THE KEY TO INDIA

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 21 May 1927, Page 11

THE KEY TO INDIA

India is a land, of contrasts. Each district, has its own characteristics, and represents a consistent unique picture. The rapid changes from the feudal grandeur of Udiaipur to the splendour of the Mogul cities of Agra and .Delhi, and again to the wild vitality of the Himalayas, Peshawar, and the Khyber Pas® overwhelm the traveller. I had' heard many things about the famous Pass, states a writer in “The Sphere.” Geographically, it stands as one of the principal routers through the almost solid half circle of the Himalayas into India from Afghanistan, Persia, and eventually Asia Minor and Europe. Historically it has been the route of all the great conquerors of India from' Alexander the Great to the Mogul Emperors. This historic highway can only he visited on caravan days, Tuesday and Thursday of each week (as these are the only times when the road is specially guarded), with a permit from the Military Commissioner. The enti anoe to the Bass, some nine miles from Peshawar, is guarded by the huge mud fort Jamrud, occupied

TRIP THROUGH KHYBER PASS

by British troops. Here you and your permit are most carefully looked over before you can proceed, and if the examination is favourable, you are allowed to enter the Pass proper. The ■road emerges into two, one for caravans, another for motors, while the newly-constructed railroad crosses them at intervals as it runs in and out of tunriels. . . Almost directly after passing Fort Jamrud we came abreast of the first caravan, a string of scores of camel® tethered together, winding up the -road in ®ingle file. Nothing could have been more picturesque than these astounding prehistoric brutes 1 , huge hairy beasts, twice as big as the Egyptian variety, -and looking as though they had been wrapped up in heavy, yellow bearskin rugs. We had plenty of time to get some very near view® of the caravans as their endless line over and over again stopped our automobile. Many, verv scared by our chariot, prfanced around and -refused to be comforted. Exactly why we or a camel did not go over the precipice at one side of the road is a miracle to me.