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ACROSS THE BORDER

PATHAN AND BILOCH
ACEOSS THE BORDER

OR
PATHAN AND BILOCH
BY
EDWARD
E.
OLIVER,
M.Inst.O.E., M.R.A.S., &c.
ILLUSTRATED BY
J.
L.
KIPLING, CLE.,
&c., &c.
WITH A MAP SHOWING THE LOCATION OF ALL THE TRIBES

AND THE SURROUNDING COUNTRIES
LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL,

1890
All Rights Reserved
Limited
RiCHAED Clay and Sons, Limited,

LONDON AND BUNGAY.
354-5
CONTENTS.
PAOE
Retrospect and Prospect
CHAP.
I. SiND AND THE LoWER INDUS
II.
BiLOCHI.STAN
AND THE BiLOCHES
18
III.
Reliques of Riloch History
27
IV.
Three Legends of the Sind Border
35
j^.
VI.
Two
Sides of the Sulaimans
The " Fhairshon and McTavish
"
VII.^SlILATMAN AND SiND SaINTS
VIII.
IX.
13
X.
XI.
54
63
The Powindah and the Pat
75
Solomon's Throne and the Gumai
87
Afghan
Traditions
The Frontier Switzerland
*^XII.The Price of Blood

XIII.
46
The Dawar or Tochi Valley
1 ?60422
96
103
112
118
CONTENTS.
vi
CHAP.
XIV.
B.VNNlf
AND
TlIK
XV. B01U)EU ECCLESIOLOGY
PAGE
126
BaNNUCHI
SlIOIlT
DiSCOUKSE ON THE PaTHAN
CllUKCH
134
The Base of the Sufed Kou
XVI.
141
XVII. The Khattaks
\J
XVIII.
v/
Pathax
.\IX.
.\
'
.\XI.
XXII.
XXIII.
Highland.s and Highlanders
167
AND THE FUONTIEU FOUCE
183
An Afridi Feud
191
The Khaiber and the Khaiberis
195
Position
206
XXV.
The Peshawur Valley of the
XXVI
The Pe.shawuk Pathan of the Present
X.WII.
172
AFKIDIS AND THE KoHAT FaSS
XXIV. The Kabul
159
r.vrHAN Surprise
W. KOHAT
149
FitzHardy's Murderer
214
Pa.st
223
Domestic. Borderer
232
J XXVI II. Pathan Wives
237
XXIX. The Mohmands
245
/ XXX. Tribal
^ XXXI.
'
The Children of Joseph
XXXII. .Swat,
252
Jirgahs
Pan.tkora, and Ba.jawar
XXXIIl. r.UNEYK AND IHE BUNEVRWALS
XXXIV. A Border
Pope
'
258
266
274
280
CONTENTS.
CHAP.
XXXV. ArosTLES
PAQE
of Insu]irection
XXXVI. Border Romance

</
XXXVII.
Tathan Romeo and Juliet
Pathan Toetry
XXXVIII. The Black Mountain
XXXIX. A
Bit of Yaoiiestan
XL. The Hazaua Valley
INDEX
vii
286
292
302
.311
320
330
337
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
" From Kandahar."'

taken at
"To Kandahar."
The leading camel
From
^^
hills of Bilochistan."
Shams-i-Tabrez, of Multan.
Khwajah Khizr aii Indus

Powindah
From
The
On
A Mian
From
saint.
fruit-seller."
Mir Alam Khan.
From
40
42
From
a photograph
66
72
a Punjabi lithograph
Drawn from
Khel Glulzai
life
80
in an Indian bazaar
From
84
a Punjabi lithograjjh
...
From a photograph
Sulaim&n Khel (Ghilzai) horse-dealers.
Sketched from
52
60
a photograph
From
19
23
flying throne of star-taught Sulaiman.
the road to Quetta.
a photograph
Uchakzai Pathan (Peshin Valley).
From
at Fort Muin-oe
" One of the donkeys that made the Pshin Road,"
"
From
Chaman
From photographs taken
Sohni swimming the Indus.
An
a photograph
Tunnelling for the railway through the Khojak.
" The best trade on the stony
Sassui and Panhu.
From
Chaman
a photograph taken at
Laghari Biloches.
of the Kdfila.
7
93
103
life
PAGE
From
Darwesli Khel "Waziiis.
110
a photograph
117
Knife, shiekl, jezail, auJ belt
Border
Nao-Gaja, near Pesliawur
From
fruit-seller.
Leather and horn powder
137
From
flasks.
An
distinguished Guides-man.
the Khans.
From
Siddhartha,
164
life
trying
Killed
From
Khaiber Pass Afridi.
148
152
Sketched from
Orakzai Pathan.
Prince
Kurram Valley
photograph
Afghanistan.
the
In the service of one of
Khattak horsemen in chain armour.
From
128
a photograph
Wygram
save
Battye,
in
176
a photograph by Bourne and Shepherd
of Kapilavastu, before
colossal figure
to
a photograph
....
203
the Assumption of Buddhahood.
from the Yusafzai Valley
now
in the Lahore
Museum
214
The Great Renunciation.
Buddhist fragment from the Yusafzai Valley.
In the upper scene the prince rests on a couch with his wife,
Yaso-dhhara sitting beside him.
Female musicians in attendance.
In the lower, the princess sleeps on the couch.

also fallen
asleep,
and the prince prepares
Female guards are
taking leave of his wife.
Now
in the Lahore
The musicians have
to steal
away without
in the side porches.
Museum
222
Tinned and graven copper.
Peshawur Aftaba and Chilmchi.
Used instead
223
of finger-glasses
Peshawur
cooking
bowl
and
spoons.
Tinned
and graven
copper.
The
handles of the spoon.s, which are 18 inches long, are covered with
on)amentation
Mahsud AVaziri Women
(Sliaikh Budin).
Shcrdil, a representative
Border
Gentleman,
photograph
226
From
a photograph by ilr. Farley
Khan from
the Bajawar Valley.
Piissaldar
Muhammad Khan,
From
a photogi-aph
Kizzalbash.
From
241
256
264
xi
PAGE
Pathan woman
Pathan Romeo, Khwajah
in a
hurka or mantilla
290
Muhammad Khan,
From
of Hoti (a Yusafzai).
a photograph
round the
Insciiption
301
lip
of
Copper-tinned and
Peshawur wine-bowl.
309
blackened
Saqia bar khez o dar deh jam ra
Khak
bar sar
kun gham-i-ayam
ra
Saghar-i-mai bar kafiim nah ta-z-sar
Bar kasham yen dalq-i-arzaq farn

Get up,
Saki (wine-cup bearer), and give (me) the cup
Never mind
(Literally,
ra.
for the cares of the world.
throw dust on the head of the days of
grief.
Hand me the wine flask in order

That I may remove the blue heavens from my head.
(Viz. That there may be nothing between me and God.)
From
Kikari Sayuds from the Black Mountain.
a photograph by Bourne and
Shepherd
Pathan
Mitre
318
fiddle (rabab)
(taj)
and a Pathan knife (chhura)
and dalmatic worn by Banawi Fakirs,
broidered with blue.
Lahore
829
Hazara.
Museum
Cotton
em335
MAPS.
Map showing
the location of all the Border tribes, and the surrounding country.
Map
of the Khaiber route between
Map
of the Black
Peshawur and Kabul.
Mountain and adjacent
countries.
ERRATA.
Page
5,
15,
58,
line 2^, insert

,,
85, line
168,
18,
last line
,,
5,
" after Afridis."
for son read soon,

but one, for Monroe read Monro.
for
2, /o?-
serials
read cereals.
raidera >'mc2 raiders.
181, note, dele " to
which seven guns
are to be added.
285, line
3,
for incredulous read incredible.
310,
2,
for Abncr read Abana.
,,
ACROSS THE BORDER.

RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT.
Our
past and present relations with
North-West
tlie
frontier of
India are not inaptly typified by Mr. Kipling's two sketches.

" leader " of
magnificent
the caravan slowly threading
through passes and across deserts, from the distant

Asia to the marts of Ind,
cities of
its
The
way
Central
being fast displaced by the
is
picturesque but more potent locomotive, and the iron road
less
which
many
O'Callaghan's
Mr.
range
last
us
separati'jg
years
from Kandahar
may
over
are
men
for
are tearing a hole through the
possibly
see
road
that before
through
booking to
Europe via Samrkand and Bukhara.
Up
to a
few years ago, the Enghsh action that prevailed
summed
regard to this frontier was fairly

"
Less than a decade ago, not only were
masterly inactivity."
the Afghans to be left to "stew in their

frontier
abandoned,
that
Peshin
Sind,
Gandamak
the
Quetta
railway
own
treaty
juice,"
abrogated,
stopped, but,
it
a scientific
Kandahar
was "hoped
and Sibi might at no distant date be evacuated."

whole
Aloncr the
to
the
ridiculed,
in
up in the expression
of
length
the trans-Indus
of
400
or
districts
500 miles,
from Peshawur
including
all
the
A CROSS THE BOEDER.
most important
passes,
there
was
not,
after
some
years of occupation, a single road worthy of the name.
thirty-five
The Indus
was unhridged, a railway had certainly crept up towards Peshawur,

but under protest, and after a
warm
discussion as to whether a
narrow gauge along the edge of the trunk road should not
suffice.
There were not wanting advocates of
poUcy,
"From Kandahar" The Leading Camel
both
let
in
forward
of the Kafila.
India and in England, but the general tendency was to
matters slide; the place of action taken by polemical discus-
sion, the only expenditure,
The Border
itself
an expenditure of magazine
was managed
on
Negotiations with the Kabul Court were

})y
more
the
Commissioner
of Peshawur,
its
strictly
close
practically
articles.
system.
conducted
military arrangements
were unrlcr the immediate orders of the Lieut.-Governor of the

All dealings with
Punjab.
the adjoining district
exploring and exploiting

officers
beyond were
tribes
by
settled
whose hands were tied with every
While the Russians from their
possible restriction.
our
tlie
officers,
often
annoyance
to our considerable
were forbidden in any way to
the 'purdah that was
lift
metaphorically hung along the whole, as carefully as
was concealed the most sacred harem.
were
side
Instead
behind
if
of our
it
officers
being encouraged to obtain information regarding the neiohbourinff

people and territories, they were discouraged, prohibited, liable
to be punished
for
any endeavour of the kind.
miles of this arbitrary barrier there were
and
important passes and valleys of considerable

indicated on our
so
many
maps by
there
are
perhaps, that so solid was our ignorance,
if
still
and extent
fertility
blanks, their resources and
It used to be said,
sealed books.
Within a few
capacities
somewhat
flippantly
a hostile
army had
been brought up to within striking distance of the Border,
Ave
could not have been certain of
far
the gods Avere on our
side,
its
So
precise whereabouts.
however, that neither
men
nor horses
could have been fed, but the assertion indicated the pohcy of shutting our eyes to
all
Much
possible contingencies.
of the information
Even
acquired was often in spite of orders, and almost by stealth.
now, such as
exists
is
too often elaborately
up, in a form so confidential, as to be
obtain
it,
most need
tions
are
with the exception of the

it.
" Strictly
and carefully locked
known
who
officers
are
maps and
confidential " frontier
probably more easily obtainable
to all anxious
to
likely to
publica-
Petersburg than
in
in Peshawur.
To remedy what was not

tration
less
a discredit to our adminis-
than a source of the greatest danger to India, and con-
tingently of misfortune to England, very
been
is
is
accomplished
during
the
last
much
has undoubtedly
ten years.
And
if
any truth in the dictum that obvious preparedness

the
best security
for
peace,
another
ten
years
there
for
war
of similar
B 2
ACnOSS THE BORDER.
never
In this connection ought
owed
gratitude
contingency
the
render
should
procuress
to
still
more
remote.
debt
be forgotten the
of
to the persistent placing of the facts before the
country, the merciless exposure of
ridiculous theories about im-
passable deserts, and the constant
hammering away with unanswer-
Sir
Charles Macgregor, and others,
the late
able arguments, of
time
at the
called
"alarmists."
Combined,
it
may be added,
men Uke
with the hearty co-operation and wise forethought of
Lord Dufferin and Sir Frederick Roberts.
Within
made
being
Border
the
good,
crossing the Indus by
From
least,
not
if
through from
carried
at
communications
Karachi to Peshawur without a break,

splendid bridges at
either extreme of the line there
by the Hurnai and Bolan railways
the
to
on the
shortest
Chenab
Chaman, capable
notice.
Khwajah Amran.
tunnelled for a double
of extension to
The opening
Sher-Shah, completes
at
in the frontier
Sukkur and Attock.
through communication
is
few months more will see this range
line to our outpost at
rapidly
are
The railway has been
perfected.
of the bridge
line
Kandahar
over
cantonments of Dera Ghazi and Dera Ismail, with
the great garrison of Rawal Pindi and the base at Lahore,

extension
is
the
from Multan, linking
under construction
to Marri, opposite
An
Krdabagh, and
a survey in progress will connect this again with the branch to
Khushalgarh, and with the main line at Attock, and so provide

a line along the Indus from the Kabul river to the sea.
It is only
necessary to connect this at one end with the Bombay, Baroda
and Central India system, and extend

to the
Jhelam Valley and Kashmir,
to be promptly concentrated at
it
at the other
by Hazara
to enable the resources of India
any point along the entire
frontier
referred to in the following chapters, from Karachi to Kashmir.
The
projected and already surveyed line to
Bannu
into touch with the railway system the last, but
the
least,
important frontier garrison
while the
will
bring
by no means
survey
com-

mencing at Dhaka by the Kabul River
arm was
other
Koh-i-Baba
the
way
on the
fairly
to
route, looks as if
the
be stretched out towards
an extension badly wanted
balance
to
our
advanced position near Kandahar.
We
have got a broad road, that not even misgovernment can
efface,
from the Punjab to Srinagar in the heart of Kashmir, and
Colonel Nisbet as Resident

lost in
Sandeman's
Roads,
to Gilgit.
objective
recent
by Kobat
to
Bannu
from Dera Ismail
from Dera Ghazi to Peshin
successful
with
negotiations
and Colonel
the
Mahsud
Waziris will probably be followed, at no distant date, by one

the
is
metalled,
complete for every arm of the service, have been
finished from Khushalgarh,
same
be trusted to see that no time
on the extension
pusliing
bridged, and
to the
may
vicl
Gumal and Zhob.
Tact and firmness have established

as profitable
and popular with the
administratively
valuable
to
us.
a position in Bilochistan,
tribes, as it is strategically
and
Without bloodshed, without
heart-burnings, without a sign of ill-feeling, a large portion of the
Biloch country has quietly passed under settled government
become an
servants
loyal
part of the
integral
has
Indian Empire, with no more
of the crown, than the
men who
but a few short
years ago, were distracted by constant intertribal warfare.

faculty for dealing with the
Similar
most desperate and reckless of wild
clansmen has in the Khaiber raised among the Afridis levies

second
their
to
no irregular troops in the world
and who under
commandant. Major Aslani Khan, showed
in
the recent
Black Mountain expedition what an immensely valuable

tional store of force
is
should the necessity
arise.
waiting
anxiously
The Frontier Force has been brought

of the
waiting
directly
to
addi-
be utilized,
under the orders
Commander-in-Chief, and an end has been put to the
anomaly that retained a brigade command under the orders of

a civilian governor, and an organization
alongside, but perfectly
ACROSS THE BORDER.
distinct from, the military organization
the
of
Pcshawur
As
country.
part of the
army
and Quetta
in another, the field for distinction should
that garrisons alike
in one direction,
be greater,
the experience and interests broader, and the organization in
way
every
more
the "close system"
from
officers
regarding
mission,
and
it,
the Border,
crossing
which
will
orders prohibiting
information
obtaining
or
They have
hard,
still
to obtain per-
conditions,
be refused when appearances indicate any danger of
will
but the concession marks a return to a more
For there can hardly be two
view of Border policy.
the people and
desirability
the country beyond
characteristics, its
liold
The
dying
only be granted under certain
questions as to the extreme
and
though
last,
stands condemned.
have been relaxed.
tribal disturbance,
rational
And
complete.
bearings and
knowing
of
that
about
all
border, their
temper
Whether we
capabilities.
our line of defence should be drawn on the Oxus,
that
at Herat, or on that shorter, stronger, and
more natural
position
between Kabul and Kandahar, with a railway on either flank

if
we
fix
it
in
draw
it,
in
line,
we hold the more convenient method
strictly
remaining ignorant in
state of things
which excludes our
within rifle-shot of their

other great power.
better,
is
to
If
lines,
can be no valid
matters of this kind.

officers
the i)etty
If they are, the
from territories almost
Khans and
sooner this
and the more the necessity
The
woidd not be tolerated by any

village
are not hostile to us, there can be no objection to free

nication.
is
Muscovite foshion, with a pencil that has
a bit of indiarubber on the other end, there
excuse for
or behind them, the steel
whether, like the apocryphal story of Dalhousie's
or
movable red
of the passes
Border freelances pointed to the foe or against
heads of the
ourselves
front
hostility
for teaching
them
is
headmen
commu-
known
nicer
the
manners
obvious.
The want
of
the
most
ordinary
topographical
knowledge

been
lias
brought
Afghan War
roads,
home
and
halting-places,
march
on
us over and over again.
to
had
of 1878, our troops
needless delays and

'Ali
water for themselves,
half its
lost
In the
blunder along, finding
to
inconveniences at
Musiid
every
value
exposed
The
stage.
want
for
to
flank
of a ofood
map, and the direct attack might have been thoroughly accomplished
a few hours, had
in
position could be turned from
the
known
nothing was
expedition,
been known how easily
it
Peiwar Kotal
the
the storming, which had to be delayed
experience
first
of
Mountain
Black
the
in
before
The
consequence.
Expedition, was
maps showing the Indus miles out
find our
Kurram Valley
In the
left.
of
the
insignificance of the foe alone saved a disaster.
to
and the
of position,
Almost,
the
all
minor expeditions across the frontier have been handicapped by

similar ignorance, involving frequent
While
lives.
officers
mistakes, costing needless
would often have gladly
up
filled
hours at a frontier outpost by informing themselves more

or have
occasionally exchanged leave to Kashmir, for liberty to
combine sport and reconnaissance in an unexplored
more
It
facilities
in
if
more
like this should be modified
the change
introduced
The
radical.
origin
compact and
many Indian
intelligible
readers,
which
Lahore paper of a series of

the leading Border tribes.
the
bility
of
information
change,
in
no
and
sense
to
as
was
would
be
made
sketch
was
available,
put
present
the
twenty-four
that
could
it
form, would be appreciated by
led
The
year
last
of
a suggestion, that such information
into a
had
valley,
been afforded them.
was good a system
be better
even
idle
fully,
first
the
involved
publication
articles,
in
the
dealing with
of these urged the desira-
acquisition
any
of the
aggression.
stance of the remaining chapters, have from
time
to
fullest
The subtime,
in
one form or other, been contributed to the Civil and Military

