Show KIl t yi trw J C Stretch of the Famous Khyber Pass Prepared by tho National Society Washington Wa D Co C V the tle KIn of Afghanistan X WITH W dethroned and the country In ID turmoil the Kh Khyber ber Pass which connects AfghanIstan and IndIa India Is again ajaIn the the object of BrIt BrIt- BrItIsh British Ish vigilance Located as It Is In the northwest corner of India and at the head of the Broad Road noad or Main Street of Kipling's lama Inma and his youthful disciple KIm Kirn the Khyber I Pass Is lithe the key to the hack back door of India It ItIs Itis Is one of the few breaks In that en- en encircling encircling circling wall of mountains and des des- deserts deserts deserts erts which has been the main ally of the British In protecting their won won hard domains from the Inroads of the Independent and lawless tribes of the North Korth and the West The seeker of romance of contrasts and of danger might well end his hi Journey here As one onE- writer says There Is perhaps no other mountain In the world so historic as this so filled with the ghosts hosts of armies so thoroughly soaked with romance and battle and blood blond Many centurIes before the roar of the motor truck Its like canyon walls reverberated reverberated reverberated to the shouts of Alexander and his Greeks Greeks- It has bas known In turn tum the exultant cries of the Moguls the Afghans Af- Af Afghans Af Afghans and the lie pioneer English For more than thirty centuries the Khyber Pass has lias been a n great floodgate through W which In turn peoples have ha poured In search of conquest nd- nd adventure ad adventure venture and trade The very name of the Khyber Kb ber Pass Is romantic To s see e It on the semi semi- semiweekly semiweekly weekly semi weekly convoy day lay Is to be trans trans- transported transported transported ported back through the lie ages to the time when three wl wise wie e men garbed In volumInous mantles like those the Afghans wear swa swayed d back and forth to the slow v stride of their desert mounts while following the Star Out In the dr dry plain below the south south- southern southern ern rn mouth of the Cass Pass Is the mud fort of Its flat Hat surroundings cluttered with tents and adobe huts II h on a n plateau near the Afghan end Is a n lonely camp held by the lie guards g of the gates of India Twin roads an nn aerial the slender life liCe lines of the military tele tele- telephone telephone phone and lately a I short hort stretch of light these railway railway these are the only signs during most of the week to Indicate that trade here runs nuns the gantlet be between tween threatening hills harboring lawless spirits who consider a n hair trigger hair trigger gun the best hest defender of life and liberty and most effective In the pursuit of ot some somebody's bolly's happiness Half way through almost hidden In a depression which Is mortal dull dullIn dullin dullIn In winter and a place of intolerable heat hent In summer Is a cluster of tents mingled led with lines of tethered ani animals mals known as All 11 A Fiery Furnace In winter the Khyber Kh ber Is more like the Near r Last East than thun India but In sum summer mer the gash Jash In the hills Is n a fiery fier furnace and a n living hell Then the fhe sha shaggy y camels are not seen and winters winter's flowing robes ar are cast aside revealing re hard chests weathered brown by hy sun and wind At All a n breeze would be god oel godsend send The fhe atmosphere shimmers In bent beat waves like the surface of a boll boll Ing In ing cauldron Here lIere the two caravans meet ot at noonday the one to hasten hosten southward toward the Kabul Bazaar In Pesha Pesha- Peshawar Peshawar war th the other to finish before night night full full fall the most dangerous section of Its long trail to the Hindu Kush or the tie noisy khans hans of When the rou rough coated whose home stretches along the high plateau of Al Asia ln from Iran Itan to the Gobi Cobi supplement the ugly but hardier cousIns of the lowland deserts the narrow funnel of the lie Kh Khyber ber s se nis ms clogged with masses of dark dark brown carnet cunel hair but dashing along beside the road rond reser 1 reserved for cara caravans hug hug- hugging ging tile the new highway which has ben been constructed for tor their benefit or bound bounel bounding bounding ing over r cui culverts verts bridging hone bone 11 dry ry waterways there roars a coe covey of military motors motors- Although the entire Pass Is In Brit Brit- British British ish territory safe conduct offered on only two tuo days das In the lie week neck w ek At dawn Tuesdays s 's and Fridays mer mer- merchants chants nod and their caravans assemble nt at each end nl eni of the PH Pass 9 and there Is Isu isa Isa u a great hurry anti and scramble to get through before sunset On these two days troops occupy the lie hilltop block block- blockhouses blockhouses houses nail are stationed along the road to protect the lie caravans cin from flom snipers mid and highwaymen u men By herdIng herd herdIn In Ing all the traffic into two pell passages saes too there Is the lie added cd safe safe- safety afe t ty of At All the