'The views and opinions of Brigadier General John Jacob, CB. Aide-decamp to the Queen; Aide-de-camp to the Governor General of India, &c. &c. &c.; late commanding in chief the British forces in Persia; at present commanding the Sind Irregular Horse, and Political Superintendent of the North-West frontier of Sind.' [‎273] (303/481)

273
Jacob,* the only artillery officer in Upper Sind, and of
Lieutenant Corry, of Her Majesty's 17th Regiment.
Lieutenant Jacob was now directed to choose men from
these Europeans to form a company of artillery, to proceed
with the force to Kutchee. Accordingly he selected twenty
artillerymen, the best he could hud, twenty men belonging
to the infantry, and, with Lieutenant Corry and these
forty men, marched from Sukkur on the 3rd June 1839,
en route to Shikarpoor, having sent his battery in advance
by water to that place.
On the first day's march of ten miles, seven of the
soldiers were struck dead by. the heat, and Lieutenant
Corry was brought in dying; the poor fellow rallied a little
at night, but as the heat returned next day he also relapsed
and died. Four other men were sent back to Sukkur on
camel litters, but they also died, either on the road or
immediately after reaching the hospital. No treatment
appeared to have the smallest effect in checking this fearful
mortality. The men became appalled, and wished not to
proceed ; but a few words from their officer roused their
English hearts to further exertion ; at night the detachment
marched on, but though the men were never directly
exposed to the sun, the heat was too great for human
nature to bear, and four men died before or on reaching
Shikarpoor. Thus, in three very short marches, out of a
detachment of two officers and forty men, one officer and
fifteen men had been struck dead. It appeared to the mili
tary authorities that it was impossible at such a season to
prosecute the intended expedition, and the attempt was
abandoned for the present, to be renewed when the deadly
heat should be moderated.
Accordingly, early in the month of October 1839, a force,
* The Author of this Memoir.— Editor.