JULY 9th.--We had an unofficial rumour that the advance guard of the Wali's army had been met at Washir by the Cavalry of Ayoub Khan's army and defeated, but as no confirmation of the rumour has come from General Burrows, we are not inclined to credit it, though it is received as quite true by the people in the city, who are only too glad to believe anything to the detriment of the Wali. Of course we must expect all sorts of rumours now, and I am, for curiosity, writing them all down as we get them to see how many eventually prove true, and how many are incorrect.
[Sidenote: Chief of Kokaran deserted the Wali.]
JULY 10th.--To-day it was reported that considerable disaffection exists among the Wali's Chiefs and Officers, and that the most important man of the lot, the Chief of Kokaran, a place about 6 miles from this, has deserted, and this--July 11th--was so far confirmed that we received official news that he had, with 80 followers, withdrawn himself from the Wali's force, although it does not appear, so far, that he has joined Ayoub Khan. In accordance with Afghan customs, the Wali's representatives here at once took reprisals by seizing the son of the Chief of Kokaran (a small boy in a bad state of health) and putting him in prison, and taking possession of the house and property of the deserter at Kokaran.
JULY 12th.--Employed during the morning in endeavouring to make arrangements for making the Citadel safer and more in accordance with the rules of war, but the task is hopeless, as the place is radically bad in a military point of view, and surrounded with houses on 3 sides. Strictly speaking these houses should have been knocked down for at least 300 yards all round the wall of the Citadel, but General Stewart appears to have set his face against any military precautions, insisting that they were quite unnecessary, "as the people were friendly to us." The consequence is that the whole position here is, strictly speaking, untenable--that is, if an enemy with either organization or means were to come against it. As, however, there is no possibility of any scientific attack being made on us, we feel that, bad as the position is, we can quite engage to hold it, and lick the enemy outside into the bargain. The City of Kandahar is a parallelogram about 1-1/4 miles long, and 3/4 of a mile wide, something like this--