Gazette
and the Pioneer.
That the policy advocated has
to
ACROSS THE BORDER.
some extent been accepted would perhaps be hardly

reproducing them
excuse for
constantly
considering the
most important frontier people,
its
however imperfect, might be acceptable
Along and
and
tribes
to a wider public.
Border, with a series of
across such a length of

of passes
clans,
and
and
statistics,
deal more
and history
And
than generally.
it is
in
eight
fill
" confidential " gazetteers,
speak of papers, reports, and monographs,

to
and streams,
valleys
of
jDeaks,
whose topography, ethnography,

or nine volumes of special,
sufficient
the writer,
to
attention given to Indian
increasing
some handy account of
affairs,
but
seemed
it
not to
obviously impossible
where
cases
to
many
readers the differences are not of more consequence than between
tweedledum and tweedledee, and where the people are subdivided

into nearly as
many
clans
and septs as there are valleys and
would be wearisome to differentiate too
it
as present
and
Such
closely.
some marked peculiarity only have been dealt with,
for these
endeavour has been made to notice the more general,
rather than the especially particular, characteristics.

are
interested,
sufficiently
more
glens,
divisions
precise, will find
or
they can
most extensive character, one
curious,
to
back on a
fall
in fact,
Readers who
require
information
field of
study of the
more resembling the
vast,
and too frequently dry-as-dusty plains of India, than the circumbut
scribed
fresher
green
which
with
the
less
aspiring are
content.^
These
hills
the
although
'
and highlanders
interest
are,
of a
however, very
full of
interest,
different kind to that inspired
works mainly used in the following pages, and from which I have often
Tlie Official Gazetteers of Afghanistan, Bilochistan, and the North- West
Tiie
quoted are
Frontier, so far as the matter
Ghazi,
be
is
not confidential
the Settlement Reports of Dera
Dera Ismail, Bannu, Kohat, Peshawur, and Hazara
Expeditions against
Afijhdns
tlie
Priestley's
N.-W.
Frontier
Haiydl-i-Afghdni ;
Paget and Mason's
Tribes; Niamat Ullah's History of the
Plowden's
Kalid-i-Afghdni ;
Elphin-
Kdhul ; Bellew's Yufâfzai and Races of Jfghdnisfdn ; Eaverty's GulshaniBurton's

Roh and Sclectiojus ; Hughes's Ijilochiftdn ; Hetu Kam's Bilochndma
Siml ; Biddulph's Tribes of the Hindu Kuzh, &c., &c., &c.
stone's

by some modern productions of British rule
gress
the
or
agitator,
aspirant
Pathan nor Biloch can be
in India,
Neither
said to be in the forefront of this ad-
They probably do not muster a
vanced party.
by the con-
fame.
senatorial
for
single B.A.
eloquent talker, demanding education in every direction
sentative Councils are probably limited
regimental
"
though
Like
durbar.
the tribal jirghas, or
to
famous borderer of
good are they deemed at trumpet sound,"
not an epithet that
fits
save,
Their ideas on the subject of Repre-
perhaps, of good manners.
the
or
thou
well.
"
Scott's,
gentle "
is
Kevertheless, they probably
have the touch of nature that makes them kin to the sympathies
of
Englishmen
stan,
is
who
Hindu-
in a greater degree than certain others in
making themselves more
are at present
heard.
It
impossible to associate with them, even in a casual way, with-
out feeling they, at

Possibly
romantic
it
may
least,
are men.
be thought too
much
side, their alternating pillage,
with softer
sentiments,
and,
has been
of their
somewhere
Elphinstone
as
made
murder, and sudden death

says,
desperate forays with strains that might have tuned a shepherd's

pipe.
But
animals, both have
besides being splendid fighting
undoubtedly qualities taking and excellent, and the supposition

that every Biloch
heart
in
is
and every Pathan a murderer
thief,
the sense those terms are understood by us
gether wide of the mark.
Both have held
through centuries of disturbance

that anything
is
is
own
is
alto-
as freemen
both echo the Briton's sentiment
preferable to slavery.
should always be free,"
their
in his
That
if "
never united they
a familiar saying of their own.
Both
have the warlike instincts and enterprise which brought the Briton
to
India,
and
have
kept him
there, that
whilom established
the Pathan soldier of fortune, or his descendants, from the Punjab

to the Deccan,
and that
if
would not improbably find
To look
the Biitish power were withdrawn,
him
so establishing himself again.
at a gathering of Biloch chiefs or
Pathrm
soldiers in
one
ACROSS THE BOEDER.
10
of our regiments, compels a tribute of
was the remark of an essentially British
sir,"
" if
camp,
for
command a
I could not
"
admiration.
By
a recent
officer at
British regiment, I
Jove,
would ask
The regiment
nothing better than to lead a Punjab one."
probably contained more Sikhs than Pathans, but the sentiment

applies
would inspire a
Perhaps
of
represents fairly enough
both, and
to
soldier.
may
it
also be argued, that to advocate the bringing
independent tribes more directly under our
these
and sounds very
illogical,
the feeling that
This
liberties.
like
an attempt
to
is
take away their
The
only true in the narrowest sense.
is
rule,
Biloch,
the Khattak, or the Yusafzai, has lost none of his manly characteristics,
because he has exchanged anarchy for civilized govern-
He
ment.
prosperous
become
just as free as
is
;
further,
he
he was
before, he
and even proud of having
contented,
is
more
certainly
is
Granting he has been deprived of the
a British subject.
excitement of turning his knife or his riHe against his neighbours,
he
still
looks forward
enemy.
Moreover,
to
the
chance of using them against an
a necessity
it is
of the
and much better sooner than
later,
later,
situation.
Sooner or
great friuge of
this
Borderland must come more immediately under British influ-
The theory
ence.
that
we should
the Indus, and wait until
sit
down on
the
left
bank of
an invading host has formed up on
the other side, has been, for better or worse, permanently aban-
doned.
In
its place,
we have accepted the more reasonable
better to deal with an
that
it is
fort,
than to
let
him
in,
can be no middle course
and
enemy
fight
outside
one,
the gate of the
him afterwards
inside.
There
no meeting him halfway, or fighting with
the river at our immediate back, except under the direst necessity.
The
to
passes along the border are the gates of India on the north
hold them
go on both
properly,
sides,
we must be
perfectly free to
come and
and having admitted so much, the only logical
continuation of the
argument, necessitates the tribes who now

occupy the passes becoming our certain
and the
The
allies,
11
or our loyal subjects,
latter appears the safer.
idea that the difficulty can be got over,
covered by dotting
our troops,
is
down
if
the passes are
a fort here and a fort there, garrisoned by
a hopelessly impracticable one.
It is hardly credible
" To Kandahar "Tunnelling for the Railway through the Khojak.
that
its
advocates have carefully examined a map, allowed their
imagination to dwell on the gigantic network of
hills
and valleys
to be defended, or considered the enormous garrisons to be per-
manently withdrawn from our modest available army.

and
garrisons are required, their place
is
If forts
surely in front, and not
ACnOSS THE BORDER.
12
behind the passes, just
as
position
the
front and not behind the ramparts.
and
forfcilicatious,
And
of the
bastion
the Border tribes should essentially be
part of the garrison; they
valuable part.
Lahore, Felruary, 1890.
may
is
in
of these natural ramparts
made
in the future be found a
most
CHAPTER
I.
SIND AND THE LOWER INDUS.
Of
the 1,000 miles of this North-West frontier, extending from
Karachi to Kashmir, from the Arabian Sea to the glaciers of
Nanga
Parbat, the
of which
do
it
may be
not differ
worse
said
materially
from those
300 border the province of Sind.
first
though
that
except
j)re vailing
length
the physical conditions
perhaps
occasionally
in the Derajat division of the
the
for
Punjab
the Border tribes, our intercourse with them, our familiarity with
and the strategical conditions affecting
their country,
to
an entirely distinct category.
whole of
trict,
all
this,
between
have
all
Roughly speaking, along the
two, their
natural
common, and our
Besides the difference in race
and
political
relations with
on two different systems.
In the Biloch,
a strong tendency to the
aristocratic
chiefs
decided
little
head-men
recognizing
them
we have
organizations
are
to
managed
deal with
and monarchical form of
government under acknowledged

republicans,
dis-
Biloches of various tribes, beyond again
or their connections.
these
little in
belong
and about 100 miles of the Dera Ghazi Khan
our neighbours are
Afghans
it,
in the Afghans, witli
more
than
the
petty
of petty clans.
Through Persia and Khelat, which Biloch

miles of the Sind plains,
is
capital
is
within
fifty
perhaps our most vulnerable point,
for
ACROSS THE BOEDER.
14
army could by
an invading
nitely
route,
Hindu Kush. But on the other hand, we
From Karachi
situated to defend
it.
long as England
mistress of the seas,
is
reach India with
than by any through Afghanistan
dirticulty
less
this
infi-
or the
are most advantageously
as a base, unassailable so
we have,
in addition to
the great highway of the Indus, railway communication running
from
an
parts
all
of India
to
the
front
almost impregnable position on the
beyond the passes,
Khwaja Amran
By
and within easy striking distance of Kandahar.

arrangements with the
Khan
of Khelat,
and
commanding on the north and west
Quetta,
from Kandahar
leading into
render
the
to
Sind,
aggression
The Peshin
tlie
all
range,
our friendly
occupation of
the direct routes
Punjab, and on the south
the passes
a position
has been
established
that would
from
direction
practically
impossible.
that
moreover,
plateau,
of considerable
is
extent
our cantonments there, capable of extension at any time.

climate
is
well suited to Europeans,
nication to India, will soon
The Khan
army.
for us
to
us,
and
The
and with easy railway commu-
become more popular with the native
of Khelat
was
perhaps
not more anxious
go there, than the Bukhara and Kliivan Amirs to
welcome the Russian

with
to
and he
is
but he has now thoroughly
undoubtedly
far
allied
more firmly established
himself
as the
acknowledged head of the Biloch State than he could ever have

been without
at
indeed
us, if
he had been able to hold his
and
stituted peace
tranquillity.
Except a few insignificant raids
by Marris and Bughtis on the Upper Sind

settled
for
down
to accept our presence,
and as
frontier, the people
have
their prosperity increases
our advent has brought substantial benefits in the shape
of liard cash
have
own
For constant feuds and complete anarch}^ has been sub-
all.
beftillen
to look
on our coming as the best fortune that could
them.
From Karachi
or by the Bolan
to
Quetta
is
only 600 miles,
550, the tunnel through the Kojak will shortly
be finished, the materials are ready to caiTy the line on from the
SIND
AND THE LOWER
INDUS.
other side of the range to Kandahar, and
on the construction of this

to
on the
position
made
as few as
The whole
Helmund by
Bombay
from
only remains to insist
it
some seventy
of railway,
bit
measure the distance from Karachi
15
miles,
Kandahar, or a suitable
to
hours, and those hours
might be
to Delhi.
of Bilochistan has been thoroughly explored, and to
some extent surveyed, up
to the Persian frontier.
about the tribes and the
less
known
Much information
routes was acquired
Robt. Sandeman's mission to Southern Bilochistan.
by Sir
The Persian
snrvey of Sir Oliver St. John, has been connected with the Indian
though something may
system,
Our
of maps.
surveyors have advanced
the wild Marri and Bughti
what
is
be
still
desirable
much beyond
under
systematic
The
survey.
is
and the
"
Route Book
even
" of the
being gradually
districts
Thai Chotiali, and Vitakri, have been examined

direction,
this
in fact, pretty well the whole of
hills,
shown on modern maps as Sewestan,
brought
way
the
in
Hurnai,
of
in almost every
Sewestan country
will
son be as complete as of any other part of India.
Before crossing the rugged
hills
that separate the almost more
rugged Biloch from the Delta and lower valley of the Indus,
is
but
fair to halt
and take in a general view of
westerly
and probably
Border.
suggesting
made by
the
warmest
hotter sort of Egypt,
many
resemblances in
bit
little
our Indian
of
but physically and
common
another, and a greater, Nile.
it
the most
this,
politically
a country literally
So much of
as
it
is
not
a delta, at one time or other formed a channel, a bank or an

island, of the Indus,
tion,
seem
to
forwards from
whose waters, according
to history
have travelled over the whole of
Kachh
signifying water.
to
Karachi
Even now a
its
very
it,
name
vast waste of
silt,
and
tradi-
backwards and
a Sanskrit term
sand, or arid rock,
with occasional intervals of rich cultivation, due to a net-work

of canals, water-courses, and old creeks
its
towns and villages
mainly houses of sun-dried bricks, or huts of wattle
its
only
ACROSS THE BOEDER.
16
mountain?,
known
locally
feet
succession
which
and the Pabb

For the
Balochistan.
break the universal
comparatively
bare,
the Kirthar
as
and Hilla ranges,
West from
of
On
flatness.
separating
hills,
150 feet
rest,
the east, sand
picture
that collecting together the
the
all
hill
plains
great length of the Himalaya, rolls
hill to
of sand,
And
through
of the
rivers of the
Punjab,
five
Sufed Koh, and a
the
down
on the
it
leading feature
Sulaimaus,
streams of the
ridges
a lofty
is
deserts of sand, hills of sand, rolling waves of them.
the whole length the mighty Indus, the
low
occasionally to 7,000
rise
a turbid stream, at once
the great fertilizer of the country, the highway for the transit of
merchandize, and for long, the only means of communication
its
for its inhabitants.
land
of
summer where
below
falls
freezing
of extremes
dust-storms,
weeks
for
and
100,
That
point.
maximum
of heat.
of scenery
together
the
enjoys
With
little
"
even the great
the low,
mud
coast,
to
banks
the
of
the gate of Khorasan," there
groves,
are
or
creeks,
lakelets,
gardens,
that
while
perhaps
minimum
occasionally
in
the
there
rise
but these exceptions savour more
the Styx, than of the abode of naiads or

there
is
of
the
and the scenic

on
salt
its
picturesque
effects
plains, the
everywhere,
snakes
though
it is
it
of
depends
changing
buffaloes in
has
few
of
"
being essentially
of
way
are
to
of
Shikarpur,
of woodland,
none.
the
the
There
dignity
of
waters
of
nymphs, and what
mainly on bold outline,
Except the camels
light.
its
below
and the
of rain
the dusty plains
forests
and often insalubrious
flat,
is little
of
sinks
never
and not much variety
sweet-water sea
From
"
often
it
of grandeur
a monotonous river.
cold
thermometer
where
winter
and
heat
of
the
marshes, and venomous
animals
of
any consequence,
naturally stronger in birds and fishes.
And though
a classic ground by association with almost every invader of Hindustan
Greeks, Arabs, Mughals, Persians, Afghans, and Biloches
AND THE LOWER
SLVD
they seem to have
make such
to
Of
many
together
however, in the shape of naturalized tribes,
Arabs, Afghans, Biloches,
make up
The Sindi
enough
bit of it lasting
records possible in a country like this Sind.
living records
there are
17
behind them no monuments or records of
left
Perhaps there was no
their presence.
INDUS.
proper, a
and even Africans, who
considerable proportion of the population.
somewhat mongrel Hindu, converted under
the Khalifs to Islam, does not occupy a very high place in the
scale of oriental
name than he
peoples.
deserves
If his
somewhat negative quantity.

indifferent honest
him
detractors give
Inoffensive, kindly if not cleanly,
what between a long succession of
the Border people
a worse
even his admirers put his merits as a
who
and
invasions,
constantly harried him, and the
Hindu
who impoverished him, he probably had

much of sweetness or of light,
dealers and go-betweens
but a poor chance of exhibiting
and the
prosperity of both
the people and the country dates
from the time of British occupation.

It
has not been possible for this occupation to change the
climate, or to alter the natural features of the country, but
done almost everything
else
irrigation,
tributaries,
has served to
a railway through
it
The development
by canals drawn from the Indus and
system of
Nile does for Egyj)t.
Sind.
for
A
the
make
flotilla
centre
that river do almost
has
of a
its
what the
of steamships, and subsequently

of
completion of the Sukker Bridge
the country,
now
provides
which by the
uninterrupted
communication with the entire Indian railway system, has gone

far to
make
it
the highway for the bulk of the trade of the Pun-
jab and North-Western
frontier.
wrested by the Taipur Amirs

has become one of the
Empire, and with
and
its
its
first
may
fishing village,
from Mekan half a century ago,
of the great seaports of our Indian
extensive conveniences,
flourishing institutions,
the future
While the small
it is
its
excellent harbour,
hard to say what
possibilities
not have in store for Karachi.
CHAPTER
II.
BILOCHISTAN AND THE EIL0CHE8.

