The Sun.
London, England, 1859-02-23 00:00:00

There is reason now to believe that he opened two

guns of his on our cavalry the other day at the
Raptee. It was unfortunate that Sir Wm. Russell.
led his Hussars to the right instead of the left when
he debouched from the wood and Sir Wm. Mansfield
ordered him to charge, as it is just possible he might
have hit upon the Nana, according to Mehudie
Hossein's story; but the gallant officer was pro-
bably misled by the Punjab cavalry, who were in
his front, and who went away to the right when
they crossed the nullah. The Nana is now in
Nepaul, more than 100 miles from our frontier, and
the action of Government must be employed to
effect his capture should the Goorkas perimt him
to remain in their territory. Churdah was de-
serted, nothing in it save a wounded gun-bullock.
The profile is irregular, presenting numerous sa-
lients, but the ditch is deep and the counterscarp
tolerably good, so that a little labour would have
rendered the work more formidable than Mejiddiah.
The column halted at Nanparah about 11 o'clock,
and the troops had food. The garrison of Oude
police and some irregulars encamped outside are
suffering from smallpox. On our way we passed
the village where the head of the column and Lord
Clyde and his staff halted before daybreak on the
morning of the 31st of December. The best house
was in flames, burnt by some camp followers, of
whom the chief was flogged. The hamlet of Bur-
guddiah, burnt by them the night of our first halt
on the 26th of December, was still in black ruin,
desolate and uninhabited. The column pushed on
six miles beyond Naparah, making a march of 171
miles, and pitched tents at Kootawah, on ground
close to that which had been occupied by Christie's
force up to this morning. The small corps under
Colonel Pratt is also marching southwards in ad-
vance of as. _ _

The following are extracts from my diary :
" CAMP NEAR BURAECH, JAN. 10.

