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12. COISTAUN FOOT SOLDIERY.
THE Coistaun has always been remarkable for the warlike character of its inhabitants, who average some forty thousand families famous for the efficiency and excellence of their “Pyadas” (foot soldiery). As light infantry they are unrivalled, and, from their numbers and determined courage, are of considerable importance in the event of any revolution in which they may take part.
The principal figure in this sketch is a Coistaunee, and his name Meer Alum. He was formerly one of a band of noted robbers, who infested the Ghoorbund Pass (the high road to Toorkistaun north-west of Begraum). They were commanded by a chief called Hussun, who levied black-mail on everything passing through his mountain defiles, and, resisting every attempt made to take him, became the terror of the whole country. One fine day, coolly marching into Caubul with some of his gang, he applied for a private interview with the Envoy, which was of course refused; but on his pressing it urgently, on the plea of having an important disclosure to make touching affairs of state, his “urz” (petition) was granted. When admitted, he strongly objected to the presence of a third person, and on the room being cleared, having satisfied himself that no one could interrupt them, the robber chief, stealthily approaching the minister on tiptoe, as though fearful lest the boards might catch the dread secret, hissed close into his attentive auditor’s ear, “If you will give me six thousand rupees, I will, Inshaullah (please God), bring in the head of Dost Mahommed Khaun and place it at your feet.” The exiled ruler was then hovering about Nijrow and the Ghoorbund Pass, prior to the fight of Purwaun Durrah, the last blow struck by him for his throne. I need scarcely mention the horror and astonishment with which this daring and villainous proposition was received by the kind-hearted, much-to-be-regretted Sir William Macnaghten, or add that it was instantly and indignantly rejected.
Hussun and his bandits were afterwards enrolled among the infantry escort of my brother, on giving up the precarious livelihood they obtained by “Allamaunee” (robbery), and most efficient soldiers they became. Their dress consisted of the blue, red, or white loose shirt, worn outside the full trouser; “kummerbund” (waist-belt) of muslin or Peshawuree “loonghee,” a plaid scarf of silk and cotton mixture, from which hung the “kummerkeess,” or embroidered Russia leather powder, shot, and bullet purses, with a variety of useful articles suspended on fantastically-shaped hooks, consisting of diminutive hammers, gunpicks, knife, and rosary. On their heads they were the high flowing turban, or close scull-cap. Their arms were short iron spears, shields of buffalo or rhinoceros hides; “choras,” or straight knives from twenty-five to thirty-five inches in length; blunderbusses, called “sherebuchchas” (lion-whelps); “tofungs,” matchlocks, with barrels forty-six inches long, and stocks studded in ivory, brass, or silver patterns; curved swords, and “juzzails.” These last are large heavy rifles, resembling a wallpiece in size, and fixed in an iron forked rest, when fired – but which, notwithstanding their caliber, are flung across their shoulders, by these excellent light infantry, and handled as dexterously while they spring from rock to rock, or swarm hand-over-hand the hanging precipice, as though they were but feathers. I have seen the stocks of these formidable weapons set in flowered patterns of mother-o’-pearl buttons, torn possibly from the shirt of some unlucky victim of their unerring aim; and one I picked up at Candahar had the whole length of the stock inlaid with rows of double and single teeth. The Afghaun has no idea of proper proportions in loading: placing a bullet in the palm of his half-closed hand, he pours powder on it, until it is concealed; then rams the two down together, careless which reaches the bottom of the barrel first. Sometimes he uses, however, a rude pair of scales; on one side is a string of glass and leaden beads, or an iron tube filled with gravel, to weigh against the powder (in a similar apparatus), the grains of which are as large as dust-shot. Then come the bullets, cast always in a jagged mould, to cause a tearing wound; instead of which, when lead is scarce, round polished pebbles come in useful. I have seen these last cut out of a leg or arm with long iron nails, or strings of lead, rolled tightly round them, and an ugly mark they leave. Their rifles and “juzzails” are deadly weapons, and kill at an incredible distance; six hundred yards is allowed to be the usual range of these expert marksmen. I was one among many witnesses, during our last descent of the Huft Kootul (seven steep passes), thirty miles on the Caubul side of Jugdulluk, to the withering destruction dealt out by a single “jezzailchee” perched up far away in the distant heights above us, and invisible but for the flash of powder, which showed him for an instant as his piece went off.
Evening was closing in, and we were still fighting after a severe day’s work, and all hemmed in, by the extreme narrowness of the defile, in an immovable mass. The fleet twanging messengers of death whistled shrilly amongst us, each one to its destination, with that peculiar leaden-sounding thud, when striking home, which none can conceive but those who have witnessed it. As regular as a minute-bell was the deadly report heard, a delay occurring between each shot; and the light of that solitary marksman seen, when “now it’s you, now for me,” passed on from one to the other in English and Hindoostaunee, as forty of us fell killed and wounded around. As we marched under his mountain lair, a savage yell resounded through the dark passes and the long reached of desolate wastes, while every cliff re-echoed with “Yah Allah! Allah! Allah!” the war-cry of the Afghaun.
[Keywords]
piyada/ ‘arz/ alamani/ lungi/ kamarkisa/ chura/ sherbachche/ tofang/ jazayerchi/ Kohestani/ Ghorband/ Turkistan/ Bagram/ Kabul/ Dust Muhammad Khan/ Nijraw/ Parwan Darra/ Haft Kotal/ Jagdalak/ Hindustani
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