each get 15 rupees a month, and their clothes and food. After the horses and servants were procured the next consideration was how to get all the things I wanted to take with me into the limit of weight allowed us by the Regulations. I have, of course, considerably more than other officers, but even so I find it quite impossible to manage all I should like to do, so I have brought about 100 lbs. over my weight, as I can easily take any quantity I like as far as the railway goes (_i.e._, to Sibi), and I am told beyond that I shall perhaps be able to hire some private carriage to take the extra quantity on to Kandahar, and certainly to Quetta, where it can be left, and sent on after me to Kandahar, when the press of sending up troops is over. Even with this extra weight I have been obliged, of course, to limit greatly my desires and wants, but I hope I have got together a fairly compact kit with nothing but what is absolutely necessary in it. First of all I have two very small trunks, which contain my clothes (all of which are uniform), shirts, &c., &c. I have, as a great treat, brought two white shirts, to be worn on high days and holidays, as a change from the coloured flannel shirts which, though useful and appropriate for the occasion, are articles of dress I dislike very much. As the cold season is now past, and it is heat rather than cold we shall suffer from, it has not been necessary to bring up warm clothing, although, of course, I have a few warm things in case of meeting sudden changes of temperature which is quite possible. General Hogg, the Quartermaster-General, presented me with an excellent breech-loading revolver, and I have purchased a sword belt of the kind called the "Sam Browne Belt" (having been invented by General Sir Sam Browne), as it is so arranged that without inconvenience the pistol and ammunition can be carried on it, and the sword itself can be arranged according to one's pleasure, for riding or walking, which is a great convenience. The Government carry for me 200 lbs. weight of tents (for other officers only 100 lbs.), so I have purchased two tents, one for myself and the other
for the servants. My tent is 9 feet by 8, and has a double top as a protection against the sun, and a sort of small verandah on one side, which can be used as a bath-room. The furniture of the tent consists of a bed 6 feet long and 2 feet 3 inches wide, a small folding table and one chair. When I get to Kandahar, if obliged to live in a tent, I will, of course, supplement this scanty supply by such articles of native manufacture as I can get. I have a block tin basin, but no tub, as that is too bulky and heavy, and the custom on the march is to have the water-carrier (Bheestie) to empty a skin of water over one, which, though not so comfortable as a marble bath, answers all the purposes very well. My cooking utensils are so arranged as to go into a strong basket 2 feet high and 12 inches in diameter. In this there are 3 saucepans, which fit one into the other, a kettle, a stewpan, a frying-pan, and a pewter teapot, and 2 teacups and saucers pack into the saucepans, and 2 soup plates and 2 dinner plates, enamelled iron, go into the stewpan. In my luncheon basket are 3 knives, 3 forks, 3 spoons, and a couple of glasses, so on a pinch I can give a dinner party of _two_, without resorting to the usual fashion, which is that when you are asked to dinner in camp you bring your own knives, forks, plates, glass, and generally your chair, your host supplying only the table, food, and, if he is a very good manager and very generous, drink. Of course as the country gets more opened up, native traders will push forward, and everything one can want will be procurable, although, of course, at exorbitant prices; and even now I hear almost anything can be bought at Quetta, and a good number of things at Kandahar. My establishment and kit are therefore constituted as follows:--