Eighteen versts to the south of the fortress, at Chahil Dukteran, there is the post of the Russian Frontier Guard and the present terminus of the Murghab Valley railway. Beyond may be noted the solitary figures of the Russian sentinels keeping their beat along the extensive line of their position; while southward and serving at the moment for a caravan route lies the road to Herat. As an interesting link in the chain of evidence which points to the future use of this road in another way, there is the existence of a large store of light railway plant prepared for the purposes of extending it into Afghanistan itself, whenever the troops of Russia may require to be carried forward to the walls of Herat through the passes of the Paropamisus, a little less than 80 miles. To Englishmen another, perhaps less direct and more ficticious, interest attaches to this railway. A glance at the map of the Eastern hemisphere will show that the shortest practicable line of communication between London and India lies through Russia and across Central Asia. The direction would be _viâ_ Calais, Berlin, Warsaw, Rostov-on-Don, Petrovski, Baku, Krasnovodsk, Merv, Kushkinski, Girishk and Kandahar. The whole of this distance has now been covered by railway, with the exception of the span of 195 miles across the Caspian Sea, between Baku and Krasnovodsk and the gap of 500 miles which still separates Kushkinski Post from New Chaman. If these sections were bridged the journey from London to India might be very considerably shortened, assuming that the present rate of speed--32 miles an hour on the European and 25 on the Asiatic lines--were maintained. The net saving in time, if the railway were completed, would be seven days; while the horrors of the Red Sea and the monsoon would be but bad dreams to the Anglo-Indian traveller. The country between Kushkinski Post and New Chaman presents no obstacle to the engineer; the Paropamisus range could be crossed by the Ardewan or the Chashma Sabz pass, neither of which is more than 3400 feet above sea-level or 1000 feet higher than that of the tableland on either side. From this point Herat, the garden city of Afghanistan and the key of India, is distant only 30 miles; thence the line would be carried by way of Sabzawar, Farah, Girishk and Kandahar to New Chaman.