1 THE ARMY OF THE PUNJAUB. 101
2 ‘horse is in motion, the legs and arms of the rider
3 wave backwards and forwards, right and left, by
4 way, as it were, of keeping time with the pace of
5 the animal bestridden. The horses are small,
6 meagre, and ill shaped, with the aquiline nose
7 which so peculiarly proclaims inferiority of breed.
8 In the field the conduct of the Sikh cavalry has
9 generally corresponded with their appearance:
10 and efficiency. They are totally deficient of firm--
11 ness in the hour of struggle, and only charge the:
12 foe when a vast superiority of numerical force-
13 gives them a sort of warranty of success. An
14 anecdote occurs to the writer at this moment,.
15 which, as illustrating at once the efficiency of the-
16 Sikh troopers and the character of Akbar Khan,
17 who afterwards became so famous in the annals
18 of warfare by his treachery towards the British:
19 at Caubul, and by his total overthrow by the:
20 gallant Sale, will probably be read with interest.
21 In an engagement at Peshawur, in 1837, be-
22 tween the Affghans and the Sikhs, the former
23 were at the commencement driven off the field
24 into the defiles of the Khyber mountains. The
25 Sikh cavalry, embracing the favourable moment,
26 to the number of three thousand, dashed into the
27 Khyber in pursuit. The favourite son of Dost
28 Mahomed Khan had given battle in*direct dis-
29 obedience to the injunctions of his father, who had
30 prohibited a collision under any ciréumstances.