I never had any further cause of complaint in this respect, and never did I again see the men fall in without first halting at attention as they entered the gun park and saluting their guns. I also made a point of saluting the battery when I came on parade myself, and this they all noticed; I was to them the unquestioned authority, and as such their high priest in such matters. They came to look on them as something sacred.

This incident had an interesting sequel during the Chitral Expedition in 1895. No. 1 Battery had by then relieved No. 2 Battery, but having only been raised and sent to Gilgit in 1894, it was in an almost precisely similar state on arrival, and the same principles were inculcated.

The Dogra section of No. 1 Battery came into action for the first time at Chakalwat against the enemy. As it was on service and the situation critical, I had taken taken command, and had issued orders as to target and other firing instructions. I was particularly careful not to hustle the men the first time, as there were bullets flying about, and the infantry alongside had had a few casualties. After allowing ample time for loading, laying, &c., of the guns, I ordered the first gun to fire, and put up my glasses to observe the fall of the shell.

a pause I looked round to see what was wrong. The gunners of the detachment were all most punctiliously salaaming to the gun before firing their first round in action, and not only to the gun, but also to the first shell to go off, and to the first cartridge to expedite it on its way, and to the first fuze so that it might burst it correctly! All came in for this token of respect, each gunner touching each of these important accessories with his right hand, and then touching his forehead.

I said nothing till the first round from each gun had been loosed off, and then told them it was only desirable to salaam to the first round, and when the action was over addressed them, and told them they had done quite well, but that they had been too slow in letting off the first rounds.

The commandant replied,

Beshak, Sahib; but the Sahib taught us to salaam to the guns when we fell in on parade. This was the first time we had ever fought our guns in action, and every man thought he was surely going to be killed. The guns are now our father and our mother, and every man wished to perform his salaam to the first round, that all might be well with it, and that it would hit and destroy as desired. This thing will now be correct in the future." And so it was. After that first day at Sharot the men fairly worshipped their guns.

Indeed, they actually did so, both Hindus and Muhammadans. The following summer, when we were up in our summer grazing camp and the relief of the batteries had taken place, the commandant came to have a chat about matters generally one day, as was his custom. He talked away for some time, and knowing him very well, I realised he had something on his mind which he wanted to say, and did not quite like to begin. 'Commandant Sahib,"

I said eventually, "I am sure there is something you would like to talk about. What is it?"

"Yes, Sahib," he replied, "there is. The battery has considered the matter, and they wish to put one day in the year aside, on which they desire to do 'pooja' (i.e., worship) to the guns, and observe as a festival. As we are with the Sahib, we do not know what he would think of it, as we know he has not the same ideas on these matters of worship as we have, and we wish to know if he would approve of it."

I assured him at once. "I quite agree, Commandant Sahib; it is an excellent thing that the young men should honour and do pooja to their guns. By all means settle the day you would like, and do so.'

The day was settled, and I asked him in what manner it would be celebrated. "Early in the morning, Sahib," he replied, "the battery will attend stables as usual. Mules will then be led out to water in

the river, and turned out to graze on the mergs. All the men will then go out on the hillsides and gather flowers (which grew luxuriantly, the summer camp being up at an elevation of some 9000 feet). They will return by noon and place the flowers in the gun park, and then they will all go down to the river and wash themselves and their clothes and dry them. The men of each gun will then weave their flowers into garlands, which will be hung on the guns. At 3 P.M. worship will be done in the gun park, the Grunthi (Hindu priest) conducting that of the Hindus and the Mullah that for the Muhammadans. The rest of the day will be observed as a holiday, and in the evening, after the mules have returned from the merg and have been watered and piquetted and fed, there will be a 'burra khana' (i.e., feast), for which we will provide goats to be eaten, and all will be very happy. Plenty of firewood will have been collected, and there will be a big camp fire in front of the gun park, where the evening meal will be taken. After every one has well eaten, there will be singing and dancing round the fire, and all will be very merry. If the Sahib approves, First and Last Post (lights out) will not be sounded until late."

"I think it is all very excellent, Commandant Sahib," I said, "but are not half of the men Muhammadans? Will

ous of doing pooja to the guns And will not the Dogras object to the Muhammadans being present in the same place while they pray and eat their food, and perhaps vice versa?"

