ve Chitral to a height of 25,426 feet. From Tibet to the Dorah pass
the northern frontier of India is impregnable. It is pierced by one or
two difficult trade routes strewn with the bones of pack animals, but no
large army has ever marched across it for the invasion of India. West of
the Dorah pass the general level of the Hindu Kush is a good deal lower
than that of its eastern section. The vital point in the defences of
India in this quarter lies near Charikar to the north of Kabul, where
the chain thins out, and three practicable passes debouch on the valley
of the Kabul river. It is this fact that gives the town of Kabul its
great strategic importance. The highest of the three passes, the Kaoshan
or Hindu Kush (dead Hindu), crosses the chain at an elevation of 14,340
feet. It took its own name from the fate that befel a Hindu army when
attempting to cross it, and has handed it on to the whole range. It is
the pass which the armies of Alexander and Babar used. The historical
road for the invasion of India on this side has been by Charikar and the
valley of the Kabul river to its junction with the Kunar below
Jalalabad, thence up the Kunar valley and over one of the practicable
passes which connect its eastern watershed with the Panjkora and Swat
river valleys, whence the descent on Peshawar is easy. This is the route
by which Alexander led the wing of the Grecian army which he commanded
in person, and the one followed by Babar in 1518-19. Like Alexander,
Babar fought his way through Bajaur, and crossed the Indus above Attock.

[Illustration: Fig. 10. The Khaibar Road.]

~The Khaibar.~--A British force advancing on Kabul from Peshawar has never
marched by the Kunar and Kabul valley route. It has always taken the
Khaibar road, which only follows the Kabul river for less than one-third
of the 170 miles which separate Peshawar from the Amir's capital. The
military road from Peshawar to Landikhana lies far to the south of the
river, from which it is shut off by difficult and rugged country held by
the Mohmands.

~Safed Koh.~--From Landikhana the political boundary runs south-west to
the Safed Koh (white mountain) and is continued westwards along that
range to the Paiwar Kotal or pass (8450 feet). The Safed Koh forms the
watershed of the Kabul and Kurram rivers. It is a fine pine clad chain
with a general level of 12,000 feet, and its skyline is rarely free from
snow. It culminates in the west near Paiwar Kotal in Sikaram