BiLOCHlSTAN, in
all
ordinary acceptation of the term, includes
tlie
the country between the Arabian sea and Afghanistan
and Persia. The Persian
was
settled
1870.
On
frontier,
once a subject of constant dispute,
the Biloch desert, blending with the
is
the north-eastern boundary
Kandahar, but both
districts, or
of which
of the
is
is
under
Within
Indian Government.
of the
Jalawan,
these
limits
It is
boundary
is
included,
capital Khelat,
its
Hala range, the equally mountainous province of
Between the
chief the second noble of Bilochistan.
its
and
Foreign Office
consideration in the
the mountainous province of Sarawan, with
West
this
here bounded by the
British Bilochistan, the northern
at present
Afghan
to say the least, ill-defined.
is,
perhaps more correct to say the country

assigned
Sind
by a mixed commission under Sir F. Goldsmid in
the north
formerly dependent on
districts
Hfda mountains and
Sind,
is
the
proverbially
sultry
Kaclihi
Giindava, the country of the had-i-simum, or "blast of death";

the flattest and hottest province of
great
its
but as including the two
thoroughfares from Sind, commercially the most valuable.
South again, between the

.sea, is
all,
the
little
hereditary
triangle
chief called
final
spurs of the Hala range and the
of Lus, with
the Jam.
its
And
capital Beyla,
last,
the
less
under
known,
BILOCHISTAN AND THE BILOCHES.

the most barren, though by
far
19
the most extensive region of
Makran, the ancient Gredosia, extending from Lus to the boundary

of Persia,
and including the Kohistdn, or land of mountains, on
the west, and the bulk of the Bilochi^tan seaboard.
The most
striking:
characteristics of almost the whole of this
The Best Trade on the Stony
Hills
of Bllochistan.
extensive country, are a succession of rugged mountains and narrow

valleys, for the
most part barren or uncultivated, conditions due to a
great extent, to the want of water.

said to be
any
of torrents, filled
what streams there

only
at
Of
rivers, there
are,
can hardly be
have more of the nature
rare intervals,
and which frequently

c 2
ACROSS THE BORDER.
20
disappear ia the ground at no great distance from

districts like
In the north, a large part of
tlieir source.
Nushki, Chagai or Sistan
deserve no better appellation than desert, and the very
Dasht
asses,"
or
There
knowledge
and
for
Khan
and
it
Khelat,
of
suzerain.
can
Goran,
"
the desert
the country of sand," are
is
a knowledge of the watering
classifies as " sweet," " good," " drinkable,"
" bitter."
Really or nominally,
real,
Bast
a saying that the most useful
is
a traveller to possess
which the Biloch
of
the plain without wealth,"
"
Rcgistdn,
the
sufficiently expressive.
places,
"
DasM-i-hc-daulat,
hcdar, " the uninhabitable waste,"
wild
of
the
like
plains
names
these provinces are under the Brahui
all
and
the chiefs
him
as
their
Albeit this suzerainty has always been more nominal than

it
may be doubted
At no time
was ever complete.
if it
be said the turbulent Biloch chiefs were kept in order save
when the Khan
not merely recognition, but assistance
received,
When
from the British Government.
drawn, chronic anarchy resulted

follow almost immediately
The
acknowledge
history
if
that
assistance
was with-
and even now, anarchy would
British control were withdrawn again.
of the dynasty for a century back,
is
mainly the
story of successful robbers on a large scale, a succession of deeds
of lawlessness, rapine, bloodshed
would deem
for
though the average Biloch
private theft disgraceful in the extreme, plunder and
devastation of a country
have always been held as honourable
deeds deserving the highest commendation.

of
Sarawan and Jalawan with
The hereditary
chiefs
their hereditary standard bearers
bearing banners of red and yellow, had always the privilege to
on the Khan's right and
left,
their place in battle right
and
sit
left
of
the centre, and the national flag tri-colour with the red, yellow
and royal green.

without their
sent
No measure
consent,
taxed, save
nor the
of importance
could
be passed
two large provinces they repre-
by a Vazir chosen from among the Tajiks, the
principal revenue payers,
who had almost equal
hereditary finan-

The revenue varied with the
powers.
cial
differing
Rajputs,
based
Khan
The claim
for
on a description of feudal tenure, but
from that of the ancient Normans, or equally ancient
was
service,
were at
generally acknowledged, but the
be assembled depended
that could
troops
of
on active
the troops, once
in that
the charges of the state
number
ability of the
the payment of so-called state dues.
to enforce
military service
21
which they were
popularity of the
Khan, or the cause
quired to fight.
Several of the chiefs, like the
for
the
on
Jam
recognised no claim, beyond rendering to the head
of
re-
Beyla
of the
con-
federacy this feudatory service in case of need.
The Brahui Khan, Nasr,
who
is
man
practically the first
stands out of the historic fog enveloping
Brahui and Biloch genealogical
story.
He
the
of
any rank
more modern
seems to have united
a formidable confederacy of chiefs, maintained a sort of supremacy,
and established something
was
first
and subsequently a
which even
entirely
1795
is
like
a decent government.
a nominee of the great Persian conqueror,
Ahmad Shah
but even then
it
calls
1758 did not
in
His forty years of rule
him.
what a distinguished authority
Bilochistan
of Kabul, a position from
of independence
declaration
his
relieve
fief of
But he
Nadir Shah^
from
1755
the Augustan age in
would have been
difficult to define
the various rights of the ruler, his Sardars, and his subjects.
all
hands he
is
admitted the most distinguished
soldier, statesman,
and
ruler,
to
On
Biloch as a
and to have combined the most ex-
ceptional virtues with the most vigorous government.
He put down
rebellion and encouraged trade, made triumphant war and established successful gardens.
His justice and equity are
household
still
words among the people, and he had discretion enough to interfere

as little as possible with his feudal chiefs.
of years
But when he
died, full
and honours, the whole country almost immediately
back into anarchy.

of districts
The governors
of provinces,
fell
and the chiefs
withdrew their allegiance, the country was distracted
22
.1
CROSS THE BORDER.
and the power of the ruler of Khelut diminished even
^vith broils,
more rapidly than Nasr had augmented
moved through the Bolan

though
said
comparatively
General Wiltshire, with about 1000 men,

" a
Khelat in
When
few minutes."
the
British
Khan
Afghanistan in 1839, the
to
be dangerous, was
to
When
it.
insignificant.
reported
is
as taking
a second Nasr was recognized
by the Outram treaty of 1841, he described himself as a vassal
From
of Kabul.
the conquest of Sind by Sir Charles Napier in
up by Major Jacob
1843, to the revised treaty with Khelat drawn
Khan was
in 1854, the
better than a puppet in the hands
little
of an intriguing minister, while the tribes, each on
plundered unrestrained in
constant,
and
came
own
account,
Raids on the Border were
all directions.
and property everywhere unsafe.
life
his powerful control,
its
With Jacob's
treaty
a brief period of wonderful
pros-
perity, to
be succeeded again by a broken treaty and a renewal of
disorder.
Nasr the Second
it
is
said
was poisoned, the present
Khan, Mir Khudadad, who as a boy succeeded, was driven out

and another
set
up only
of
Wadd
in
Makrun threw
Bughtis
in
Jalawan
and
Avere in chronic rebellion, the people of
Kej
off all
at
murdered.
pretence of allegiance.
the
request
restrain the tribes
Government had again
of the
Khan than
The Marris and

Anarchy became
were constantly on the war-path.
so hopeless, the British

less
The
chiefs of Lus,
to be
of his
to interfere, not
subjects,
and
to
from tearing themselves and their country to
pieces.
The
on
the
British
rupees.
treaty of 1854, with certain additions, was renewed in 1876,

basis
of the
Khan's receiving substantial aid from the
Government, including a subsidy of an annual lakh of
He
to
have no relations with any other foreign
to permit the occupation of such positions in his territory
troops as the
Government
of India
then, the relations have been
may
drawn
state,
by British
consider advisable.
closer,
and
Since
our Government has
accepted the situation of the paramount power, the old disputes

between the various chiefs have been happily
Khan
position of the
valley of Quetta have been
Certain
made
while by the
districts,
over for
treaty
of
inchiding the
permanent occupation
Gundamak,
or pretended, in the districts
rights, real
and the
settled,
head of a powerful confederacy, and ruler
as
of all Bilochistan, established.
by our troops
23
all
Afghan
Thai Chutiali,
of
Sibi.
to the mountain barrier that separates that valley
and Peshin, up
from the plain of Kandahar, were assigned to
us,
and have now
been regularly incorporated with the British administration.

Border line has, in
been moved up to the Khawaja
fact,
The
Amran
range.
The
which give the name
tribes
to the country are, as will
be
subsequently noticed, neither the most numerous nor the most

race from which the present rulers are drawn, call
The
powerful.
themselves Brahuis, and

prior occupation
and a
assert,
on somewhat doubtful authority, a

Bilochistan however, and
distinct origin.
not Brahuistan, has universally come, even by the Brahuis them-
be the accepted name of the country, and
selves, to
be spoken of as Biloches.
dominant race
all
commencement
have by
They
people to
or their various divisions, are the
along the Border, practically as far north as the
of the
Dera Ismail Khan
far the pleasantest of
Essentially a
its
nomad
district,
and in them we
our neighbours.
good-looking, frank, with well-cut features,
black and well-oiled flowing hair and beard, attired in a smock

frock, that
is
theoretically white, but never
when he goes to durbar
rare occasions
favourite.
He
is
a bit of a buck, and
is
when he
ing into the sere and yellow, dyes his hair.

to find an old
washed save on the
the Bilochi
is
a general
finds himself pass-
It is not
uncommon
gentleman with eyebrows of deep black, and the
tip
of his beard gradually shading off through purple to red, to the

roots of pure white.
her hair in
many
His wife makes quite a
effective plaits,
toilet
and arranges
but any connection with soap and
water would be voted by either as a mark of the worst effeminacy.
ACROSS THE BORDER.
24
He
many
shares with the Pathan
to a wild and semi-civilized people
but in most respects he pre-
Both are given
sents the most agreeable contrast.
both ready to exact an eye for an eye, and a

the Biloch prefers to
To
from behind.
Prophet
"
As Ibbetson
less of the
pithily puts
" said
his chief
where we
Come
along
who
is
Whatever he
my
like
he
hills,"
et
in his head,
to be.
"
;
and there
who cannot
many
each leg of which he
rejoined
tribal
who has
"
is
the good old
the power, and
is
no doubt that,
what
man
though
his Jmlck, or " share in
in their love for horses
Like
the
afford a
Dean's
and
sister
whole mare,
is
The
owner.
but the Pathan
is
political
will
in
own
organization of
essentially a Radical
and
will
as
loyal
to
his chief as
every man
obey no one but the
Jirgah or democratic council, and not always that

Biloch
the Biloch,
legs as he can manage, keeping her a quarter of a year
as good as his neighbour, and better
Mclvor.
that he
replied
extremely partial to rupees.
is
Both are English
a Biloch
JDicJc,
and
a story of one who,
tuum, preferring
does, he first inquires
for
is
God
Ramzan,
shall take
work, he
as
both
is
Both have but dim perceptions
everything connected with them.
Dandy
his
can."
does not steal and rob
is
is
fanatic, while
a Biloch proverb that " God will not favour a
he does not much
rupees,"
to
meum
rule, the simple plan, that
Tliere
but
"Praying in the fear of God," said the
between
keep who
" What are you

it for him.
Muhammadan saying his evening
don't fear anybody."
of the difference
he shall
There
life
the Pathan
was keeping
another to a pious
"
plainsman.
he
it,
prayers said for him.
" has less of
did not keep the fast of
prayers in the plains.
"
often a dangerous
in his nature."
devil
why he
was excused, as
doing
is
perfectly willing to have his
is
front,
Muhammad
Great and
is
to hospitality,
life for
enemy from the
both, "Allah
though the Pathan
the Biloch
asked
kill his
and vices peculiar
of tho virtues
while
the
a Highland clansman to a
Consequently, Government can deal as safely with a
BILOCHISTAN AND THE DILOCIIES.
25
Biloch tiimandar, as with any other limited monarch

fact alone has materially simplified all the
and
this
arrangements
frontier
on the borders of Bilochistan.
To attempt any
tribes
detailed notice of the subdivision of the
and clans would be wearisome
similar characteristics,
which go
valuable feudatories.
They
to
many
but most of them have
make them good
subjects
and
are physically powerful, hardy, bold,
and manly, naturally warlike, open in manner, as a rule truthful

and
faithful
described,
to
They have been
trust.
ethnologically and otherwise, by
much
perhaps unnecessary to enter into

their use
The
so
often and
many
writers,
hardy, warlike race
He
of their neighbours, the
Biloch dismounts and pickets
his mare,
is
Of
well, enter-
speaks of them as " a
their style of fighting peculiar
more deadly than that
it
two opinions.
who knew them very
tained a high estimate of their value.
fully
detail about them.
as auxiliary troops there are probably not
late Sir Charles Macgregor,
so
and much
Pathans.
The
and then enters the
md4e, sword and shield in hand, while the Pathan engages with
matchlock from a distance,
his
closes with his adversary.

this is
all
shown not
possible
Their courage
much
so
if
under cover, and seldom

is
of a sterner kind, and
in their encounters with us
thou oh.
things considered, they have fought better against us than the
Afghans ever did

bolder
manner
An Afghan
in
at
as in
feud
enemy
in
force,
The determined
and
all
in the infinitely
in our territory.
with his neighbour gets into a tower or
behind a rock, and waits

a Biloch collects
their tribal feuds,
which they carry out their raids
till
he can murder him in cold blood
the wild spirits of his clan, and attacks his
sword
in
hand, generally losing very heavily.
gallantry of the
700 Bughtis, who refused
to
surrender to Merewether's horsemen, though escape was hopeless,
but allowed themselves to be shot down
had
fallen, is
worthy of a page in
till
history.
more than two-thirds

Although
as a
race
they are poor, living from hand to mouth, they will not be induced
ACROSS THE BORDER.
26
to take regular service, as
discipline,
they will not wear uniform or undergo
and are impatient of
service are mainly as follows
cut
They are afraid of their hair being
they object to any bat white, or dirty -white clothes
Biloches as wîth all wald races at first
and they
will
and
It
fact
is,
wear anything, go anywhere, and do anything
The most ordinary
they are asked."

a large supply
with the
in
they require careful hand-
they do not wish to leave their homes.
ling,
Their objections to our
control.
tact
would
suffice to
ensure
of particularly excellent material, pre-eminently
suited for irregular cavalry.

particularly hardy
Born horsemen, the breeders of a
and enduring race of horses
and enduring themselves, they have further the
by generations of freedom.
and equally hardy

spirit
engendered
CHAPTER
HI.
RELIQUES OF BILOCH HISTORY.
Of
less
anything approaching to authentic history, the Biloches have
they travelled,
who were
sequently no literature.
of a gentleman,
despised,
would
there
and
is
is
arts
is
"
much
very
still
and con-
first
Even
a gentleman.
viewed with contempt
business
agriculture
the art of writing
The Douglas,
in
Mao^mion,
that son of mine, save Gawin, ne'er could pen a
this is very
much
the attitude of the Biloch.
of tribal or national tradition has been
poems and
the route
character,
looked upon as the
actually beneath contempt.
fall
"
;
"War
and every Biloch
and the
thanks his saint

line
their progenitors, are
They have no written
matters of conjecture.
is
From whence they came,
than most Border people.
ballads of
Whatever
handed down
in the
which they are exceedingly fond, and many of
which are probably of considerable age.

" Sweet, singing minstrel, bring your guitar
Bind a large turban on your head.

Let the good man receive gifts from the generous.
" Sweet, singing Kelan, bring hither the guitar of rejoicings
Bring unto
my
life
the fresh breeze of the morning
Strike powerfully with your fingers.
Drive out grief from the bright body,"
and others of the invocations
collected,
and admirably translated by
28
ACROSS THE BORDER.
Dames,^ might, with
little alteration,
pass muster
among
Sir Walter
Scott's collection.
Like most MuhammadcUi
tribes, Biloch tradition
uniformly points
Laghari Biloches.
to
Arabia as their original home.
word Biloch, from Bachh, a

of
Muhammad
bin Harun.
from Belus, who
is
The Persians
Bilush"
a term
nomadic
One popular
and Luch, a slave
According
identified with the
of Cush.
is
son,
story derives the

girl in
to Rawlinson, it
Nimrod
the harem
is
derived
of Scripture, the son
write the word Bilush, and " Kiish
employed in that country to indicate certain
Personally they consider a derivation from
tribes.
^
wa
Sketch of the Biloch Languacjc by Dames,
Bad
KELIQUES OF BILOCH HISTORY.
29
Log, " lawless " folk, as more in keeping with their universal re-
putation for rapine and murder

efifect
who
that the Biloch
and
steals
a favourite couplet is to the
and murders, secures heaven
Though
seven generations of ancestors.
if
to
half the stories of their
former habits be true, both the moss-trooping ancestors and their

descendants would probably find a heaven, without forays and with
no neighbours' cattle to
lift,
isted, says
the Biloch Ndniah of
Prophet.
The famous
Shah Ndmah made
the low
hills of
Biloches,
mean
"
old Persian
In these
with Biloches."
Hetu Ram,i
complain that
to
Halah
far-off
before the days of the
King, Naushirwan,
"
is
in
the
the ground had become black
times they claim to have dwelt in
Aleppo.
and more than one
They ex-
an insufferably dull place.
The Aleppo people
Muhammadan
called
them
author explains this to
barbarous tribes, inhabiting the mountains of Garmsir,
Sistan and Makran."
fought with Hazrat
When Yaziz, the second Ummiyah Khalif,

Imam Hasan, and the latter was killed, the
Biloches who, according to their story, sided with him, had to fly
to
Kirman and
Makran, the present
Bilochistan,
Avanderings form the subject of

"
We
Imam
of
"
or the
Sulaimans.
tlie
Faith.
account of the struggle witli Yazid."
jooet's tribal
the foremost
is
Mir Jalal
chief for the time being.
By stages we march. From Kurljala and the cities of

The Hots 2 settle in Makran. The Khosas in Kach.
Sistan.
Dividing out
water and dry land.
In Nali the Nohs.^
The Einds
This
is
settle in
Their
came,
There are four and forty tribes
Khan"
the
many poems.
From Aleppo we
On
and
to
are the servants of Hazrat 'Ali,
Tlie true
"
moved
Sistan in Persia, from whence again they
The
Jatoes [and others] in Sibi and Dadur.
Sarawan.
our footprint and track.
The Lasharis
in Gandava.
This the Biloch record."
Douie's translation of the Biloch ndmah.
Mazaris and Dieshaks.
''A luanuh of the Einds.

