1 230 THEIR CONDUCT REPORTED TO RANJEET.
2 the Sikhs at Attok was immediately reported
3 in a letter to Ranjeet Singh, and is another
4 proof of their systematic opposition. Generals
5 Avitabile and Court are the only exceptions
6 we have hitherto found. They have siiice
7 our arrival been giving us the readiest aid in
8 doing, he appeared to throw every obstacle in our way,
9 ‘and declined to issue an order that the boats should be
10 collected for our use. There were but three boats to pass
11 the guns across thé river, and these were srnall, and so
12 much out of water as to render them but little adapted for
13 the transportation of artillery. Nothing in the shape of a
14 plank to run the wheels upon was to be procured, and the
15 men had to lift the pieces a perpendicular height of from
16 two and a half to threw feet, ete they were lowered on
17 board, each boat taking a gun or waggon and its lumber.
18 Two trips were made, and I embarked in the last boat.
19 We pushed off from the ghat formed on the edge of a
20 narrow channel of the river, and separated by a stony
21 bank from the main stream, which was flowing like a
22 sluice ; and once within its influence we were carried down
23 with great rapidity, in spite of every exertion made by
24 the united efforts of six rowefs and two steerémen, who
25 struggled hard with thei oars, and displayed much dex~
26 terity in avoiding the huge rocks on either side, and on
27 which, had the boat once struck, nothing would have
28 saved it from being dashed to pieces,”—»Barr’s Journal;
29 pp. 192~194,