a new ground, two regiments had to mount duty on the summits of the hills bordering the route, which had to be ascended after the day’s harassing march, thus forming a second, much more so. The scanty, coarse meal, being nothing more than a quantity of meat and broth made from an allowance of a scarcely lifeless carcass, of the hard-driven, skeletonized bullock, and this of times not prepared before the dead hour of night; and then carried up to the men cold and tasteless. The bread or cake made of coarse, hand-ground flour, full of grit and small straw, half-baked and calculated to produce disease by its use; and ere this was well eaten, the rouse would sound, and the weary instrument of Britain’s safety would be wending his way through the dreary and unknown regions, ’mid almost perpendicular rocks, and perilous tracks. Such was the road of the next day’s march, to Jugdulluk Pass: this is by no means the most difficult one to explore—the sides not being near so high as those already traversed; it had some appearance of fertility, being studded with many small bushes. There were innumerable small caves, or recesses in the rocks, and it was from those dark-dens, forming cover for the enemy, that they succeeded so well in cutting off our unfortunate brethren, whose skeletons here were very numerously strewed about the path, and thus rendered the Pass more horrible than it would have been; for the light shone brighter here than we had it for some time. Nay, so stupendous were the mountains, hemming the ravines we had passed, that it would be often far advanced in the day before the sun would be seen by those beneath.