ition upon which the garrisons
of Peshawar and Nowshera could fall back and await the arrival of
reinforcements.

For this position I selected a spot on the right bank of the Kabul
river, between Khairabad and the Indus; it commanded the passage of
the latter river, and could easily be strengthened by defensive works
outside the old fort of Attock.

It will be readily understood by those of my readers who have any
knowledge of our North-West Frontier, or are interested in the
question of the defence of India, that other routes exist between the
Bolan and the Khyber Passes which might be made use of either by an
army invading India, or by a force sent from India to the assistance
of Afghanistan; and by such it will probably be asked, as was the case
when my recommendations were being discussed, why I did not advise
these lines to be similarly guarded. My reply was, and is, that there
are no arsenals or depots near these passes to be protected, as at
Quetta and Rawul Pindi; that we should not be likely to use them for
an army moving into Afghanistan; that, although small parties of the
enemy might come by them, the main body of a force operating towards
India is bound to advance by the Khyber, for the reason that it would
debouch directly on highly cultivated country and good roads leading
to all the great cities of the Punjab; and finally that, even if our
finances would admit of the construction of such a long line of forts,
it would be impossible for our limited army to supply the garrisons
for them.

Having completed my inspection of the frontier, I returned to Simla
and drew up a memorandum declaring the conviction I had arrived at
after careful deliberation, that the improvement of our communications
was of far greater importance than the immediate construction of
forts and entrenchments, and that, while I would not spare money in
strengthening well-defined positions, the strategical value of which
was unmistakable, I would not trouble about those places the primary
importance of fortifying which was open to argument, and which might
never be required to be defended; these, I contended, might be left
alone, except so far as to make a careful study of their localities
and determine how they could best be taken advantage of should
occasion require. My note ended with the following words: 'Meanwhile I
would push on our communications with all possible speed; we must have
roads, and we must have railways; they canno