Khyber Pass

Khyber Pass, the great northern military road between the Punjab and Afghanistan, winds in a north-westerly direction for 33 miles between the projecting spurs of two enclosing ranges of hills. The pass is merely the bed of a narrow watercourse, and varies in width from 150 yards to 20, though in one place it is only '10 feet or less.' It is liable at times to be suddenly flooded. The mountains on either side are in many places perpendicular walls of smooth rock, and can be climbed only in a few places; they vary in height from 1404 to 3373 feet. Over the roughest parts of the pass artillery has to be dragged by men. The Khyber Pass has been the key of the adjacent regions in either direction from the days of Alexander the Great. During the Afghan wars of 1839-42 it was twice traversed by a British army, in spite of an obstinate defence by the natives. The first fighting in the Afghan war of 1878-80 was in forcing an entrance into this pass. It was stipulated in the treaty of Gandamak (1879) that the Anglo-Indian authorities were in future to have full control of this pass.