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ALSO OF THE ROYAL REGIMENT.

BY BRIG.-GENERAL COSMO STEWART, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O.

DURING the summer of 1893, while serving in a mountain battery on the frontier of India, I was informed I had been "selected by His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief in India for Special Duty at Gilgit," and in due course the official announcement appeared in the Gazette of India.'

It is always a matter of selfcongratulation for a youngster to be able to flatter himself that he has been selected by a Commander-in-Chief for any thing! And when that something is described with capital letters in the Gazette' as Special Duty, he may almost be pardoned if for a time he becomes offensive! In those days a Commander-in-Chief was a rara avis, and to receive his approbation, however formally, was a real feather in one's cap. Now there are so many of these high-sounding titles in the British Army that each has become comparatively small fry, and the opinion of one carries little or no weight with another; while he who most nearly approaches to that high dignity has to be called something else in peace time, which means something quite different, for fear of treading on some one else's toes! But I was much too young and unsophisticated to appreciate such technical niceties, and the sweet

taste remained in my mental mouth!

After a march of close on 400 miles from Rawal Pindi via the Khaghan Valley and Chilas over difficult mule-tracks and the high Babusar Pass, I arrived in Gilgit in November, and at once proceeded to join No. 2 Kashmir Imperial Service Mountain Battery in camp some 20 miles out of Gilgit. My principal duty was to act as instructor to the battery in peace time, and in the event of service to act as far as necessary as commandant. It was shortly after the HunzaNagar expedition; the garrison of Gilgit had been largely augmented, and consisted almost entirely of newly-raised Kashmir Imperial Service troops. The country was extraordinarily difficult, lying in the heart of some of the greatest mountains in the world. The only communications consisted of rough rocky tracks, often unfit to ride along even on a hill pony, and which were confined to the main valleys.

These were little more than slits thousands of feet deep, ploughed out in the course of ages by the great glaciers, and the river torrents, which foamed down unfordable to join the mighty Indus. Bridges were conspicuous by their absence, and such as there were had

been constructed by the field was extracted, or the battery, engineers out of telegraph wire on the suspension principle; the hillsides into the valleys were precipitous for miles at a stretch; practically no rain or snow fell in the main valleys, which were arid and barren, except where at long intervals water had been led on to the general waste by means of small irrigation channels from side nullahs, and then little oases would bloom forth in spring, rich in apricot blossom and verdant green.

Cultivation was very scanty. Local resources could contribute little or nothing towards the needs of the troops, and practically all supplies had to be transported painfully on pack animals or coolies for more than 250 miles over high passes from Bandipore, the base in Kashmir. This transport ate up everything in the nature of fodder like a cloud of locusts along the road, and often the crops of the hapless villagers as well.

It followed that the mountain battery at Gilgit had a strenuous time. When I arrived, it spent the greater part of its time on the move from one village to another within a radius of about 20 miles of Gilgit in pursuit of the fodder in each, which consisted chiefly of the stubble left in the fields, an almost negligible quantity. The Kashmir supply officials were not tender-hearted, and I used to wonder who had the worst time, the villagers from whom the last blade of fodder

who were informed that the
grazing on the wheat stubble
was all that could be desired,
and was only supplemented
(to a small degree!) out of the
fulness of heart of the director
of supplies! It was little use
the commandant representing
that the village sheep and goats
had had the first look in at the
grazing before the battery ar-
rived, and that his mules were
ready to eat twigs, blankets,
straps, or anything they could
lay their teeth into !
required all day to pick up
anything; while at the same
time rations for men and grain
for animals had to be fetched
for 20 miles over the vile roads
from Gilgit with only half the
usual transport establishment
allowed to a battery in India.
Then there were the everlast-
ing moves from one place to
another, and all this had to
take place before any training
as such could be carried out.

They

I received a cordial welcome from the battery, all ranks turning out to see what manner of person was their new Sahib. The commandant met me with, "The whole battery is happy, Sahib, now that you have arrived, because they feel they have at last got their own Sahib to teach them! "

A first inspection was not comforting. The battery had only come up to Gilgit the summer before, a few months after being raised. I knew that from one cause or another it had scarcely ever had a British officer present with it for in

structional purposes, and I had not expected much; but it was immediately apparent that as a battery it was in its present state quite unfit for service.

It was equipped with four 7-pounder guns of 200 lb. weight, a full establishment of very good ordnance mules, and baggage transport for half the battery only, in all about 150 men, 80 ordnance and 25 baggage animals. The personnel of one section (half the battery) were the very best of Dogras, men slow in the uptake, but once taught steady and reliable, very amenable to discipline, all hardy hillmen of good physique, particular about their caste, simple and lovable.

The other section were Muhammadans, recruited chiefly also from the hills round Jummoo, with a sprinkling of men of Pat han extraction. The Jummoo Muhammadans were also of the Rajput Dogra race, descendants of men who had been forcibly converted to Islam as fire and sword were carried forwards and backwards through the land by the fanatical tribesmen from Kabul and Ghazni on their devastating raids. These men had the same characteristics as their comrades of the Dogra section. It is a curious thing that, although Muhammadans and Hindus in India hate each other very cordially, rather on the same principle that the bigoted black Protestant of Ulster and the "Roman" of the country with the unin

telligible and unpronounceable name that used to be Ireland hate each other, the Hindu State of Jummoo and Kashmir never seemed to have difficulty in securing Muhammadan servants, who served them well. (Perhaps it would be so in Ireland also if they would but try ?) But those of the locally inferior faith never quite thought they got fair dues, and there was continual intrigue of a petty nature going on beneath the surface.

