As far as Fort Ali Musjid the Khaiber is a narrow defile between
perpendicular slate rocks 1,460 feet high; beyond that fort the road
becomes still more difficult, and in some of the narrowest parts,
along the rocky beds of torrents, it is not more than 56 feet wide.
Five miles further it passes through the valley of Lalabeg 1-1/2
miles wide by 6 miles long, and then after rising for four miles it
reaches the top of the Pass, which from both sides offers very
strong strategical positions. From thence it descends for 2-1/2
miles to the village of Landi Khana (2,463 feet), which lies in a
gorge about a quarter of a mile wide; then on to Dakka (altitude
1,979 feet). This pass, 100 to 225 feet wide and 60 feet long, is
shut in by steep but not high slopes, overgrown with bushes.
[Illustration: Fort of Dakka, on the Kabul River.]
On the eleven miles' march from Dakka to Hazarnao, the Khurd Khaiber
is passed, a deep ravine about one mile long, and in many places so
narrow that two horsemen cannot pass each other. Hazarnao is well
cultivated, and rich in fodder; 15 miles farther is Chardeh (1,800
feet altitude), from which the road passes through a well-cultivated
country, and on through the desert of Surkh Denkor (1,892 feet
altitude), which is over 8-1/2 miles from Jelalabad.
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