The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-03-21
BOOKS OF THE TIME.
"The story of the Malaknnd Field
Force" "a Record of Brave Deeds.

Green & Co Lieutenant Churchill is a
grandson of the late Leonard Jerome. of
New York, ard is the son of the late Lord
Randolph Churchill. The book will doubt
less be welcomed by those who delight in
reports. picturesquely made of deeds of
valor and hard fighting generally under the
greatest difficulties. The young lieutenant
has blended accurate details. hard facts
and figures, dates and names with pretty
pictures of Indian warfare and fine ex-
amples of heroism and endurance both
among friend and foe. Some idea of the
country in which the fighting took place
can be formed from the following extract:
THE Himalayas are not line, but
great country of mountains Standing on
some lofty pass or commanding point in
Rir, Swat or Bajaur, range after range is
seen as the long SurgeS of an Atlantic
swell, and in the distance some glittering
snow peak suggests a white-creSted roller,
higher than the rest. The drenching rains
which fall each year have washed the soil
from the sides of the hills until they have
become strangely grooved by numberless
water courses. and the black primeval rock
ment has filled the valleys which lie be-
tween and made their surface sandy. level
and broad. Again the rain has cut wide,
deep and constantly-changing channels
through this soft deposit; great cutters,
which are sometimes seventy feet deep and
two or three hundred yards across. These
are the 'nullahs. Usually the smaller ones
are dry and the larger occupied only by
streams, but in the season of the rain
abundant water pours down all and in a
few hours the brook has become an inn
passable torrent; and the river swelled into
rolling flood which caves the banks round
which 1t swirls and cuts the channel deeper
year by year"
The gallant tribesmen are described as
follows:
Except at the times OF. sowing and of
harvest "a continual state of feud and strife
prevails throughout
with tribe. The people of one valley fight
with those of the next One village attacks
another To the quarrels of communities
are added the combats of individuals. Khan
assails khan, each supported by his retain
ers. Every tribesman has a blood fued with
his neighbor. Every mans hand is against
the other, and all against the stranger.
Nor are these struggles conducted with the
weapons which usually belong to the races
of such development To the ferocity of
the Zulu are added the craft of the Red
skin and the craftsmanship of the Boer.
At a thousand yards the traveller falls
wounded bv the well-aimed bullets of
breech-loading rifle. His assailant. APP
preaching, cuts him in pieces as he lies
Islander The weapons of the nineteenth
century are in the hands of the savages of
the stone age.
The Malakand is then described at length.
the following extract giving some idea of
the scene of so much severe fighting:
1.-THE Malakand is like a great cup of
which the rim is broken into numerous
cefts and jagged points At the bottom
CT this cup is the crater camp. The deepest
cleft is the Malakand pass. The highest of
the jagged points is Guides hill. on spur OF
which the fort stands: 1t needs no techni-
cal knowledge to see that to defend such
place the rim of the cup must be held. But
in the Malakand the bottom of the cup is
too small to contain the necessary garrison. on
military point of view, bad and indefensi-
ble''
Touching upon the policy which brought
about the outbreak, Lieutenant Churchill
says:
Here. then, at once, the whole vast cues
tion of frontier policy is raised: We hold
the Malakand pass to keep the Chitral road
open. We keep the Chitral road open be-
cause we have retained Chitral: We retain
policy l am thus confronted at the very
outset of this book. which was intended to
tary events and small incidents, with that
wide political question. on which the keen
est intellects in England are in doubt. and
the, most valuable expert evidence in India
is divided.
A comprehensive review of the Chitraf
campaign follows, and then comes the story
of the outbreak, which is led up to in this
manner:
But single class had viewed with quick
pr l of of the l British power' The priest
hood of the Afghan border instantly rec
ognized the full meaning of the Chitral
hard to discern. Contact with civilization
assails the superstition and credulity on
which the wealth and influence of the Null
lah depends. A general combination of the
religious forces of India against that civil
izing, educating rule, which unconsciously
saps the strength of superstition, is
of the dangers of the future. Here Hahom-
mechanism was threatened and resisted
vast but silent agitation was begun. Mes
sengers passed to and fro among the tribes.
Whispers of war, holy war. were breathed
to race intensely passionate and fanatical.
Vast and mysterious agencies, the force of
which are incomprehensible to rational
minds were employed. More astute brains
than the wild valleys of the north produce
conducted the preparations Secret encour-
agement came from the south-from India
itself. Actual support and assistance was
given from Kabul. : At length the
cumstances operated to improve the oppOr-
tunity. The victory of the Turks over the
Greeks; the publication of the Amir's book
on Jehad;' his assumption of the position
of a Caliph of Islam and much indiscreet
writing in the Anglo-Indian press united to
/ produce boom in Accommodation.
The fighting began Unexpectedly, and is
thus described:
subalterns and younger officers of the
Malakand garrison proceeded to khar to
play polo. Thither also came Lieutenant
Rattray, riding over from Chakdara fort.
The game was good one, and the tribes
men of the neighboring village watched it
as usual in little groups with keen interest.
Nothing i'm their demeanor BETRAYED their
thoughts or intentions. The young soldiers
saw nothing. knew nothing, and had they
known would have cared less. There would
be no rising. If there was, so much the bet
ter. They were ready for it. The game ended,
and the officers cantered back to their
camps and posts. 1t was then that
strange incident occuFred-an incident en-
inently characteristic of the frontier tribes.
AS the svces were putting the rugs and
about the ground after the game. the
watching natives drew near and advised
them to be off home at once, for that there
was going to be a fight. They knew, these
Pathans, what was coming.
Suddenly in the stiffness of the night a
bugle call sounded on the parade ground
of the crater camp. Every one sprang up.
II was the assembly For a moment there
was silence while the officers seized their
them Several, thinking that 1t was
merely the warning for the movable col
umn to fall in. waited to light their cigar
cites Then from many quarters the loud
explosion of musketry bun st forth, sound
which for six days and nights was to know
no intermission The attack on the Mala-
kand and the great frontier had begun
Six days and nights of fierce fighting fol-
lowed. and numberless deeds of valor were
recorded on both sides. Here is sample
of the incidents recalled:
'Brigadier General Meik1ejohn at once or
dered a party of the Twenty-fourth to re-
take it (the captured quarter guard from
the enemy. Few men could be spared from
the line of defense At length small but
devoted band collected. 1t consisted OF Capt.
Holland, Lieutenant Chino, Lieutenant Man
lev the generals orderly, SepOy or the