532 THE PLAINS TRACK OF THE INDUS. 



proceeds to show the enormous difficulties which an 

 army would meet with in attempting to pass them, by 

 quoting the opinion of the late General Sir Edward 

 Hamley, as follows: 



" Accustomed as we are to see the mountain chains of 

 Europe successfully crossed by great armies (said that eminent 

 strategist in 1878) we must remember how different in depth 

 are the ranges of the hills of Afghanistan. In a couple of 

 marches the Russians were through the Bohemian mountains. 

 But here, the shortest pass through the barrier between Cabul 

 and the Indian Valley is 190 miles; the Gumal nearly 300 

 miles, and not days but weeks are occupied in the isolated, 

 march." * 



This is as far as we propose to carry this subject. 

 We shall now shortly sketch the plains track of 

 the Indus from Kalabagh to the sea. This section 

 of the river, of about 872 miles, is navigable for light- 

 draught steamers. It is however possible to descend 

 the river from Attock by a native boat, a thing which 

 is still sometimes done, as the trip takes the traveller 

 through much fine scenery; though the journey is rather 

 a rough one. It occupies about five days to descend 

 from Attock to Dera-Ismail-Khan, f a distance of about 

 195 miles. At Kalabagh, where as we have said the 

 Indus debouches from the great salt range into the 

 plains country, the river has descended to a point just 

 under 900 feet over sea-level. The current is still 

 very swift, but the stream which has hitherto been 

 pent up for a great part of its course, between preci- 

 pices and high banks, now assumes a much wider 



* Letter in The Broad Arrow, (military paper) of Nov. 23, 1895, 

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

 tific Frontier. 



f It is near this point where the Gumal Pass mentioned by General 

 Sir E. Hamley debouches to the westward of the river. 



