Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 June 1895 — THE WAR IN CHITRAL. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE WAR IN CHITRAL.

STRANGE COUNTRY INVADED BY THE BRITISH. The Natives Claim to Be Descendants of Soldiers of Alexander the Great— Cause of Hostilities—Slaughter of Capt. Boss’ Troops. England’s Late Tronble. The military expedition sent to avenge the slaughter of Captain C. R Ross, of the British army, and forty-six Indian soldiers under his command, by the natives of the Chitral country, and to relieve the fourteen surviving soldiers under Lieutenant Jones, who were taken prisoners, calls attention to a region very little known and which is one of the most inhospitable on the face of the earth The town of Chitral, from which the district gets its name, la situated on the Kashkar, or Chitral, River, which runs along the southern base of the Hindoo-Koosh Mountains, and is only a short distance southwest

of the Pamirs. It is thus, so to speak, under the eaves of the famous “Roof of the World.” The Chitral country extends from the town away to the northeast and leads to the Baroghll Pass--12,000 feet above the sea—on the other side of' which are the sources of the Oxus, and the Pamirs. This pass Is over the eastern end of the Hindoo-Koosh, and may be said to be the point where the Himalayan range bends and runs westward through Afghanistan to the Heri Rud, on the frontier of Persia. The Hindoo-Koosh forms the northern

boundary of Chitral, Kaliristan is on the west, Punjkora is on the south, and Yasin on the southeast From the southwest extremity of the territory to the Baroghil Pass is about 140 miles, and in its widest extent it is about fifty miles; but most of the space is composed of mountains at too high an altitude for people to dwell in; still, the

population is, supposed to be about 200,000. The towns and villages are situated along the valley, close to the banks of the river, which has various uaines, according to the locality it passes through. In the upper part it is called the Yarkhun River; below Chitral it is known as the Ivashkar or Chitral River; and before it joins the Kabul River near Jalalabad it is called the Kumar, from the name of a locality it flows through. What has been referred to as the town of Chitral is in reality six villages ■and a bridge across the river. The villages In this region are something like those in Afghanistan—they are surrounded by walls and towers, by which is indicated an unsettled state of society, where protection is necessary from neighboring marauders. Ever since the travels of Bnrnes in Afghanistan, we have been familiar with the Kooah who believe they are the descendants of Alexander the Great’s sol-

dlers; and the Mehtars, or ruling princes of Chitral, have a particular claim to this line of descent. The Chitral Valley la at times spoken of as Kashkar, which is its older name. The people are now Mohammedans, but they retain many old rites and customs which-were peculiar to the locality. They are supposed to have been at an early period only a branch of the Kafirs, who are still their next-door neighbors. Like the Afghans and other tribes of the region, they are divided into “zais” or “khalls,” words equivalent to our own term clans. The Immediate cause of the expedition was the outgrowth of a conflict between two clalmauts to the office of Mehtar. Amir-ul-Mulk was recently Invested with that authority, but his uncle, Imra Khan, ruler of Bajaur, Invaded Chitral In behalf of Sher Afzul, who claimed the office as his right Dr. Robertson, the British Resident at Chitral, was friendly to Amir-ul-Mulk, and Captain Ross was sent to the country by way of Gilzit to protect the Resident The little company was attacked by a large force of Imra Khan’s troops from behind stone breastworks and on

the cliffs above their path. They fought during two days, endeavoring on the second day to get back to Boni, constantly assailed with rifles or musketry and with stones hurled down from the heights. Captain Ross was struck by a ljtrgo stone, and he was also shot, and only fifteen of the fighting men succeeded in getting out of the defile. The news of the battle being transmitted to the authorities in India, General Sir Robert Low was ordered to proceed at once from Peshawur with 14,000 men. As is usual in similar British expeditions the guide corps preceded the main body of troops on the march to Chitral, and before the advance had been pushed very far the gallant little corps, under command of Colonel Battye, was completely annihilated by the natives. The method adopted in this annihilation was peculiar to the territory and the hostile forces which compressed it The entire region through which the relief party had to pass is of the most broken description and abounds in narrow, dark defiles between precipitous heights. While Colonel Buttye and his men were marching through one of these straitened passages a body of natives massed at the top of the cliffs and rolled down a perfect torrent of bowlders upon the devoted heads of the British, not one of whom was left alive. However, in spite of this and other setbacks, the British have succeeded in relieving Mr. Robertson and the little garrison at Chitral, Sher Afzul has been captured and an alliance has been made with the Khan of Dir. The trouble may therefore now be considered at an end, for the present at least, and the British will no doubt proceed to thoroughly subjugate the Swats and

other tribes which assisted Sher Afzul aud Umra Khan. This will not be an easy task, however, since the natives are of the most war-like temperament, of splendid physical constitution and not at all Inclined to be ruled by anybody. The English do not overestimate the value Chitral might be to them. The Hindu-Kush mountains are the great barrier between John Bull and the Russian bear in Asia, and it is through the Dora pass that the Russians will pour if they ever succeed in swooping down on the British in India, unless the advance is made through Afghanistan. Time was when the Russians certainly would have adopted the latter route, bnt that is long passed. The Ameer of Afghanistan, though he and his people are nominally independent of either of the great powers, is now and for some years has been friendly to the English. Laziness is next door to wisdom.

THE CHITRAL VALLEY.

GEN. LOW, OF THE CHITRAL EXPEDITION.

THE FORT AT CHITRAL.