The absence of timber on this route rendered it
difficult to obtain fuel except by burning the roofs of the villages
and digging up the roots of "Southern-wood" for this purpose. The
manner of covering the movement rested with the cavalry commander.
Usually the front was covered by two regiments, one regiment on each
flank, at a mile from the column, detaching one or more troops as
rear-guard; once movement had commenced, the animals, moving at
different gaits were checked as little as possible. With such a
number of non-combatants the column was strung out for six or seven
miles, and the rear-guard leaving one camp at 7 A.M. rarely reached
the next--fifteen to twenty miles distant--before sundown.
[Illustration: Watch-Tower in the Khaiber Pass.]
_Routes_.--For operations in Afghanistan the general British base is
the frontier from Kurrachee to Peshawur. These points are connected
by a railway running east of the Indus, which forms a natural
boundary to the Indian frontier, supplemented by a line of posts
which are from north to south as follows: Jumrud, Baru, Mackeson,
Michni, Shub Kadar, Abazai, and Kohut; also by fortified posts
connected by military roads,--Thull, Bunnoo, and Doaba.
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