THE NORTHERN DEFENCES. 531 



We are the great rising power in the East; and the main 

 lines of our policy should be to govern India well, and 

 maintain friendship with the Chinese." * 



The "second fire," to which allusion was made, was 

 to France in Siam. Our naval friends would probably 

 have a word to say on that. As long as Britain holds 

 command of the seas, France can do nothing against 

 us in India. She would have more to fear from us 

 than we from her. But the greatest interest of both 

 countries is peace. Also, as long as England is supreme 

 at sea the British line of communication will be far 

 shorter, safer and easier, than that of any invader coming 

 from Central Asia. " It is not in the Indus itself (says 

 Colonel Hanna) that I see India's true scientific frontier, 

 but in the combination of that great river with a waterless 

 desert, and a deep and rugged mountain chain, "f 



The inspection of a good large scale map will however 

 put this more clearly before those who desire to know 

 the exact value of the difficulties in the way of an 

 invader. It will be observed that all rivers of any 

 considerable size join the Indus upon its eastern side, 

 whereas the small streams marked upon its western 

 bank where they are not mountain torrents, are mostly 

 dry nullahs or ravines, which are seldom threaded by 

 streams except during the rainy season. Then again 

 as regards the mountain regions, there are no roads 

 through them, except that via the Khyber Pass, that 

 are passable for any kind of wheeled vehicle, and 

 Colonel Hanna, in the same letter quoted from above, 



* Letter controverting Mr. Curzon's views, by General Sir John Adye 

 to the Times of Aug. I", 1893, p. 7. 



j* Letter in The Broad Arrow, (military paper) of Nov. 20, 1895, 

 signed H. B. Hanna in reply to criticisms on his book India's 

 Scientific Frontier. 



