SIR PETER LUMSDEN. His Valuable Services in the Last Afghan War.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 106, 13 June 1885, Page 5

SIR PETER LUMSDEN. His Valuable Services in the Last Afghan War.

One of tho members of the English Logation furnishes some interesting gossip regarding Sir Peter Lumsdon. " From his youth," said this gentlemen, " Lumsden has been a man of war. He first saw war in the service of the East India Company, and distinguished himself as a youngster in tho terrible mutiny of 1S57. He learned the Hindustani dialects years ago when Sir Frederick Roberts was on his way to Candahar. A few years ago it was of the utmost consequence that he should have some accurato knowledge of the route and forces likely to oppose him in the mountain passos. This information Sir Potor Lumsdon volunteered to obtain. Three days elapsed and ho had npt returned. General Roberts was sitting in his tent when a Fakir, or holy man, suddenly appeared, riding furiously down the mountain side. He was an extraordinary looking creature, his only garment being a pair of dirty trousers made of goatskin. His hair nearly reached to his waist, and his lean, brawny arms wore covered with a paste made of sandalwood ashes mixed with castor oil- a decoration of peculiar sancity and powerful smell. The General came out and asked his visitor what he wanted. The reply, in a barbarian jargon, was a request for a private interview. "When they were alone the Fakir said : •Don't you know me?' It was Lumsden, whose disguise— dirt, wig and all— had been so complete as to be unsuspected "by a man whose intimate friend he had been for ten years. Knowing how superstitious the Afghns are, Lumsden had selected a disguise they would not readily question. He knew the dialect of the class he reprei sented perfectly, and whenever he apI proached an Afghan encampment he dashed fearlessly up yelling, • Lah Allah Mahmoud resoul Allah,' the mystic words of the faithful. His identity was never suspected. The information he obtained enabled the English to capture Candahar and rendered the campaign the most successful one ever made among those bleak mountains. " For £his service General Lumsden was in July, 1881, commissioned a MajorGeneral of the 'Bengal etaff and given £10,000,"