On the other hand, every one in the force had realised that there were
"more kicks than ha'pence" to be got out of the Mamund Valley. All the
villages in the plain had been destroyed. Only a few of those in the
hollows of the hills remained. To these the enemy had retired. In
Arrian's History of Alexander's Conquests we read the following passage:
"The men in Bazira [Bazira is the same as Bajaur], despairing of their
own affairs, abandoned the city ... and fled to the rock, as the other
barbarians were doing. For all the inhabitants deserted the cities, and
began to fly to the rock which is in their land." Then it was that
Alexander's difficulties began. Nor need we wonder, when the historian
gravely asserts that "so stupendous is the rock in this land ... that it
was found impregnable even by Heracles, the son of Zeus." Thus history
repeats itself, and the people of Bajaur their tactics. There was,
however, no doubt as to the ability of the brigades to take and burn any
village they might select.
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