two streams of ot traffic raffle meet at nt midday thus the highway In either direction can enn be devoted to one way one ay traffic On other days the road Is deserted The Government of or Afghanistan has hns maintaIned Its Absolutely Forbidden to Cross This Border Into Afghan Territory sign for many decades but there have ha been many one foot one visitors to W o Afghanistan that Is tour tour- tourists tourists tourIsts who step over the border so they can enn ha have e something out of the ordinary ordinary n nary y to tell the folks back home Some of ot the wild land beyond the Pass In Afghanistan Is exceedingly beautiful resembling according to th the few Europeans who have seen It the famous Vale of ot Kashmir the land ot of Lalla Rookh Areas around the head head- headwaters headwaters headwaters waters of the Kabul river the most Important river In the th kingdom have e not been explored b by Europeans since the days when Alexander made his way to India More Interesting than the tha scenery or of the Pass are the the un- un un untamed tamed tribesmen who live lI In the vi- vi vi vicinity of the passes between their cOlin country try and India They are power power- powerful powerful powerful ful Independent treacherous and fer- fer ferocious ferocious ocious Hiding In the seams scams of th the hIlls they once picked off oll with their trusty muskets travelers on the road below Many punitive expeditions were sent against them expeditions which were as unfruitful as the Moroccan campaigns long were against the nI fluffs Acting on the principle that a n can catch a thief however the Brit Brit- BritIsh British British ish have e been more successful The daring plan was conceived of ot train rain training raining ing and arming the wild tribesmen of the Pass Into a n protective body Time Khyber Rifles composed en- en entirely entirely of Afridi tribesmen under Eng Eng- English Eng Eng- English English lish officers has become a n famous and successful British colonial mill mili military tary organization The Pass the Key to IndIa The Man Ian Who Was Vas pictured the Kh Khyber ber as the key to India Whether Whether er It be the military or political k key y today tollay Is a question But ut the Khyber on convoy day does give a key to understanding why It Is that the anthropological an- an an museum which we know as India still deludes the world with vIsions of untold wealth Instead of unspeakable misery The camel Is the reason The heavy duty engine conceals Its romance In firebox and boilers but the zoological caricature caller called the camel Is a 8 r re- re relief re relief lief map of romance When anyone mentions cost per ton ton- ton mile mile this beast boast turns up his disdain disdain- disdainful ful ful ul nose No cheap bulk frel freights for him Silks spices jewels price price- priceless priceless priceless less stuffs of soft or stiff cloth of these gold gold these are his Ills cargoes carloes Who iSho e ever er saw sa romance In lentils or Lloc block tin Alchemists do not dream of pig Iron Rich cargoes spell ro- ro romance romance ro romance mance And the camel ugly drudge e that he lie Is excludes cheap freight rel ht ns as easily as ns a n white footman footman excludes the proletariat a largest Indian town near the portals of the Khyber like many another city In to In India din Is a combination tion lion of native community and canton canton- cantonment the ment-the ment tho former closely packed and Interesting the latter widely and as ns deadly dull to the visit visit- visitor visitor or us as the outside outside of an nn exclusive club There Is tennis on excellent courts court sensational polo by military men mounted on splendid ponies with white grooms lined up b be- be behind be behind hind the goals and the side lines Ii a sandwich of attractive Europeans attractive wedged In between the less U tive and more Interesting natives to whom polo seems scorns aristocratic and e ex otic ex-otic otic nit although hough this most ost ancient ot of hockey games came overland from Persia through Turkestan hundreds of years u ago o and was played In In- In Indin In India din dia long before the thc Fn English lIsh smash smash smash-Ing In lag the Spanish Armada which barred time the water gate to the opulent fast Enst I gave guve Impetus to Imperialism by hy found found- founding founding In ing the East India company I The cantonment Is the time place where the visitor sleeps and eats cats and where he obtains permission to traverse erse the gash In the lie barren burren hills through which the Central Asian commerce ebbs ord Bows But nut for Interest be dries es or better belter plods alone the two twomile twomile twomile mile dusty road which leads lends to the native nathe city city composed like Its Asian counterparts of or mud mUll was and mull mud houses with an nn added story which Bich Is often nothing more than a wattle fence plastered with moil mini on nn tl the e ruf Here live the women folk and thither the natives climb hen time the hot hint breathlessness of or the lie dark clark darkrooms darkrooms rooms below helow drives them to n summer refuge beneath the time stars |