Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c7.s6.1

v1.c7.s6.1

The Afghān settlers in Rohilkhand possessed two local advantages of great value. Their strong places were surrounded by dense bamboo hedges which were impenetrable to cavalry and artillery and through which even infantry could thread its way only where paths had been cut. These bamboo pālisades lingered in that region till well after the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. Then, again, the skirt of the hills in their immediate north, with the thick sāl forests and pestilential swamps called Tarāi, afforded them a safe refuge after any defeat in the plains, because no enemy could pursue them across these natural obstacles or survive the climate long.