found in garrison at
Ghuznee on our return, and whom we left after us, appeared to be quite
as well reconciled to their quarters as we were at Cabul, although the
two places appeared to me vastly different in point of health and
comfort. The majority of the inhabitants regarded the troops with a sort
of sullen indifference, but the trading classes seemed civil enough. The
quantities of fish and game with which the neighbourhood abounded,
afforded the officers a ready means of dissipating their time, and we
would have been well content to have remained here. Orders were however
given that we should pursue our route, and we left Ghuznee on the 25th
of September, after a stay of only two or three days.

Instead of diverging to the right towards Candahar, we took the direct
route to Quettah, over the Ghiljie hills. The weather had become
intensely cold, and the rivers and streams were covered with ice,
several inches in thickness. The Rev. Mr. Pigot, our chaplain, happened
to be crossing one of them on a pony, when the ice gave way with his
weight, and the worthy clergyman was immersed in the water. The stream
was not, however, so deep as to occasion any alarm for his safety, and
he was speedily rescued from his embarrasment, with no other
inconvenience than being kept shivering several hours in his wet
clothes, his baggage being at a considerable distance in advance. The
rascally native who preceded us as guide grinned maliciously, and told
him that if he had not forgotten to say his prayers setting out the
accident would not have happened.

On encamping, at the close of the first day's march, from Ghuznee, some
soldiers belonging to the 17th Infantry and Queen's Royals, went out in
search of water, and met with a draw well, which proved to be dry. One
of them descended in order to examine it more closely, and an
exclamation of horror escaped him as he reached the bottom. On his
companions enquiring the occasion of it, they learned that he had fallen
upon several skeletons, the identity of which with some soldiers we had
lost on the route upwards was placed beyond doubt by fragments of
military clothing and regimental buttons which lay scattered about.
Singular to relate, a lark had built its nest in one of the skulls, and
was found innocently reposing with its young in this curious receptacle.

The annoyances to which we had been subjected during our route upwards,
from the thieving system of warfare pursued by the Aff