A MOONLIGHT HALT IN INDIA.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume V, Issue 437, 28 September 1880, Page 3

A MOONLIGHT HALT IN INDIA.

That soldiering is by no means play is well known to all but a few who think it means merely putting an a smart uniform, and occasionally doing an hour's parade. The following extract fiom a letter which has been placed at our disposal gives an idea of some of the discomforts of the position. The writer is adjutant of the Bth Hussars, and is a son of Madame Carandini, tho well known vocalist :— Murree, June 27, 18S0. My Dearest Mother, —At present T am on the Hills. On the return of my regiment from the front, we were ordered to Nnwshera, this side of Peshawar, and the men and officers put in the infantry barracks—it is not a cavalry station —the horses being picketed in the barrack squares. We were sent there as the only vacant quarters for a regiment. It is not yet known what we aie going to do ; of course, I fancy they will keep us there until October, when ihe cold season sets in, and then, if •are not again sent up to the front (which at present seems most likelyI*,1 *, -wo shall march to Muttray—a tvo months' march.

Having had six months march, and living under canvas, I hope we shall go by rail. There is some talk of our going to Sealkote or Meerut, but of course nobody knows. And now to tell you how I cauie to be here. When we arrived at Jumrood, after a terrible inarch from AH Musjid through the Kliyber Pass, I got a touch of the fever, and was too ill to march the next morniug with the regiment into Peshawar. I wanted to do _o, but the colonel would not allow me, and insisted upon my being sent to the officers' hospital at Peshawar. He said very nicely—" You have overworked yourself, old fellow, and I ennnot have you knocked up, so take two or three days rest, and then if you are all right join the regiment at Nowshera." The doctor, too, ordered me in, so I remained three days at Peshawar, and then went on to Nowshera, although I was very weak. In the mean time, the colonel had arranged with the doctor that I sh( u l d g> on the Hills for a change of air. I stuck to my work for ten days, and then came here. My dear mother, I am sure it would be impossible to describe the infernal march down from the front. At Dakka the heat in the tents was HGdeg. and 118deg., with a fierce, seething hot wind blowing. We sometimes marched at midnight, so as to arrive at the new camping-ground before the sun had any power. At 530 a.m. the heat was intense. We wcro very fo'JlJjiate during the march. We came over the same ground as the troops last year, when, as you remember, the whole of it was a hot-bed of cholera. We had not a single case of cholera or sunstroke. Our poor men are now dying at a terrible ra te—about one every three days. It is the re-action setting in after the excitement. Poor fellows ! they behaved themselves grandly, and would not giv« in on the march.

We bivouacked every night, and slept in the open air. We used to strike the camp at dusk, and get all the tents and baggage ready, so as to save time. We got up at 2 a.m., and marched at 3 a.m. Of course, they could get no sleep during tho day, crowded in a close, stifling ten*., wiiJi iiii> tliermometor at 118deg., and as you s. ,i e above very little rest at nigh, Mild yet they bore up cheerfully Against w:mt of sleep, and worked like

slaves. I have actually seen men staggering with fever like drunken men to the hospital tent, and yet they were in the saddle next day. , I must tell you a little incident, which will show you how these brave fellows behaved cheerfully, in spite of fatigue and hardship. "I begged the colonel to let us march at midnight from Dakka to Lundi Kotal through the passes,although it was contrary to all orders, owing to the Hill tribes having risen, and their probable intention of attacking. It was bright moonlight, and remember none of us had had more than about an hour's sleep. Well, we halted for half-an-hour about seven miles from Dakka. I had galloped ahead to order the trumpeter o( the advanced guard to sound '' Halt." The colonel sounded " Dismount," and everybody, with the exception of the scouts thrown out for our protection, literally threw themselves on the ground, and passing the bridles over their arms lay on the hard road nnd snatched a few moments sleep, I amongst the rest. Even my horse, usually restive, held his head down and seemed tired. The moment the trumpeter sounded " Stand to your horses," every man, dead tired as he was, jumped up at once, and when " Mount" was sounded, no exacting adjutant could have grumbled at any want of alacrity, for they were in the saddle immediately. It was a picturesque sight that halt, and I will try and describe it to you. Imagine a road running through a gorge in high mountain passes, with a lovely bright moon shining overhead. All round about were lying men in every attitude of fatigue, and holding their horses' bridles'over their arms. Everything is as still as an Indian or an Afghan night can be. Here and there were horses with their heads erect and their ears pricked, standing as rigid as marble, listening to something which their sharp sense of hearing detected— probably the clatter of the hoofs of the scout's horses some distance off ; others with heads drooping, silently whisking away the mosquitos, and now and then a shrill neigh is heard. Men and officers lie grouped together on the hard dusty road, and you can form an idea of how picturesque a moonlight scene it must have been. Our men behaved very well, too, at the battle of Maznia. They were under a very heavy fire often, and the bullets were whistling and flying about in all directions, and when they got the order to charge, they were as pleased and keen as possible.