~Safed Koh.~--From Landikhana the political boundary runs south-west to the Safed Koh (white mountain) and is continued westwards along that range to the Paiwar Kotal or pass (8450 feet). The Safed Koh forms the watershed of the Kabul and Kurram rivers. It is a fine pine clad chain with a general level of 12,000 feet, and its skyline is rarely free from snow. It culminates in the west near Paiwar Kotal in Sikaram (15,620 feet). To the west of the Peshawar and Kohat districts is a tangle of hills and valleys formed by outlying spurs of the Safed Koh. This difficult country is in the occupation of Afridis and Orakzais, who are under our political control. ~The Kurram Valley.~--The line of advance into Afghanistan through the Kurram valley is easy, and Lord Roberts used it when he marched towards Kabul in 1898. After the war we annexed the valley, leaving however the head waters of the Kurram in Afghan territory. The road to Kabul leaves the river far to the south before it crosses our frontier at Paiwar Kotal. ~Waziristan Hills.~--Between the Kurram valley and the Gomal river is a large block of very rough mountainous country known as Waziristan from the turbulent clan which occupies it. In the north it is drained by the Tochi. Westwards of the Tochi valley the country rises into lofty mountains. The upper waters of the Tochi and its affluents drain two fine glens known as Birmal and Shawal to the west of the country of the Mahsud Wazirs. The Tochi valley is the direct route from India to Ghazni, and nine centuries ago, when that decayed town was the capital of a powerful kingdom, it must often have heard the tramp of armed men. The loftiest peaks in Waziristan, Shuidar (11,000 feet) and Pirghal (11,600 feet), overhang Birmal. Further south, Wana, our post in south-west Waziristan, overlooks from its plateau the Gomal valley. ~The Gomal Pass as a trade route.~--East of Kajuri Kach the Gomal flows through tribal territory to the Gomal pass from which it debouches into the plains of the Dera Ismail Khan district. "The Gomal route is the oldest of all trade routes. Down it there yearly pours a succession of _kafilas_ (caravans) led and followed up by thousands of well-armed Pathan traders, called Powindahs, from the plains of Afghanistan to India. The Powindahs mostly belong to the Ghilzai tribes, and are not therefore true Afghans[1]. Leaving their women and children encamped within British territory on our border, and their arms in the keeping of our frontier political officials, the Powindah makes his way southwards with his camel loads of fruit and silk, bales of camel and goat hair or sheepskin goods, carpets and other merchandise from Kabul and Bokhara, and conveys himself through the length and breadth of the Indian peninsula.... He returns yearly to the cool summits of the Afghan hills and the open grassy plains, where his countless flocks of sheep and camels are scattered for the summer grazing" (Holdich's _India_, pp. 80-81).