Yet, perhaps, if that unborn critic of
remote posterity would remember that "in the days of the old British,"
the rice crop had been more abundant, the number of acres under
cultivation greater, the population larger and the death rate lower,
than at any period in the history of India--we should not be without a
monument more glorious than the pyramids.
We camped with the 2nd Brigade on the night of the 6th, and next
morning, while the stars were still shining, resumed the march. Five
miles from Sarai the road dwindles to a mule track, and henceforward is
not fit for wheeled traffic. In spite of this, the 10th Field Battery
had succeeded in getting their guns along it, and had brought them
safely to Panjkora. But soldiers will accomplish a good deal to get
nearer the enemy. The scenery before the gorge of the river is reached
is gloomy, but grand. Great cliffs tower up precipitously on the further
bank and the path is cut in the face of the rock. The river, which flows
swiftly by, plunges into a narrow cleft about a mile below the bridge,
and disappears among the mountains.
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