Part 5

The Dogras are very particular in all matters relating to food and drink. They are keen sportsmen, and in rifle-shooting they maintain a fair standard of excellence. Hawking and snaring birds are favourite pastimes among them, and even such games as tip-cat, leap-frog, and hop-scotch are not unknown to them.

This brave and loyal race were faithful to us during the Mutiny, and their services at the siege of Delhi were invaluable; but as early as 1849 their soldierly qualities had been recognised, for it was at that time that the Government enlisted great numbers of them in the Punjab Frontier Force. The reason of this lay chiefly in their military value, although it was at the same time evident that they would be useful to balance the influence of the Sikhs, who were still imbued with Khalsa traditions.

The 2nd Sikh Infantry, raised at Kangra in 1846, consisted entirely of Dogras. This was the regiment that ratified its loyalty by assisting to quell a rebellion of its own countrymen. Later, in the second Afghan war, this same regiment, the majority still being Dogras, fought gallantly at the battle of Ahmad Khel. Indeed, there was a moment in this battle when victory or defeat depended entirely on this regiment. At this critical juncture it behaved splendidly, and disaster was averted.

THE DOGRA REGIMENTS, WITH THEIR BATTLE HONOURS

_Company Regiments--Cavalry_

It must be borne in mind that Company Regiments are those which contain squadrons or companies of different native classes. The following regiments of Indian Cavalry contain Dogras in the proportions given:

_7th Hariana Lancers_, one squadron.

_9th Hodson's Horse_, half a squadron.

_10th Duke of Cambridge's Own Lancers_ (Hodson's Horse), one squadron.

_11th King Edward's Own Lancers_ (Probyn's Horse), one squadron.

_12th Cavalry_, one squadron.

_13th Duke of Connaught's Lancers_ (Watson's Horse), one squadron.

_16th Cavalry_, one squadron.

_19th Lancers_ (Fane's Horse), half a squadron.

_21st Prince Albert Victor's Own Cavalry_ (Frontier Force) (Daly's Horse), half a squadron.

_23rd Cavalry_ (Frontier Force), half a squadron.

_25th Cavalry_ (Frontier Force), one squadron.

_Class Regiments--Infantry_

37TH DOGRAS. Raised 1858, disbanded 1882, re-formed 1887.

Comprises 8 companies of Dogras.

BATTLE HONOURS.--"Chitral," "Punjab Frontier."

UNIFORM.--_Scarlet_, facings _yellow_.

38TH DOGRAS. Raised 1858.

Comprises 8 companies of Dogras.

BATTLE HONOURS.--"Punjab Frontier," "Malakand."

UNIFORM.--_Scarlet_, facings _yellow_.

41ST DOGRAS. Raised 1900.

Comprises 8 companies of Dogras.

UNIFORM.--_Scarlet_, facings _yellow_.

THE BALUCHIS

The Baluchis are said to come of Arab stock. Their legends and traditions attribute their origin to Hamzah, an Arab of the Koreish tribe, which claimed the honour of including the prophet Mahomet as one of its number. Mahomet is said to have been Hamzah's nephew. Notwithstanding the fact that some Mahomedan peoples are in the habit of employing elaborate fiction in their claims to close connection with their prophet, it still remains that there is much evidence in favour of the general tradition existing among the Baluchis as to their Arab origin.

The traditional Hamzah, progenitor of the Baluchi race, is regarded as one of the most important of the early Mahomedan chiefs. He is pictured as a mighty warrior, a man of Herculean strength and high courage; hence his romantic and classical sobriquet, "Lion of God." The tradition runs that Hamzah was killed at the battle of Ohod in 625 A.D. His descendants and adherents settled about Aleppo, whence they were driven by Yezid, son and successor of Muavia, and first Omeyeid Kalif. It seems that the reason for this expulsion was that Hamzah and his tribe had given assistance to Hössein, grandson of the prophet, in his attempt to oust Yezid from the position which he had occupied.