"No, Sahib, that is all arranged. All will wish to pray, each after the manner of his own faith. In this thing we are all as one, for are we not all one battery? And did not the Sahib himself instruct us that we should all salute the guns when we fell in, whether we be Hindus or Muhammadans? I will be present with the Hindus, and Sher Khan, the Muhammadan Jemadar (i.e., subaltern officer) will be present with the Muhammadans. We are all really of one stock also, the Dogra Rajputs, and we are happy together, even if some are Muhammadans. The Muhammadans will be greatly offended if they are not also permitted to conduct their own pooja after their own manner, and without this being so, it would not be possible to set apart this day at all for this purpose.'

"I am very pleased, Commandant Sahib, to hear what you say. And I shall be still more pleased if I may be allowed, after the prayers and the feast are over, to come with you and see it all, for I also am anxious to do honour to the guns on this day. And I will be delighted if you will issue an extra ration of tea and gur (i.e., mollasses or unrefined sugar) for all, and let

VOL. CCXX.-NO. MCCCXXX.

that I may pay for them."

face

The old gentleman's fairly beamed, and he said, "Bahut achcha (very good), Sahib; the battery will be very pleased."

We chatted for some time, and I could see the commandant had still something on his mind that he wanted to say before he left, so I again asked him what it was.

"Yes, Sahib; it is this. In our minds there is no honour equal to that which the guns confer themselves when they open their mouths and speak ; we wish to finish this day by firing a salute out of the guns in honour of the guns themselves. But here again we do not know whether the Sahib will approve, and we know the ammunition is the property of the Sirkar, and for this the Sahib keeps the account."

Sahib, also fire the salute in honour of the guns. How many guns will you fire?"

"That, Sahib, we do not know, and we are in difficulty over it. If we were down in Jummoo, where we fire twentyone guns as a salaam for the Maharajah Sahib, we consider we should fire nineteen in honour of the guns themselves. But up here in Gilgit we do not know how many we should fire. What does the Sahib think?"

The point was a knotty one, and important in the eyes of the native; one gun too few or too many might give rise

G

to much comment. But brilliant idea struck me.

66

a

'How many guns do you fire in the Gilgit Agency as a salaam for the British Agent?

"Thirteen, Sahib."

"Then I think, Commandant Sahib, it would be fit and proper to fire twelve in honour of the guns themselves."

The answer evidently gave him the greatest satisfaction; every gun in a salute means more to the native mind than we can imagine, and it was obviously not possible to do the guns greater honour than to fire only one less in salutation to them than was laid down to be fired for the representative of the Queen-Empress. The appointed day arrived, and was duly observed by all ranks in their simple manner, with many signs of genuine reverence and rejoicing by the followers of the Prophet as well as by the Hindus. The ceremony of personal ablution and the washing of clothes, to which considerable religious significance attaches in India, was observed with much lightheartedness and a good deal of chaffing, after which all donned their best. The guns were smothered in pretty and tastefully made wreaths of wild flowers; the devotions were carried out with every sign of veneration and earnestness; the feast was plentiful and suitably appreciated; and the singing and dancing round a huge camp fire lasted well on into the night. Just before midnight the trumpeters sounded the regimental call of

the Royal Artillery, followed by the "Fall In," the wreaths were removed and the guns brought into action, and as the battery gong struck the first note of twelve, the first round of the salute of twelve guns was fired, "out of the guns, in honour of the guns themselves."

The battery then stood to attention, and I addressed them briefly, wishing them all good luck, and exhorting them when the time should ever come to take their guns into action in earnest, to remember how they had done honour to them that day at Rattoo, and to see to it that they did equal honour to their guns in the presence of the enemy; for as the earnest prayer of the righteous man is deserving of much, so in like manner as they served their guns in action would the guns do them honour in return.

So ended a great day! And I returned to my hut that night satisfied that if ever indeed we did go into action together, the bond between gun and gunner was as strong as I could forge it. The day came the next year at the Nisa Gol fight when they were subjected to a great trial, and half of the men serving the two guns were killed or wounded; the bond held, and never a man flinched.

Few people outside the Army realise the bond between gun and gunner. Although outwardly it may be demonstrated in some respects in a different manner, it is precisely the same spirit that exists among British