ACROSS THE BORDER.
30
Another story
tells
of friendship between the
the Biloch Chief, Ilmash

forty-four
Rumi, who had become
By
and by the successor of
quarrel wdth the successor of the chief,
and
is
chronicle.
now
the tribal
ruler picked a
demanding a
girl for his
The Biloches dressed up and
harem from each tnmdn.

in girls' disguise
as he
Kirman
the
ruler
vastly powerful
tumans of 10,000 each, says an old Persian
tumandar being the head of 10,000 men,

chief.
Kirman
sent boys
but, as the legend goes, fearing the ruler's dis-
appointment, quitted Kirman, and took refuge in Makran,
somewhat waste country," but which they
"
" a
devoted themselves for
500 years to cultivate."
common origin of tribes now

widely separated, and differing greatly so much so that it is doubtful if a northern Balochi could make himself intelligible to a
Makrani of the south. And though a Brahui of Khelat might
Ballads and traditions testify to a
understand a Bughti, some philologists would
classify their respective
languages as belonging to entirely different stocks.
one daughter of the chief under

migrations, gave their
names
to as
whom
Of
the former there
thou2h almost
Rind
all
extraction.
is
the
Lashari
the Binds and the Lasharis.
frontier Biloches claim to be of
Border Biloches, in
Chakar the
were
God knows both
Rind,
are
either
Mir Gwaharam the
l)oth l)r()therp,
of the
same family."
But Riband Rind and Rawan Lashari were
A bane
fact,
the Percy and the Douglas of Border ballad.
'Oriiînally tliey
woman.
which
these sections that furnish the two great
it is
Mir
tribes, of
representative clan bearing the name,
leadin^r
All true
Rinds or Lasharis, and

legendary heroes
now no
they made the Makran
many famous
two stand out as markedly prominent
Four sons and
"
of
fair
many
in love with the
same
one of a thousand wiles and sweet sugared speech.

lovers."
They staked
their fortunes in love on a
RELIQUES OF BILOCII HISTORY.
31
Some Rind meanly
horse race, the loser to abandon his suit.
loosened Rawan's saddle-girth, and he lost the race.
"
The Einds practised

The hero Kawan was
a great deceit,
displeased.
In the gloaming he sped away,"
and
ill
Mir Chakar, the
blood ensued.
had a mistress exceeding
fair
"
ever victorious " Rind
and wealthy withal
and herds, especially of camels.

cessful rival for the lady's favour,
possessing flocks
Lashari chief, also an unsuc-
was so ungallant as
to steal
some
of her camels in revenge.
Thereupon the Rind chief

" Fell into a great rage
In exchange for
We
We
Gohars young camels,

will take a seven fold revenge with our swords.
will gamble with heads and hair and turbans.' "
fair
Said he
"
On both sides damage was done,

On this side was Gwaharam with his sword
On that side Mir Chakar. For thirty full years
War continued about these young camels of Gohar's."
;
This finally seems to have developed into a great struggle.

Lasharis
won a victoiy,
Mir Chakar
is
killed a
Rind chief and 800
The
of his followers.
then described as obtaining assistance from the
ruler of Khurasan, possibly Sultan
Hussain Baikara, and with
his
aid beating the Lasharis so completely, they were driven out of
Gundava (Kachi)
to
reside to this day.
Tatta and Hyderabad in Sind, where
few
settling
many
under Rind protection in
Khelat.
Mir Chakar
King Arthur,
is
the national Rind hero, the Grettir, the Sigurd, the
of the Biloches.
stories romantic, historical
change the
The
subject of innumerable stories,
and legendary.
tribal buffaloes into stones,
and
He
is
able at will to
so blockade the defiles

ACnOSS THE BORDEJ?.
32
against his enemies. His

his "
upper
name
still
survives in the Chdkar he Marri,
story," the Chakar-lce-Tang, his " defile "
He
peak and pass scattered throughout Sewestan.
is
and many a
described as
forming an alliance with the Khurasan ruler in the fifteenth century,
and both with fighting and assisting the Mughal
With
sixteenth.
Humayun
in the
leading the Rinds into Makran, with founding the
old fort of Sibi, the centre of a
kingdom and,
;
still
more improbably,
with emigrating in disgust to the Punjab and dying at Lahore.

" Forty thousand
men came
at his call
All with shields upon their forearms
With
With
And
and overcoats
knives and daggers
silk scarves
silver
they are "
all
kinsmen
all witli bows and quivers,

and red boots on their feet.
and golden rings on their hands."
;
to the bold Mir," waiting the signal
The Mir
Border war.
to let loose the furies of
is
not contented
with " man-devouring Sibi," or " dusty Gundava," while

they
"
eat fat-tailed sheep
and brew strong liquor in their
though
stills,"
they "rub no scent in their moustaches and have only children's

sticks in their hands."
"
The Rinds
rest.
us,
he says to the Rinds, forward
And
To conquer streams and dry lands,

deal them out among ourselves.
Let
lis
take no count of rule or ruler."
and masters of the
are in fact described as the lords
Compared
Quite a long
Let
list
to them, all other sects are of small account.
of clans are described as
"All nought but slaves
He
gave them to his
As her dowry, when

But
Ilailiya
They evidently acted on
to Chakar,
sister
slie
Banadi
married Hadiya
scorned to take them."
their hero's
advice,
and the period
of
their obtaining supremacy probably marks the time when they
began, under various petty leaders, to settle in
tlieir
present hold-
RELIQUES OF BILOCII HISTORY.
and the various divisions to be
ings along the Derajat frontier,
known by
Such
is
33
their existing tribal names.
the story as told in the songs by the tribal bards, the
Leaving out of the
davtars, or professional reciters of genealogies.
question any attempt
Chakar, there
to fix a date for so ubiquitous a hero as
sufficient
is
Mir
sohd historical ground to prove that
Biloch adventurers had extended as far as the Multan district
towards the end of the fifteenth century

far north as the
while others had got as
Jhelum by the beginning
of the sixteenth.
might, therefore, have well been strong on
middle of the
Another
They
the Sulairaan by the
fifteenth.
influence, besides the
Rind
hero's desire for fresh fields
and pastures new, was moreover at work, which made a forward
movement more
necessary.
The Biloches were themselves being
driven out of the fertile valley of Khelat, by what
is
generally
thought to be the kindred tribe of Brahuis who, probably some

time in the fifteenth century, became strong enough to establish
themselves there.
Similar lesfends credit the Brahuis as beincj
equally Biloch, and equally hailing from Aleppo
ndma
ingeniously suggest
originally
that
settling
they had only got as
hills,
When Mir Chakar

Makran and
far east as
Rinds were pressing back
Sulaimans, and
the
and the Bilochthey were
Rohis from Roh, a mountain, which gradually
called
passed into the term Brahuis.
the
in
ousting the
took Khelat,
Sistan, but while
Pathans from the lower
the
Jat from
what
is
still
called the
Derajat border, while the Ismail Khans, Fatteh Khans, and Gliazi
Khans were founding the Derahs^ named
after them, the
were wresting KhehU from Mandi Khan, whose tomb
is
Brahuis
there
still,
and establishing the dynasty of the Khan of Khelat, a chief who

previous to this had been an ordinary
an army to speak
of.
tumandar,
Avith
nothing of
To Khelat, the Brahuis added Mastang,
Quetta, the Bolan, and part of

^
Kuch Gandava.
Or encampments.
Ultimately they
ACROSS THE BORDER.
34
became the dominant

supreme by
distinction
flour
the
all
is still
when on
and their chief was accepted as
people,
modern trans-border
marked by
their right to
Khan,
service with the
entirely passed away,
has been our Border policy to support

of the
Within our Border the chief

nominal bead, but the
tribes are
wheat
of
of the Brahui
The supremacy
Khans would, however, no doubt have

it
draw rations
social
while the Bilochi has to con-
tent himself with the coarse millets.
that
The
Biloches.
but
it.
Dumki, a Rind
people,
is
the
perfectly independent of one
another, and are only restrained from
wars,
their old intertribal
their old plan of harrying their neighbours'
home and
driving off
everything possessing four legs, by the presence of English rule,
and
for
some time they were not even
the provision of
many and
restrained
substitute,
themselves, and
and
it
now
is
But
measure a
possible for
sufficiently
two chiefs
to ruin
impoverish their clans more quickly by a suit
than by a whole series of fights
becoming
that.
expensive law courts, and more expen-
sive lawyers, nevertheless provides in a great
exciting
by
civilized
enough
to
and the Border Bilochi
adopt the process.
is fast
CHAPTER
IV.
THREE LEGENDS OF THE SIND BORDER.
What
the story of the unfortunate star-crossed Pathan lovers,
Adam Khan
and Durkhani,
tragedy of Sassui and
The
Sind border.
Panhu
latter,
is
the
to
is
to
the
Yusafzai,
pathetic
the romantic Biloch on the
however, purports to be
much
older,
and the lovers are described as living about the time of the
introduction of Islfim, some 900 years ago.
version, the story
is
the latter the heroine
is
known
Duh
The
story
is
familiar
among
Biloch
and Punjabi.
Bui Mui,
as
wandering," to distinguish her from
drowning."
Besides the
told in Persian,^ Bilochki
who
died
3hci, " she
who
died
all
the wild tribes on
the Sind and Biloch borders, and, says Sir Richard Burton,
gives an epitomx of the legend in his
man on
his journey, the
work on
herdsman tending
peasant toiling at his solitary labours,
chaunting
Panhu
his
it
is
Makran.
and homely
all
who
Sind, " the camelhis cattle,
and the
while away the time
verse."
a desperately good-looking Biloch, the Benjamin of
family, the
the ladies.
in rude
In
" she
idol
Ari,
of his parents, a terrible
his father,
is
The heroine was a daughter
Mir M'asum of Bakkar
tells
it,
Don Juan among
the Jam, or Prince of Kej
under
tlie
of a
Brahman
title
of ITusn
of
in
Bhambuna,
Are:; Beauty and
Blandishment.
D 2

ACROSS THE BORDER.
3(5
whom
of
was
it
she woukl become a Moslem, and so
predictetl
Her
biiug disgrace on her family.
father was for killing her, but,
and
at her mother's request, put her in a box
let
her
float
down
the Indus, from which she was rescued by one of the 500 aj)prentices of a well-to-do
washerman, named Mahmud, at Bambhora,
who, being
adopted her.
"
A piece
childless,
of the
moon
"
grew up
and was beautiful enough

quences
"
She was christened Sassui

virtue and accomplishments,
all
cause the most disastrous conse-
to
Every one who saw her wished she was
men crowded round
wherever she seated herself
his own,
and
her like the
cluster of the Pleiades."
To Bambhora^ comes Babiho, with a
string of camels
Jam, whose servant he
chandise, trading on account of the Kej
There he
is.
whom
panions, with
his
The
wares.
present of a
with Sassui in the midst of
he exchanges a
ladies
trifle
how handsome he
good
to
long flowing
part."
locks
the eye"
become
and
she
"
is
See his beauty,
looks, passing on the compliment in favour

" the beautiful
of beauty
like
his
To such good purpose docs he
lady's ears
While he
sell.
if
But Babiho disclaims any
is."
Panhal Khan, his master's son
of
to
struck with his good looks
is
pretension
demand the
and promises ready money
what he has
will only freely display
chaff as to the prices of
little
appeal to his gallantry, and
doing this she

ray friends
her com-
of musk, to which, as a Hindu, he naturally
Sassui encourages him,
demurs.
he
in
falls
and mer-
enamoured
solicits
Babiho
to
have not the fortieth
praise
" ofttimes
Biloch, with
Panhu
that the
the ear loveth
act as
before
Mercury and bring
that Biloch to her, for which he shall receive great reward. Babiho
raises all sorts of difficulties
mother even
for
the chase
that well-guarded Biloch
"
Panhu cannot get
how
is
it
Worse than
leave from his
possible for
me
to bring
this, tlie beautiful
Panhu
has two wives already, whose voices are as sweet as the Kokilas"
^
Tliea the most famous port of Siiid,
now
a ruin between Kairiclii
and Ghara.

(cuckoos).
and
The
lively
young
my
Bhambora, and surely
am
too,
a maiden, the pride of

dulcet than the
accents are not less
Finally, the trader
Kokila's song."
sorts of tender
lady, however, laughs at difficulties,
" I,
no denial.
will take
37
started off to Kej with all
is
messages to Panhu, and rich offerings for his papa
the Jam.
Babiho returns to
lady's
The
sent.
description
who
Panhu,
inflammable
ardour,
of
his
Panhu the
As a matter of
Benjamin. His mother

the caravan to
"
for
is
is all
guard her
anxiety, and charges all the
me home
or send
up
Panhu with every
me
in his best,
father's
armed
of
His
"
says she, " for
Husband,'
Either pass this night with
not thus.
my
to
men
care."
though the younger one rushes
the camel's nose-string
Allah's sake leave
sympathetic
such
sending any of his sons, save the
little
eldest wife takes matters coolly,

out, seizes
with
fired
sufficient for
he has a good deal of trouble in
fact,
His father
more than
is
with or without the parental con-
for starting at once,
is
getting away.
got
account
opportunity to give
first
message and presents, painting her loveliness in the most
glowing colours.
the
an
renders
master,
his
merchandise, and takes the
house again."
to the teeth,
camel, will not be stayed, and rides
But Don Juan,
mounted on
away
me
his favourite
in great glee, delighting
the whole hdfila by the spirit and smartness of his conversation.
Temptation awaits him
town en
route,
before
named Lohee,
lives
he
has
Panhu that she
far.
Sehjan, a lady more
for her good looks than her good morals,
sight of
gone very
who
disguises herself like a
is
so struck
At a
noted
by a
man, follows the
camp, and makes love to him while he and Babiho are playing
chess.
The
former, whose eye
does not require

board, and
is
is
not deceived by the disguise,
much encouragement
soon so charmed by the
to
put away the chess-
frail one,
that he not only
accepts her invitation to a feast, but halts the whole caravan.
Sassui meanwhile,
all
impatient to see her young Biloch, sets
ACROSS THE BOEDER.
38
to
work
from
blind
fône
liis
own
sight
by a messenger
Lall
affection for
be
epistle for the lady that
by virtue of hearing
it,
and
it
This "moving
was therefore well calculated to hasten Panhu.

epistle " she sends
Lai, a
Now Akhund
for her.
weeping over his hopeless
Sassui, but he wrote so moving an
instantly recovered
Akhimd
rather gets
or
letter,
admirer of hers, to write one
silent
had
liim
write
to
he
to him, while
is still
dally-
ing with Sehjan at Lohee, from whence the lady will not hear
departing.
of his
Panhu
finally
is
reduced to the expedient of
and leaving Babiho be-
dropping opium into the syren's cups
with a story of a messenger
hind to pacify her when sober,
This
from Kej, and news of his mother's death.
leaves the outwitted Sehjan calling
Babiho,
who
panions
to "
beloved
Panhu
come and
fiction
upon her com-
with their eyes the place
kiss
Bambhora, where
all
my
where
make a
abode," and joins the caravan in time to
state entrance into
saves
the people turn out to
see so fine a show.
They
lady,
pitch their
camp
in
but that
Sassui's garden,
having got her adorable Biloch so
requires a good deal of wooing.
far,
now
Panhu only
young
turns coy, and
obtains a meeting
into
her
aunt's lap, and while the old lady upbraids him, Sassui gives
him
by shooting a pet pigeon
his arrow
so
skilfully
that
back and a chance to explain himself.
demands that he become a washerman, which

tunity for
falls
As a
affords
test,
she
an oppor-
many love passages, and he soon washes himself deep
into the lady's affections, to
quarrel
it
with
Babiho,
whom
who
ho
is
married, after a serious
goes off back to
Makran
in
high
dudgeon.
Their matrimonial happiness did not
as
last long.
The
wife begs
a favour of her fickle spouse, he will avoid passing out by a
certain gate of the town, which
and
falls in
Bhaf'ula,
with a very
who
fair,
of course he immediately seeks,
but also
frail
goldsmith's wife, one
makes no secret of her admiration for the Balochi's

handsome
May God
"
person.
cause
to meet," she
us
39
remarks
aloud, and Panhu at once finds that the scabbard of his sword
broken, and he must take
it
be mended.
to
is
Bhagula, not con-
tented with seducing Panhu's affections from his bride, tries to
persuade him that the latter

quickly enough
situation
Sassui takes in the
unfaithful.
is
she tries her
" to
best
the
extract
poisoned arrow from her truant husband's breast," and indignant at
her
rival's accusations
An
enormous
fire is
at the very sight of

fled,
demands that the quarrel be decided by fire.
consequently prepared for the
which Bhagula
ladies' benefit,
would have
turns pale, and
but Sassui seizes her by the ears and forces her to enter.
Needless to
ears,
say,
the false
dame
is
burnt to ashes,
held by the hands of the
all
save her two
Panhu
Sassui.
virtuous
is
con-
vinced of his wife's chastity and love, and the two, for a brief
happy once more.
season, are
The
final catastrophe,
Makran
is
The
however, approaches.
old
Jam
being frightfully scandalised at the stories carried
in
home
the irate Babiho, and sends off six of his stalwart sons to bring
by
the Benjamin home.
avoid
and
at
midnight carry
off
Sassui awakes to the
camel.
When
arrive at
at
Bambhora, and shortly
cause an intoxicating potion to be given to
fuss,
his wife,
They
dawn
after to
Panhu and
the former tied on the back of a
consciousness of
she looks round, her lover
is
her misfortune.
not on the couch beside
her, nor are the camels of her brothers-in-law to be found.
recognizes that
blood
as
if
Panhu has been
sprinkling the
hill
carried
off,
and
over which
"
She
weeps tears of
her husband was
travelling."
" Alas, alas,
how
shall
my
wouiuled heart survive the loss of him thus torn
away
She
will not be consoled
My
spinning wheel gives
"
Nor
feel I
IMy soul
is
me no
pleasure
now
that
my
husband
joy from the conversation of any companions.

among the hills where the Baloches urge their camels."
is
gone,
ACROSS THE BORDER.
40
She declares
lier
determination to follow her loved one's footsteps,
nor will she be deterred by
all
which her friends conjure up

benefit, as lying
the dangers, real or imaginary,
between Bambhora
compose the Biloch
village.
accompanying
" I will
her.
most
in the
direful forni;
her
for
and the wretched huts that
She even dissuades her
my husband
not return without
from
friends
;
but
Sassui and Panhu.

