Bolan' Pass

Bolan' Pass, a narrow, precipitous gorge, ascending in a generally north-west direction from a point 5 miles NW. of Dadur to the broad plateau of Dasht-i-Bidaulat, in Beluchistan, and lying pretty directly between Sind and Kandahar. Its entrance and its outlet are respectively 800 and 5800 feet above the level of the sea. The total ascent, therefore, is about 5000 feet, which, on a length of barely 55 miles, gives an average of fully 90 feet to the mile. Along the bottom of the pass descends a torrent, now repeatedly bridged by a good military road; and in 1885-86 a railway, 56 miles in length, was laid for military purposes. Over part of it there are three rails, the central one being toothed to catch a cog-wheel on the engine. The route, without being impracticable, is highly defensible in a military point of view, and is commanded by the fortress at Quetta, now British. It is bounded throughout by eminences which sometimes attain a height of 800 feet; and yet, in 1839, a British column of artillery accomplished the whole distance in six days. From the northern outlet there is no fall, and a good road runs to Quetta, 25 miles away.