July 30th.—­Sir J. Keane, with the greater part of the army, marched this morning for Cabool; ours (the Bombay division) march to-morrow.  Although the greater part of the town was taken in the way I have described, still a party of about 100 men, under Dost Mahomed’s standard-bearer, (a great man, of course,) held out till the next day, when they were all taken, and soon afterwards shot.  They certainly must have been assisted by some Europeans, as their powder was made up in a very scientific manner, and their grape was exceedingly well put together.  Young Dost cannot imagine how the gate was blown down; he thinks, I hear, that we shot two men inside the fort from a big gun, who opened the door for us.  He was sleeping over it at the time; the explosion must have “astonished him a few, I guess.”  He says some of his father’s best soldiers have fallen there; and one man in particular, a great chief, said to be the best swordsman between Cabool and Candahar.  I have been in the fort since, and I am glad we took it in the dark, as it is not at all a nice looking place by daylight.  The rooms in the citadel are very fine, particularly where the women were, the ceilings of which are inlaid with gold work.  All our sick and wounded are to be left here:  we only leave one officer behind, poor Young, who was shot through the thigh very near the groin.

Reports have been very various since the fall of Ghuzni whether Dost himself will fight or not.  It seems to be generally expected that we shall have another shindy before we get to Cabool, though a great number of chiefs have lately come in to the Shah, among the principal of whom is Hadjee Khan Kauker, the governor of Bamian, a man of great influence in the country, and a great intriguer, formerly a great friend of Dost Mahomed’s.  He came in to us about three hours after the place had fallen:  he had been waiting on the top of a hill to see the result, and was prepared to join whichever side was victorious.  I must tell you, also, that on the 21st, the day we marched upon Ghuzni, another son of Dost was waiting outside the town to attack us with about three thousand men; but on seeing the size of our army he thought better of it, and cut for Cabool as fast as he could; he was deserted on the way by most of his army, and reached Cabool with scarcely a follower:  his father was exceedingly enraged, and is said to have put him in prison.

Sunday, 28th.—­The day before yesterday, Dost Mahomed’s brother, a man who has always favoured the English, and advised Dost to have nothing to do with the Persians, &c., but who lives quite retired, and has very little to do with politics, came into our camp to endeavour to make terms for his brother; but, it is said, neither party was satisfied:  they say that he was disgusted at our proposals, and replied, “that Dost would rather lose his life than accept them.”  Dost wants to be made the Shah’s vizier; but that, of course, could