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“Mirza Hyder is a little boy, a young brother of Muhammad Ali Khan. Achmet Ali Khan (Ahmad Ali Khan), already mentioned, is a natural son of Ahmad Shah, by a woman of lower extraction; he has by far the finest features and most intellectual head, of any of the family, was the best shot, the best rider, and the best swordsman. He was usually in command of my guard, and I consequently saw a great deal of him. He was always good-humored, gentlemanly, and deferential, listening with the greatest avidity to any stories about England, or even of Hindustan, and expressing the greatest anxiety to go there. This desire was not diminished from knowing he would most probably never see either-first, because his father was too jealous of him to let his go, and secondly, because had he not been so, he would not let him go, for fear of the smallpox, of which he, in common with the rest of his subjects, had the greatest horror.”

The Sikhs had tried to conquer Skardu but were badly defeated at Gudai.

The ignoble retreat of the Sikhs from Gudai fort has been described the Vigne as under”:-

“When Sher Singh, the present Maharajah of Punjab, was governor of Kashmir, he and his invading Sikhs advanced thus far in the month of August, expecting to reach Iskardo without much opposition but they found a furious river in their front, and amatchlock behind every rock on the opposite bank. They attempted to gain their end by diplomacy, but Ahmad Shah was too cunning for them, and managed to keep them in play for a long time, well knowing what would be the consequences of their delay. The cold weather suddenly commenced, the Sikhs, chilled to there very hearts, commenced a precipitate retreat, but a snowstorm overtook them, and hundreds of them were lost upon the plateau, above Burzil.”

The narration will seem incomplete if the personality of Ahmad Shah, his dress, and that of his son Ahmad Ali Khan and the military system then in vogue is not described.

Vigne writes:-