AFGHANISTAN

77

boundary (which is still the boundary of British India), because
 of an extension of the hill formation eastwards towards
the Indus, which crosses the line of connection almost at
right angles midway between the two places. Round the
base of this extension the British India frontier line was
drawn in conformity with its general frontier elsewhere at
the base of the hills (se. the farthest limit of cultivable soil)
when laid down by our Sikh predecessors in the Punjab.
Across this salient extension of the frontier mountains the
road from Peshawur to Kohat is carried, and thus a considerable
 section of it lies within the limits of independent
territory, and we are ourselves dependent on the goodwill
of the Jowaki occupants of these hills for the maintenance
of our right of way. This is, however, no more or less
than happens in the case of every route to Afghanistan
which crosses the independent hills,
From Kohat (which lies under the southern slopes of
this Jowaki hill extension) the highway to Kuram runs first
upwards through the lower Miranzai valley, and then,
crossing a flat water-parting, drops with a continuance
of its south-westerly trend to the base of the Kuram
Valley, following the course of the upper Miranzai. This
Miranzai route from Kohat to Kuram lies altogether
under the shadow of the Orakzai and Afridi hills, and is
dominated through a great part of its length by the
Samana range—a range which defines the shape of the
valley on the north, and thus renders the occupation of it
a necessary corollary to our retention of Kuram. The
Kuram Valley itself offers no such topographical difficulties
 to advance as does the Khaibar. It is an open and
well-populated valley, full of the ancient sites of towns,
showing it to have been a valuable asset to Afghanistan
in times past; and it is not until the head of it is
approached near the Peiwar Pass that it thrusts itself into
the deep gorges of a mountain valley.
Before this happens, however, the road leaves the
river and passes under the upper ridges of the Safed Koh
(from the heights of which one may look down on the
Khaibar route northward and that of Kuram to the south)