sometimes facetiously called "Dreary Dismal
Khan"), Dera Ghazee Khan, and Rajenpore.
These towns are covered by an array of outlying
forts, ten and fifteen miles apart; the smaller
forts garrisoned by mounted and dismounted
irregular troops, called the "Frontier Militia;"
the large forts by a troop of cavalry and two or
three companies of infantry belonging to the
Punjab Frontier Force. The roads, or rather
tracks, between these forts are patrolled night
and day by detachments of the Punjab Cavalry
and mounted militia. In the large towns patrols
of cavalry go their rounds during the night.

The work to be done by the Punjab Cavalry
is very heavy. The raiders, when hard pressed,
leave the stolen cattle and rush to their hills
and fastnesses, whither it would be unlawful, if
it were possible, to follow them. The troopers,
therefore, when they do happen to come up
with a body of thieves, however large, proceed
to charge, with something like the satisfaction
of an angler, who, after hours of unsuccessful
whipping of streams, finds that he has to
play a monster fish. The frontier Afghans,
and indeed Afghans in general, are fine strong
men, whose looks verify their tradition that
they are descended from Saul, King of Israel.
Any one travelling up the frontier, and visiting
the bazaars of Dera Ghazee Khan, Ismael
Khan, Bunnoo, and Kohat, in the winter months,
when a great number of the Frontier Afghans
are driven by the intense cold out of their own
hilly country, would wonder at their stalwart
forms and handsome though dirty faces, set off
by long curls. He would also wonder how
these men, reckless of life and delighting in
bloodshed among one another, could be kept in
order by the authorities of England.

When they come into our territory they seem
to be rather overpowered by the order they
see everywhere around them, utterly unlike
anything they have been accustomed to in
their own country. They wonder why the
great Commissioner Sahib, whom they see
dispensing life and death in the court-house, and
whose decrees, backed by squadrons of cavalry
and regiments of infantry, have drawn money,
or its equivalent, from the reluctant pockets
of the most famous raiders of their tribes,
should trouble himself to see personally whether
the bazaars are kept clean, and how the markets
are getting on. When they find that he can
address them in their own language, they mutter,
"Verily God is great, and the Nazaranees are
a strange people!" European officers going
round at all hours of the day and night, troops
and commanding officers turning out regularly
for parade, a thousand and one such things so
increase their awe that they do not breathe
freely until they are well out of the atmosphere
of our laws, so much at variance with their
own law of the sword. No doubt when they
are again amongst their own hills they
congratulate themselves on living under a happier
and better dispensation, where it is one of a
man's comforts that he may either kill or be
killed, nobody minding which.

The frontier force is entirely under the orders
of the Viceroy and Governor-General of India,
and, in a certain sense, has nothing to do with
the commander-in-chief. The general commanding
the force, is nominated by the Viceroy, and
receives his orders from the Lieutenant-Governor
of the Punjab. The officer commanding the
cavalry in the different garrison towns, inasmuch
as all reports are made to him, is
responsible to the officer commanding the station,
for the peace of the Frontier. The reports are
presented daily. They often run in this wise:

"Letter from repalder (native officer)
Mahomed Ameer Khou, Fort of Secunder.

"To officer commanding Punjab cavalry,
protector of the poor, distributor of alms, the
brave and merciful, &c., and after many salaams.
Be it known to you that on the night of——, a
mounted messenger from the chief of the village
of Vuzeerabad came with the enclosed letter.
I immediately turned out the troop under my
command, sending Duffalar (native sergeant)
Kishun Sing with thirty troopers to guard the
mountain passes nearest the village, while I
proceeded as quickly as possible to the village.
The Mullick (or chief) of the village reports
that about the time of evening prayer, viz., at
sunset, the Afghans of the Vuzeeree tribe came
down from their hills, taking away forty camels,
one hundred sheep, and twenty mares, killing
one and wounding two of the inhabitants. They
also carried away Hussun Bee-Bee (beautiful
lady).

"The protector of the poor will excuse me if I
tell him that the chief and the villagers vow
vengeance, and have sent messages to the
different villages of their tribe, as also to Bahadur
Shah, chief of the Murwutees, to whom the woman
was betrothed, to collect a force to raid the
territories of the Vuzeerees. I reminded them that
the Sirkar (Government) would protect them;
but would be very angry at their fighting. They
said that they were disgraced men already by
the capture of Hussun Bee-Bee, that shame sat
so heavily on them that they would fight and
die, and that it was the same to them whether
they were killed by the Sirkar or the Vuzeerees.
My Lord will pardon me; but it might be
advisable that either my Lord or the brave Deputy
Commissioner Sahib should inquire into it at
once, as my Lord well knows that Bahadur Shah
is of a hot temperament, and that the Murwutees
are a large and brave tribe. Moreover, the
woman is reported to be very beautiful.

"What more can I say? This letter is from
the slave, and may God grant you a son (a
common salutation). I have left three troopers
of the Mounted Militia to report instantly to
my Lord if the tribes are gathering."

ENCLOSED LETTER.

"From Ahmed Shah Mullick, of Vuzeerabad,
to the brave Commander of the Fort of Secunder.

"Come quickly. I and my tribe have eaten
dirt. The vile thieves of the Vuzeeree tribe
(may the curse of Allah rest on them), having