Excerpt from England and Russia Face to Face in Asia: Travels With the Afghan Boundary Commission

It may possibly be expected that I should say something of the frontier as it has been now demarcated from the Hari Rud to the Oxus. I have, however, several reasons for not touching on this theme: firstly, because I wish this book to be a record of my own personal experiences, and not hearsay reports; and secondly, because I understand that an officer now with the Boundary Commission, and who knows as much of the frontier and its worth as any man, intends on his return to give the world the benefit of his opinion about it.

This book is intended to be not only a record of the move ments of the Afghan Boundary Commission, but also a description of travels through country that is practically unknown to the civilised world. I allude, of course, to the route taken by Colonel Ridgeway and his party from N ushki to Herat, and to Badkis generally. A solitary journey from Herat to the Black Sea, after leaving the Commission, enabled me to obtain some information on more than one point of interest to England - such as concerning the demarcation of the russo-persian boundary, which I have given as an Appendix. To suppose that the russo-persian frontier, as recently settled, will long remain a fixture, would be mere self-delusion. I cannot find any distinct definition of the frontier drawn from kalat-i-nadiri to Sarakhs, and it is just in that quarter that rumour credits Russia with further aggressive designs. One of the most significant signs of the times is the proposed construction of a chauss�e from Ashka bad to Mashhad. That is the highroad of Russian access to Herat, and it is therefore not surprising that Russia should early develop an interest in it.

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