R8

INDIA

passed into the stage of forgotten highways, and Ghor
itself is now to be numbered only amongst the dead cities
of Asia. It is hardly recognisable in the few broken ruins
which lie amidst the desolate hills of this forsaken region.
The Khafila route from Herat now passes southwards
parallel to the Persian border to Farah, and thence
reaches Kandahar by way of Girishk—a circuitous route
of not less than 360 miles in length—a route which

E16. 20.—The Route from Herat to Kandahar,

traverses wide spaces of sandy and waterless “ dasht,” and
is flanked throughout by a region containing the fiercest
and most fanatical tribes of the Afghan community.
Nevertheless it taps all the best developed and most
civilised centres of western Afghan trade. From Kabul
to Kandahar, on the other hand, is a straight highroad
hardly to be matched for excellence by any of the best
roads in Europe of equal length. It passes through
Ghazni—once also a capital of Afghanistan—a famous
city of palaces and of fabulous wealth, the centre of all