PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2310, 9 June 1898, Page 51

PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

With tlie MalaUana Field Force.

Two or three-years ago I^baS the pleasure of recommending to you ?♦ Where Three Empires Meet," a description of tbe Cbitral campaign by E. F. Knight, a man who has made a name for himself as a war correspondent, and' who is at under arrest in Oaba, where he had lauded to* aot as correspondent for tha London Times. Though descriptive of war and travel, it h&d a far larger sale than many a current popular novel.

There has jubt been issued another volume which is in most respects almost as interesting, and in one respect more so, for it gives more detail of actual warfare, and an even more vivid and more up-to-date description of tbe guerilla tactics used in the frontier wars.

The story or the Malakand Meld Force is written by Lieutenant Churchill, of the 4fchQueen's Hussars, who obtaiaed leave of absence from his own regiment for came weeks and accompanied the force, noting while with it /as special correspondent for the London Daily Telegraph and an ledian paper. The author inscribes the voloma to Major-general Sir Bindon Blood, X.0.8., Commander of the Foroee, to whom he says he is indebted for the most valuable and faicinatlng experience of his life. The volume indeed may be eaid to be a continuation of " Where Three Empires Meet," for the theatre of war described is almost within rifle shot of Ohitral, and the military operations were partly -caused by the revolt following the' retention of Gnitral when it had been agreed to evacuate it. In the opening chapter we get a description of the country disaffected. Here's a portion of it :—" Along the north and northi west frontiers, of India lie the Himalayas, tbe greatest disturbance of the earth's sur- ; face that the convulsions of chaotic periods have produced. This mountainous, region ia not a line, but a country of mountains 400 miles wide by 1600 miles long. Standing on some lofty pass or commanding point in Dir, Swat, or Bajaur (where the Makaland force acted}, range after range is seen as the long surges of the Atlantic swell, and in the distance some glittering snow peak suggests a white-crested roller yet higher still." One would hardly think so, but amid these mountains), rice, jn&ize, and barley are grown in the nullahs and on tier above tier of narrow terraces; and grapes, tulips, peonies, crocuses, and several kinds of polyanthus grow wild.

How shall I describe the people 1 A. column or two would hardly sufflcs. Except in times of sowing and harvesting a oontiaual state of fend and strife pr avails. Kban fights khan, each supported by his retainers ; one valley fights against another ; every tribesman has a blood feud with his neighbour ; N every mart's band is against another, and all against the stranger. Every influence, every motive that provokes the spirit of murder among men impels these mountaineers to deeds of treachery and violence. To tbe ferocity of the Zulu art

The latest discovery in medical science is Townend's celebrated Cinnamon Cure for 60b», sumption and kindred diseases of the aft passages, coughs, colds, loss of voice, brojW chifcis, bronchial asthma, whooping coughj croup, influenza, pleurisy, pneumonia, an* catarrh, SptH kxexxshexd, Bricfr 2« SdU*§ 'Advfc, - - ,