Being driven forth into the desert, the tribe migrated eastward as far as Persia, where, as pastoral nomads, they wandered and lived and multiplied to such an extent as to cause considerable alarm to the Persian monarch. It is to this sojourn that the Baluchis attribute their obvious admixture of Persian blood and characteristics. As their rapid increase in numbers promised trouble to the Persian kingdom, steps were taken to expel them, and they ultimately descended into an uninhabited tract south-east of Mekran--a country to which no one laid any definite claim. From this point they gradually spread over the whole of the country now known as Baluchistan, driving before them all the peoples who had so far emigrated to that region. It will be seen from this that the probabilities are decidedly in favour of the Arab origin of the Baluchis. Yet it has been contended by some that they are a race of Turkish stock, since certain of their rites and customs seem to be drawn from that source; nevertheless it is more probable, from all the available facts, that the Turcoman and Persian characteristics and survivals are merely the result of a temporary admixture.

Very little is known of the early history of the warlike Baluchis beyond what can be drawn from tradition, unsupported by any written historical records. One of their chief traditions is that Jalal Khan, who led them out of Persia, had four sons, named Rind, Hot, Lashari, and Korai; and a daughter named Jato. At the present day there are five distinct tribes which still bear the names of these five children of Jalal Khan; but of these tribes the Rind and Lashari soon acquired, by reason of their superior force of character, a predominant influence, so that, as the people multiplied and split up into an ever-increasing number of tribes, all these fell under the domination of the Rind or the Lashari. Gradually in this way all the Baluchi race came to be divided under two great heads, the Rind and the Lashari--a division which has been determined, not by descent, but by political sympathy.

The Rind division possess a great traditional hero, Mir Chakar, who is supposed to have lived in the sixteenth century, and to have been a powerful dependent of the Moghul Emperor Humayun, giving him great assistance in his re-conquest of the Delhi throne. In return for this Humayun bestowed upon Mir Chakar a large tract of land on the frontier, and it is more than probable that the Baluchis' settlements on the southern frontier were founded in this way.

The Lashari faction also had their traditional hero, Mir Gwahram Khan, of whom many stories of heroism are recorded. His name has still a sound of glory for the Lasharis.

The Baluchis follow the Mahomedan religion, but, like the Gurkhas, they are not religious by nature, preferring practical pursuits and tangible material ideals, chief among which is war. It is not that they are less bigoted than many of the other races, but rather that they are more practical. Their language is a rude and far-off dialect of the early Persians, and they have no form of written literature.

Although the Baluchi differs greatly from the Pathan in the matter of religion, there are many points in common in regard to social character. The Baluchi has the manly, frank, brave, strong nature of the Pathan, with a fund of patience rendering him capable of enduring endless hardship, and a fine dignified carriage and physique combined with a spirit of quick daring and sudden ferocity; to these qualities he adds the virtues of truth, fidelity, and simple generosity. His condemnation of servility, insolence, deceit, and treachery in many tribes is indicative of his character. His wild, free, open-air life, combined with the artificial restraints of civilisation, has given him a bold and resolute air of vigour and self-reliance. It redounds to his fundamental integrity to find still existing in Baluchistan a kind of altar or sacred stone--"a stone or cairn of cursing--erected as a perpetual memorial to the treachery of one who betrayed his fellow." His chivalry is superior to that of some more cultured races, for, wild as he is, he will not harm the women and children even of his bitterest foe. Yet his moral code allows him to plunder and to loot on a wholesale scale. But set against this is his strong adherence to discipline, a quality which has developed more and more during his closer touch with the British.

If a Baluchi were allowed his own choice of weapons in any fight whatever, his immediate selection would be a long knife, a sword, and a shield. He has never found any material use for the matchlock, which has always been so dear to the heart of the Pathan. He is a born knifer, and loves to kill at close quarters--a fact based upon the primitive blood-thirstiness of his nature, "blood for blood" being his motto. The tales of the Baluchi's prodigal hospitality to a stranger within his gates, and then waylaying and murdering him on his departure, must be discredited in these days, when these fierce instincts have been turned into worthier channels. Nor should any credence be accorded to such stories of degradation as picture him the habitué of the opium, hemp, and gambling dens; for, though he may have been prone to wild excesses, recent years have seen nobler ambitions placed before him, and certainly those Baluchis now showing their loyalty and love for Britain and the right on the battlefields of Europe are not of the class of whom these stories have been told. A word of praise must be given to the Baluchi's horse, which he rides as if it were a part of him. Baluchistan produces some of the finest horses in the world.

