138 MAJOR W. HODSON. 



swift and bright river, at the foot of the hills, on 

 the watch for incursions or forays, and to guard 

 the richly cultivated plain of the Peshawar valley 

 from depredations from the hills. We are ready, of 

 course, to boot and saddle at all hours ; our rifles 

 and carbines are loaded, and our sw^ords keen and 

 bright ; and w^oe to the luckless chief who, trusting 

 to his horses, descends upon the plain too near 

 our pickets ! Meanwhile I am civil as well as 

 military chief, and the natural taste of the Yuzafzai 

 Pathans for broken heads, murder, and violence, 

 as well as their litigiousness about their lands, keeps 

 me very hard at work from day to day." 



It occurs to him that such a life might be better 

 suited to a careless bachelor than to " a husband 

 with such a wife as mine," Mrs Hodson having been 

 ordered to the hills at the beginning of May, and 

 it might be six months before they met again. 



In the same letter he describes his manner of life : 

 " A daybreak parade or inspection, a gallop across 

 the plain to some outpost, a plunge in the river, 

 and then an early breakfast, occupy your time until 

 9 A.M. Then come a couple of corpses, whose owmers 

 (late) had their heads broken overnight, and con- 

 sequent investigations and examinations ; next a 

 batch of villagers to say their crops are destroyed 

 by a storm, and no rents forthcoming. Then a 

 scream of woe from a plundered farm on the frontier, 

 and next a grain-dealer to say his camels have been 

 carried ofi" to the hills. Is not this a dainty dish 

 to set before — your brother ? Then each of my 

 900 men considers me bound to listen to any 

 amount of stories he may please to invent or 

 remember of his own private griefs and troubles ; 



