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182 The main road, leaving the Daroonta bridge to the right, enters a spacious sandy plain, south of Laghman, and runs roughly parallel to the Kabul River, which flows in the opposite direction. After 25 miles from Daroonta, the road enters a narrow defile, hardly 100 yards wide, enclosed by high and rugged rocks. Below, the Kabul River rolls over boulders and huge stones, tumbling with thunderous roar. The road for the most part in this gorge is cut in the face of the rock, and though com- paratively narrow, in some places is well-laid out and is free from difficult or steep gradients. At Sarobi, 42 miles from Jalalabad, where the gorge ends, there is a fine rest house, overlooking the Kabul River. From here the road enters another passage comparatively broader and encompassed by low sandy hills. This is the Tezeen gorge, (Tezeen Khuwar). Thence is enters a third defile between steep and lofty hills, devoid of verdure. This is the Lataband Pass. For the first 26 miles, the road scrambles up a steep ascent, from 4,500 to 8,200 feet, and then descends deeply into another narrow gorge, Mulla Omar, till Butkhak is reached (6,500 ft.). Tractors are used to keep the passage free of snow during winter. A new hydro-electric plant has been installed at Sarobi by a German engineering firm. This project, the largest of its kind in the country, supplies electricity to the Capital as well as to the new textile mills at Gul Bahar. A new road between Kabul and Sarobi, the Tangi-Gharu short-cut as it is called, is now under construction which well to slice some ten miles off the driving distance from Kabul to Peshawar. By making use of tunnels and hugging close to the Kabul River, this road not only shortens the distance, but makes driving safer, especially in winter, by avoiding the Lataband Pass, which is often blocked with snow during winter.