The Gilgit mission 1885-1886 / [Sir William Lockhart and Robert Woodthorpe].

  • Lockhart, William (William Stephen Alexander), Sir, 1841-1900.
Date:
1889
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Gilgit mission 1885-1886 / [Sir William Lockhart and Robert Woodthorpe]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    serious misunderstanding between the Amir and the Government of India by returning to Chitral by the Dor ah.” On reaching Chitral on June 25tli, Colonel Lockhart received a letter from Colonel Ridgeway, dated the 16th of the same month, in which he wrote :—• “I enclose a copy of a telegram just received from Simla. I suppose you are at Zebak The telegram ran as follows:—■ “From Foreign Secretary, Simla, to Sir West Ridgeway. Telegram No. 1037 F., dated 9th June 1886. “Your. No. 215.—Please tell Lockhart a fresh endeavour is being made to persuade Amir, but that he now seems much opposed to expedition. Meanwhile Lockhart had better stand fast, if possible. No other instruc- tions. Have received his letter via Kabal ” At Chitral the Mission was hospitably received by Mehtar Aman-ul- Mulk, who was, however, in a disturbed state of mind. Roshan, he said, had been taken by Mulk Aman, who was now threatening Yasin, whilst the fanatical priest] Shah Baba, or Baba Sahib, was bringing about a combination of tribes against him from the direction of Dir. His reception of an English Mission was, he believed, the cause of all this hostility. Not only had hafilas been prevented from visiting Chitral from Peshawar by \vay of Dir, but now all trade with Badaklishan had been stopped by the Afghans. Colonel Lockhart offered to ride down to Roshan and turn Mulk Aman out of the place, provided the Mehtar mounted the escort and added 40 mounted men of his own armed with the Snider rifles which had been presented to him, but the old man vacillated and procrastinated. The Ramazan fast was telling on him (for he was an enormous and frequent eater), and he was altogether a different man from what he had been in the previous autumn. At last, after four days’ halt, the party left Chitral for good and marched towards Mastuj, trusting that orders from India might reach them on the way, and ready at any moment to go by forced marches to Roshan in support of Afzal-ul-Mulk: (who had meanwhile been sent down to attack Mulk Aman), or to return to Chitral and enter Kafiristan. Whilst at Chitral Colonel Lockhart received a letter from Sardar Abdulla Jan, dated 20th June. In this the Sardar told Colonel Lockhart that from 500 to 1,000 families of Kafirs embraced Islam every year, and that their country had belonged to the Afghans for centuries. He also gave him some advice about his (Colonel Lockhart’s) self-seeking disposition, and forbade him to enter Zebak,