New-York tribune., 1897-08-25
TUE INDO-AFGHIN BORDER.

Encland's latest Afghan trouble-if If suci as
one may fear il shall prove TO be-is on 'he very
scene Of her earliest. The name or the Nh!pe'
Pass aro,,ses tragic memories. Ii was fur'her
west in th,. Khoord-C Cabul Pass. close by 'aDnl
itself that Elphnstones army was massacre"
more than half Il century ago. But IL was 10
Jellalabad that the one surviving ofhcer hi"oe
his escape. Ii was through the Nh!oer 'n"'
Pollock led his avenging army. ana IN It's inigh.!
dehle that he smote and conquered the Whu
Afridis 1t was there that the li-laleu 'aN"-
gnari met Shere Ais representative ana WIN
him exchanged words which led 10 murder ana
another war. and ii was through that pass mat
the British army again moved 10 the INVASION
Of Afghanistan. From time mInemoral' III
deed the Khyber has been the great gateway
between India and Afghanisian. and Ii Is TO-
day the centre Of the nsurgent storm when
darkens the whole northwest frontier
On the fine map prepared for The Tribune
and printed elsewhere in this mornings paper
the salient features Of that rugged borderlahu
are accurately and clearly shown. Three places
are to be especially noted Peshawnr Jellaia
bad and Cabul. They are the beginning. the
middle and the end Of the Khyber road. 1he
first. Peshawur IS sort OF Ultima Thule or
British rule in India 1t lies in the very shadow
OF the HindoO KOosh, the frontier having been
pushed forward in a sharp bend TO include II.
The town lies on plain. across which a fine
road leads TO the great rock gate which gives
entrance to the Khyber defile gate fastened
with the lock and key of the fort Of Ali Musjid.
now beleaguerel If not captured by the Afrldls
The plain is British The mountains are Ar
CHAN But the pass itself Is the land OF tribes
men who nav allegiance 10 no one but them
selves Ii IS the buffer margin of a buffer state.
The pass is twenty miles long, and the hills
are a full mile high There is fine road run
ming through it. built by British engineers. No
where along It is the grade more than one in
fifty. and YOU may drive a horse and buggy or
a coach and four straight through with ease
from Peshawur-if YOU do not mind now and
then having "a wheel on the Horns o the Morn
in an wheel OH the edge o the Pit. But
that does not mean it is an easy road for an
army 10 travel i'm time of war On the con
trary. il is most difficult. II IS so narrow. and
the hills around it are so impossible elsewhere,
that small force could hold it against great
one. Sir Samuel Brown could never have got
through in 1878 if the Afghans had known their
business North Of the pass lies the so-called
Tartara Pass, a mere goat-track. not to be irav-
crSpu DN al dTHlI. anu SOu'H VI IL - 'H ''''"'''
Valley. also impossible against any opposition
Beyond the Khyber Pass lies the great valley
or basin of .Iellalabad. which is the furiheSt
stable OUTPOST of the Ameer toward India. 1t
is girt about on all sides by steep mountain
walls The only gap in them lndiaward i> the
Khyber Toward Afghanistan there are three
or four, one of them being the KhOOrd- Cabnl.
where Ephnstone was overwhelmed From
I,l,o i,rl,, mill
Jealabad through another mountain gateway
westward ninety miles brings one 10 Cabul the
Afghan capital SO the line Of the three points
is completed Peshawur. the seat Of British I'M
perial authority: Cabul the centre of the Alneers
antocratic rule and Jellalabad midway between
them. In the heart of the land of those wild
mountain tribesmen who obey neither Empress
nor Amer ON either flank of the khyber FOR
many mile the same conditions exist. Warn
at the south and Swat and Chitrali at the north
are in a ferment Of fanaticism. raising the futile
standard OF revolt. Whether the Ameer speaks
truth in declaring his innocence or not. is yet
,o he asceraned. If he does, the screwguns
and the Sikhs and Ghoorkas should make short
work Of the obstreperous Pathans. Even the
90 600 Afridis can make only a brief stand be-
fore the might of India. But if he is playing
false. The talked-Of railroad through the Khybcr
NAV nave 10 he built, and the scientific from
tier'' he made 10 march with Persia and Box