1 THE LITTLE KHAIBAR. 433
2 guns as there might be on the soad. Not-
3 withstanding its narrowness, we met with no
4 accident in this little pass, everything having
5 safely reached the next camp, though our guns
6 did not arrive till noon; those belonging to
7 the Sikhs got sooner over the bad ground from
8 their guns being lighter, and their horses, of a
9 more hardy kind, were always accustomed to
10 drag them over rough and hilly countries.
11 Those who followed us could form no idea
12 of this pass or of the Landi Khana, or the
13 Shadi Bagiar, in the great one. We ourselves
14 were surprised to see them six weeks after-
15 wards, so much had they been levelled and
16 improved by the officers left in Khaibar on
17 our advance for that and other purposes.*
18 .™* “Our first march through the ‘celebrated Khaibar
19 Pass, which is in fact the northern gate of India. From
20 ‘ our camp on the river bank we moved across a barren
21 shingly plain for a couple of miles, when we entered the
22 pass, two mountains rising on either side to a height of
23 2000 feet, leaving a space between their feet of about 100
24 yards in width. Beyond this the passage opens out .to
25 about a quarter of a mile, which continues with slight va-
26 riation for about eight miles over a tolerably good road,
27 and then begins the work. At this spot, where a strong
28 ° U