The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-25 00:00:00

LITE.RAT ÜBE.

Lost Among the Afghans : _Being the Adventures of John
Campbell (otherwise Teringhee Bacha) amongst the Wild
:tribes of Central Asia. Related by Himself. Smith,

Elder, and Co., Cornhill.
In 1857, some gentlemen attached to the Persian em-
bassy, while on the road from Teheran to Herat, received,
at Meshed, a letter from a youth who represented himself
as of English birth, and then lying in hourly appre-
hension of cruel death for refusing to acknow-
ledge the Mahommedan religion. Inquiries were
instituted, the lad, apparently about eighteen years
of age, was closely questioned, and ultimately sent with an
escort to the Hon. Charles Murray, the British Ambassador
to the Court of Persia. He was unable to speak a word of
English, but, through the medium of Persian interpreters,
related one of the strangest stories it was certainly ever the
duty of a British envoy to listen to. He had been found,
he said, when 2 years old, on the battle-field at Tezeen, where
the English army was so cruelly massacred by the Af-
ghans. His nurse, a native woman, who survived the car-
nage, represented that he was the son of an English officer
slain in the battle, An Afghan chief, pleased with the
child, took it home, and reared it as his own. In course
of time the boy learned his story, and, from that moment,
determined to escape. In this he succeeded, travelled into
Bokhara, wandered among the passes of the Hindoo Koosh
mountains, reached even the Chinese frontier, made friends
everywhere, performed many marvellous feats, and expe-
rienced numberless hairbreadth escapes. At one time he is
travelling with caravans in Turkestan deserts ; then he herds
with robbers, or studies with holy dervishes in Tartarian
wastes. Occasionally ho turns soldier, and performs prodi-
gies of valour, or saves a town by his cunningly devised
stratagems. lie serves with the Russians, and is highly
popular, but soon quits the service, impelled by a restless
desire to meet his countrymen, which—after many wander-
ings among naked magicians (who conjure up
visions which are worthy of Bulwer Lytton's " Strange
Story," and, indeed, remind us very strongly of
the concluding chapters, of that remarkable
book), warriors and robbers, and taking part in the
siege of Herat, where he is looked upon as a miracle of
courage and ingenuity—he achieves as we have related.
Mr. Murray sent him to Bombay, where Lord Elphinstone
the Governor, Sir John Lawrence, and others examined
carefully into the truth of his narrative. After a
stay of two years at Bombay, John Campbell (for that name
was given him by Lord Elphinstone) was sent to England
and placed under the care of a Baptist minister who had
been a missionary in India. He was then placed in a
school at Brighton, conducted by Mrs. Edmund Fry and
her two sons, one of whom acts as editor of this volume.
He remained at Brighton for about a year, during which
time he acquired a competent acquaintance with the Eng-
lish language, and then returned to India, having received
an appointment as superintendent of the Government tek-
gtaph at Kurrachee, a position for which his knowledge of
the Eastern languages peculiarly fitted him.
Such is a brief outline of the career of the hero of this re-
markable book. The editor anticipates that some doubts may
be cast upon Campbell's veracity ; and certainly not without
reason. The Bombay authorities were, it is said, satisfied
with his narrative ; and certainly they were in a position to
sift the evidence adduced ; but the adventures related are
so strange, and Campbell's mode of relating them so egotis-
tical and romantic, that doubt on the reader's part may
well be excused. The whole narrative is such as a pro-
fessed writer of amazing adventures might dress up for a
boy's magazine. There are disguises and stratagems,
abrupt changes of fortune, scenes of battle, murder, sudden
death, enough for the most eager appetite for sensations.
Moreover, the geography of the book is not beyond sus-
picion, though we are told the attaches of the embassy at
Teheran tested the story by the means of numerous maps.
We have no proof, however, that the narratives of adven-
tures given to Mr. Murray and to Mr. Fry, the editor of
the book, were identical. We are hurried from Cabul to
the Chinese frontier, from the Khyber Pass to Bokhara,
with startling rapidity ; and the publishers should at least
have appended a map showing the course of Campbell's
wanderings. A few well-known names occur; brit we are
utterly perplexed by continual references to great towns
and powerful kings unknown to our researches. It is almost
a pity the author left England so soon. Had he been in-
troduced to London society, he might have related before
the Geographical Society the story of his life, and no doubt
he would have shared with Da Chaillu the lionising hon-
ours of the day. The book will create a sensation. It is
either a most remarkable narrative of adventures, or a not
less remarkable imposture. We will not take upon our-
aelves at present to decide which, but will extract a few of
tlacF anecdotes interspersed in the book. Soon after his
escape' from Cabul he becomes servant to an innkeeper at a
place called Sancropoor. Having quarrelled with his mas-
ter, and attempted to kill him, he is condemned to be
punished, and here is a specimen of the torture inflicted on
criminals