THE KHYBER PASS. 443 



sometimes destroy whole caravans of travellers with their 

 deadly cold." * 



These passes are of course the only means of communi- 

 cation between Central Asia and Hindustan ; and some 

 of the better known and more generally frequented 

 ones do a large traffic, and are crossed by large 

 caravans of both men and animals. The Khyber Pass, 

 from Peshawar into Afghanistan, is one of the most 

 renowned and best known of these. Caravan days at 

 present are Tuesdays and Fridays, and wheeled traffic 

 for ordinary vehicles ceases at Jamrud (Lat. 33 58' 

 N., Long. 7i 3o x E.) the present British frontier station: 

 [a permit is required for travellers proceeding beyond this 

 point:] but a practicable road was constructed during the 

 late war, which has since been kept in order, and consider- 

 ably improved, as far as All Musjid, a hill fort forming 

 one of the British advanced posts, beyond which point 

 the pass is at present closed to Europeans, unless 

 provided with a special order. Upon the occasion of 

 our recent visit to the Khyber we took careful note 

 of the traffic, and on the morning we started from 

 Jamrud, a caravan of over 350 camels, besides a good 

 many horses and donkeys, left for Afghanistan. We 

 also passed a company of pilgrims, on foot, quite 250 

 strong, all bound for the north. 



The Khyber pass is probably the safest and easiest 

 of all the Himalayan passes, and is rarely incommoded 

 by snow, the mountains being none of them much over 

 5000 feet over sea-level at this point. It is however 

 subject to severe floods, which fill the streams occupying 

 the beds of the ravines, converting them into torrents 



* Where Three Empires Meet, Travels in Kashmir, Ladak, etc., by 

 E. F. Knight, 1893, p. 103. 