added the craft of the Redskin and the marksmanship of ths Boar. The world is presented with that grim< spsctacie — the Btrength of civilisation without . its mercy. Here the weapons of the nineteenth century are in the hands of the savages of the stone age, and at a thousand yards the traveller falls wounded by the well-aimed bullet of a breech-loading rifle. And hers just notice for a moment the difference between frontier fighting and European warfare as generally understood. In the quarrels of civilised nations great armies, many thousands strong, collide. Brigades and battalions are hurried forward and come perhaps within sorae firn zone, swept by concentrated batteries or massed musketry. Hundreds of thousands fall, killed or wounded. But the courage, nerve, and training of these men are not on a par with that of frontier veterans. The continental armies possess quantity but not quality — or at all events aot nearly to the game extect. Formerly what Britain's frontier regiments wanted in local knowledge and adaptation was more than made up for in supremacy of arms ; but that advantage is fast disappearing, for the Alfridis possessed — and where not conquered still possess — coany rifles identical with" those need against them ; and the -British troops are abla .to give their expe r liences/ from -wounds received, of the new expansive bullet, which, spreading, tears the •flesh' and shatters . bone, and results in a larjger percentage of death's and »mputatioßß than is the case with any other 'modern ■bullet is use. . indeed, the 'continents) nations are protesting against it, insisting that it is to all intents and purposes an explosive bullet, which is banned by agreement among the nations. Besides contending against these modem arms/ which are supplied ' by Bassians and Afghans, or stolen from Indian arsenals, troops o» the frontier are hampered by the necessity of an extensive transport train and the care of the wounded. Camels and mules make good targets, and a transport train is so long drawn that it is almost impossible effectually to protect the whole from the long shots of the tribesmen ; and when a man is wounded it generally takes four men to remove him to the rear. Bo 10 wounded means 50 men thrown out of action, and at the same time targets for the enemy occupying the superior heights. The dead even are religiously removed, for to leave them means the most horrible mutilation. What I have written will give you a Faint idea of the difficulties a civilised force ! have to contend with when fighting an nnci- j rilleed foe in his mountain fastnesses— a foe, ] perhaps, whose only property is his rifle and ! the. clothing he stands in. The 9fad Mullah. If any .of you are In doubt as to the power I behind religion, or of the comforting effect ! of a religious, belief, read the .chapter dealing i with.'.* The-Oabbreak ",in this book, and also- ( "Ten Years' Captivity in the Mahfdi's Camp," by Father , Joseph Ohrwalaer, and Slatin Bey's experience's, both of which read like • romances, apart from their, worth as history. Kead, too, "-The Tragedy of the Korosco," .byConan Doyle," which, though a novel, gives a vivid picr.ure of Mahpicmedan fanaticism, but side by side with it shows the atreagth and ' comfort resnlting from a Christian belief, whether Roman Catholic or Protestant. Christianity, however degraded and distorted by cruelty and intolerance, always exerts a modifying- influence upon men's passions, and protects them from the more "violent forms of fanatical fever as we are protected from smallpox by vaccination. But the Mabcmmedaß religion Increases instead of lessening the fary of intolerance. It was originally propagated by the sword, and ever since has been subject to this form of madness. So Mohammedans in a moment throw- aside the fruits of .patient toil, the prospects of material prosperity, even the fear of death itself. All rational considerations are forgotten. Seizing their weapons, they become Ghazis-^as daDgerous and as sensible es mad dogs ; and those not convulsed in an ecstasy of religious bloodshed are nrged on by those who are,- and receive additional impulse from the hope of plunder and the' joy of fighting. _ Thus the Turks xepel their enemies, the Arabs of the Soudan break the British equar.es, and the rising on the Icdiah frontier spreads far and wide. , In each case civilisation .[is confronted with militant Mahommedanism. The, religion of blood and war is face to, face with thajb of „ peace.\ ' , Lnekily the religion of peace is usually better' armed. , Now for the Mad Mullah. Wrongs real " and supposed, the Mchamruadan successes against Greece, the Amir's book on "Jehad," ' and, indiscreet writing in' the Indian press, - Anglo-Indian and native, produced a boom in Mahommedanism which only wanted the man to produce an explosion of the pant-up forces. This man appeared in the Mullah, ■who was to the outbreak on the trontier what Peter the Hermit; was to the Crusades. He woiked miracles. He asserted that he ■was invisibly at sight, and looking into his room no one was seen. Ha declared he would destroy the infidel. He wanted no help. No one should share the honours. The more he protested he didn't want assistance the mora the fanatics gathered about him. He said incidentally that all fighting against the infidel would be invulnerable. And when, in ths first onslaught, a fourth were left on the field, it was "because they doubted, and be showed them a plight bruise which was the only effect a 12lb shrapnel shell had on bis sacred person. Armies had descended from the heavens and were concoaled from the inquisitive gaze among the mountains. When the moment came they would sally forth — horse, foot, and artillery — and by the time of the new moon not an Infidel would be left. And the poor ignorant fanatics believed him. - v Wbat did they know of the distant regiments- which the telegraph wires were drawing from far down Jn the 'south of India ? Little did they realise they had set the world humming ; that military officers were hurrying 7000 miles by.eea anfi laud, from England, to the ' camps in the mountains ; that long trains were carrying ammunition, material, and supplies' from distant v depots to the front. These ignorant tribesmen had no conception of the sensitiveness of that modern civilisation which thrills and quivers in every part p£ its vast and complex system at the slightest touoh. r

Like moat folk who can't fit look beyond trnir nose, thsy had a rod* >yWPk>snisg. ' -.