Note 312 — Chapter I

From Bagh, Macnaghten wrote to the Governor-General’s Private Secretary: “This is a wretched country in every respect. It may be said to produce little else but plunderers; but with the knowledge we now have of it, we may bid defiance to the Russian hordes as far as this route is concerned. Any army might be annihilated in an hour by giving it either too much or too little water. The few wells that exist might easily be rendered unavailable, and by just cutting the Sewee bund the whole country might be deluged.”—[Mr. Macnaghten to Mr. Colvin: Camp Bagh, March 22, 1839. Unpublished Correspondence.]