I have described the position of our camp at Charasia in my last letter, and from this it would be seen that our best route to Cabul was by way of the Sang-i-Nawishta defile on our right front. At daybreak yesterday we moved out of Charasia camp, and at the mouth of the defile Sir F. Roberts was met by Major White, who explained the positions occupied by the enemy, and the action he had taken in dislodging them. The General congratulated him heartily on his success, and then passed on to where General Baker had bivouacked at the northern end of the defile. High hills shut in the road on either hand, the Logar River, here a deep stream, also running to the right of the path, which at times is very rough. Two or three men had hidden themselves behind rocks on the steep hillsides to the east, and they now fired down as the troops filed along. Their shots were wide of the mark, and our men firing freely back soon silenced them. Rounding the corner of the hill on our left, we came upon General Baker’s bivouacking ground, and here followed more congratulations; Sir F. Roberts hearing in detail from his Brigadier an account of the action upon the success of which so much had depended. General Baker with his brigade was left to keep open the Pass while the baggage and stores were passing through, and he remained there until this morning, by which time the ground at Charasia had been cleared.
In the next three miles to Beni Hissar the road runs among rich corn-fields, irrigated by the diversion of the stream, and the route to the Bala Hissar was followed by our troops until the ground fixed upon for the camp was reached. This was just under the walls of some gardens belonging to the Amir and his Mustaufi (Minister of Finance), where water was plentiful and trees afforded shade. While the Infantry were marching in, General Massy went forward with the cavalry through Beni Hissar village and into the fields beyond. The hills to the left shut out for a mile a view of Cabul, but after ten minutes’ riding the Cabul plain was reached, and before us was the Bala Hissar and the fortified ridge running upwards and commanding it. The heights were crowned by a wall fifteen or twenty feet high, and the line of fortification could be seen following the sky-line, until the hill dipped down to the bed of the Cabul River to the north of the city. Again, the ridge rising on the left bank of the river presented a similar sight, the zig-zag wall being apparently endless. Our videttes rode out well towards the Bala Hissar, and, accompanying them, I had a good view of the fortifications, but could not see a single soldier lining the walls. All was deserted, and we knew that the mutineers, if they meant fighting, were not foolish enough to allow themselves to be caught in a trap such as the Bala Hissar would have proved. The small portion of the city that could be seen also lay as if abandoned by the inhabitants, and we made up our minds that the fortified camp at Sherpur, lying over the low Siah Sung hills which blocked our view to the north-east, was the position taken up by the enemy for a final struggle with our force. The plain on which our cavalry reconnoitred was all under cultivation, rich fields of clover and lucerne relieving the general brownness of the land, the crops of which had been lately reaped. Cultivation extended as far as the eye could reach on the right, while on all other sides high hills blocked the view, the gigantic Hindu Kush lying away in the distance to the north, keeping sentinel over Afghanistan as impassively as the Himalayas look down upon Hindustan.