to resign his command as soon as the Army of the Indus began its march. Of the troops assembled under his orders, one column, about 9,500 strong, was told off by lot for active service under the command of Sir Willoughby Cotton, while the remainder were to be held in reserve at Ludhiána and Firozpur. The Bombay column, 5,600 strong, was to be commanded by Sir John Keane, who would take command of the whole force as soon as the two divisions came together. The Sháh's contingent was to march independently through Sind, keeping touch with the Bengal division. Under the escort of a Sikh contingent Prince Timúr, a son of Sháh Shujá, accompanied by Colonel Wade, was to march up to Kábul by way of Pesháwar and the Kháibar Pass.
Out of deference to the feelings of our 'ancient ally,' the Bengal troops were to make their way down the Sutlej valley through Bháwalpur, and along the left bank of the Indus to Rohri, where they would probably be joined by the Bombay column. After the passage of that river they would turn north-westward by Shikárpur across the Sind Desert to Dádar and the long Bolán Pass which would bring them out into the Shál valley. From Quetta the whole army would march on over the hills which divide Khelát from Kandahár. The route thus outlined was twice as long and at least as difficult as the straight road to Kábul through the Punjab. But Shujá with his motley force had passed over it in 1834; and what he had done with limited means a British army well
