SIEGE OF HERAT. 299 the place by assault ; but the energetic Vizeer contrived to put Herat in such a state as to enable it to present considerable obstacles to a Persian force. The rampart was patched up and the ditch deepened ; and as on the occasion of the previous siege of the place by the son of Abbass Meerza, the officer in command of the Persian artillery had been bribed not to fire shot or shell into the citadel, it was hoped that the same exemption might be once more purchased. At this time there arrived at the city of Herat a young English officer of artillery, and Yar Mahomed Khan had sufficient sagacity to perceive at once the immense benefit which might be derived by his master from the services of Lieutenant Eldred Pottinger. That officer had travelled through Afghani- stan in the disguise of an Oriental costume ; and when he made it known to the Vizeer that he was an Englishman, the latter from that moment sought to engage him in the task of defending the city. It would weary the reader were I to follow minutely the events of the tedious siege which now ensued. It was carried on, on the side of the Persians, with a disregard to the usages of civilized warfare ; for which they may have imagined they were to be held excusable, inasmuch as the men of Herat had formerly professed obedience to the Shah, and were now in arms against him. But most of the atrocities now committed were traceable, in the first instance, to the ungovernable promptings of hunger. When men came to report to the Persian authorities that the provisions which they had brought to the Shah's camp for sale had been seized and retained by the soldiers, all the compen- sation that awaited them was to be rudely abused, and afterwards turned out of the camp.
