PHYSICAL FEATURES. 43 



on the maps. North of the Son the heights rise to above 2,000 feet, but 

 westwards towards the Indus decline again to 1,200, 1,300, 1,500, and 

 1,600 feet. Distance and elevation make the ground on this side also 

 appear like a flat plain, but betw^een the undulations are deep intricate 

 Kudderas leading to the broad sandy beds of rivers generally nearly dry. 



The range is traversed by three or four principal passes (not includ- 

 ing paths or roads which follow no particular 

 Passes. 



depression). The lowest of these are situated near 



each end of the range. The Bakrala Pass on the Grand Trunk Road 

 north of Jhelum may have a height of 1,400 feet at the ridge of the 

 same name } that at Ghoragali near Diljaba is a gorge of the Bunhdr 

 river at about a height of 1,309 feet; a lower gorge on the same stream 

 at Pind Sevika may be between 800 and 90O feet high. The long 

 pass of Choya-Saidan-Shah, following the deep valley of that name, one of 

 the few considerable valleys opening on the north side of the range, 

 is an old route from Pind-Dadan-Kh^n northwards ; up this the road rises 

 among the intricate and deeply excavated ravines of the range to a 

 height of about 2,000 feet at its crest. The deep gorge of Sardi nearly 

 intersects the range southward of Kalar Kahar lake, but the road 

 which crosses it here climbs the right side of this deep defile below Sardi 

 village. 



The last of the passes worth mention as such is that from Namal to 

 Musakhel, above the right bank of the impassable Bakh ravine and at 

 a little distance from it. It probably does not ascend so much as 50O 

 feet above the plain to the south.* 



The valleys of the range are numerous, and some of them profound 



gorges, but none have now any important con- 

 Valleys. . 



nection with the country beyond it, excepting the 



deeply cut passages of the Kahan, the Bunhar, the Vahi, a nameless 



stream near Khyrabad, and the gorge of the Indus itself. 



* The elevations of summits and similar points only are given on the maps ; those of 

 hollows or crests of passes are not marked, hence they are estimated above. 



( 43 ) 



