The Times of Friday published a most interesting account of
the recent British expedition into the Valley of Zhob (Job), undertaken to punish a chief who claims to be a descendant of the patriarch, but who has been raiding on our border, and to survey the Valley, which is believed to offer an alterna- tive route to Candahar. The tribesmen resisted bravely, but were, of course, powerless against European weapons ; and their slaughter was inevitable and probably fair, as they had been murdering and plundering our quiet cultivators. Unfortunately, however, some Irregulars, raised by the political officers, began plundering, the camp-followers broke loose, and one village which had offered us supplies, was stripped of everything, even the women's clothes being taken away. Compensation will be given to the villagers, but we do not hear that the plunderers are punished, and cannot understand the difficulty of keep- ing order among the ruffians who always form the fringe of an Indian army, and often disgrace the soldiers by their excesses. What stops the officer in command from stringing them up The soldiers do not want to protect them, and a simple but strict discipline, absolutely prohibiting plunder and murder, ought not to be difficult to maintain.
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