The Sikhs and Afghans (1883)

Ali Shahamat · 1883 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

1PREFACE.

2XI

3Before I left the school I had — besides

4the rudimental books In ancient history, viz.

5the Histories of Greece and Rome, and the

6History of England, by Goldsmith — gone

7through four books of Euclid, an Abridgment

8of Arithmetic, Keith’s Use of the Globes,

9and Guy’s Geography. The above formed the

10whole stock of my instruction in the English

11language, and with it I departed from the

12school, with little confidence that I could be of

13much use in that branch of my duty to the

14officer who was about to employ me. On my

15arrival at Lodiana, I, found Sir Claude Wade

16had already started, and I therefore hastened

17through the Panjab to join him at Find Daden

18Khan, near the Salt Mines on the river Jehlam,

19where he was encamped with Ranjeet Singh.

20The first thing he ordered me to do was to

21keep a regular diary of every place we visited,

22and to note down events of importance. Thus

23I not only improved myself in English, but

24acquired a habit of writing a journal, and con-

25tinued the practice in the various Missions on

26which that officer was employed.