{Facsimile of a Punji'ib lithograph.)]
you,
when you come
to die
of thirst,
might curse him."
she starts upon her journey, apostrophising the

"
Why
point ye not out the direction of
my
Alone
hills
lover
was but yesterday tlie string of camels passed over you,

Was not my hushand in that Icufila 1 "
It
And
in spite of all the dangers of the road,
on which the author
enlarges at length, in spite of the sun, the simoom, heat, fatigue
and bruised
feet,
perseveres in
jungle she meets a goatherd, a

ugliness
name,
and wildness, from
to Icnow the
lier quest.
perfect "
whom
At
last,
Demon
in one solitary
of the
she demands, in
path taken by her brothers-in-law.
Waste
tlie
" in
Lord's

This wretch, who had been told by
tlie
old witch, his
41
dam, that
on this day he should meet a beautiful bride decked in jewels and

rich attire, considers Sassui to be the very person,
To gain time she
most abrupt and unceremonious gallantry.

complains of
thirst,
When
goats.
and begins the
and begs her horrid admirer to milk one of his
he replies that he has no
draws out a brass
pot, she
pipkin, and while he fetches the goat, knocks a whole in the bot-
tom. Caliban's eyes are so
much charmed by
that he does not notice the time

milk.
Sassui, in despair,
her honour, and begs,

she
may be
if
it
the beauty of his prize
requires to
meanwhile prays
to
draw a draught of
Heaven
no other means of escape be
Her
allowed to sink into the earth.
to preserve
possible, that
supplications are
heard, and suddenly she sinks into a yawning gulf which closes
over her, and the wretched goatherd perceives his mistake too
Unable
to cancel the past,
and platform
late.
he occupies himself in raising a tomb
in her honour.
few hours
after,
Panhu, who has escaped from his brothers
with Lallu, a slave, comes in hot haste en
Bambhora.
oôute for
Attracted by the appearance of the platform, which the goatherd
must have been very quick about, he proposes
to rest awhile,
he hears the voice of his bride calling him from the tomb
when
my Panhu, nor think to find too narrow a bed,

Here gardens bloom and shed sweet savoiu- round.
Here are fruits and shades and cooling streams,
While Islam's light pours through our abode,
Banishing death and decay."
" Enter boldly,
Panhu hands over
his
camel to his
slave,
and giving him a part-
ing injunction to carry tidings of his fate to his father and his
friends, calls
upon heaven
to allow
him
to join his Sassui.
ground opens and swallows him in the same way as

wife,
and the story
finishes
by Lallu informing the
the lovers have met to part no more.

"
The
The
souls of those
As he
says
old
two lovers are steeped in
rose is at last restored to the rose-bed."
The
for his lost
bliss
Jam
that
ACnOSS THE BORDER.
42
Their tombs are in the Pubb Hills, between Karachi and Lus-Bela
where they are

believer,
who
visited with great advantage
is sufficiently
by many pilgrims,
devout, will be fed on bread and milk
by a hand stretched out from one of the tombs

the Faithful, St. Sassui or St.
ful lady to the
Panhu appears
while to
in person
many
of
the beauti-
male pilgrims, the handsome Biloch to the female.
But no camel must approach

that animal for carrying
"
Sassui's
tomb she has never forgiven

:
away her husband.
The Drowned Beauty,"
is
another popular heroine of the Lower
Sohni swimming the Indus.

(^Facsimile of a
Indus Valley.
Punjab lithograph.)
Sohni, the Dvl) Mui, she
who
died drowning,
usually described as the daughter of a Jat cultivator,

in marriage to one
Dam, an
individual of the
same
is
who gave her
Dam was
clan.
not musical, probably not attractive, and as the nuptial procession
went
to the
banks of the Indus to perform certain
rites
and consult
the omens, Sohni was sent by her husband to fetch some milk from
the
forest,
where she saw an omen
buffalo-keeper, a
most
and instantaneously
skilful player
fell
in
for
herself, in the
upon the
love with him.
shape of a
bansli or reed-pipe,
Her head,
like the
was turned, and reversing the
buffaloes in the Punjabi
sketch,
practice in the
Hero and Leander,
sound of the
story
hansli,
of
she,
guided by the
used nightly to swim the Indus, supported
large earthen pots which the fishermen
upon one of the
43
commonly
use on that river for the same purpose, and spend the hours of
darkness listening to the sound

ing
home
of her lover's pipes
return-
before dawn.
A malignant
mother-in-law discovered the assignation, and sub-
stituted a jar exactly similar to the one used, except that
One
unbaked.
night, as
replied that
it
having remarked
The
for both.
lover's portent
swim the stream, the
and the
literally, "
pathy
is still
Sohni,
for
spot she noticed in his eye.
many months, and
her not
before portended some immediate misfortune
tried to
fair
little
had been there
it
was
Solmi sat in the moonlight with her
lover, she drew his attention to a
He
it
proved too true
the next time she
jar so treacherously substituted burst,
Sym-
the beautiful," was drowned.
with her, and the couplets sung in her praise evidently
consider that her beauty fully condoned
judgment on her
any
trifling
errors
of
part.
"Solini was fair in body and mind,
Nor had she one defect you could remark.

She husband left and home in search of happiness,
but found a grave."
In quest of love
;
One more legend

is
some,
if
not very good, authority for supposing that the Eastern
Nara, or Snake
this very
river,
marks an old course of the Indus, and down
channel Alexander sailed with his
fleet
that he halted his
boats at Aror, not very far from Bakkar, while he
expedition against a place General
Larkana.
There
relates to the course of the river itself.
The ancient hydrography
over, still forms the subject of
Cunningham
of the
many learned
little
Punjab and Sind, moredisquisitions.
Whether
Rann
of Kachli,
the " lost river," that used to empty itself into the
started entirely on its
made
thinks might be
own account with the
Sutlej, or the
holy
ACROSS THE BORDER.
44
Saraswati, or whether, getting tired of wandering about the sands
around Khairpur,
may
be
still
a solution
it
suddenly found a gap and turned sharp west,
an interesting problem
much more
but the popular legend affords
simple.
Between Bakkar and Khairpur was a

a
name which
city "
" the
clearly survives in Rori, the
adorned with palaces and
boundary of the house of gold
"
modern town hard by
gardens and
villas,
and streams, parterres and
servoirs
city called Aror, or Al-Ror,
flowers."
It
groves, re-
and Multan
were then the
"
main
pillars
"
of the country, the two finest capitals and royal residences."
you stop anywhere," writes one very early Sind historian

"
nephew,
you should choose the most delightful
and Aror were both
so charming,
was
difficult to
Multan
choose between
For a long time the extensive dominions of which Aror was
them.
the capital, was ruled
kings
it
place."
If
to his
who
" in
" possessed great
ease and prosperity " by a dynasty of
wealth and treasure, diffused justice
over the earth, and whose generosity was renowned in the world,"
from Kashmir to Kaikanan.
The people
all lived
happily, as
of them at least as got their share of the Indus water.
Mehar and Sehwan were a "mere

which
is
the fountain of
country south to
many
But Larkana,
waste," because ''the water
all prosperity,"
flowed by Aror through the
Muhammad Tur, a famous town where
resided
many
great men, disciples of the Shaikh of Shaikhs, Bahfiwal Hak, and
which was probably not very

Gungru.
far
from the present Shakarpur on the
" After fertilising all these lands, the river
poured
its
water into the ocean at the port of Dewal," which Sir H. Elliott
places at or near Karachi,
All this flourishing country was, however, after a while, unlucky
enough
to
come under a proverbial wicked
king,
Dalu Rai, a tyrant
and adulterer, who taxed traders without mercy, levied a

fifty
per cent, on
all
toll
of
goods that came by the river to Aror, and
every night possessed himself of a maiden.
At length came a
merchant, one Shah Husain of Delhi, with an exceptional amount

of goods, great wealth, and a
the
full
"
handmaiden
45
young and beautiful as
moon," descending on his way to Mecca. The tyrant not only
increased his usual demand, but insisted on the transfer of the lady.
The
traveller
determined on a bold
which with the help of
effort,
Allah, and of Allah's special representative,
Khwajah Khiza, " should
stand recorded on the page of destiny until the day of judgment."
He
obtained three days' grace before forwarding the duties and the
damsel, and having collected " a vast

artizans,
men who
number
of skilful and expert
excelled Farhad in piercing mountains, and
who
could close a breech with a rampart like Alexander's," he set
them
embankment above
Aror,
to dig a
new
channel and erect a strong
own
apparently taking good care to keep his
boats above
So
it.
well did they labour, and so great was Allah's mercy, that before
the three days expired, the Indus was turned from
was flowing towards Siwan and the Lakki

and
all his craft
with
it.
Hills,
its
course,
and
taking the merchant
Dalu Rai woke one morning, and instead
of the fathoms of water passing his capital, found nothing but
mud
and a dribble of muddy water, the merchant and the moon-faced
maiden escaped, and

river
back into the old channel
return.
The Rajah's
the evil
is
your regret
Every
his country ruined.

failed
it
regret and repentance
came
too late.
"
to
When
done
fool "
"
The
tyrant paused not in his evil courses, until his
much mud round
remarks
the chronicler, " what avails
And, though there
the ruins of Aror, the Indus
channel among the rocks of Bakkar, where
and into which Gazetteers
it
"
holds to
its
it
was
" diverted
by
But the Gazetteer makers do not
sufficient allowance for the " skilful
the Sind historians, or for the
still
has just been bridged,
persist in saying
some great natural convulsion."
make
turn the
would not be induced
crimes destroyed both himself and his people.

is
effort to
and expert
great mercy of Allah."
artizans," of
CHAPTER
TWO
The
SIDES OF THE SULA.IMANS.
long narrow strip of country, which, extending northward
from Sind,
shut in between the dreary monotonous succession of
is
knife-like ridges, forming the
with
V.
its still
Sulaiman range, and the
more monotonous and constantly
river Indus,
shifting
banks and
islands of sand, corresponds very nearly with the civil district of
Dera Ghazi Khan, and
250 miles
for nearly
is
the remainder of the Derajat Division above,

rainless tract.
torrents that pour
amount
furnish at times a certain
husband
tivators
artificial
drop
to the last
embankments, turn a
it
is
practically a
down the bare
of irrigation,
hill-sides
which the
and naturally unpro-
known
as the pachdd.
the lands come within the influence of the Indus, the
country
is
also fairly cultivated
and green, canals or shallow wells
become gradually more frequent,
trees appear on the scene,

is
More than half the cultivated area of the
and by
larger proportion of the population
Sindh"
Indus.
tract
Sindli or
Between the
''
is
to
district,
Sindh
belt of desert, a succession
and the
far the
be found within this
Sindhu being the old name

"
and
approached.
villages are more numerous the nearer the river
"
cul-
and by a complicated system of
strip of arid
ductive clay into a fertile fringe, locally
Where
much more
Like Sind below, and a good deal of
than twenty-five in width.
The
seldom
ixichitd intervenes
for
the
a barren
of rolling sandy undulations, varied
TWO SIDES OF THE SULAIMANS.

occasionally
had
spirit
by stretches of low
carefully
hills,
that look as
if
47
some malicious
sown them with assorted boulders
Almost without water, inhabitants,
or vegetation,
inviting a strip of country as the
could wish to annex.
of every size
about as un-
it is
most grasping earth-hungerer
Looking at the map and at the number of
numbering, in the Dera

might be thought that
hill-streams that appear on paper,
little
Khan
Ghazi
district alone,
over 200,
it
the pachdd must be a land flowing with milk and honey.
But,
save in exceptional seasons, not a drop from any one reaches the
Indus
some only
others the supply

it is
such rain as
collect
most precarious.
is
Only two are perennial, and
rare that water from one of these raises a flood sufficient to
break through the embankments that
lie
between
In the hot months, with these exceptions,

wells
in the low hills, in
falls
dug
in the dry beds do not last
much
it
all fail
and the
the shallow
longer, the
river.
few ordinary
wells are often 300ft. deep, and then yield but a brackish and
intermittent supply.
who
tribes
or
inhabit
it
The country
ceases
to
more usually betake themselves further
during May, June, and July the pachdd
Nor
are the characteristics of the
historical western
offer
sionally
is
the
into the hills;
to
and
practically deserted.
mountains, that form the
boundary, such as would at
much inducement
hills consist
be habitable,
either drive off their cattle to the Indus bank,
first
sight appear to
an advance beyond them.
The outer
of several parallel ranges, the principle ones occa-
rising
opposite Rojhan
to
is
a considerable
The Gandhari peak
height.
over 4,000 feet; the Diagul opposite Harrand
over 5,000 feet, Ek-Bhai opposite Sakhi Sarwar 7,500
feet,
and
the Takht-i-Sulaiman, nearly west of Dera Ismail Khan, has two
The eastern
summits, both over 11,000
feet.
precipitous, with little or
no vegetation, and, with the exception
of a few stunted wild olives, bare of trees.
slopes are rocky and
The openings, narrow
gorges, almost destitute of water, tend to increase the forbidding

aspect.
Nevertheless, the whole frontier
is
here a net work of
ACROSS TUE BORDER.
48
passes and
regularity that
parallels
communications, laid out by nature with a
lateral
might have formed part of a
As
and approaches.
a natural barrier,
pronounced by experts to be a complete fraud.

Holdich of the Survey,
"
system
scientific
the whole line

It has, says
generally a double line of
ot
is
Major
main watershed,
the commonest geographical feature throughout Afghanistan, with
a series of broken, but approximately parallel minor ridges, forming
running about north and south,
narrow
lateral valleys,
to the
main formation, and
bined into a general system, which
is
drainage lines in innumerable places.

are opened,
more
all parallel
to the line of the frontier,
and com-
broken through by the main

Thus, roads to the plateau
or less difficult according to the nature of the
gorges and drifts formed by the direction of the drainage across
the lines of the watershed."
from the
fact,
The number
of these
may
be judged
that there are upwards of ninety leading from the
Dera Ghazi Khan
district
and Dr. Duke gives an itinerary of no
less than fifty-three routes through the Sewestfin country beyond.
All are held by Biloches nominally independent, but subordinate

to our
Government
made
responsible for their safety, for the return of all stolen pro-
perty,
and
who, in consideration of certain allowances, are
for the police duties
Commencing from the
through the respective tribal lands.
south, the most important are the Suri,
which, starting from the edge of the Mazari country passes through
the territories of the Bughti and Marri tribes
the Zangi, leading
past the Gandhari mountain into the same country
the Cachar
and the Kahfx, both into the country of the Khatrans and the Luni
Pathans, the former of which was once extensively used, and was
Emperor Jehangir returned from Kandahar
the one by which the

to
Delhi in 1601
selected
for
the
the one by the Rakhi
new
military road from
Peshin, passing over the
Khar
a splendid highway adapted

is
plain
for all
Nullah, which was
Dera Ghazi Khan
by Fort Monroe, and
arms of the
service.
to
is
now
This
last
merely a branch of the better known one by the shrine of Sakh
TWO SIDES OF THE SU LAIMANS.
by Barber, when he went
Sarvvar, a route affected in former days
up
Ghazni
to
was the route by which the Kabul rulers got their mangoes
this
sent to Kandahar, and
it
Ahmad mended
Saidi
with
It
hill.
was
still
more famous by the
here that,
650 years ago,
the legs of the camels going from Khorasan

camel's leg had been broken,
One merchant, whose
Delhi.
and the then Emperor was so much taken with the
rivets,
miracle that he sent four mule loads of coin to the

Saidi,
who
mended
he got back to Delhi, that the leg had been
when
found,
made
has been
shrine at the foot of the
to
In more modern times,
campaign in 1505.
after his
49
built the shrine with
people since then.
It has
it.
ingenious
been endowed by many
Hindu merchants from Lahore
built the steps.
Nadir Shah and the Durani Shah Zaman presented jewels, and
some Sikhs added a shrine

keepers,
to
who always number
including
women and
neither
children,
all
more nor
than
is
annually divided
which
have
is,
to send out their pilgrim hunters furnished with
drawn, payable at sight, on wealthy believers likely to be
substantial
shrine
is
and obliging enough
affected equally
them
to take
up.
Curiously the
by Hindu and Muhammadans, and
certainly involved considerable pilgrimage to get there.
now
when
on a simpler method of raising money, more suited to the
times,
bills
less
or
1,650
entitled to equal shares,
the proceeds of the shrine treasure chest

hit
The majdwars
Baba Nanak.
that the
new road
income of the shrine
will
make
up, the Vidore pass, opposite

direct,
but also a more
Valley.
Kawan, lead through the
Musa
Whether,
easier, the
Further
remains to be seen.
Dera Ghazi Khan,
thirsty route, past
The Sowari, the
Pathans, the
the journey so
will increase,
much
Shori, the
territories
offers a still
Ek-Bhai
it
into the
more
Rakhni
Mahoi, the Sangarh, and

of the
Bozdars, the
Luni
Khels, and the Kakars into the Zhob Valley
the most important of these being the Sangarh opposite Mangrotha,
which was the one taken by General Chamberlain in the expedition

against the Bozdars in 1857.
ACROSS THE BORDER.
50
Through
many
gone by, the
these, in times
" riding," as
a foray,
wolves towards the sheep -house, the
Low
trousers, so
begrimed as to show
ringlets
of the original
little
and their
by a perfect armoury of weapons.
belts set off
Perhaps more ferocious in appearance than in
swagger enough
thin, lank,
for a host.
The whole party mounted on small
tried
for,
riding
flourishing village, their masters
again with
all the cattle
Nor was
collect.
for Sassui
but each with
fact,
but wiry and enduring mares, a quality most necessary
and often surely
home
Wild-looking
country."
Their shields secured to their backs by a plaid of the same
white.
tint,
for
ravening
In voluminous smock frocks
twisted rope-like rather than folded.
and expansive
" like
surmounted by huge turbans
their shoulders,
to
men swept down
and long curly black
men, with thick flowing beards
coming down
hill
they describe themselves
all
through the night
some
to
would before dawn be pushing
and plunder they had been able
to
the vendetta always unassociated with romance,
was by no means the only young lady who exchanged
love-tokens across the Border, and whose fancy turned towards the
stalwart
renown
young Biloch
"
nor was Panhal Khan, the only "thief of
whose heart burned with secret longing
for the Peri of
the Plains, or the objective of whose raid was not merely
all
the
camels, goats, and village gear, but
"
the fairest of maidens in the
reed huts by the Saints' Canal."
"
How," says one young
whose capture
is
lady,
related in a popular ballad, which describes her
as a dove, a very pea-hen in gait, a mist cloud in lightness, with
locks like the tendrils of the creeper, but whose will was hard as
the
hills,
from
my
when
it
came
mother, for
my
to a question of flight.
Then
And
can I part
But
father to heap curses on her head?"
the freebooting lover has no time to
"
"How
I seized lier pliunt
with the end of
my
stop and argue.
form
in
my
arms,
turlian I stopped her
She struggled like the kid in the tiger's jaw,

