1 402 DIFFICULT COUNTRY.
2 such missiles. The British howitzer having
3 by this time arrived, I received Wade’s in-
4 structions, and descending to the bed of the
5 Pass, proceeded to put them into execution.
6 “ At this spot the rocks and cliffs on either
7 side were extremely precipitous, especially those
8 on our right, which indeed were almost perpen-
9 dicular, and surmounted by a tower seized upon
10 in the morning by Lieutenant Mackeson, who
11 had discovered and captured several Afredis
12 concealed in its interior. The gorge formed
13 by these crags closing upon each other bounded
14 the limits of my advance, and from thence I
15 was to fire on a cantonment of Dost Maho-
16 med’s soldiers, situated at the base of the hill
17 on which Ali Masjid stands, but concealed
18 from my view by a low intervening ridge
19 sloping from the right. The ghorcheras were
20 then to gallop forward, plunder the placé, and
21 retreat with the spoil behind our position. On
22 emerging from the defile, preparatory to wheel-
23 ing into action, we were received by a shower
24 of bullets, fired fortunately from too great a
25 distance to cause any serious injury, though