THE BALUCHI REGIMENTS, WITH THEIR BATTLE HONOURS

_Cavalry_

37TH LANCERS. (Baluch Horse.) Raised 1885.

Class Squadron Regiment. 2 squadrons Derajat Mussalmans (including Baluchis), 1 squadron Pathans, 1 squadron Sikhs.

UNIFORM.--_Khaki serge_, facings _buff_. (No service.)

_Infantry_

126TH BALUCHISTAN INFANTRY. Raised 1825.

Class Company Regiment. 2 companies Hazaras, 1 company Khattacks, 1 company Waziris, 2 companies Baluchis and Brahmans, 2 companies Sikhs and other Jat Sikhs.

BATTLE HONOURS.--"Persia," "Khooshab," "China 1900."

UNIFORM.--_Drab_ (_red serge trousers_), facings _scarlet_.

127TH QUEEN MARY'S OWN BALUCH LIGHT INFANTRY. Raised 1844.

Class Company Regiment. 4 companies Pathans, 2 companies Hill Baluchis, 2 companies Punjabi Mussalmans.

BADGE.--In each of the four corners the Cypher of Queen Mary.

BATTLE HONOURS.--"Delhi," "Abyssinia," "Afghanistan 1878/80," "Burma 1885," "British East Africa 1897/99."

UNIFORM.-_Green_ (_red serge trousers_), facings _scarlet_.

129TH DUKE OF CONNAUGHT'S OWN BALUCHIS. Raised 1846.

Class Company Regiment. 4 companies North-west Frontier Pathans, 2 companies Hill Baluchis, 2 companies Punjabi Mussalmans.

BATTLE HONOURS.--"Persia," "Reshire," "Bushire," "Khooshab," "Kandahar 1880," "Afghanistan 1878/80," "Egypt 1882," "Tel-el-Kebir."

UNIFORM.--_Green_ (_red serge trousers_), facings _scarlet_.

_130TH KING GEORGE'S OWN BALUCHIS._ (Jacob's Rifles.) Raised 1858.

Class Company Regiment. 3 companies Pathans, 2 companies Mahsuds, 3 companies Punjabi Mussalmans.

BADGES.--The Plume of the Prince of Wales and the Royal and Imperial Cypher.

BATTLE HONOURS.--"Afghanistan 1878/80," "China 1900."

UNIFORM.--_Green_ (_red serge trousers_), facings _scarlet_.

THE BATTLES OF THE GOLDEN DAGON PAGODA

(Burmese War, 1824)

Diminished by sickness and death, brought on by hard service during an inclement season, by defective provisions, and by the ordinary casualties of war, Sir Archibald Campbell's forces at Rangoon were greatly weakened. But the opportune arrival of the 89th British Regiment from Madras, and of parts of two detachments which had subdued the islands of Cheduba and Negrais, raised the effective strength just at the critical moment. By the end of June, 1824, the Burmese in this quarter appeared to have somewhat recovered from their defeats at our hands. Chiefs of the highest fame, who, until they came in contact with our troops, had always been victorious, were sent down the Irawaddi from Ava and from Prome, with orders to slay or torture and mutilate every Burmese soldier that did not fight to the utmost; and one of the brightest of golden umbrellas, Sykya Wongee, minister of state, was appointed commander-in-chief, with positive commands from the Golden Foot to attack and drive the British at once into the sea. Following this, on the first day of July, all the woods in Sir Archibald's front exhibited bustle and commotion; 8,000 men had crossed to the Rangoon side of the river; the jungles around all seemed animated; clouds of rising smoke marked the encampments of the different corps of the Burmese army in the forest; and their noisy preparations for attack formed a striking contrast to the still and quiet of our readiness.

Golden Dagon Pagoda was the key of the British position. This splendid edifice, in itself a fortress, is a little over two miles from the town of Rangoon. In shape it resembles an inverted speaking-trumpet; it is 338 feet high, and is surmounted by a cap made of brass, 45 feet high; the whole is richly gilded. The base of this pagoda is a conical hill, flat at the top, and rising about 75 feet above the road.

