5,74 
ROUTE BY WHICH CARAVANS PROCEED TO INDIA. 
would be required to enable an army to effect 
this march, but it does not appear there can 
be any material obstacle to check their ad- 
vance. 
“ No tract of country can possess a less 
portion of the necessaries of life than the 
Desert betvveen Cosseirand the Nile ; and yet 
that sterile tract was crossed in l801 t y seve- 
lal thousand men oi the British army with 
Imt a trifling loss; and when arrangements 
were afterwards matuted, a battalion marched 
over it in June, the most unfavourable month 
in the year, with the loss of only a boy.” 
It appears that from Candahar there are 
different routes by which caravans proceed 
toindia. One to the south crosses the Indus 
by boats at Meerpoor, which is near the city 
of Moultan, and is at a distance of 350 miles 
from Candahar. This presents no obstacle 
to an advance, and has been pursued by 
former invaders. 
“ This is, perhaps, our most vulnerable 
frontier, and after the passage of the Indus, 
the nature of the country, which is flat, and 
abundantly supplied with provisions, offers no 
serious impediments to the advance of a large 
body of men.” Another route ascends to Ca- 
bul, the capital of the Afghan Empire, and 
passes on to the city of Attock, where the 
Indus is fordable. This route was used by 
Alexander, and has been followed by modern 
conquerors, of whom Sultan Mahmood, with 
an army of 30,000 infantryaud lOO, 000 cavalry, 
passed Attock and skirted the mountains of 
Cashmere, from whence he descended into 
the plains of Hindoostan. 
The route from Candahar to Cabul, by a 
road of 176 miles, passes over a country in 
several parts well cultivated and productive- 
At Cabul piovis'.ons are found in considerable 
quantities. A river, fordable in dry weather, 
passes this place, skiitingthe chain ot moun- 
tains, and falls into the Indus near Attock. 
The road from Cabul passes through Paisha- 
weer, “ a beautiful valley on the Indus. The 
town of Paishavseer is still ofsome magnitude, 
having 100,000 inhabitants.”* fhe distance 
of this place from Cabul is 180 miles, and 
fioin Paishaweer to Attock on the Indus is50 
miles. The vicinity of Attock is the only 
place wherethe Indus can be conveniently 
crossed; here the river is of great breadth, 
black, rapid, and interspersed with islands, 
all of which may be easily defended. t Ano- 
ther authority says, “ The Indus indeed was 
forded above the junction (at Attock), by 
Shauh Shuja and his army, in the end of the 
winter of 1809 ; but this was talked of as a mira- 
cle wiought in the king’s favour ; and I never 
heard of any other ford on the Indus, from the 
place whence itissuesfrom the mountains to 
the sea.”J 
* Elphinstone. 
i Macdonald Kinneir. 
J Elpbiustone. 
The route from Candahar to Attock would 
appear to he 406 miles, and to offer little ob- 
stacle to the regular approach of an army. 
On the east side of ihti Indus at Attock is the 
Punjab, or ” five waters,” from the five cele- 
brated rivers that flow through it. “ The 
climate is exceedingly healthy ; and the coun- 
try is highly cultivated and veiy populous.”* 
By the information we have been able to 
collect, the distance from Herat to Attock is 
776 miles, and the whole maich from the 
shores of the Caspian to the latter place would 
be by a route of 1377 miles. 
There is nothing either iu the nature of the 
countries to be passed through, or in the dis- 
position of their inhabitants to vender this 
undeitaking one of insurmountable difficulty, 
or of necessary protraction. It ought to be 
expected whenever the policy of the govern- 
ment of Russia may hold it fit to separate 
from its friendly alliance with Great Britain. 
At present the European energies of the Bri- 
tish government in India aie chiefly confined 
to the ports of Calcutta, Madias, and Bom- 
bay, and other places near the coast. It will 
suffice at this moment to remark that the prin- 
cipal dep6t, above mentioned, of these three, 
is by the dak, or post route, 1480 miles from 
Attock, or agreater distance than a Russian 
force would require to march to reach the 
same place. Madras is yet farther from the 
point of contact than Calcutta. Bombay is 
nearer the Indus than either of the other 
Presidencies, but its military establishment 
is very inferior in numbers. An attempt will 
be made heareafter to point out, that through 
the medium of steam navigation on the Gan- 
ges, and by the western shore of India and the 
Indus, effectual steps may be taken to improve 
the communication with the probable point 
of contact, to remove, in a great measure, or 
totally to dispel the danger to be apprehended 
from any attempt that might he made by 
Russia to subvert Biitish ascendancy in 
India.” 
{To be continued.) 
Art. V. — Narrative of a Residence in 
Koordistan, and on the site of Ancient 
Nineveh; with Journal of a Voyage 
down the Tigris to Bagdad, and an Ac- 
count of a Visit to Shirauz and Perse- 
polis. By the late Claudius James 
Rich, Esq., the Hon. East India 
Company's Resident at Bagdad, Author 
of ** an Account of Ancient Babylon." 
2 Vols. Octavo. James Duncan, 
Paternoster -Row, London, 1836. 
{Continued from page 430.) 
The editor of this work states that the 
heat for five months at Bagdad is scarcely 
Sir John Malcolm. 
