A successful
experiment in rafting, from Jelalabad to Dakka, was tried. The rafts
consisted of inflated skins lashed together with a light framework;
between June 4-13, seven thousand skins were used, and, in all, 885
soldiers and one thousand tons of stores were transported forty
miles down the Kabul River, the journey taking five hours. A great
deal of road-making and repairing was done under the supervision of
the transport corps. A system of "stages" or relays of pack-animals
or carts was organized, by which a regular quantity of supplies was
forwarded over the main lines, daily, with almost the regularity, if
not the speed, of rail carriage. The great number of animals
employed required a corresponding force of attendants, inspectors,
and native doctors, all of whom served to make up that excessive
army of "followers" for which Anglo-Indian expeditions are famous.
Drivers were required at the following rate: one driver for each
pair of bullocks, every four camels, every three mules and ponies,
every six donkeys. [Footnote: The average carrying power of certain
kinds of transport, in pounds, is as follows: _bullock-carts_ (with
two pairs), on fairly level ground, 1,400; on hilly ground, 1,000;
(with one pair) on fairly level ground, 850; on hilly ground, 650;
_camels_, 400; _mules_, 200; _ponies_, 175; _men_, 50.
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