The firing into cantonments to-day was of the usual desultory kind, and our mountain guns pitched a few shells into such gardens as contained fairly large bodies of men. Two Highlanders were wounded while on picquet duty at the line of entrenchment from the commissariat godowns to the Bemaru gorge. Kila Mahomed Sharif, so well known during the disastrous winter of 1841, still stands near the site of our old cantonments between Sherpur and the Cabul river, overlooking the road from the Bala Hissar. From this fort, which is only 700 yards from the 72nd Gateway, men fired at the southern wall all day, while others could be seen, with rifles slung across their backs, superintending the carrying away of the _bhoosa_ stored by the 5th Punjab Cavalry in a village near for winter consumption. Hazara coolies were made to do this work, and also to dismantle the cavalry quarters in the “King’s Garden,” which, as before stated, we have abandoned. This morning three 18-pounders and an 8-inch howitzer, part of the siege train given to Shere Ali by the Indian Government, were got into position on the bastions east and west of the 72nd Gateway, and to-morrow these will open upon Kila Mahomed Sharif and the villages in rear. We want 40-pounders at least to batter down the thick walls of the fort; but still the heavy guns now ready to be fired will probably have a good effect upon the enemy. Round shot will be used for these 18-pounders, and bits of iron, bullets, &c., have been sewn up in canvas to serve as canister if the enemy make any demonstration in force. There was no difficulty in getting the guns and howitzer up the bastions, twenty or thirty men at the drag-ropes moving them easily into position. It is strange that guns which were given to Shere Ali as a reward for his fidelity to the British should now be turned against the Afghans, who have shown themselves unable to appreciate the value of an alliance with India. Now that the siege train has returned to our possession we shall, perhaps, be less confiding in handing over munitions of war to a nation which has treated us so treacherously.
Beyond throwing out our usual cavalry videttes, we have done nothing to-day to show the enemy we are on the alert. The cavalry have been terribly hard worked since the 10th, and horses and men have suffered in consequence. At one period the saddles were never taken off the horses of the 5th Punjab Cavalry for sixty hours, and the other regiments have been nearly in the same condition. Lieutenant Montenaro died this evening from the effect of the wound received yesterday. This makes the tenth officer we have lost in as many days, and there are still eleven others under treatment for wounds.