a fierce war of posts commenced. The most serious of these affairs was at Peshoot, where Colonel Orchard's attempt to blow up the gate, as at Ghuznee, failed through the bad quality of the powder; and he was finally beaten off, with the loss of sixty-nine killed and wounded. The fort, however, with the adjacent one of Khatke, was then evacuated.
In May a general insurrectionary movement took place among the Ghiljies, a tribe occupying the high mountain territory between Candahar and Cabul; who, accustomed to a wild independence, could not brook the stricter rule under which they were now held. Captain Anderson, of the Bengal Artillery, marching against them with twelve hundred men, was attacked by more than double that number, who fought with such bravery as to render the contest for some time doubtful. They were, however, repulsed with great loss. Colonel Wallace, commanding another expedition despatched from Cabul, was equally successful; and the two corps having joined, several strongholds of the troublesome chiefs were blown up, which led to the present submission of the revolted tribe.
This warfare alone would have worn out our army; but, as the summer advanced, it assumed a bolder character. Dost Mahommed, after a narrow escape from being betrayed and murdered by the Khan of Bokhara, received assistance in his extremity from the Khan of Kokan, on the Persian border; and, in company with Afzul Khan, one of his sons, he proceeded to Affghanistan, to excite the country to a holy War for the expulsion of the unbelieving English. As the expelled ruler marched upon Cabul, he was met in the valley of Bamian by Colonel Dennie, with a very inferior force. But, though the Dost's army was estimated at six thousand men, and the British troops consisted of only two hundred of the 35th Bengal Native Infantry, two hundred and fifty of the Shah's infantry, three hundred native cavalry, and a detail of artillery, with two field-pieces, the gallant Dennie promptly decided on an immediate
