One more subject remains, as regards Central Asia, which deserves a few remarks--that of the Pamirs, on the north eastern confines of Afghanistan. The country, until recently very little known, is an elevated desolate plateau ringed round with snowy ridges, and is the point of junction of the three great mountain ranges--the Himalayas, the Hindoo Koosh, and the Tian-Shan. The fact that some of the lakes on this elevated region are over 12,000 feet above the sea is a proof of its exceptional character. The climate is very severe, and its inhabitants appear to be chiefly nomadic tribes from Afghanistan, Russia, and China respectively, who bring their flocks there for pasture during the three or four summer months. The actual delimitation of the frontiers, it is understood, is now being amicably arranged between the Powers concerned. As a base for military operations for an advance on India, the very nature of the country offers insurmountable obstacles and hardly needs discussion. I have dealt in some detail with the subject of Central Asia, as one of great and general interest, and have endeavoured to explain the military aspect of the case, because it is the one perhaps not so generally understood. There are people who say that war, sooner or later, is inevitable. As the late Lord Derby once very sensibly remarked: 'Of the two I prefer it later.' It appears to me that there is no cause for war, or indeed probability of it, between Russia and England in that part of the world; but should such unfortunately arise, the danger would not lie on our side. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 109: Kaye's _History of the War in Afghanistan in 1838_.] [Footnote 110: _What England has done for India_, Dr. W. Hunter, 1879.] [Footnote 111: 'The New Afghan Frontier,' by Col. Sir West Ridgeway, K.C.S.I., C.B.; _Nineteenth Century_, October 1887.] [Footnote 112: _Parliamentary Paper_: Central Asia, C 2164, 1878; also C 699, 1873.] [Footnote 113: Central Asia, No. 1, 1878.] [Footnote 114: _Parliamentary Paper_: Afghanistan, 1878.] [Footnote 115: _Parliamentary Paper_: Afghanistan, No. 2, 1881, C 2811.] [Footnote 116: _Times_, October 18, 1878.] [Footnote 117: _Parliamentary Paper_: Beluchistan, February 1878.] [Footnote 118: Afghanistan, No. 7, 1879, C 2401.] [Footnote 119: Afghanistan, No. 1, 1881, C 2776, and No. 2, 2811.] [Footnote 120: _Afghanistan_, 1881, No. 1, pp. 60-87.] [Footnote 121: _Central Asia_: No. 2, 1885, C 4387; and No. 1, 1887, C 5114.] CHAPTER XXVIII APPOINTED SURVEYOR GENERAL OF THE ORDNANCE--PRINCIPLES OF ARMY PROMOTION--EGYPTIAN WAR OF 1882 On the formation of Mr. Gladstone's Government in 1880 I was offered by him, and accepted, the appointment of Surveyor General of the Ordnance.