e great difficulties met with in
crossing this inhospitable plain, and the losses among the baggage
animals were great; but the labors up to this point were as
nothing, to those which had to be undergone on the way up the Bolan
Pass.

This pass--whose ascent occupies three days--is in fact the mere
bed of a stream, covered deeply with boulders and stones of all
sizes, in which the baggage and artillery horses sank fetlock deep.
The difficulties encountered were enormous, and vast numbers of
camels, horses, and bullocks died by the way. Even with a double
complement of horses, it was almost impossible to drag the guns up
the deep, shingly pass; and great delays were experienced, before
the force intended for operations against Candahar were assembled,
at Quettah. So far, the advance had taken place through British
territory, as Quettah has long been occupied by us.

When the advance began, it was rapid. No opposition was experienced
by the way, until the column arrived within a few hours' march of
Candahar; and then the enemy's attack was feeble, and easily
repulsed. On the 9th of January, General Stewart entered the city.

Candahar, though not the capital, is the chief town of Afghanistan.
It stands in a slightly undulating plain; and was, at one time, a
city of great importance and wealth. Its position is the most
important in Afghanistan. It bars the road to an enemy advancing
from the north, through Herat; and threatens the flank and rear of
one advancing against India, through Cabul. The country around is
extremely fertile and, were irrigation properly used, and a railway
constructed to India, Candahar and the surrounding country would
again become one of the gardens of the world.

The authorities of the city made their submission, as the column
approached it, and the army settled down to quiet occupation;
broken only by isolated attacks, upon individual soldiers, by
fanatical Ghazis. When peace was concluded, one of the conditions
distinctly insisted upon by the British general, and agreed to by
the Ameer, was that Candahar should remain in our possession. The
alleged advantage thus gained, and the territory thus acquired,
were afterwards abandoned by the British government succeeding that
which had so vigorously carried out the war.

The occupation of Candahar by the British had been insisted on, at
first, on the ground that, if Russia should make an advance against
India, the British nation would have ampl