Winston S. Churchill

Cavalry Barracks,
Bangalore, 30th December, 1897






CHAPTER I: THE THEATRE OF WAR


The Ghilzaie chief wrote answer: "Our paths are narrow and
steep.
The sun burns fierce in the valleys, and the snow-fed streams run
deep;
. . . . . . . . . .

So a stranger needs safe escort, and the oath of a valiant friend."

"The Amir's Message," SIR A. LYALL.



All along the north and north-west frontiers of India lie the Himalayas,
the greatest disturbance of the earth's surface that the convulsions of
chaotic periods have produced. Nearly four hundred miles in breadth and
more than sixteen hundred in length, this mountainous region divides the
great plains of the south from those of Central Asia, and parts as a