142 
THE ARMAMENT OE SHERE AlBs ARM¥. 
u I never either lost or gained much by my contract. The iron for the 
guns came principally from India—some through Shikarpur, some from 
Peshawur. A small quantity was procured from Bajour and Zurmut. 
The core of the gun was first welded by hand on an iron bar, the 
required length and diameter. Long strips of iron having been placed 
all round the core, they were well hammered together, and bands of iron 
placed over all, to keep everything in its place. The gun was then 
bored out by the machinery at the water-mills of Deh-i-Afghanan. 
The machinery for these mills was. set up by a Hindustani, named 
Muah Khan. He learned his trade from a negro, named Belal, who was 
taught by one Ibrahim, a native of Ispahan, who came years ago from 
Persia to the service of Sultan Jan, late Governor of Herat. The gun 
was then rifled by hand, the breech-block and details completed, polished 
by machinery, and handed over to the arsenal. The strength of the 
guns was never proved by heavy charges being fired out of them, and 
they were at once taken into use. Out of all the guns I have made only 
one has burst. I could turn out four or five guns a month if necessary. 
My pay was 70 Rs. a month, and I occasionally received presents/* 
This was not a bad example of what perseverance can acomplish; for 
the guns manufactured are said by our gunners to be very well made, 
lacking only finish. The Armstrong breech-loaders would be creditable 
to an English founder, and we are now taking many of them to see if 
they cannot be used for the defences of Sherpur. A great number of 
small brass-guns for mountain batteries were also made. The old 
ordnance was broken up, and new guns were cast in the Bala Hissar 
arsenal, the boring and polishing being done at the Deh-i-Afghanan 
water-mills. The alloy used in these brass guns contains a larger 
percentage of copper than we generally use. The water-mills to which 
reference has been made can still be seen : a huge wheel with a long 
wooden shaft, in which the boring-tool was fixed. With such simple 
means it seems almost impossible that heavy guns could be bored; but 
still the work was done—slowly, it is true, but. effectually. The manu¬ 
facture of small-arms was not such a success. Kootub-ud-din, a Cabal 
gunsmith, was placed in charge of the Bala Hissar arsenal, and 
workmen under his direction made 2000 Sniders and 8000 Enfields. 
The Afghans placed but little faith in their imitation of our rifles ; they 
found that the breech-action of the Snider would not act, the extractor 
often failing to throw out the cartridge-case after firing, while the 
grooving of the Enfields was so imperfect that the barrel quickly got 
tc leaded ” — i.e., the grooves were filled with lead stripped from the bullet 
as it was driven out by the charge. It is worth remarking that in the 
Ameer*s palace were found several rifles of different patterns (the French 
Chassepot among them); and each had its Cabuli imitation. No doubt 
various experiments were made before the Snider was finally adopted. 
There was never any lack of gunpowder in Cabul, as the Ameer 
employed six contractors to turn out the quantities he needed. Each 
mill could make two maunds a day, so that the total daily out-turn on 
an emergency would be nearly 1000 lbs. These contractors also were 
ready to start other smaller mills during war-time, so that doubtless a 
