come down, have looted this town and deluged the
streets with blood. Capim Khan, the faithful, is
the bearer of this letter. What more can I say?"

The above letters would be sent off at once
to the offices of the Deputy Commissioner; or,
if the Cavalry Commandant think the case of
sufficient importance, he starts off to the Deputy
Commissioner himself. After a friendly chat, it
is agreed, most likely, if the place be within
thirty or forty miles, to go off and inquire into
the matter. Tents are soon packed and sent off
on camels, while mounted messengers ride away
in all directions with perwanahs (or orders) to the
different forts, chiefs, and villages, to assemble
troops. Early next morning the Commissioner
and Cavalry Commandant may be seen galloping
off, with a mounted escort, relieved every seven
miles.

When within half a mile or so of the village,
they are met by troops and chiefs, and, perhaps,
by a curiosity-loving and curiously mounted
tag-rag and bobtail mob. Every one either
possesses or can borrow, a horse.

Inquiries are made on the spot. This
circumstance, coupled with the fact that European
officers in person come to make the inquiries,
shows the people that we are not to be trifled
with. Letters are written to the different tribes
informing them that Government has charge of
the case, and therefore they must not take the
law into their own hands.

The chief of the Vuzeeree tribes is ordered to
return the cattle and the woman, and a fine is
imposed.

If the above terms be not complied with,
none of that tribe are allowed to come into our
territory to sell their goods; those of the tribe
who are already within our frontier, are turned
out, and perhaps some of the principal ones are
retained as hostages.

After this warning, and if the tribe still persist
in bad behaviour, "an expedition" is undertaken.
The villages of the offending tribe are burnt, their
crops cut, and their cattle driven off. But
whereas this is done in the face of the more than
Abyssinian obstacles of the country, a good many
casualties may be expected on both sides.

This is a most objectionable way of retaliation;
but living as we now do at the foot of the
hills, it is the one way possible. If we held any
strong positions in the hills themselves, it might
be different; for, if there were a chance of the
raiders being intercepted on return to their own
ground, they would think twice before swooping
down upon our territory. But government
shrinks from annexing any more territory, and
also fears to enrage the Afghans. The latter objection
may not have much weight, seeing that they
already hate us as much as they possibly can.

There is a great deal talked and written about
the Russians, and that it would be advisable to
gain the affection of the frontier tribes, and use
them and their territory as a barrier. Whoever
bids highest and pays it, will be, for the time
being, the favourite with the frontier tribes.
But the Russians can hold out a bribe in the
shape of plunder, which we cannot.

Any one acquainted with the frontier can
fancy the keen savage delight of these wild and
brave but poor people, in the hope of one day
plundering the cities of India, Umritsur, Lahore,
Loodianah, Mooltan, the land of the hated
Sikhs; that race, who in the times of Runjeet
Singh, the lion of the Punjab, caused many a
Pathan warrior to bite the dust. An Afghan never
lets a Sikh live if he can catch him in his own
hills. Moreover, it must be remembered that
the tradition of the times when the Pathans
descended like a wolf on the fold, and returned
laden with the plunder of Delhi, Agra, Allahabad,
Benares, and other cities, is still fresh in their
minds; nay, even so lately as the Indian mutiny
in 1856, these wild warriors joined our standard
by hundreds when they had some prospect of
sacking the rich towns of India.

Raids on the frontier are of all dimensions,
from a raid where a few cattle are stolen by a
tribe, or part of a tribe, to a raid where the
tribes assemble by thousands, as in the case of
the Euzufsaie campaign of 1863. The people
in the hills and plains of the frontier still lead
the lives described in the first chapter of the
book of Job, where the Sabean and Chaldean
plunderers are mentioned. In general one or
two officers from each of the garrison towns,
on duty for a fortnight or a month at a time,
travel through, inspect, and report at the end of
their term on the outlying forts belonging to
those towns.

In the cold weather the duty to some is pleasant
enough, but from June to August the
heat is almost intolerable. Shut up in a small
fort, surrounded for the most part by stony
tracks and barren wastes, a British officer looks
with longing eyes in the direction of Afghanistan,
where before him lie gloriously wooded mountains
and valleys. The mountain tops are covered
with snow, to which the Afghans, who in winter
live in our territory, may be seen wending their
way, with men servants, and maid servants, sheep
and oxen, he apes and she apes, just as their
forefathers the Patriarchs did thousands of years
ago. They say that it would be next to
impossible for them and their cattle to live through
the summer in the scorching plains. The large
birds, as geese and pelicans, seem also to have
taken alarm at the approach of summer, and day
and night armies of them may be seen and heard
croaking with delight as they majestically fly in
single or double file towards the land of Promise.

Much has been said of the barrenness of the
interior of the frontier country. The border hills
certainly are fearfully and wonderfully barren;
but officers who have accompanied military
expeditions into the interior of the Suliman
Mountains have spoken with enthusiasm of the lovely
scenery and climate in those hills, where
Europeans could live as in their own dear land.

Yet let it not be supposed that officers, civil
and military, living on the frontier must needs
lead a very melancholy life. Frontier life is
pretty well varied with amusements as well as
duties; amusements keenly enjoyed by those who
spend a great part of their lives in the open air.