With Kelly to Chitral | Page 8

no time.
Unluckily, the snow was still falling, and as Borradaile had all the
available coolie transport, we were forced to wait till he could send it
back. By noon he sent in a letter by one of the levies, saying he had
been unable to start, as heavy snow was still falling, but would try the
next day.
Shah Mirza now came up to me and said that there was a mullah in the
village who had an infallible charm for stopping the snow, and a
present of a few rupees would no doubt set it in motion. I promptly

inquired how it was the mullah was not carrying a load, but was told he
was too old to help in that way, but would be only too delighted to
overcome the elements; so I gave the Mirza to understand that if the
mullah would stop the snow-storm the Sirkar would make him, the
mullah, a great man; in the meantime, I would give him a couple of
rupees on account. Shah Mirza went off joyfully, evidently having
implicit faith in the mullah.
Shortly after this, Gough came up, saying that the Kashmir troops in
the post had volunteered to make a road through the snow, and if he
could take fifty of them with four days' rations to Teru, a sufficient
track might be made to Langar, our next camping ground, just this side
of the pass, to enable the guns to be carried there without much
difficulty. Colonel Kelly's permission having been obtained, we set
about collecting all the shovels and spades we could find in the village.
Among others I got hold of the mullah's, who became very indignant;
but I pointed out to him that as his prayers seemed to have no effect on
the snow, perhaps his shovel would make up for their deficiencies. We
managed, by instituting a house-to-house visitation, to collect some
twenty spades of sorts, and with those supplied by the troops, we got
altogether some forty, which were handed over to Gough. He and
Stewart and fifty Kashmir Sepoys started off that day to Teru, taking
with them half a dozen sledges that had been made out of ghi boxes.
Later in the day we had to send out foraging parties for wood and
bhoosa (chopped straw) as the commissariat reported their supply as
running out; in fact, these parties had to go out every day during our
stay in Ghizr.
Early the next morning I got a note from Stewart, asking that the
battery might be sent up to Teru, as there was enough fodder there for
the mules, and experiments could be made for getting the guns along. I
got the battery off sharp, but it was nearly noon before they got to Teru.
The snow had ceased falling, and, the clouds clearing off, the sun made
a blinding glare off the freshly fallen snow.
After breakfast I started off for Teru myself, to see how Borradaile was
getting along, and, finding he had started, I left my borrowed pony at

the village, and, pushing on, caught up the rearguard a short way
beyond where we had been forced to turn back on the 1st April. Here I
found Stewart, Gough, and Oldham with the fifty Kashmir troops, two
Sappers and Miners, and rearguard of the Pioneers, staggering along
under the guns and ammunition in a track that had been beaten out by
the troops marching in front. For some reason or other the sledges did
not seem to act, partly, I think, because the track, being made by men
marching in single file, was too narrow and uneven; at anyrate, when I
arrived, the guns, wheels, carriages, and ammunition had been told off
to different squads, about four men carrying the load at a time, and
being relieved by a fresh lot every fifty yards or so. Even thus the rate
of progression was fearfully slow, about one mile an hour, and the men
were continually sinking up to their waists in snow. Added to this, there
was a bitter wind, and a blinding glare, while the men were streaming
with perspiration.
I know my own face felt as if it had been dipped in boiling water, and
during the next few days the whole skin came off in flakes.
I may as well here describe the tribulations of the advanced party,
prefacing my remarks by saying that they are founded on reports and
hearsay, and therefore I beg any slight inaccuracy may be forgiven me.
When I turned back to return to Ghizr, the party carrying the guns were
just arriving at a stream called the Shamalkhand, which flows from a
high pass of the same name, which is often used as a summer route to
Mastuj, but