In the neighbourhood of this gorgeous building Sir Archibald Campbell placed a whole battalion of British troops. The two roads running from the pagoda to the town were occupied by our forces, native and European. The minor pagodas, bronze houses, and pilgrims' houses along these two roads afforded good shelter to the troops against the stormy weather, and some further shelter from the attack of an enemy whose artillery was somewhat light. Two detached posts completed our position--one at the village of Puzendown, about a mile below the town, where the Pegu and Rangoon rivers meet; the other at Kemmendine, about three miles above the town; this second post being chiefly intended to protect our shipping against the descent of the enemy's fire-rafts.

On the morning of July 1st the enemy issued in dense masses from the jungle to the right and front of the Golden Dagon Pagoda. Detaching to their left a column, which succeeded in setting fire to part of the village of Puzendown, their main body came boldly up to within half a mile of Rangoon, and commenced a spirited attack upon part of our line. But two field-pieces, served with grape and shrapnel, presently checked their advance, and then a brilliant charge by the 43rd Madras Native Infantry put them all to flight. In a very few minutes not a man could be seen of the Burmese host, except the killed and wounded; nor could anything be heard of them except a wild screaming of baffled fury coming from the depths of the forest.

Their defeated commander was brought to book by the Golden Foot, and degraded. Then a still higher minister of state, named Soomba Wongee, who had arrived with reinforcements, took the command, and commenced stockading his army in the most difficult and intricate part of the forest, at Kummeroot, about five miles from the Great Pagoda, intending, chiefly under cover of night, to carry on such a system of desultory warfare as would harass, and ultimately destroy, our sickly, worn-out soldiers. He also fortified a commanding point on the river about Kemmendine, in communication with his stockaded camp, hoping by this means not only to obstruct the navigation of the river, but also to construct and employ numerous fire-rafts. But this new commander-in-chief had scarcely finished his works when he was driven from them with a terrible slaughter.

It was on July 8th that Sir Archibald Campbell embarked with one column for the attack of the position upon the river, and Brigadier-General MacBean, with a land column, marched upon the forest stockades at Kummeroot. The works on the river were found to be so formidable that it was judged necessary to employ breaching vessels; accordingly a brig and three Company's cruisers, manned by seamen of his Majesty's and the Company's navy, under the superintendence of Captain Marryat, soon opened a heavy cannonade and silenced the enemy's guns. Our troops then pushed across the river in boats, entered the practicable breach which the firing of our seamen had made, and carried all those works with comparatively trifling loss. The Burmese suffered severely in killed, and many of them were drowned in trying to escape across the river.

The operations of the land column, under MacBean, were equally successful. It was unprovided with artillery; but the storming parties, who escaladed stockade after stockade, consisted entirely of British troops. Here, again, the slaughter was dreadful. Soomba Wongee, and several chiefs of high rank, with 800 men, were killed within the stockades; and the neighbouring jungles were filled with the unhappy creatures who were wounded, and left to die from want of food and care. Some of these poor Burmese were found by the English soldiers, and brought into our hospitals; but, unfortunately, none of them recovered. The monsoon rains were now at their height. The adjacent country was almost wholly under water. Nothing was to be obtained from it. Again, disease spread so rapidly among our troops that the outlook was desperate.

Meanwhile an Expeditionary Force, consisting of his Majesty's 89th Regiment and the 7th Madras Native Infantry, under the command of Colonel Miles, was detached from Rangoon, with a considerable naval force, to subdue the maritime possessions of his Burmese Majesty to the eastward, in the hope that their loss might induce him to sue for peace. The success of the expedition was complete: Tavoy surrendered. Mergui was taken by storm, and British protection was welcomed by the inhabitants of the entire coast of Tenasserim.

Some few weeks later Sir Archibald Campbell attempted to release such of the inhabitants of Rangoon as were desirous of returning to their houses; and, by means of the sudden, unexpected, and, to the natives, inexplicable movement of our steamboats, a few families who had been driven to the villages at the heads of the numerous creeks which branch off from the Rangoon river were released from their guard, and joyfully took the opportunity of returning to their city. It was to the report of these people of the kind treatment they met with that our army was afterwards indebted for the return of the great body of the men whose services and exertions contributed to the final success of the war.

