ds. No. 2 Mountain Battery fired 10 common shell
and 94 shrapnel, total, 104 rounds. The two Gatlings fired 150 rounds.

At the tenth round one of the Gatlings jammed, and had to be taken to
pieces. This was the first occasion on which Gatling guns were used in
action. They were not of the present improved make, and, being found
unsatisfactory, were made but little use of.]

[Footnote 4: The troops available for this purpose were: One squadron
9th Lancers, 5th Punjab Cavalry, 12th Bengal Cavalry, and 14th Bengal
Lancers; total, 720 of all ranks.]

[Footnote 5: The guns included four English 18-pounders, one English
8-inch howitzer and two Afghan imitations of this weapon, and
forty-two bronze Mountain guns.]

[Footnote 6: The Asmai heights.]

[Footnote 7: The Deh-i-Mazang gorge.]

* * * * *

CHAPTER LII.
1879

Guiding instructions--Visit to the Bala Hissar--Yakub Khan abdicates
--The Proclamation--Administrative measures
--Explosions in the Bala Hissar

At last I was at Kabul, the place I had heard so much of from my
boy-hood, and had so often wished to see! The city lay beneath me,
with its mud-coloured buildings and its 50,000 inhabitants, covering
a considerable extent of ground. To the south-east corner of the city
appeared the Bala Hissar, picturesquely perched on a saddle just
beneath the Shahr-i-Darwaza heights, along the top of which ran
a fortified wall, enclosing the upper portion of the citadel and
extending to the Deh-i-Mazang gorge.

Kabul was reported to be perfectly quiet, and numbers of traders came
into our camp to dispose of their wares; but I forbade anyone to
enter the city until I had been able to decide upon the best means of
maintaining order amongst a population for the most part extremely
fanatical, treacherous, and vindictive.

So far our success had been complete: all opposition had been
overcome, Kabul was at our mercy, the Amir was in my camp ready to
agree to whatever I might propose, and it had been all done with
extraordinarily little loss to ourselves. Nevertheless, I felt my
difficulties were very far from being at an end--indeed, the part of
my duty still remaining to be accomplished was surrounded with far
greater difficulty, and was a source of much more anxiety to me than
the military task I had undertaken; for, with regard to the latter, I
possessed confidence in myself and my ability to perform it, whereas,
with respect