" First bugle at five a.m. Maroliat six a.m.' It is
pitch dark till 6.30. That little fact may lead one
to imagine the desagremens of such early hours,—
not fully to realize them, however, unless he has
seen an Indian camp and can appreciate the diffi-
culties of pouring out those immense streams of men
and animals through the proper channel. But, as our
camp was close to an extensive marsh several miles
in length, we were favoured with a morning fog
worthy of London, which did not depart till we had
been two hours groping and stumbling on our way.
This portion of Oude, between Churda and Buraech,
is not so well cultivated as that on the verge of the
Terai. Coarse tufted grass trips up horses,and makes
soldiers angry. There is no road in particular, and
we steer just as the mariner does at sea. Immense
herds of cattle show why this land is not covered
with crops. The owners are fast driving them away
as we approach, and the villages are but partially
inhabited as yet just hereabouts. Small as our
column is now—about 200 Carabineers, a party of
Hodson's horse under Sir Henry Havelock ; a squad-
ron of the 6th Madras Light Cavalry, Capt. Mac-
gregor ; Frazer's troop of Royal Horse Artillery,
some heavy guns en route southwards, her Majesty's
20th Regiment, and a wing of Belooches,—there is
apparently baggage enough for an army of 20,000
men. I can compare a column on the march to no-
thing handy on my mind except a block of omni-
buses in Fleet-street, when the footpaths are
thronged with foot passengers, and the interstices
of the larger vehicles grouted in with Hansoms and
cabs. The column is but a small, compact, orderly
body, but on each side of it and behind it miles back
are elephants, camels, and horses enough for the
Grand Army. A hundred and sixty elephants make
a great show. The monster, however, costs for his
keep only 2s. a-day. A camel costs from 16s. to 20s.
a-month, and carries about 4001 b. The load of an
elephant varies with his size from I,ooolb. to 1,6001 b.
He is generally used to carry tents and stores and to
draw heavy guns ; but he is largely used by the
officers' servants as a means of conveyance, and six,
seven, and even eight bearers, kitmutgars, and chu-
prassies may be seen seated on the pad, and 60 or
70 elephants may been seen heaped up with light-
coloured groups of Madrasses and Bengalees, tower-
ing over the eates and moving steadily along the
flanks of the march. A most quaint and peculiar
animals is the tattoo or native pony. He is not as
large as the smallest of English donkeys (Indian
asses are about the size of a new-born calf, only
they are not so long in the legs) ; his hind legs are
generally distorted by premature and over loading;
he is often short of the usual allowance of eyes or
ears, and is altogether a most miserable, mangy,
starved, and worthless looking creature. Never-
theless, in love or war he is animated by the highest
spirit, and he is ready at all times to engage the
largest and fiercest horse in battle, and neighs his
addresses to the proudest mare from Arabia. There
are hundreds and hundreds of them attached to
the bazaar people. They carry the goods and
families of the merchants, and all the followers of
trades and professions which may be found there.
Officers bestride them on the route, and the ser-
geants of some regiments seem to be specially
privileged to hire them as chargers while marching.
The bazaar woman, seated on a pile of curious
merchandise, with her legs projecting over his
neck, a child on her hip and another in her arms,
directs the course of the 'tat' with her toes, and
thinks nothing of giving a friend a lift,' so that at
last all that may be seen of the quadruped are its
wretched rag of a tail, its ragged legs, and a dilapi-
tated head, moving along under an enormous heap
of animated and inorganic matter. Next to the
"tats," the most numerous animals are goats. The
Indian goat is a clean, docile, handsome creature,
abounding in kids and milk. There are probably
1,000 or 1,500 of these animals in different flocks
with our camp, each flock belonging to a small
milkman, whose walk' is very extensive, averaging
20 miles a day. The agents of the establishment
are women, who carry the milk along the march or
in camp in bright brass vessels, on.their heads, and
grateful to the thirsty private who has a few pice in
his pocket is the well-known cry of ' lai dooh,' as
was the announcement of fresh oysters' to the
proprietor of the ' Splendid Shilling.' Next to
the boats and asses are indubitably the monkeys.
Poor Jacko is to be seen on all sides in a state of
durance vile, in chattering rage and indignation,
riding on ,the top of a camel—ol& young, and
middle-aged—shaved, and with clothes on their
backs, rugged as au naturel, tailed, tailless, grave,
stupid, lively, running along on all fours, or placidly
sitting in a cart or dooly. There are also pretty
pets--antelopes, deer, and young neilghve, which
of course, the s abal-
t
or other, to which confidential attendants are aecrn comhpasanhyis u
terrier,
er faithfully fu
or llyhis and, of
some sort
or dogs of
at-
tached or doolies appropriated. Then there are
the gun bullocks and the bazaar hackeries, drawn
by oxen, and the spare oxen, the beesties' bullocks,
and the butcher's sheep and cattle. Then there are
private stores. A regimental mess will order,
perhaps, 100 dozen of beer, 'l5O dozen of port and
sherry, 60 dozen of champaigne at a time, not to
mention groceries and stores of various sorts, and
these move along with us. Coolies may be seen
carrying each a chair or a table, or a fowling-piece,
or even a spare cap. What wonder, then, that there
are 4,000 men hanging on the skirts of this column,
who have no ostensible mode of life, who are not
engaged in any known way in the bazaars—which,
by the way :are very dirty collections of very dirty
little tents, in which all sorts of things can be had
for money,--and who do not draw rations from the.
Commissariat. Those natives to whom rations are
issued amount to about two and a-half to each fight-
ing man. Some officers have as many as 40 servants
in the field. Each has an attendant sprite or, two
—possibly a wife, a child, a mother, a father, who
follow his daily fortunes. There is a perfect chorus
of camp followers in a state of infancy, and studies
from the nude are afforded by little black imps
toddling about the horses' feet to any who may like
to take them. What becomes of these generations
when an army is broken up is a question I have
asked in vain. Surmises do not solve the problem,
but I should say early education of this kind was
not exactly a promising preparation for the more
sober pursuits of trade and commerce. In a fog
the melange is not agreeable, and I was heartily
glad when I could see my way through elephants,
camels, goats, tats, and babies this morning, and get
a good gallop in front of the column. We passed
Intha about 9 o'clock. The village still deserted.
No steps taken to restore the, houses burnt by our'
camp followers. Breakfasted beyond Intha in a
tope of trees. The Commander-in-Chief took a
long walk by the side of the column, but he is not
yet able to ride. Halted at 1.30 p.m. on the plain,
two miles from Buraech, and 18 miles from our camp
this morning. The day hot and heavy. Sir Hope
Grant was waiting under a tree for Lord Clyde,
having ridden over with the Rajah of Bulrampore
from Bingha, 24 miles distant, to arrange with the
Commander-in-Chief for the military dispositions
in Oude. Sir Hope is the officer in command of
the Oude field force, and a better there could not
be. Lord Clyde has the utmost reliance on his
skill, sagacity, promptitude, and judgment, justified
and evinced on every occasion. It appears the gal-
lant officer, less cautious than his chief, actually,
passed the Nepaulese frontier in his ineffectual
chase of Bala Rao's rebels on the 4th. He took his
stereotyped number of 15 guns, which seems to be
Sir Hope's allowance' on such occasions, but the
rebels only fired four or five of them before they
fled. The Rajah of Bulrampore is one of the
heartiest, frankest-mannered men I have ever seen.
He is a tight, compact man, about 25 years of age,
full of vivacity and vigour, a keen sportsman, with
an armoury of the beet English rifles by the beet