Having, so far, failed in all his undertakings, the Lord of the White Elephant now sent his two brothers, the Prince of Tonghoo and the Prince of Sarrawaddy, with a whole host of astrologers and a corps of "Invulnerables," to join the army and to direct the future operations of the war. The astrologers were to fix the lucky moment for attacking; the "Invulnerables" had some points of resemblance to the Turkish Delhis; they were the desperadoes, or madmen, of the army, and their madness was kept up by enormous doses of opium. The corps consisted of several thousand men, divided into classes; the most select band of all being called the "King's Own Invulnerables."

The Prince of Tonghoo established his headquarters at Pegu, and the Prince of Sarrawaddy took post at Donoopew, upon the great river, about sixty miles from Rangoon. In the beginning of August the Prince of Sarrawaddy sent down a force to occupy a strong post at the mouth of the Pegu River, a few miles below Rangoon, giving his people strict orders to block up the channel of the river in our rear, so that not one of the "wild foreigners" or "captive strangers" might escape the punishment that was about to fall upon them. Brigadier Smelt was at once sent, with a small corps, to dislodge Sarrawaddy's force. Our land troops were brought to a standstill, when within musket-shot of the place, by a deep and impassable creek; but a party of sailors from his Majesty's ship _Larne_, under Captain Marryat, threw a bridge over the creek; and, as soon as the column of attack pushed forward, the enemy began to fly, leaving eight guns and a quantity of ammunition in their stockade. A strong pagoda, with a numerous garrison, and with cannons pointing down every approach, was next carried with equal facility. Other posts on the rivers and creeks were then attacked and taken. Such of the enemy as had had any experience of our way of fighting seldom stopped to fight in their stockades; but a new set of people from the interior made a good stand in a succession of stockades on one of the rivers, and cost us the loss of a good many brave men.

All this time the astrologers were busy casting the lucky moment. Finally they told the Prince of Sarrawaddy that the moment had come for a decisive action; and, on the night of August 30th, a body of the "King's Own Invulnerables" promised to attack and carry the Golden Dagon Pagoda, in order that the princes and the sages and pious men in their train might celebrate the usual annual festival in that sacred place--which was now crowded with English grenadiers. And, true so far to their promise, the "Invulnerables," at the hour of midnight, rushed in a compact body from the jungle under the pagoda armed with swords and muskets. A small picquet, thrown out in our front, retired in slow and steady order, skirmishing with the "Invulnerables" until they reached the flight of steps leading from the road up to the pagoda. The moon had gone down, and the night was so dark that the enemy could be distinguished only by a few glimmering lanterns in their front; but their noise and clamour and the volume of their threats and imprecations launched upon the impious strangers if they did not immediately evacuate the sacred temple proved their number to be very great.

"In a dense column," says the historian, "they rolled along the narrow pathway leading to the northern gate of the pagoda, wherein all seemed as silent as the grave. But hark! the muskets crash, the cannons roar along the ramparts of the British post, drowning the tumult of the advancing column; and see!--see by the flash of our guns, the column reels back, the 'Invulnerables' fall, mortally wounded, and the rest turn their backs on the holy place, and run with frantic speed for the covering of the jungle."

Our grape-shot and our musketry broke the spell--those "Invulnerables" ventured no more near any of our posts. But a far more terrible enemy came within the lines; the dysentery broke out among our troops, killing many of them, and reducing more to a most emaciated and feeble state. Scarcely three thousand duty soldiers were left to guard the lines. Floating hospitals were established at the mouth of the river; and bread was now furnished in sufficient quantities, but nothing except change of season or of climate could restore the sufferers to health. Mergui and Tavoy, portions of our conquest on the sea-coast, were represented by the medical officers who visited them as admirable convalescent stations; and thither a number of our soldiers were sent, and with the most beneficial result. Men who had for months continued in a most debilitated state at Rangoon, rapidly recovered on arriving at Mergui, and were soon restored to their duty in full health.