THE INDIAN BORDERLAND.
The Indian Borderland. By Sir T. H. Holdich. (Methuen and Co. 15s.)—Sir Thomas Holdich having for twenty years—be- tween 1880-1900—beets connected with those military and political expeditions which led tc the eonsolidation of our pi esent position in the North-Western Frontier of India, has much that is politically important and personally interesting to say. But he takes rather to6 many pages—three hundred and ninety-six— to say it in, and his historical narrative, even when he has such stories as those of Penjdeh and .-:hitral to tell, is not specially fascinating. Occasionally he flops down into what looks like, but is not, humour, as when, speaking of the travelled Moslem Islam Sherif, he says "He is now a sort of Surveyor-General to the Sultan of Zanzibar, a member of the Order of the Brilliant Star, and altogether a shining light in what is probably an en- lightened place. I do not know Zanzibar." But Sir Thomas, whose leading role has been that mainly of a Survey officer, not of a military commander or a political adviser, gives a lucid aecount of whatever has come under his direct observation, and speaks very cautiously when he ventures on the expression of a decided opinion. Thus, not being a military critic, he apologises for saying that the Tirah plan of campaign was "the shortest, straightest. directest line by which to strike at the heart of the enemy." Everything considered, we should say that the chapters which deal with Baluchistan and the Russo. Afghan boundary are the best. Sir Thomas inclines in a gingerly way to a more direct management—especially in military matters—of Afghanistan than is as yet favoured by British politicians. He desires a supply of British officers for the Afghan Army :—" A large supply of these young men from whom we expect no more (as Lord Salisbury puts it) ' than the ordinary attributes of an English gentleman' are what the Afghan Army wants to become as formidable a force as any general need wish to command."
Previous page