But .soon she rested her head on my slioulder."
mouth

And
51
having got back safe through the stony paths of the passe
and divided the plunder, declares
My
"
bride was pleased with none but me,
Forgotten her mother, her playmates, her companions,
For she walks with a dainty boy on her
hip."
Like a good deal more of the unexplored, moral and physical,

the difficulties of most of these passes to a great extent disappear
when they come
to
which the drainage
be examined.
forces its
way
The narrow gorges through

and the ruggedness
to the plains,
of the defiles naturally leads to the idea of
greater difficulties
still
beyond, while the character of the wild tribes has always been an
By
element calculated to exaggerate the dangers.
a curious pro-
cess, there seems a belief in some minds that the more bare, rocky
and impassable the mountains, the worse and more barren the
country, the
is possible,
but not both, and experience has proved both to have
been greatly overrated.
As a
rule,
the passes are only difficult in
proportion as they are unknown.
By
them
The
turned towards India.
are
mounted, comparatively
are
locally
munication.
called
and
Even the
fertile valleys
making
far the
first
worst features of
difficult
appear
"
range sur-
Shams"
often comparatively open
as they
lines of
com-
slopes of the rugged Sulaimans ease off
considerably towards the west.

culties in
Either
more numerous and warlike the inhabitants.
By
far the
most formidable
diffi-
the Peshin road just referred to have been
met
with in the approaches by the Rakhi torrent up to the sanitarium

of Fort Munroe.
The descent on the west
what by comparison may be

Valley,
immediately below,
is
by easy
The Raklini
called grassy downs.

offers
finer
grass
slopes over
and better sport
than can be got almost anywhere in the Dera Ghazi Khan
and
for
cart road
and
considerable
distance
was comparatively
Afghanistan,
there
is
easy.
the
construction
Like so much
deficiency of water
of
district,
good
of Bilochistan
;
but this will
E 2
ACROSS THE BORDER.
52
in
and
great
the
garden.
Many
measure
country
As
it
is,
tracts are
needs
many
of these
rich
One of
whole length
is
is
in
wood and
to
"Shams"
turn
are
of
storage,
into
it
fairly well
The Khetran Valley along
the Donkeys that
made
a
off.
its
the Peshin Road.
celebrated for horse-breeding.

for
system
irrigation
grass.
reported admirably suited
are
by
remedied
be
only
The
a similar purpose.
Paniali Valley
Near Gumbaz
grass for three or four regiments of cavalry, with
splendid manoeuvring ground.
ductive and beautiful,
its
The Smalan Valley
is
elevation about 5,000 feet, and
both proits
water

and supplies
The Bori
certain.
new cantonment
of Loralai.
valley has been selected for the
The
are penetrable in all directions,
distance fourteen miles wide,
The
fertility of
long been famous
The
in
so
characteristics of
South
reason
between
The
this
and the Zhob
latter valley is for
some
further explorations of these
more favourable the country
is
Quetta and the valleys adjoining have
have the melons and grapes of Mastung
some
Italy, or only
why
hills
and the
valleys are carried northward, the
reported.
53
of the hillsides are not unlike certain
need vineyards to be so
the vineyards should not follow.
and there
is
no
CHAPTER
VT.
THE "FHAIRSHON" AND
Whether
"
MCTAVISH."
the Biloch stock originally came from Aleppo, via
Baghdad and Makran
whether, as some assert, he had whilom an
intimate relationship with the Jews, or was of
with which people he has certainly

still
more probably, he
is
inhabitants, reinforced
assisted
many
Turkman
points in
origin
common
or
a result of the admixture of the original
by Jew- Arab-Turkman immigration, and
by hosts of conquerors from Alexander downwards
tribal divisions are
numerous enough
has certainly this in
if,
common
these divisions, probably not
to include the whole.
his
He
with the Jews, that, in respect to

all
the children of Israel scattered
over the wilderness of Sinai, would have offered such a complicated

family problem
and he has divided
his inheritance almost
more
minutely than they did the land of Canaan.
To attempt a
first
systematic numbering of the tribes would, in the
place, require the
mantle of Moses, and in the next,
it
may
be reasonably doubted whether ordinary readers have patience to

follow a stringing together of names,
Book
compared
of Chronicles would be light reading.
numerous
to
The
which the First
tribes, or tunians,
as they are, moreover represent only the beginning.
For these tumans are again divided into clans {paras), the clans
into sections called palli,
and sometimes these again into sub-sec-

THE ''FHAinSIION" AND
tions,
JICTAVISIi:'
''
each with a head-man, whose local foUowmg
is
55
often a
mere
The Gurchanis, for instance, run to eleven clans and
handful.
eighty-one sections; the Bughtis, six clans and forty-four sections;
the Mazaris, four clans and fifty-seven sections

of the three can muster
even counting
all
more than 2,000
while probably none
or 2,500 fighting
men,
from fourteen, instead of the Israelitish twenty
years of age, as able to
oô
forth to war.
To add
to this there is
an
aggravating habit which the Biloch has of ringing the changes on

a
sincfle
Thus the town
name.
of
Dera Ghazi Khan was founded
some 400 years ago by one Haji Khan, who begat Ghazi
and
called the
thought
it
town
only
Ghazi Khan then begat a
after him.
right
him Haji Khan, and
to call
Khan
son,
and
for fifteen
generations from father to son, without any variation of patronymic,
was continued, until the people got
this
sick,
and christened the

Like the
whole place Hajighazi, an expression suggestive enough.
Highlands of Scotland in former days, almost every valley and

side boasts a clan of
still
its
acknowledging allegiance to some more powerful
The principal occupation

is,
or
hill-
own, under a petty leader, independent but
local "
of the
Fhairshon," and
tribal lords.
"
McTavish
"
was before our advent, small feuds against their neighbour
and raids on
his cattle.
In
fact,
the best understanding of the
average Biloch clan can probably be obtained from a study of
Bon
Gaultier's Gaelic ballad.
It is only necessary to alter slightly
the names, and the story of the invasion by the Macpherson, with
his four-and-twenty
men and
five-and-thirty pipers, adapts itself
very closely to the politics of the Marri and Bughti

affairs,
of the small fighting
employed
tail,
in driving "ta'cattle,"
the largest
hills.
In most
number would be
and the few casualties be due to
the sudden appearance on the scene of the aggrieved party in force;

the
McMarri
"
Coming
Gillies seventy-three,
wi' his fassals,
and sixty Dhiune
wassails."
BearincT northwards from the Jacobabad and Sibi railway, the
ACROSS THE BORDER.
56
more important
of these clansmen, along
described as our old Biloch frontier
has
now
them behind us
placed
to
hold lands within purely British
for
what can now only be
our occupation of Peshin
a greater or
districts.
Such
extent also
less
are the Mazaris,
Dreshaks, Bughtis, Gurchanis, Lagharis, Khosas, Lunds, Bozdars,
and Kasranis.
In the
hills just
Luni Pathans, and Musa Khels.

and Peshin
Chotiali,
beyond, are the Harris, Khetrans,
Further
in the Hurnai,
still
the Tarins, Dumars, and a somewhat
districts,
too extensive sprinkling of the various divisions of Kakars.
a few exceptions
in
minor
all
derived from the Mazar
meaning a
tiger
With
are Biloch, or closely allied and differing only
The Mazaris
points.
Thai
hold
whose name
is
stream in Sistan
variously said to be
or the
same word
the country from the Sind border to near
Mithankote, and are perhaps the most important and flourishing.
They can muster probably 4,000

British territory, where they
fighting
own many
men, mostly living within

villages.
In former days
they were referred to by Elphinstone as famous for piracies on the

Indus, and accomplished as highway robbers.
They were
at almost
perpetual war with their neighbours in every direction, and had
the reputation of being the most adroit cattle-thieves along the

Since annexation in 1849 they have given no trouble.
line.
are perhaps not
now good
flocks along the river
the cold
hills in
agriculturists, preferring to graze their
banks in the hot weather and in the low
but they have settled gradually down into be-
coming peaceful and
Nawab
ago made a
They
loyal subjects,
and their chief was not long
for "distinguished loyalty
and good
service."
Their neighbours and former enemies, the Dreshaks, though probably deriving their
name from
the Drekhan, a stream in the
hills,
or as
they
have now no possessions there at
would
who
call
all.
themselves, Gorishanis
The Gurchanis
somewhat
mongrel Biloches,
traditionally trace their descent to a converted
of Sind,
own
the bulk of the Marri and Dragul
Hindu Rajah
hills,
though they
cannot, or very recently could not, be said to hold them.
Constant
THE " FIIAIBSHON " AND
"
MCTA VTSlir
57
feuds with the Marri rendered their lands beyond the border some-
what
less profitable
than an Irish
One
estate.
joined
Humayun
tained
a state of constant war with the Sikhs
harried
in his
march
the plains east of the Indus
They
Biloch tribes."
Others main-
to Delhi in 1556.
systematically
and at the time of the
Punjab annexation had the reputation of being

of the
of their chiefs
are probably
" the
now
worst-behaved
only restrained
from falling on the adjoining Lagharis by our presence
yet they
have in various ways been brought under complete control, and

their
conduct reputed
The
"uniformly good."
as
Lagharis, a
powerful tribe, located around the Sakhi Sarwar pass, as well as

the Khosas, Lunds and Kasranis, originally
to the trade of
more
all
or less given
Turpin and Macheath, have developed comparaSeveral of their head
tively industrious habits.
their energies to canal-making
become honorary magistrates

supporters of social order.
men have
turned
have acquired extensive estates
and are now among the staunchest
The Bughtis
of the rocky
and barren
country on the Rajanpur border, and the Bozdars of the

opposite Mangrotha, have at times given a
little
more trouble
hills
;
and
the former are credited with at least one famous raid into Sind,
when they succeeded

had
to
receive
in lifting
lessons
more
some 15,000
or
less
cattle.
the most important of
all,
whose raids
now
constant and indiscriminate, are
The reputation
man.
He
is
of the Marri
have profited
severe, but
greatly by the teaching, and with the Maiiis, in

in
Both have
many
respects
former times were
exceedingly friendly.
sufficient to ruin a far better
is
charged not merely with devotion to theft and
robbery of every kind, but with being always ready to welcome

the seven other spirits more lawless than himself.
may
be estimated from his own maxim, quoted by
We
enemies of
we do no good
all
wishes us well.
our neighbours
Duke
in his
arc," says the Marri, " the
interesting history of the tribe
"
His character
to
any one
nobody
Let us then afford every encouragement to
strife
ACROSS THE BOBBER.
58
aroimJ us:
us give passage through our country to any neigh-
let
bour who seeks to injure another.

destroyed matters not to us
Though he
deeming
side
for,
in
up
occasionally acts
Whichever
any case we
side
injured or
is
shall be gainers."
even he has his
to this policy,
re-
though he has small scruple in making the
traveller or trader pay, he holds stringently to the laws of
a ring or token given as a receipt for black mail
honour
a sufficient
is
guarantee for further safety; and he would take the most ample
vengeance upon any one
Though
ally
else
to recognise the
failing
generally regarded as Brahui Biloch, the tribe
pledge.
occasion-
spoken of as Pathan, and some clans talk more readily a Semitic
Pushtu than a Marri Bilochi
drawn from
peojjles, grafted
They
several races
and
but they are really a confederatioa
profess a nominal allegiance to the
pay him no revenue,
on to a Biloch stock.
Khan
of Khelat, but they
act independently of him, and have no more
The three main
scruple in raiding his territories than our own.

divisions comprise
to
is
number 4,000
no fewer than eighteen
or 5,000 fighting men,
the surrounding tribes
but, according to
Sind and Khelat, they number

as a profession, though
nor
neither lucrative
it
little
clans,
who
and are supposed
carried fear into all
Duke, excluding those
Raiding
over 2,500 males.
certainly offers plenty of excitement,
The Marris have made
safe.
in
too
is
many
enemies, have fallen on bad times, and constant reprisals have
gone near to wearing them
out.
On
the whole, their recent rela-
tions with us have been fairly satisfo.ctory.
The prospect
of plunder
being too strong, they took advantage of the Maivvand disaster to

attack our workpeople on the Sibi lino, and cut
clerks and coolies,
late Sir Charles
up some
of our
which drew on them an expedition under the
Macgregor
but care, firmness, and tact on the
part of our Political Officers has
now brought about a
result suf-
ficient to justify a use of the past tense in regard to their misdeeds.
The Khetrans immediately below Fort Monroe, the Lunis

next valley, and the
Musa Khels
little
in the
farther again, are all
THE FIIAIRSHON" AND

''
The
Pathans.
first
of the three,
are fairly industrious
and
MCTAVISII."
whose name
was probably a Pathan graft on a Jat
between Sindi and Punjabi,
''
still
retain
signifies " cultivator,"
They speak a
stock.
dialect
some Hindu customs, and
More notorious
agricultural.
59
as receivers
than thieves, they are peaceful and unaggressive, but they have
had the Harris
for
Similarly the Lunis, whose
next neighbours.
country extended from the Rakhni to the Bori Valley, have been
so
weakened by
feuds,
five of their
mainly with the Harris, that
fine valleys through which the new road to Peshin passes, have
been deserted, rendered " har " or desolate, and their flocks and
more than a
lierds restricted to a little
possessed.
fifth of
Little was known about them
till
the area they once
a few years ago
but
they are fine men, somewhat fond of showy armour and tasselled
spears
good raw material
for
excellent
Khels are traditionally Kakars, who
where between Kandahar and Herat,
The Husa
soldiers.
left their old
haunts some-
to seek fresh fields
and pas-
tures new under Musa, settled down on the further slopes of
the Takht, from whence they were ousted about eighty years ago,
and have since taken up an extensive and prosperous position on

the Toi stream.
They
too are mostly shepherds, disposed to be
friendly with our politicals
The time would
fail to
but friendly from a respectful distance.
attempt to
tell of
many
the
tribes that
occupy the debateable land between Bilochistan and Afghanistan,
whom
our
new
lines of railway
acquainted with, like the
and road are making us daily better
Spin or White Tarins of Thul Chotiali,
the Dumars, the Pannis of the Sangan Valley

brated free-lances in Barber's time
septs of
Pathan
origin.
By
far the
and
the
who
many
were
cele-
other petty
most important, both
as regards
numbers, strength, and distribution are the Kakars, a numerous
Afghan
little
in
race,
divided into
common
save the
many
name
distinct
tribes,
of Kakar.
over a considerable area from Hurnai to the
who have very
They
Zhob
are scattered
Valley, and from
the Takht to the Registan, or place of sand, beyond Peshin.
The
ACROSS THE BORDER.
60
three best
known
Hamzazai
but they have not even a jirgali or general council of
of their tribes are the Panizai, Sarangzai,
the whole, the various sections quarrelling freely
The warlike reputation
of
some
among
and
themselves.
of their chiefs has been consider-
^-%
An Uchakzai Pathan of
able
and
for
the Peshin Valley.
a long period the Bilochis carried on almost a
national war with them.
Elphinstone
tells
of an
engagement
in
vhich a large force of Brahui Bilochis were entrapped in the
Khulaz
defile,
and some 800 or 900 cut
to pieces
spot from which the Kakars rolled stones
very near the
down on our
troops
THE " FHA IRSIION AND
"
''
MCTA VISII."
The same
during the Southern Afghan campaign.
Captiiin Showers in the Osdapslie pass in 1880
Valley sections
continue to give trouble
still
and the Zhob
now and
them
and presumably there
them locked up
tion of interest concerning
What
informa-
Simla archives.
in the
has been done however in the case of the Harris can no

It is only necessary
doubt be equally well applied to the Kakars.

to
in 1877, to
much
is
Colonel
then.
now Sir James Brown was deputed by Lord Lytton,

specially report on
murdered
tribe
open out their country, establish communications, and adopt a
The marching
friendly but firm policy.
the Zhob Valley and the
Khan
to
Peshin
debating,
is
now
Gumal
of our troops by
way
of
pass to and from Dera Ismail
many
proposal our Government, after
insisting on carrying out
years of
will probably
be the
best possible beginning.
Meanwhile, there can perhaps be no better
illustration of the
advantages to everybody concerned of opening such countries out

to the civilising influence afforded
by
free
communications, good
roads, and the presence of British officers of tact
and judgment,
than the contrast between the Biloch who has come within our
influence,
and the independent tribesman.
The one
is
decent
suit,
to
afford
populous.
so obviously sleek
a good mare
appear
all
the four legs,
prosperous.
The other
is
call
his
own.
life,
His
his crops,
His house
is
tattered
and his
often
is
villages
lean, hungry, living
his dress a few dirty rags or
anxiety for his
It is almost startling.
and comfortable, has generally a

well to do, and can
thriving
are
from hand
sheepskin
cattle,
"
far
chapdos" which carry
kill off
the attendants.
surprise
field
Occasionally
from his
not raiding himself or being raided upon, he

for
constant
round tower in the
even this has to be abandoned, as being too
by constant watching
in
mouth
which he can seldom
entered by a ladder, which he draws up after him.
When
to
and
is
from raiding
village.
wearied out
parties,
and
off
the whole of his cattle and occasionally
cha/pdo is simply the Biloch expression
ACROSS THE BORDER.
62
for
an organized
raid,
and
at one time probably
formed the best
part of a chief's income, a fifth of the whole spoil
amounted
sum
to a large
in property of all sorts
footman had one share, the horseman another
many
legs of it as
a gun, while
he owned
he possessed
if
The
he was killed his relations got his share.
if
headmen got a proportionately
often
him. The
for his horse, or so
another half share,
which
falling to
tribal
better share, and the booty was all
carefully valued according to a regular scale, in terms of bullocks.
mare being equal
to four cows, a
gun
sword to
to a bullock, a
half a bullock and so on.
But even
successful raiding
is
The raiders had nearly
business.
could never afford to
rest,
devil
as hard a time as the raided, they
any one who by chance
behind, was at once murdered,

case of the
obviously not a very lucrative
not mutilated.
if
taking the
hindmost.
"
fell
It
out or got
was
The members
chapao" as Fryer writes in one of his graphic accounts,
left
literally
"
of a
have to
travel long distances by night, lying concealed by day, and they
have no food but what

dare not light a
fire
flour
they can carry with them, which they
to bake.
They
much on
the alert for an attack to be ventured."
party of Marris
Pathans.
whom
They were
having been out
to each
very
man.
much
The
to him.
He
too
instances
he met returning from a raid on the Luni

half-starved,
for three
share, their plunder
an
often end by falling into
ambuscade themselves, or by finding their intended victims
weeks
was only
and worn out with
and
fatigue,
after deducting the leader's
sufficient to give the third of a bullock
liberty of the "
Fhairshon
" is clearly
not worth
CHAPTER
VII.
SULAIMAN AND SIND SAINTS.

