Adequate transport had been got together and supplies
accumulated; Colonel Watson's contingent was occupying the posts along
the valley; and General Roberts was in full readiness promptly to obey
the orders to advance which he had been led to expect, and on which his
brother-general Sir Sam Browne had already acted to some extent.
The march on Candahar of the two divisions under the command of General
Stewart had the character, for the most part, of a military promenade.
The tramp across the deserts of Northern Beloochistan was arduous; the
Bolan, the Gwaga, and the Kojuk passes had to be surmounted, and the
distances which both Biddulph and Stewart had to traverse were immensely
in excess of those covered by either of the forces operating from the
north-western frontier line. But uneventful marches, however long and
toilsome, do not call for detailed description. Stewart rode into
Candahar on January 8th, 1879, and the troops as they arrived encamped on
the adjacent plain. The Governor and most of his officials, together with
the Afghan cavalry, had fled toward Herat; the Deputy-Governor remained
to hand over the city to General Stewart. For commissariat reasons one
division under Stewart presently moved by the Cabul road on
Khelat-i-Ghilzai, which was found empty, the Afghan garrison having
evacuated it. Simultaneously with Stewart's departure from Candahar
Biddulph marched out a column westward toward the Helmund, remaining in
that region until the third week in February.
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