With love to all at home,

Believe me your affectionate son,
T.W.E. HOLDSWORTH.




LETTER VII.


Camp, Candahar, June 8th, 1839.

MY DEAR FATHER,--I begin this letter to you on the 8th of June, 1839,
though when it will reach you, or whether it ever will, is very
doubtful. I have not written, I see, since the beginning of March, from
Larkhanu; there was, however, very little use in so doing, as there was
very little chance of your ever getting it, our friends the Beloochees,
Kaukers, &c., having made free with nearly every mail, and destroyed
them. I am very much afraid that I also have been a sufferer by them,
and that you must have written to me long ere this, but that our friends
of the Bolan Pass have made use of the letter to wrap their cabobs in. I
have not heard from you or from home at all since the 2nd of February,
when I got your letter, dated November 20th, enclosing the bill on
government, and informing me of Kate's intended marriage. I have,
however, long since this heard of my lieutenancy, and seen my name in
the "Gazette," but have not yet received the confirmation of it from Sir
H. Fane in this country, so that I have been fighting my way, and am
likely to continue so, on the rank and pay of a full ensign; however,