by religion and farming by trade
the N.W.F. Province lags behind the Panjab. Six colleges in the States
and the N.W.F. Province are affiliated to the Panjab University.

CHAPTER XII

ROADS AND RAILWAYS

~Roads.~--The alignment of good roads in the plains of the Panjab is easy,
and the deposits of calcareous nodules or _kankar_ often found near the
surface furnish good metalling material. In the west the rainfall is so
scanty and in many parts wheeled traffic so rare that it is often wise
to leave the roads unmetalled. There are in the Panjab over 2000 miles
of metalled, and above 20,000 miles of unmetalled roads. The greatest
highway in the world, the Grand Trunk, which starts from Calcutta and
ends at Peshawar, passes through the province from Delhi in the
south-east to Attock in the extreme north-west corner, and there crosses
the Indus and enters the N.W.F. Province. The greater part of the
section from Karnal to Lahore had been completed some years before the
Mutiny, that from Lahore to Peshawar was finished in 1863-64. A great
loop road connects our arsenal at Ferozepore with the Grand Trunk Road
at Lahore and Ludhiana. The fine metalled roads from Ambala to Kalka,
and Kalka to Simla have lost much of their importance since the railway
was brought to the hill capital. Beyond Simla the Kalka-Simla road is
carried on for 150 miles to the Shipki Pass on the borders of Tibet,
being maintained as a very excellent hill road adapted to mule carriage.
A fine tonga road partly in the plains and partly in the hills joins
Murree with Rawalpindi. From Murree it drops into the Jhelam valley
crossing the river and entering Kashmir at Kohala. It is carried up the
gorge of the Jhelam to Baramula and thence through the Kashmir valley to
Srinagar. A motor-car can be driven all the way from Rawalpindi to
Srinagar. In the N.W.F. Province a great metalled road connects
Peshawar, Kohat, Bannu, and Dera Ismail Khan.

[Illustration: Fig. 43. Poplar lined road to Srinagar.]

~Railways. Main Lines.~--It is just over fifty years since the first
railway, a short line joining Lahore and Amritsar, was opened in 1862.
Three years later Lahore was linked up with Multan and the small
steamers which then plied on the Indus. Amritsar was connected with
Delhi in 1870, and Lahore with Peshawar in 1883. The line from Peshawar
to Lahore, and branching thence to Karachi and Delhi may be considered
the Trunk Line. The railway service has been