Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1886-04-24
CAMP IN INDIA.
THE NATIVE TROOPS OF GEN. ROB-
ERrs' COMMAND NEAR DELHI.

The 0hooraas and sikhs-UniSerms and
Other Featurss-An Elephant Battery
OF Heavy Guns-Nany Sports and Ex-
ercIses-A Picturesque Assembly.
The native troops struck me, and BE-
ieve our accredited omcers are equally i'm
pressed, as being far In advance OF what
was looked for, the Ghoorkas and Sikhs
being especially noticeable, the latter from
their good height, fine physique, intelligence
and general fondne1 for the servica They
were among the last Of the native tribes TO
yield to British rule, but have ever since
been the most loyal Of her majesty's Indian
subiectsL They were thoroughly devoted
during the mutiny Of 1857, and did good
service against the rebelA Their stronghold
il about AmeEitser, q city near Lahore,
where they have one Of their most sacred
temples, known - the Golden temple. The
Ghoorkas come from Nipaul, in the Hima-
lsyas, and show much moro Of the Mongolian
type Of feature They are . rather short,
but natty looking ret Of men, armed in I'D
dition to their rife with q large curved
sheath knife, which Il worn on the belt
They are very unrelenting, and rarely
spare the life Of even Q fallen foe.
The field uniform Of all arms Of the ser
vice d made Of . material called karkee Il
b . species Of American duck Of yellowish
clay color, and consists Of . jacket, short
trousers, and q pair Of leggings called put
ties, being roll Of cloth wound round the
leg in Q spiral form from the ankle to the
mee, In . manner similar to that in which
race horses' legs are bandaged
UNIFORMS OF NATIVES AND EUROPEANS.
For full dress the native As well as the
European troops wear the tunic Of various
colors and Of different facinga Red Is still
the prevailing color, but in conversation
with officers gathered the impression that
the karkee color, or drab, Is the one which
many favor, a. it 20 nearly approaches that
Of ths soil as to make the soldiers almost in
distinguishable; and I observed that when
IN the field, except for the turban which the
natives wear at all times, IL was difficult to
discover q body Of troops especially II they
were not on the march The European SOL
der also wears his topy or sun hat with the
karkee, and Is less Observable than the ma
tive The Ghoorkas are an exception, and
do not wear the turban, but in its stead q
species Of shell cap, not unlike the jaunty
headpiecs of the English soldier, with
whom, by thu by, he fraternizes more than
any other OF the native troopA
One of the features Of this command that
IL especially striking to an American 10 its
elephant battery OF heavy guns, which
took the pains to examine quite infinitely.
There were really two kinds Of draught
the elephant and the bullock, there being
eighteen OF the former and 800 of the latter.
The wheel elephant is placed in . pair Of
wide shafts, and has q very large, heavy
and strong saddle, not unlike huge cart
saddle. This is attached by a heavy leath-
ern band and iron chains to the shafta He
has also a strong breast strap and breech-
ing. The lead elephant 10 hitched in a SINH
lar manner to that in which the lead horse
is q tandem team would BE- The bullocks
accompany the battery not only for
draught purpose, for which they use from
four to six yokes for each gun, but be-
cause they are indispensable In time OF &c
ton, a. the elephant will not stand fra He,
realizing the danger, would be liable to
stampede the guns, and hence is detached
when the enemy is near, and bullocks yoked
in. There were some superb specimens Of
the latter attached to the battery. There
were also two or three mountain batteries,
in which the guns and parts Of carriages
were on the backs Of mules
Not the least interesting or noticeable
feature Of the Indian service is the great at
tention given to manly sports and exercisea
Every opportunity is furnished for the de-
velopment Of the physique and for acqui:-
ing skill in the ADJUSTMENTS, Of which the
most daring and probably the most popular
is tent pegging. This consists in riding at
full tilt and taking with the lance q rather
short and broad tent peg from the ground
and you may be little surprised when
tell you that Gen Roberts led of in this
sport, and with his team Of four made the
best score of the season. There were numer-
Gus other mounted and foot sports, such as
lance against sword, sword against bayonet,
sword against sword, bayonet against bay
onet, tent pegging with sword, cutting lem
ons with swords, tug Of war, foot racing,
and acrobatic and gymnastic featA
The march past Of the entire force,
some 81, 900, closed the camp Of exercise. 1t
was done in the midst Of a pouring rain.
By tho time +he cavalry and horse and foot
artillery had passed the reviewing point,
the dark soil had been churned into the con-
sistency Of Q thin bed of mortar, and when
the native infantry came by, many Of
whom wore only the slipper, there was q
sd loss Of this rather necessary appendage
Of the foot soldier, and rather think this
test may bring about . change All troops,
native a. well as European, marched By
with great precision, and the line and dress
Of the double companiss-we style them
divisious-wsrs admirably observed. As
the elephant battery passed, the knowing
animals raised their trunks and saluted, for
which purpose thsy folded the trunk into
the form Of the letter s, holding It square