"
May
Allah not set Sayiids and Mnllahs over us
local proverb trans-Indus,
grading kind
is
that river than

his sacred
among
among
the
common
Muhammadans
the Hindus on the east.
the independent Bilochi

to
The
west of
latter holds
cheap, compared to the abject deference the
former pays his spiritual guide.
compared
" is
and yet superstition of the most de-
probably greater
Brahman
Variation there
is
in degree
from
who, grossly credulous as he may

an agnostic
the snivelling
be, is
a Pathan, almost
to
Bannuchi, described by Edwardes as "accepting the clumsiest

imposture as a miracle, and the fattest fakir as a saint."
But what-
ever reverence enters into the composition of the Border tribesman

is for
saints
and shrines
his credulity in this respect has
no
and he accepts the connected miracles as a matter of course.
limits,
The
whole Sulaiman range would appear to have been a favourite

resort of the fraternity.
Hardly a
pass, a peak, or
an old mound,
but boasts a legend, a tomb, or a shrine, even though the visible

sign
may be no more than
a few rags, or a heap of stones.
Perhaps, as Fryer suggests, this
may be
ascribed to the unattractive
nature of the country, which contains so
adapted for the residence of those who

or
more possibly
to
the fact that, for
many
places admirably
desire to mortify the flesh
many
centuries, the range
ACROSS THE BORDER.
64
ofiferetl
a uatural resting-place for the invading
and
saints
be more often traced

Patna.
The founders
soldiers alike.
The
"
to
Bukhara
hosts,
of the religious orders can
Baghdad, than from Delhi or
or
"
piHars of the faithful,"
the guides of the devoted,"
or the " Pole-stars of Islam," would often have

at the hands of
Musalman
had a short
shrift
Gakkhars or of Sikhs, and the average Punjabi
Jat has an a^vkward habit of disliking religious advice.
Just as Border history
is
mainly made up of mythical genea-
almost exclusively to the sayings and
logies, its traditions relate
They
doings of saints, sayuds, or priests.
most
relations of
life,
are the chief figures in
and take the place of precedence as regards
Among
the wants of the people.
the most formidable, in that
bare and stony country, has always been the want of water and
The "pattern
supplies.
field
devoted, and wanderer in the
of the
of generosity," Shaikh Ismail Sarbanni, whose tomb
is
Koh-i-Sulaiman, though an observer of rigid abstinence,
upon
is
de-
scribed as killing 400 sheep daily for the benefit of travellers.
The
heads, limbs, and skins were gathered
every morning the shepherd found
drove them off to pasture.
unexpectedly upon
"
up
in the evening,
all his flock alive again,
and
and
So, also, fifty famishing travellers call
the asylum
of
mankind and magazine of
wisdom," Shaikh MuUii Kattal, and find nothing in his house.

"
In the
fire,
name
of Allah
"
he
a pot with water, places
fills
it
on the
sends to the potter for an earthen plate, and with his
blessed hands serves
up
to all his guests
stew, the dish always remaining

chronicler,
Niamat Ullah, "the
possession of his successor,"
plate
Again,
abundance of excellent
"and," adds the ingenious
full,
Takht-i-Sulaiman suffered greatly
own
is
to this very
tlie tribes
for
day
in the
on the east of the
want of water, while those
on the west had comparative plenty, whereupon a certain
" falcon
of knowledge and stage of excellence " opened a passage right
through the mountain, and brought to their

stream.
The stream
is
there
still,
though
it
relief
has
less
the Draban
water in
it
SULAHfAX AND SIND

than formerly, because a subsequent
Shaikh Dana, caused some

Anotlier difficulty was
Once
river.
broke
it
infinite
"
single
with a particular divine glory.

as an infant
Friday for prayers
away the
best part of a vil-
damage, had not the inhabitants
an
effectual
embank-
which he had used to keep his
illus-
bathing. This effectually controlled
the stream, which would not run past
Ramazan even
by him.
the control of the Indus
at once provided
tile,
mud when
trious foot out of the
the forest of unity,"
mine of inspiration and flower of the
Yahya Bakhtiar, who
ment by laying down a
it is still
banks, carried
its
promptly repaired to that

pious,"
" lion in
(55
to flow to a tribe favoured
as
and might have done
lage,
SAINTS.
He was a saint decorated
it.
He had
"
" travelled to
kept the
of the
fast
Mecca and back every
and on one occasion so vigorously did he
recite
the praises of Allah that he threw his heart out of his mouth, his
servants ever after carefully preserving
needed a
antelope walked up to the

but,
on seeing the
fully
with a bone.
ferrying the
When
in a napkin.
When
saint,
made
ready.
So
also did a lion,
became quite subdued, and went off cheer-
When
Khwajah, a
fire
he
fat
the Indus boatmen
fish
popped
its
demanded a
fare for
head up with the money.
he and his disciples found tliemselves thirsty on a barren
hillside,
rock,
it
appease the hunger of his followers, a
sacrifice to
he took his tooth-brush, and, like Moses, struck the dry
upon which a spring
ever since.
And when
of fresh water rushed out,
and has run
the great Timur, on one of his expeditions,
approached the Sulaimans, where numbers of the Afghan tribes
had taken refuge, the Khwajali and

foot of the
reciting
some
of
verses
Mughal army and the

and hearing as
filled
the
remained at the
Korrm, threw a handful of dust
Not only did the dust
against his foes.
became
his adherents
mountain, and, as the hostile army approached, Yahya,
it
saint,
but the Mughal soldiers grew blind,
were the noise of a vast host approaching them,
with consternation and
was hardly the
act as a veil between the
man
to
fell
back.
Timur however
be stopped by a saint more or
less.
He
ACROSS THE BORDER.
quickly found out the cause of the trouble, and attempted to tip
the Kh\Yajah
liave
Nvitli
a horse and a robe
but the
latter
seems to
thought the insult hardly large enough, so sent them back
with some excellent advice, and moved away.
Everybody who has been
to
Multan knows that
8hams-i-Tabrez of
its
notorious
Muitan.
(Facsivule of a Puvjdh lithograph.)
heat was brought about by the influence of a
from Baghdad, an
" abstracted
begged his daily bread in
commons, he caught a
fish
Shams-i-Tabrez
and accomplished devotee," Avho
the
quantities to satisfy his hunger.
saint,
city,
One
not
always
in
sufficient
day, suffering from short
which he held up
to the
sun and begged
SULAIMAN AND SIND
SAINTS.
come down and cook.
that luminary to
The sun
nearer than to any other part of the earth
So much
suffered ever since.
67
drew
at once
and
Multan has
that unfortunate Multanis
so,
who
have mistaken their way in the shades, have, as the legend goes,
invariably
had to send back
for
plished
raising the dead
but
and almost rainless
it
may, at
The accom-
an extra blanket.
Shams performed many subsequent
to
least to residents in that dusty
know, that he
place, be a trifling satisfaction to
was in the end flayed
even
miracles,
alive for his pretensions.
Shams, however, was quite a minor light beside the other

celebrities of
Multan, Rukn-ud-din and his
Bahawal Hakk,
father
credited with having
"
still
Light of the truth."
more famous grand-
The
former,
who
is
a good deal to say to the trap by which
Ghias-ud-din Tughlak, the Sultan of Delhi, was done to death, they

buried with his grandfather, but he subsequently
present stately
tomb
of his
own
accord,
moved
and without any
That Shaikh of Shaikhs, Bahawal Hakk, who was
into his
assistance.
directly descended
from Hasham, the great-grandfather of the Prophet of Islam,

travelled
coming
to
over
other
trifles,
still
the especial patron of
din,
of
skill
down
the
less distinguished,
still
Indus boatmen, who
but he essayed a
sent the Tattah
trial of saintly
more potent expert, a Sayud practising lower
the Indus at Tattah, one Pir Murad.
Sayud a cup
The Multan Shaikh
of milk, to signify that the former's
whole country, as the milk did the cup.
reached Tattah quite fresh, without a drop being
Sayud, putting a handful of flowers

there was
hands,
difficulties.
religious dignity filled the

It
all
all
Bahawal Hakk, and father of Rukn, by name Sadr-ud-
was hardly
with a
Among
another half century.
he raised a ship that had foundered with
appeal to him in
The son
Asia for half a century before
illustrious miracles " for
most
is
Muhammadan
Multan, where he settled down and became " a fountain
of the
and
all
still
in,
returned
it,
spilt,
and the
implying that
plenty of room for the saintliness of Pir Murad.

F 2
ACROSS THE BOEDER.
68
Not
Shaikh saw nothing
On
the
life,
for
way
thither, the
it
go and tackle such a famous
notorious old
Hindu
Arabic,
to
reached Multan again, so the
to be settled in the
Shaikh saw a dead
cat,
Brahmin
this,
Tattah mosque.
The Pir was
but calling into the mosque a most
idolater, bid
at once tore off his
rival
which he restored
saying, " Arise with the permission of God."
no way put out by
in
it
The dispute was
in person.
to
when
hut
a tiowor Avas faded
him
recite the prayers.
The
thread, preached in elegant
priestly
became a luminous Moslem and explained the word
BisiniUah
in
fourteen
different
Whereupon the son
ways.
of
Bahawal Hakk allowed he was beaten.

Tattah must have
literally
swarmed with
Aazam, wlio wrote about a century ago

on
this inexhaustible subject
in the city,
gives
one
on the Mekli
or
"
of that little range
Mecca-like
is
"
many books
of the
of one
list
and of eighty shrines of the
Muhammad
saints.
hundred buried
order of magnitude
first
hills adjoining.
covered with their tombs
In fact the whole
to say
they could
be counted by thousands, would not be expressive enough.

Pir
Murad
just referred
to,
might well have accounted
for
The
many,
for at the age of forty he had acquired such sanctity, that he was
compelled to wear a veil

his countenance
became a
because any one
One
vigils,"
Not
saint on the spot.
of his pupils, says the learned writer,

rise to
who saw
the light of
less
than 2,000
were "enlightened enough to
eminence."
of these, an " exemplary of the pious,
Mian Maluk
Shah, lived a long
life
and strict-keeper of
of such abstinence, that
during his threescore years and ten he used but 112

whicli he moistened with notliing but water.
have lived on the pleasure of listening
after the bullocks
of flour
seems mainly
to the dull
Persian wheels raising water from the wells.

intoxicating, that
He
lbs.
to
creak of the
This to him was so
on occasions he caused the wheels to revolve

were taken out, and a luckless cultivator, in
whose garden he sat under a
tree,
wrapt
in ecstasy, listening to
SULAIMAN AND SIND

his favourite music, found his
when he
and,
whole property flooded one morning
At Sehwan
saint.
the shrine of the Pir of the Kohistan, Usman-i-
is
Merwandi, a great grammarian, scholar and

saint,
the
"
who
Moslem
of Mervvand,"
story of
throwing him into a

roses,
Shah-Baz
a broiling
which forthwith became a bed of
whole year in an iron pot placed upon
The Sind hero seems
fire.
Lai Shah-Baz,
because in order to
Abrahim, whose father tested him by
fiery furnace,
sat for a
title is
called
so
as well as
traveller,
His more familiar
died in 1274.
Red Falcon
imitate a
69
ejected the stranger, saw with dismay his garden,
and Persian wheel, follow the
tree, well,
SAINTS.
to have
suffered no in-
convenience beyond changing colour from a pious pale to a bright

red.
On
another occasion he assumed a winged form to rescue a
The
distressed brother from the hands of an infidel king.
Red Falcon
is
title
of
Originally he
therefore particularly appropriate.
was probably a respectable harmless old gentleman, but hardly so

are the present representatives and guardians of the
that has
grown
up,
who belong to the
a reputation more evil than most.

a particular caste
is
mausoleum
sect of Jelali Fakirs,
Rumour
has
and enjoy
it
that a girl of
annually married to the tomb.
It is jn-etty
certain that the stout ruffianly mendicants, disfigured
by shaving
head, beard, eyebrows and moustachios, not only grant, but accept
the indulgenza plenaria, or license to sin freely.
That portions of the

the
saints, is
brothers and
"
earth's surface are
accepted in
several cases.
favourites of both worlds,"
buried in one of the Sind border
hills,
movable at the
There
are
will of
two holy
Mians Mitho and Ratho,
that on the day of resur-
rection will not only go to Paradise but will take the whole hill
v/ith
them.
As may be
supposed, the
hill is still in
great request
as a burial ground.
Not a bad
place to be buried
is
on the heights of Chehal Tan,
the loftiest of the Biloch mountains overlooking the Bolan,
The
Brahuis say that the great apostle himself, the " praised one,"
A CROSS THE BORDER.
70
came one
niglit
mounted on a dove, and
No
Pirs, or saints, for their guidance.
mucli-needed, saints, were
tloubt
lias,
the name.
under the
Tfin, "
To the
the forty bodies."
a simple old couple, childless for
effect that
away
their reproach*
obdurate and refused, but the saint's son, a stalwart youth
conjuring with his father's wand, promised the
pebble she caught in her
She caught
lap.
due course was blessed with a family of
Overcome with
so
much
to the chances of fate
Anon
mountain,
however, a more interesting legend as to the origin of
years, besought the saint of Teree to take
He was
a whole colony of
than forty of these, no
buried
which thus obtained the name of Chehal
Masson
left
less
repenting
mountain again
be, leaping
of
bliss,
the parents
dame a
son for each
forty pebbles,
and
forty sons at a
birth.
thirty-nine of
left
on wild slopes of the mountain and

they
crime,
their
to find the thirty
returned,
cliffs
them
fled.
searched the
nine at play, as happy as
and dancing among the steep
in
may
but attempting to
decoy tliem down again, by a view of the remaining brother, he too
was stolen away, and the
Consumed with grief,
old couple
were
left childless
there was nothing for
them
to
once more.
do but to raise
a shrine, which to this day works wonders for similar disconsolate

wives,
who
in
good faith resort to the
" hill
of the forty bodies,"
and crave the boon of children.

Perhaps
tlje
most renowned
Border, was the Saidi

already been referred
saint of
Ahmad, whose
to.
He
all,
along this part of the
shrine at Sakhi Sarwar has
the hero of innumerable of the
is
most popular legends, not only on the Border, but over half the
Punjab.
It is at his shrine that
years of childless
and when,
wedded
life,
Daru, the Jut woman, after twelve
prays for a son, and attains her desire
in spite of the anger of her husband, a strict follower of
Guru Nanak the Sikh, she goes
ajâin to return thanks,
and the
child dies at her breast, because in her heart she has resolved to
defraud the shrine of
moved
to restore
its
him
dues,
it is
the compassionate Saidi
to life again.
It is Saidi,
who
who
is
grazing his
SULAIMAN AND SIND
SAINTS.
71
goats in the jungle, the while he studies the Koran,
i'ather's
on by a
fierce
which he
tiger,
unaided slays
with his
Chaunu, the Pathan ruler of Multan, gives the saint a
much
fine raiment.
The
first
he
when accused
stat!'.
horse,
and
and tears up
kills to feed fakirs,
the latter for their clothing, but
set
is
of doing this, he
comes into Multan, riding the horse and wearing the clothes, which
have come back to him from Heaven, from whence also come
houris
and
fairies,
bringing pots and pitchers to celebrate
The lady
wedding with Channu's daughter.
much
now the
1,65(1
wealth and three servants, whose descendants are
The
keepers of the shrine.
large
ballads of Isa Baniya and Isa Bapari
by Captain Temple,
collected
sums
tell of rich
merchants who vowed
for the shrine if their adventures
got them when success came, and
only pilgrimages and a very
Sakhi Sarwar
sufficed
Kakki Sarwar,
"
broad
hardly less famous, for she
proved profitable,
for-
into terrible distresses which
fell
subsequent expenditure at
liberal
to allay.
in
his
brings the saint
Even the
Saint's Biloch
mare
the back and brown as a partridge,"

is
is
credited with the gift of speech, and
with working
many minor
miracles.
The banks
of the Indus
were of course a favourite resort of the
saints;
its
fertilizing
welcome freshness
waters and
being
pleasant exchange for the bare and arid stones of the Sulaimans.
Quite one of the most famous and widely known
Khwajah Khizr
He
is
is
whom hymns
whose
shrine
is
at
Bakkar.
mighty
and petitions are addressed, though the
dedicated to a celebrated Pir
Muhammadan young
Hindu
King"
Jenda Pir or
practically the river god, the personification of the
stream to
shrine
the "Green
is
lady on her
way
who saved
to Mecca,
the honour of a
from the lust of a
king, by a sudden diversion of the course of the stream.
Only second in rank as a water saint was Shaikh Tahir, or
Uddhero
Lall, as the
Hindus
call
him, whose tomb a
Hala, in the keeping of a chapter of Moslems,
annual Hindu
fair.
is
the
little
site of
below
a great
variety of his miracles are claimed to have
ACEOSS THE BORDER.
72
been wrought in the defence of hoth

about the river seated on a small sheet
of indigo blue, say the
tion,
He
Muhammadans.
rival faith, challenged to the test
He
faiths.
of white,
used to
float
say the Hindus,
saved a
man
by the same method
of the
of naviga-
but who, sinking, had to save himself by resting his finger

on the edge of the sheet, which say the party of Islam,
tips
Khwajah
left
Khizr.
(Facimile of a Punjab UthograpJi.)
five
white spots.
And some
with white spots in
its
of the river people affect a blue sheet
comers
to this day.
Like the saint of Sakhi Sarvvar, these two river saints are
equally venerated by both Hindus and
Muhammadans, and both
creeds equally flock to the ziarat of Chehfd Tan,
Of many,
their chief merits
They abandoned home,
were their reputation
children, wife
have to take up with some one
else's.
even
for asceticism.
though they might
Theoretically at any rate,
SULAIMAN AND SIND SAINTS,

they spent their time in fasting and keeping
stracted sage
and consummate enthusiast,"
run
generally
" excessive
emaciated from
They
a staircase.
ever mentions his
more
paragraph
to
useful in a
called
name
is
abstinence
the
described
"
village
saved from the
satisfy her,
The
justice.
still
annoyance of the
to
Sakhi Sarwar,
His son killed a goat while
who was defending
goatherd's mother appealed to the saint, who, to
many
Numbers
both worlds.
of the profession, and

