Copy 1, Volume 1

Travels in Kashmir, Ladak, Iskardo, the countries adjoining the mountain-course of the Indus, and the Himalaya, north of the Panjab / By G.T. Vigne.

  • Vigne, Godfrey Thomas, 1801-1863.
Date:
1842
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Travels in Kashmir, Ladak, Iskardo, the countries adjoining the mountain-course of the Indus, and the Himalaya, north of the Panjab / By G.T. Vigne. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    unladen. There is another pass I believe, from Bunu Tak, ma Kanegorum, by which the Tak Rajah made his escape from the Sikhs, and arrived at Kabul when I was there. From all I could collect, it was of the same nature as the others. There are also, I believe, one or two more through the mountains to the north of it. Captain Vickovich, in his letter to Count Simonich (Corr. p. 495), writes, that the geographical position of Afghanistan makes it the only . . . .* through which a conqueror can .... From Can- dahar to the very shores of the ocean .... barren deserts which can never be passable by any kind of military force. On the north and northwest the road from Turkeston is bounded (closed by the strong pass of the Hindu Kosh, which has only two roads hardly passable for the space of four.either months, or some word implying distance) for military stores or supplies of an army. Our engineers, again, have not been idle; they have made excellent military surveys of the country ; and if the Russians should at any time descend upon Herat or Bokhara, we should not then be disposed to quarrel with the satisfactory knowledge and experience which we now have, and which was most undoubtedly wanted, however great and melan¬ choly may be the sacrifice at which it has been obtained. As far as important information and experience is con¬ cerned, Lord Auckland—could we but conceal the cost at which it has been obtained—will have benefited our East Indian possessions more than any other Governor-general that has preceded him. We know also better than ever that the Sikhs are in a corner from which they cannot escape, and that when it may become necessary to invade their territories, we know that the Panjab would become an easy prey. The peaceable and friendly disposition which has hi¬ therto been manifested by the Sikhs throughout the Afghan war, must be mainly attributed to good management of our * These omissions occur in the translated letter.