(15,620
feet). To the west of the Peshawar and Kohat districts is a tangle of
hills and valleys formed by outlying spurs of the Safed Koh. This
difficult country is in the occupation of Afridis and Orakzais, who are
under our political control.

~The Kurram Valley.~--The line of advance into Afghanistan through the
Kurram valley is easy, and Lord Roberts used it when he marched towards
Kabul in 1898. After the war we annexed the valley, leaving however the
head waters of the Kurram in Afghan territory. The road to Kabul leaves
the river far to the south before it crosses our frontier at Paiwar
Kotal.

~Waziristan Hills.~--Between the Kurram valley and the Gomal river is a
large block of very rough mountainous country known as Waziristan from
the turbulent clan which occupies it. In the north it is drained by the
Tochi. Westwards of the Tochi valley the country rises into lofty
mountains. The upper waters of the Tochi and its affluents drain two
fine glens known as Birmal and Shawal to the west of the country of the
Mahsud Wazirs. The Tochi valley is the direct route from India to
Ghazni, and nine centuries ago, when that decayed town was the capital
of a powerful kingdom, it must often have heard the tramp of armed men.
The loftiest peaks in Waziristan, Shuidar (11,000 feet) and Pirghal
(11,600 feet), overhang Birmal. Further south, Wana, our post in
south-west Waziristan, overlooks from its plateau the Gomal valley.

~The Gomal Pass as a trade route.~--East of Kajuri Kach the Gomal flows
through tribal territory to the Gomal pass from which it debouches into
the plains of the Dera Ismail Khan district. "The Gomal route is the
oldest of all trade routes. Down it there yearly pours a succession of
_kafilas_ (caravans) led and followed up by thousands of well-armed
Pathan traders, called Powindahs, from the plains of Afghanistan to
India. The Powindahs mostly belong to the Ghilzai tribes, and are not
therefore true Afghans[1]. Leaving their women and children encamped
within British territory on our border, and their arms in the keeping of
our frontier political officials, the Powindah makes his way southwards
with his camel loads of fruit and silk, bales of camel and goat hair or
sheepskin goods, carpets and other merchandise from Kabul and Bokhara,
and conveys himself through the length and breadth of the Indian
peninsula.... He returns yearly to the cool summits of the Afghan hills
and the open grassy plains, where