I joined No. 2 Kashmir Battery at a little village called Sharot, 20 miles out of Gilgit towards Chitral, in the middle of November while one of their periodical moves was still taking place. All animals without exception were still engaged in fetching supplies, tents, stores, &c., which had been left 20 miles the other side of Gilgit. The cold was severe, the weather cloudy, and even if fine we only saw the sun for two or three hours daily in the narrow valley. The men had a bad time of it lying out in the open until their tents came up; the ration of firewood was meagre, and the cold soon became bitter at night, with a wind fit to cut one in two, which whistled down from the snows, and commenced to blow almost exactly at 1 A.M.

As I said, a first inspection was not comforting. Half the mules had sore backs, most of them very bad; officers and were keen as mustard, and therein lay my hope. But the personnel was woefully de

men

ficient of even elementary train- Hayes' excellent books. All ing as gunners, and the battery animals going on and coming entirely deficient of training as off transport fatigues would a unit. The saddlery had never parade for my inspection, and been properly fitted, which is I would fit all saddles; then a first necessity in a mountain if men brought in sore backs battery, where the loads are they must be punished if there considerable, and some of them was no obvious cause. I would very awkward and top-heavy. write out the elementary gun The men were often short of drill by numbers in Hindustani rations, insufficiently clothed, with the aid of the battery and needed taking care of; the clerk; and the commandant animals out of condition and must then see to it that the neglected. It was difficult to necessary copies were made, see how one was ever going to and that all officers and men get things right with the con- learnt it by heart and became stant fatigues. proficient.

After having a thorough look round, I had a pow-wow with the commandant, and represented to him that if, as I somehow always imagined would be the case, trouble arose in Chitral, the battery in its then state was quite unfit for service. Something drastic was evidently necessary, and I said I proposed to report the battery unfit for service on account of sore backs and lack of training, which I attributed to men and mules being so constantly employed on transport work and getting no opportunity to learn their own work. Further, that I would take over and personally attend to the animal sick lines, as the veterinary assistant was of little use, his highest qualification consisting in having "failed" in his examination as such at the veterinary college in Lahore, and I felt more competent with my training in a field battery and with the aid of Fitzwygram's and

He agreed at once, as no one could have been keener to improve his show. So I wrote into Gilgit, and said I must decline to be responsible for the efficiency of the battery unless some arrangement were come to with the supply officials by which the battery would remain for at least four months of the winter in one place, and be so rationed, &c., that none but the transport establishment were employed on the ceaseless fatigues for this purpose. Otherwise, I added, I requested I might be relieved straight away of a duty I felt I could not perform usefully. The British Agent at the time was a fine old fighting soldier of the Panjab Frontier Force, and my bomb-shell, which I followed up by a visit to explain matters, was very kindly received. After much trouble I was given the required undertaking, and I returned to the battery rejoicing; the first essential condition had been

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gained, and my own resignation had not been accepted. The battery received the news with equal joy, and my "izzat was at once established, as having won for them a moral victory. This was increased when I got a grant for them of about six hundred rupees, as compensation for clothing worn out on fatigues.

We then set to work in earnest, and work it was from dawn till after dark! The keenness shown by all ranks was wonderful. The standing gun drill was written out and copied, and they drilled for hours, and simply never stopped until I expressed my satisfaction and told them they were becoming smart. Over 40 mules were turned into the sick lines, and I attended to them all twice daily, and got the "failed" veterinary assistant as keen as anybody. I taught officers and non-commissioned officers and saddlers how to fit pack-saddles, and sat down and worked with the latter and showed them how to work the double-cross stitch, and we soon got the saddles right. When it was too dark to see, we all sat down in the gun park, and the most primitive classes were held and the most primitive questions asked. Every animal coming off fatigues was inspected by the commandant and myself, and those galled turned straight into the sick lines. We built walls round the men's tents, and generally made them more comfortable.

We got to know each other wonderfully quick, and I won their confidence and their affection, and they showed their gratitude in various small ways. The commandant took to sending me half a sheep, which in Gilgit was an offering fit for the gods; and I was serenaded in the evening by the trumpeters playing all manner of weird calls which I had never heard, some of them very pretty. These were invariably prefaced by the "General Salute" for a general officer, which tickled me, and which I hoped showed what they thought I ought to be! I had to put my foot down over the half sheep. I did not know how they were come by, or whether the wretched villagers had ever been paid for them. It took quite a lot of explaining and some tact to impress the fact that I could take no gifts other than flowers or fruit, although I reserved to myself the right of presenting sheep or goats to the officers or men myself on great occasions.

Various amusing incidents occurred. Sore backs, though much less frequent, still continued to appear after every trip into Gilgit. I told the commandant the men must be riding during the long marches on the tops of the saddles on top of their loads, which he would never admit, as he had ordered that this should not be done. So one day I took him out several miles to meet a party coming back from Gilgit.

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