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CAMPAIGN
OF
THE INDUS.

CAMPAIGN

OF

THE INDUS:

IN

A SERIES OF LETTERS FROM AN OFFICER OF THE
BOMBAY DIVISION.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION,

BY

A. H. HOLDSWORTH, ESQ.

1840.

INTRODUCTION.

The circumstance of an English army penetrating into Central Asia,through countries which had not been traversed by European troops sinceAlexander the Great led his victorious army from the Hellespont to theJaxartes and Indus, is so strong a feature in our military history, thatI have determined, at the suggestion of my friends, to print thoseletters received from my son which detail any of the events of thecampaign. As he was actively engaged with the Bombay division, hisnarrative may be relied upon so far as he had an opportunity ofwitnessing its operations; and it being my intention to have only a fewcopies printed, to give to those friends who may take an interest in hisletters, I need not apologize for the familiar manner in which they arewritten, as they were intended by him only for his own family, withoutan idea of their being printed. A history, however, may be collectedfrom them most honourable to the British soldiers, both Europeans andnatives of India. They shew the patience with which, for more thantwelve months, the soldiers bore all their deprivations and fatiguingmarches through countries until then unknown to them, whether movingthrough arid sands or rocky passes, under a burning sun; or overdesolate mountains, amidst the most severe frosts, with scarcely aninterval of repose. Neither was their gallantry less conspicuous thantheir patience, when they had the good fortune to find an enemy whoventured to face them. Although the circumstances which his lettersdetail might well deserve a better historian than my son, yet are theyof that high and honourable character, that they cannot lose any part oftheir value by his familiar manner of narrating them.

When I decided upon printing these letters, it became a matter ofinterest to place before the reader a short account of the countries inwhich the operations of the army were conducted, as well as of thenative rulers who took part in, or were the cause of them; in order thatthe letters might be more clearly understood by those friends who havenot felt sufficiently interested in the history of those countries tomake any inquiries about them. But, before I do so, I shall draw theattention of the reader to the army of Alexander, to which I have beforealluded.

Without entering into the causes which led to his extraordinaryconquests, predicted by Daniel as the means ordained of God to overthrowthe Persian empire, then under the government of Darius, certain it is