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264
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
(SEPTEMBER, 1886.
Boyd then went to the commander of the by feelings of honour, purposed to adopt army, namely Mr. Macnaghten, shouting Lieutenant Eyre's suggestion to attack the that the surrender of the fort to the enemy fort of Muhammad Sharif forth with. His would entail the loss of one lakh of rupees, and senior officers, however, would not agree to let what was worse, the sangarlo in it cocained not him command, and unanimously selected Major more than twelve days' provisions, nor was there Swayne to take charge of an assault with the any force at hand strong enough to collect Sixth Regiment of Indian Infantry, in the hope provisions elsewhere, and convey them to the of obtaining possession of the remnants of the fort. Macnaghten also was now perplexed, and corn; but this officer, instead of preceding his sent word to hold the fort till night-fall, when men, according to the usual custom, preferred succour would arrive. Ensign Warren re- to walk in the shelter of an adjoining wall. plied that the ghasis were undermining one When the commander of the troops saw this, of the towers, and also that his men had he knew that such a coward would effect become so cowed, that from fear for their lives nothing, and ordered them to retrace their most of them were leaping down from the ram- steps. part and taking refuge in the sangar, and that Next day Ensign" Bird was sent with one therefore if no succour arrived in the evening, hundred men of the Forty-fourth Regiment all would be lost. After six o'clock in the of the Shahi (Royal] Infantry, Mr. Delin with evening, Macnaghten held & council of war as many of the Fifth Indian Infantry and Mr. with his officers, and a decision was arrived at Start with the same number of the Thirtynot to send a reinforcement to the fort of Sharif seventh Indian Infantry to assault the fort, Khân till the next morning to prevent the loss [Major) Griffiths being appointed commander of the gúdám, because the Afghậns were not over these officers. They directed their in the habit of sacrificing their night's rest, and artillery Against the fort of Muhammad Sharif, would not be watching the fort, nor harrassing levelled its walls and then took it by storm. the besieged. As a measure of precaution, Then they advanced antil they got possession however, Captain Johnson was sent as a spy to of nearly one half of the Bagh-i-Shah. bring information about the Afghans, and he On the other hand the Afghan sawars, led returned after a while with the report that they by 'Abdu'llah Khan Achakzai, invaded the were assembling, and preparing for an assault. Bågh-i-Sbůh and expelled Captain Thackeray Nevertheless, the English officers delayed with the jazdirchis therefrom, killing great sending reinforcements till the morning dawn- numbers. The QizlbAshes of the muhallah, who ed, by which time the impetuous ghasis had had up to this time remained neutral, sncconr. taken the fort by storm, and get the gate on ed the Afghấns when they saw them pressed, fire, so that Ensign Warren had to escape and renewing the attack, retook the Bâgh-i. with the troops by a way he had prepared for Shih with the fort of Sharif, and having driven flight." As the conquerors had taken posses- the English into the sangar besieged them. sion of abundant provisions, and the want of On Tuesday the twenty-seventh of the them in the winter season would cause great month Ramazan in the same year when the hardship to the English troops, the English provisions of the English troops had been officers, when they saw the Afghang engaged altogether consumed, the plenipotentiary wazir in carrying off the corn, impelled partly by Macnaghten sent an officer to Brigadier apprehensions of impending distress, and partly Shelton who was in the Balâ Hisar, to ask for
20 This word does not occur in any Persian Diction ary, but is in Sanskrit sangraha,"collection," hence " place where collection of stores in kept." It has passed into Marathi unchanged and also into other Indian languages, and is on the way of becoming an English word like bhatta, bangalah, chittht, &c., and is already being used in print. A correspondent of The Bombay Garette, writing from Suskim, meant by it a small circular fort, and in our text it appears to designate a magasine or store-house like giddm above.
11 "Early on the morning of the 5th the commissariat fort was abandoned by its garrison, the enemy having attempted to fire the gate and escalade. The garrison
came out by hole made from the interior-tools having been sent over night, with a view to the introduction of reinforcements and the withdrawal of supplies from the store."-Report of General Elphinstone.
Lieutenant. 13 A party under Major Griffiths of the 37th Native Infantry was sent out against Muhammad Sharif's fort. A practicable breach was effected, and the storming party entered with an irresistible impetuoeity worthy of British troops. Kaye, Vol. II. p. 37. This took place on the 6th November 1841
** This gives the lat November, which is about a week too early.
