ave these rations cooked and ready for the men as soon as they marched
in; so that on arriving at the ground we piled arms and formed a curious
sort of pic-nic in the middle of the desert. We halted here about an
hour, and lucky it was that the men got the means of recruiting their
strength in this manner, as the latter part of the march was a terrible
teaser. We marched off from this place about twelve. Although we had
found the morning pleasant enough, with a fine bracing breeze, yet in
the afternoon, about half an hour after starting, the wind went down,
and the sun shone out terribly; the sand in some parts was half knee
deep, and although there was no breeze to blow it in our faces, yet it
rose from the trampling of so many feet in successive dense columns, and
completely enveloped the whole brigade, almost blinding the men, so that
they could hardly see the man before them, and getting into their noses
and mouths so as nearly to suffocate them; however, they bore it
manfully, and marched straight through it like Britons. Our encampment
that night was at a place called Golam Shah, on the Buggaur, one of the
branch streams of the Indus. We found that the second brigade had only
left it the same morning, having been obliged to halt there the
preceding day; and General Willshire found a letter from Sir John Keane,
advising a halt there for the following day, which we accordingly did,
and a precious comfortable day we had. I got off my pony at the close of
this day's march with a dreadful headache, and had to wait for an hour
till Halket's tent and kit, with whom I am doubling up, arrived. His
servants brought me the delightful intelligence that my camel man had
bolted with his camels at our last encampment, and that my things were
all left there on the ground, with my servant, and that it was quite
uncertain when they would be up; in fact, it seemed exceedingly doubtful
whether they would arrive at all. However, they did come in at last,
but very late, on three ponies, two bullocks, and one donkey, which were
the only things my boy could get, and for which I had to pay
considerably. I turned in as soon as I could; and the next day, which
was a most wretched one, I was very unwell. This place, Golam Shah,
must, I think, be one of the most wretched places in the whole world,
situated as it is in the heart of a desert, with only one
recommendation,--viz., the river Buggaur, the water of which is
excessively sweet and whole