The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-04-22

Inrousa which caravans laden with merchandise find their way across tho mountains between India and the countries of Central Asia. Every time there is stir in clump of bushes, ev- cry inc a board creaks in the floor every time a footstep is heard under the window. the goose flesh rises on John Bulls back, and he imagines that the great white bear is smelling around the back door of his empire in India. Peshawur is the jumping-off place of the Northwest, the limit of British au- thorlty, the terminus of the railway system of India and the great gateway between that empire and the outer world, through which everything must pass It is to the interor of Asia what the Straits of Gibraltar are to the Med iterranean Sea, and the Dardanelles to the Black and Caspian Seas. While there are 300 paths over the mountains in other directions, and 1t might be pos slble to cross them with an army, it has never been attempted and would involve dangers, expense and delays which no nation would undertake. The khyber Pass has been the great and only route for ages whether for war or commerce. The masters of Central Asia, whether Persians, Greeks, Mace donlans or Assyrians, have held it. AL exander the Great crossed it with his army Timour the Tartar, whom we know better as Tamerlane, came through upon his all-conquering expe- dition when he subdued India to found the Mogul Empire, and if the Russians ever enter India by land they will come this way.
 The pass is reached by crossing a stony plain ten miles from Peshawur, and winds through gorges and crevices in the mountains for thirty-three miles at an altitude averaging 1000 feet above the sea- At one point the mountains close in to about 800 feet apart and the rocks rise in sheer preeipices on either side; in other places the gorge widens to a mile or more and will average per haps three-quarters of a mile the en- tire distance. It is a remarkable gate way, natural barrier between hered- itary enemies and easily defended from either side. Kabul, the capital of Af- ghanistan is 1S0 miles from the west ern entrance to the defile.
 The British Notifications are at Jam rud, nine miles from Peshawur, and the terminus Of the railways, where, d strong garrison is always kept The pass itself is controlled by a powerful semi-independent native tribe called the Afridis, estimated at 20, GOO strong, who receive subsidies from the British government and from the Ameer of Afghanistan to keep them good-natured cn the pretext that they are to do police work and keep order in the pass. It is blackmail and bribery, but accom- plishes it's purpose, and the pass itself with strip of highlands and foothl
 on the Afghanistan side is thus occupied by neutral party which prevents friction between the nations on either side of the border. The Afridis are fearless fighters, half-civilized, half savage, and almost entirely supported by the subsidies they receive. Nearly all of the able-bodied men are under arms. A few who are too old or too young to fight remain at home and look after the cattle and the scraggy gar- dens upon the gravelly hilIsides. The women are as hardy and as unduring as the men and are taught to handle the rife.
 The British authorities are confident of the loyalty ofthe Afridis and believe that the present; arrangements would be absolutely safe in time of war as 1t is in time of peace-that they would permit no armed body, whether Rus sians or Afghans to cross the pass without the consent of both sides, as it provided by treaty stipulations.
 The arrangement it as effective as it Is novel and the Afridis carry out ev- cry detail conseientiously. The pass is open only two days in the week, on Tuesdays and Fridays. No one is per- mitted to cross or even enter it from either side except on those days. And even then travellers, tourists and others actuated by curiousity are not allowed to go through without permits The car- avans going both ways are required to camp under well-formed regulations at either entrance until daylight of Tues day or Friday, when they are escorted through by armed bodies of Afridis horsemen, There is not the slightest danger of any sort to any one, but it is just as we'll to go through the ceremony for it keeps the Afridis out of mischief and reminds them continually of their great responsibilities
 These caravans are interesting. They are composed of long strings of loaded camels, ox-carts, mules. and donkeys vehicles of all descriptions and thou sands of people travelling on foot who come sometimes from as far west as the Ural Mountains and the banks of the Volga River. They come from Persia, from all parts of Siberia and from the semi barbarous tribes who inhabit that mysterious region in central Asia, known as the Roof of the World"
 The camel drivers and the traders are fierce-looking men and extremely dirty. They have travelled a long way and over roads that are very dusty, and wa ter is scarce the entire distance They