RAILWAYS

291

hundred miles of easy line, tapping two such centres of
Asiatic trade as Kandahar and Herat, would connect Europe
with India, without any intervening deserts, no hot plains,
no shifting of cargo from rail to steamer, and would pass
‘hrough an admirable climate and over easy grades.
Returning to the main north-western line, which
crosses the Indus River by the Lansdowne bridge at

100 MILES

Jal

“ra. 89.—North-West Frontier— Railways.

Sukkur, we arrive at a very interesting group of oldworld
 cities, which are worth much more than a passing
notice. Sukkur came into our possession in 1842, and
the present town is comparatively modern. It is connected
 with Rohri on the left bank by perhaps the most
-emarkable bridge in India, the construction of which has
already been noticed. From the island of Bhakkur, near
the middle of the river, to the river bank at Rohri, a