143 
THE ARMAMENT OE SHERE ALpS ARMY. 
ton of powder could have been supplied every day so long as funds were 
forthcoming. The composition of the powder was 75 parts of saltpetre, 
10 of sulphur, and 15 of charcoal. Bamian supplied the sulphur, with 
occasional small quantities from Hazara and the Derajat. Saltpetre 
abounds near Cabul, and excellent charcoal is made from the thousands 
of small willow-trees which line every water-course in Chardeh and the 
near valleys. The coarse-grain powder for muzzle-loading guns was 
paid for at the rate of 2 Rs. per lb., while that used for breech-loading 
field guns and for rifles was 3 Rs. per lb. The powder, as a rule, is far 
inferior to that of European make, as the Afghans do not understand 
the final process of glazing, which adds so much to the strength of the 
composition. Shot and shell were strictly copied from the patterns 
brought from India, but time fuzes were not understood. A bursting 
charge—the secret of which was held by a Herati—was used, and not 
until just before the war of 1879 were fuzes made in the Bala Hissar. 
They are not a success, the delicate nature of the fuze not being properly 
appreciated. In the matter of small-arm cartridges the Afghan smiths 
deserve much credit. Sixty of them were constantly engaged in the 
Bala Hissar arsenal making up cartridges, and their Snider ammunition 
is excellent. The cases are made by hand, and are technically known 
as “ solid cold-drawn brass.” The bases are very strong, and the cases 
can be refilled many times. In a country where there is no machinery 
(as in England) for turning out millions of cartridges in a few days, 
this is a great advantage. Two clever Cabulis, Safi Abdul Latif and 
Safi Abdul Hak, invented a machine for making percussion caps, equal 
to turning out 5000 a day. The detonating composition is fairly good, 
but spoils if the caps are kept for two or three years. Considering there 
were millions of caps still in the unopened boxes sent from Dum-Dum 
arsenal to Shere Ali, native-made caps were not much needed. Gun- 
carriages and limbers were made in the English pattern; the guns 
captured in the disastrous business of 1841-2 serving as models, in 
addition to the siege-train given by Lord Mayo. 
Among Shere Aids other improvements in his “war department” was 
the establishment of a Clothing Department, which had for its object 
the equipment of his soldiers in proper uniforms. The tunics, trousers, 
kilts, gaiters, helmets, &c., are all neatly made; and as each soldier 
received a new uniform every two years, the regular regiments ought 
to have been smart and well set-up. That they were not so was chiefly 
due to the laxity of discipline and the incompetence of their officers. 
Pouch-belts and bayonet-frogs on the English pattern were served out, 
and the cavalry were all furnished with new swords, slightly curved 
like those used by our own sowars. The steel is generally very soft, but 
the blade is well tempered, and takes an edge so keen that even a slight 
blow leaves a deep gash. Shere Alfis ambition, while thus perfecting 
his armament, was to build a fortress of huge dimensions, and Sherpur 
was accordingly begun. The subsidy paid yearly by the Indian 
Government gave him money to lavish in this direction, and the 
cantonments our troops are now occupying were laid out on a scale that 
even to European ideas seems enormous. The fortress was to have been 
in the shape of a huge square, with walls 3000 yds. long, and on the 
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