of the elevated plateau of Pishin and upon the flank of that range of mountains which separate Pishin from the lower mountains, and constitute the natural defence of the plateau.

I have thus brought you for the moment as far as Gwâl and Pishin, and I must ask your attention to three illustrations of this part of the route. You will first note the picture of the Nari Gorge (14). You will see the low hills we have to pass in the middle distance, light friable rocks in all sorts of fantastic shapes, which are geologically insignificant as compared to the geological formations to which I shall presently call your attention. In the meantime you will

understand that these lower hills can be easily blasted with dynamite. They were so being blasted some months ago, when I saw them, and thus the railway can be rapidly constructed.

The next view of the Harnai valley is of interest (15). In the background you have the mountain of Kalipat. Our railway line has now attained the height of 3000 feet above the level of the sea, ascending gradually from Sibi which is reckoned at 700 feet. In the Harnai valley, then, we have attained the height of 3000 feet, and this Kalipat mountain is 11,000 or 12,000 feet. Thus our picture of Kalipat shows some 7000 or 8000 feet of sheer

CHAP. V.

CHASMS IN THE MOUNTAINS.

101

precipitous ascent overhanging this very valley. The mountain is a magnificent limestone formation. Then in the middle distance you will observe a line of towers. They are the defences of the villagers in the valleys against the marauders of the tribes from the hills. These towers are refuges into which the wretched husbandman and his cattle may escape for the moment, while a storm of devastation and plunder sweeps over his fields. You will observe that the towers face the hills whence the marauders come, and behind the towers are the fertile fields. In the extreme left of the picture you will perceive near the heights of Kalipat a slope of limestone formations, and in the left of the picture you will find rifts or chasms, and to these chasms I shall have immediately to conduct you.

For a better understanding of them, I must ask you to look at the next picture (16), which represents what we call the Chapar Rift. We propose to take full advantage of that rift to pass the railway through it. There you see precipitous rocks overhanging the rushing stream, and on the left you will see ledges of rocks over which we desire to conduct the railway. We shall have to construct a viaduct with piers of 100 feet high, in order to approach those ledges. But this is not a difficult work; the foundations are excellent, and we hope to construct the line of the railway within this rift or chasm. The point at which my view is taken is narrow, like the neck of a bottle, but after that the railway passes into the valley opening out like a bottle, and follows the course of the stream, and in that way we make use of the stream for the railway. Thus, almost imperceptibly, we ascend up to Gwâl, which is 5500 feet above the sea (about 2000 feet higher than the Chapar Rift, which may be reckoned at 3500 feet). This incline, with the help of the river, will be effected with comparative ease, considering the railway inclines in other parts of India or of the world.

I have thus conducted you another 100 miles of your journey towards Candahar, and I must now ask you to revert to Sibi. From Sibi you will see there runs on the map a direct line of military road to Dadar, and from there you enter upon the

famous Bolan Pass-a pass by which the British invading armies have always passed from India to Afghanistan.

I will now ask you to follow me up the Bolan Pass to a place

where you will see hills marked on the map somewhat darker than the rest.

Then you should look at the picture of this place (17). In the