he whole of his country to be inundated,
so that the invader is obliged to retire, and is by this stratagem
kept at a respectful distance.

Another traveller came across us this day, who had resided for some
years at Kok[=a]n, and furnished us with some account of the nature of
the Chinese garrison of that fort. It is situated on an isolated rock,
and every five years relieved with men, provisions, and ammunition;
the flanks of the bastions are armed with ponderous wall pieces,
requiring three men to work them. Chambers are also bored in the live
rock, from whence enormous masses of stone might be discharged on an
assailing foe. The Kok[=a]nese have often attempted to dislodge the
intruders, but owing to the good state of defence in which the fort
is kept, and the strong escorts under which the reliefs are regularly
forwarded, they have been always repulsed with severe loss. My
informant had been in the service of the Kok[=a]nese, and was now on
his way to Hindoostan; in military notions he must have been of the
famous Captain Dugald Dalgetty's school, for I afterwards met him as a
non-commissioned officer in Shah Seujah's Goorkah battalion.

CHAPTER XIII.

A march of eighteen miles brought us on the 19th July to Koollum.

[Illustration: Drawn by J. Cowell Esq! Pelham Richardson Litho

View of Koollum, from the eastward.]

The road continued along the banks of the river, through a wide valley
bounded by low distant hills for nearly the whole way. Towards the end
of our journey a spur from these hills struck right across the direction
of the river, which had forced for itself a passage through the obstacle
without deviating much from its rectilinear course, but considerably
disturbing its previously placid character, for here it rushed with
impetuous violence through the narrow cleft which it had formed, through
this, the most advanced outpost of the glorious range of the Hindoo
Khoosh. The defile, though short, was difficult of access and capable of
being long defended; there is a small tower about the centre, slightly
removed from and commanding the road: but a mere handfull of troops
stationed on the crags above could, by hurling down the loosened masses
of rock which totter on the edge of the cliff, for a time effectually
stop the progress of a hostile army from either side. I should imagine,
however, that this as well as every other pass I have ever seen except
the Khyber and Bolun would be more easi