It
them contrived
of
to
make
the best of
are represented as following the traditions
making themselves
was not always
and one "ecstatic saint"

a specially
put his own son to death.
Nevertheless, very
the ladies.
so
a few miles from
is
out hunting, and accidentally, the goatherd boy

his goats.
becoming
secure from the evil eye, and
from his abstract
title
ab-
chronicler's titles
as
Dera Ghazi Khan, and second in repute only

gained his
"
that his ribs projected like
Pir 'Adil, the just priest, whose shrine
flies,
One
vigils.
him Shaikh Bakhtiar Dunkar, and who-
is still
Pathan
73
is
especially agreeable to
Sandissima even in the West,
described as "throwing his arms round
handsome woman
in the marketplace,"
and as himself
thrown into an oven by the Governor of Kandahar, where anon

he
found calmly eating the roast meat.
is
the desert of unity
"
remained
"
Another
pilgrim in
"
disguised under the garb of a worldly
person," and greatly to his satisfaction rescues a certain " beautiful
washerwoman."
Even Khawjah Yahya
brother about
the danger of cotton and
intercourse with the sex.
sending cotton and
fire
is
warned by a reverent
lire,
and too near an
But Yahya was a wag, and
replied by
joined together in a letter; the former
uninjured.
The danger
plified in
is,
of offending, or refusing a saint hospitality,
innumerable
stories,
"
guide to the
truth " in
is
exem-
Kohistan,
on occasion, driven by the inhabitants of his village into cursing
them
the
and, " on the
same day there occurred
forty funerals,"
Even
Emperor Islam Shah, who threatens "a precious gem" with
ACROSS THE BORDER.
74
death for his conduct in regard to women,

afflicted
with a
and inflammation
fistula
men
the merit of entertaining holy

the world amply proves, wdth
The shepherd boy who
is
from that very moment
in all his limbs.
meets, as history throughout
own reward here and
its
hereafter.
refreshes a party of fakirs with his one pet
The man
lamb, finds a flock of sheep start up from the stones.
who
While
builds a house for their shelter, has but to call on the forest
in Allah's
Xiliil'
name,
to find the timber ready to hand.
The age
scriptum miraculi causa.
of miracles for
the
Pathan has by no means passed away, but a single characteristic
modern instance must

side betwêen
There
suffice.
is
Kohat and the Indus, a
of feet high and several wide, on which,
known
for
officer
saw a holy Mullah
sit,
or rather was, on the road-
large stone or rock, a couple
some few years
ago, a well-
who being asked by
a follower
a remedy for toothache, prescribed in the form of powder a
little
Its reputation as a specific
of the stone so honoured.
was
insured, and under the continual scraping of believers, troubled
with that distressing malady, the toothache-stone gradually diminished.
Two
years after the same officer found
request, but scraped
down to a couple
a generation that has taken Parr's
Holloway's ointment, there
it
still
in great
of feet below the surface.
life pills,
and
To
set its limbs with
perhaps nothing extraordinary in
is
this; but considering the Mullah's fe^v opportunities of advertising,

his
remedy had a
fairly
good run.
Perhaps when Messrs. Cook
have exploited the country, and personally conducted parties along

the Border, greater possibilities
may
arise.
If,
for instance,
Mr.
Pears could only induce a few Mullahs to wash, what a stroke of

business might be done in soap
'
CHAPTER
VII r.
THE POWINDAH AND THE
LONG dreary sketch
of level plain, as
a barn's-floor, often without a
tree,
the camel-thorn, or the small,
PAT.^
flat as
a billiard-table or
a bush, or plant bigger than
stunted,
horny herbs that seem
equally caviare to the palate of that most useful, but unsavoury,

beast.
Not always even
monotony
"
Paty
of the
Firm, yielding, and
this, to
elastic, it offers
and not very continuous,

tenacious and greasy
mud,
fairly
cover the
good substitute
long as the dry weather lasts
few inches of continuous
impassable.
vegetation as
mud-coloured expanse, familiarly know as the
for turf to gallop over, so

first
much
so
but the
not very frequent
rain, fortunately
sufficient to turn it into
the most
to render locomotion difficult,
and roads
is
Almost impervious
to water, the
harder the clay
the worse the mud, and, apparently, the less the water can sink
through, the more easily the smallest running stream cuts out a
channel for
itself.
Consequently,
when
it
does rain, the water
rapidly forms little ravines, and the hill torrents scour out deep
channels, with almost perpendicular sides, forming a series of deep
cracks which intersect the plain in every direction, like a j)iece of

curious old china.
widened out
Here and
sufficiently,
^
to
there,
where the bed of these has
admit of some
little
Viz the Ghilzai Clans and Dera Ismail Khan.
green thing
ACROSS THE BORDER.
7G
obtaininsf a footing, there
the crack
too
Avater
is
a frinoe of tamarisk at the bottom of
but otherwise the banks are perfectly
and the
treeless,
below the surface, to do much towards helping
far
Dry
struggling verdure without artificial assistance.
good
for a
part of the year, these ravines are occasionally roaring torrents,
more
among the
or less formidable, as their sources are
the low
hills
or
away towards Ghazni.
Like the
Ghazi KhTm, the Pat, or the daman, to use the

word,
in places
is
redeemed
ingenious system of
some
to
in the north-west corner, the
local equivalent
with the result that
oases are created which, by comparison,
Up
Dera
by a laborious and
extent,
artificial irrigation,
stones of
'pachdcl in
may
little
be called wooded.
town of Tank was famed
for its
excellent fruit trees and luxuriant gardens, in the old days the
resort of the choicest houris of its old
been told by Edwardes

of the
harem
of Sarwar
Nawabs, whose history has
and marvellous legends are
or
current
But the mean-looking mud-roofed
Khan.
country, that
houses, rather below than above the surrounding
make up
still
the villages, are ordinarily far apart
and there are few
none of those detached farms and cottages, orchards or groves,
that in other parts, even of India, help to give variety and interest
to the scenery.
pass,"
is
The fame
of a single
Diaband, the town of the "closed
of
mangoe
tree, the fruit of
that Runjit Singh used to have
Kulachi, the saying
is
it
sent to
which
Lahore.
particularly characteristic
vsâs
so
While
Never
"
good
of
visit it
save to find brave soldiers or delicious melons."
To
the west side, bare and precipitous, are the Sulaimans, in a
long straight
line,
with the Takht in the middle.
To the
north,
long stony spurs, the outworks of the Bhitanni or Shaikh Budin

range, which, with another rugged group
and the Nila

barrier,
Koh
the red and
the blue
hills
the Ruttah
form
Koh
a complete
extending to the Indus banks, and separating this plain
from Bannu and the Marwat.

the
known as
stony gorges,
whence
The whole
issue
the
tract,
hill
from the Indus to
torrents
and
which
THE PO WIND AH AND THE

represent the passes about which so
Vahoa
in the south, to
Wherever these
turn on the
Tank
PAT.
much mystery was made
the general dreariness
is
by the setting sun, the scene
of the picturesque.
over the
jm/f
when
at
thrown into
not wanting in the elements
is
fresh clear day, a good horse,
might possibly lead
alike.
water enough to
is
broken, and
certain times the ruÊCed sides of the mountains are

relief
from
monotonously
in the north, is
torrents are perennial, or there
fields,
77
and a gallop
to the discovery of fresh beauties
but the substitution of the young camel, for the spring lamb, the
slouching Powindah, for the
camp
"
village, for the
idyllic
haunts of ancient peace,"
and the picturesqueness
eminently
is
not particularly
one to which distance most
is
The
enchantment.
lends
or the rude
proverbial harvester,
nearer
the
hills
are
approached, the less inviting they become, the more savage the
bare knife -like edges, the want of trees, and the scarcity of water,
while
once
Macgregor,
hills,
the
inside
is
not so
''
Khan
sensation,
being
that of
as of being in a pit surrounded
country Dera Ismail

of
the
spurs,
much
has
in
as
described
by perpendicular
The
walls.
enough earned
fairly
by
among
a valley
ejîthet
its
Dera dismal."
From
this not very inviting,
camp," the principal passes by which the western barrier

are the Vahoa, in front of the village
name; the Shaikh Haidar,

tionally difficult pass,
cleft
and
"
but extremely important,
or Zao,
dismal
cros?ed
is
and military post of that
a title used for any excep-
this one in places is little better
than a
a few feet wide, shut in by precipices of great height that
nearly close overhead, though
Takht Survey party

Shuza.
the
was the route taken by the
it
Gumal
the
Tank zam,
or river
last
and the
In addition are nearly seventy others, which cross the
outer ranges, and communicate with the longitudinal valleys behind
them.
Some
of these are well
known
by the
names
expeditions, others
local
in connection with frontier
of the streams which issue
from them, which names often vary within a few miles
even the
78
.4
Gumal becomes
CROSS THE BORDER.

maps
the Luni on our
which have been established
and
watch the
to
who, in the Sikh times, not only carried
Hindu, who had to pay up
likely
Edwardes
groom,
off cattle
and
fiddlers,
had eventually
who, in his time, were seized by a soldier
Shaikh, who, as usual with

guidance, a paragon
of
arrears
At Draband
among
Border
of the stream which passes
it
him but
He
there
that
is
is,
When
side
ought to be, a jug
a quarrel arises between two

sips a
a water-bag, from which state nothing can relieve
to tlie
north are two passes, the Bain and the
Bannu
the
latter,
Edwardes,
time recommended no one to attempt without a guard, but
it is
now
and
is
the one through
which our main frontier road
probably rather safer than Regent Street.
west, the
ttie
and by the
in the right remains unhurt, but the
Peyzu, leading into the district of
route,
or there
confessing the truth.
In the range
in his
a polestar of
by oath, each of them
be decided
is to
'
devotees, the examplar of mankind, the
constantly filled with water.
it.
and whose
the tomb of a
is
was
saints,
pattern of his age, the chief of true believers "
persons, which
pay,
obtain their release.
to find Ks.4,000 to
converted saint, some unite both.
liar swells like
rejoice in a legend regarding the stream, or a
Most of these passes
drauofht from
many
but
get out again.
liberally to
Dera Nawab, wanting some
of the
relatives
them, and
tribes using
a story of a whole marriage procession, bride, bride-
tells
I'riendri,
by the outposts
also
Gumal
Of
passes,
those on the
has been, from time immemorial, the chief trade-
between Khurasan and India, the great central highway
for
trading Afghan, of even more importance in this respect than
Every cold weather,
the Khaiber to Kabul, or Bolan to Kandahar.

strings of camels laden with the
merchandise from Bukhtira and
Afghanistan find their way through this pass

the length and breadth of
India
and scatter through
and as summer approaches,
return to the cooler highlands, carrying back in exchange either

cash or "oods for
distribution
as far
as the
Persian
and the
THE POWINDAH AND THE PAT.

Russian borders
their owners a
79
border people of considerable
importance.
Not
so
much by
his fruits,
is
the Afghan merchant
known
in
every Indian bazaar, as by his strange appearance, his great stature,

physical strength, and rude independence of manner.
necessary to see
est
compound
which he
him,
"
him
It
is
be fully conscious of his presence. The
to
"
not
rank-
of villainous smells " pervades the atmosphere through
passes.
"
His loose untidy
dress," as
Bellew describes
generally in a state of dirt beyond the washerman's cure,
and often covered with a shaggy sheepskin
and
coat, travel-stained
sweat-begrimed to an extent that proclaims the presence of the

wearer to the nostrils though he be out of sight in the crowd
long
unkempt and
frayed locks, loosely held together by some
careless twists of a coarse cotton turban, soiled to the

if
deo^ree,
last
not tattered, also add to the wildness of his unwashed and
weather-worn features
whilst his loud voice and rough manners
complete the barbarian he
common Pouindah
proud to pass
is
Such
for.
The term
as seen in the bazaar."
collective
name
for all the
migratory Pathans
carrying tiade, in fact monopolise

Asia, Afghanistan,
and India
all
who engage
tribe, the
origin, their
authorities set
name another form
of kMlehi or
very romantic story of the Persian prince
and honour of the Afglian

marrying her
Persians,
issue of
down
swordsman
as his
probable.
swordsmen
"
The
but the
the affections
give their daughters to
which irregular union
much more
to start in the past, as "
of
only chance of
duly ratified, was a son christened Ghal-zoe, the

furnishes a derivation
clans,
as of Turkish
who seduced
young lady
for the Afghans would not
and the
the
most famous
the Afghan tribes before the Durianis rose to power.
many
is
the trade between Central
mostly belonging to the great Ghilzai
Ghilzai or Ghilji, are by
the
in the
and includes a number of
is
poivindah,
possibly from pao^windah, the Persian for a bale of goods,
all
his
subsequently
son of
theft,
But whether they are
or " sons of theft," they are
ACROSS THE BORDER.
80
in the present,
an undoubtedly
strength, and courage quite

spirit of
fine
among
race
as
regards
stature,
the best of the Afghans, ^Ylth a
commercial enterprise and readiness to fight to the death
for the privilege of selling their
wares at a
A Powindah
without resemblance to the
profit,
not altogether
Fruit-seller.
Briton himself.
Assembling every
year in the plains of Zermut or Katawaz, east of Ghazni, with their

fiimilies, flocks, herds,
clans combine and
and droves, rather than herds of camels, the
march
in
enormcus caravans, often numbering

THE POWIXDAII AND TEE PAT.
81
several thousand of fighting men, disposed in military order against
the attacks of the Waziris, Kakars, and other Border tiibes through
whose
territory they
have very often to
Gumal
the mass of them, by the
pass
way
literally fight their
though a few, mostly sheep-
owners, prefer the branch by the Zao.
The
loat of
they, or their
Dera Ismail Khan
camp
villages,
their great grazing ground,
is
and their vast
the most prominent addition to the scenery just noticed.

little
of that district, moreover, has from
offshoots from one clan or the other.
from the
fact that, according to the
and
flocks of camels, furnish
first to last
Not
been colonised by
Their numbers
may be judged
enumeration made at the mouths
of the passes by our militia stationed there for the purpose of dis-
arming them and collecting the

wards of 76,000 entered the
58,000
in 1878,
trifling
grazing and other dues, up-
district in
the cold season of
and 50,000 in 1880. Of the
last
named
1877,
over 33,000
were males, more than half being fighting men. In 1878 their parties
were accompanied by upwards of 77,000 camels and 188,000 sheep
and
Besides those couiing with the
goats.
Kdjilas
travel
many of whom,
down
there are
numerous others who
men
same
Patna,
establish themselves in fixed
camp-
in the
Dera Ismail
district,
and a certain portion of the.r
much
numerous
any
regard to
villasfe
boundaries.
class, called cliarra-folk,
sort
come simply
off to graze,
cattle
and
third
England
as labourers,
road-making, or jobs requiring energy and

life,
and
still
more
and wander about in gangs
ready for rough work of any sort
hard and industrious
not always
troubled with but few belongings
not unlike the Irish harvesters, before the days of

in
where their
hirris being resorted to year after year, their droves
and young camels being driven
of breeding
of
continue to
still
are left for the cold season, while the rest of the clan go off to
trade, the
with
kirris,
children, arms,
railway,
and often as
far as
to Amritsar, Delhi, Benares,
ing grounds called
women,
in spite of the
caravans
regular
Home
Rule, did
stone-breaking,
strength, living a very
often subsisting on
what they can succeed
ACROSS THE BORDER.
82
in bagging at the close of their clay's work, and saving the bulk of
their earnings to go back to Afghanistan again.
Rough and
stony as
the rocks and
the rugged mountains of Solomon,
the passes, whose heads touch heaven, they
hills of
the difficulties the soldier-merchant
least formidable of
are the
Before he can supply his customers in India with the
has to face.
silk of
may be
Buklulra and the fruits of Afghanistan, or carry back the
English calico and muslin for the
harems of Herat," he may

Scarcely one of this
engagements.
to fight a series of small
have
" soft
" hard-bitten" race, but carries
some record
of skirmishes with the
Border tribes through whose country he has to

generally,
it
may
be said that soutli of the
with varieties of the

be at times
Kakar Pathan, who
by comparison with the
Speaking
pass.
Gumal he has
disagreeable
to deal
as
he can
Waziri on the north, carries
peace in his right hand, and droppeth on the unwary traveller as
For generations the Waziri has
from heaven.
the gentle
rain
carried on
a war to the knife with the Powindah caravans.
day's
march
or rear
is
seldom made without some
little
excitement in van
the cutting off of stragglers, or the plunder of
cattle.
Occa.sionaliy these affrays develop into downriglit pitched battles,
followed by additional exasperation on both sides
and more than
once a compromise has been suggested, to take the form of a fixed

black mail fur the unmolested passage;
prefer taking
it
in the
Before discussing his enemies,

halt
at
the
Powindah
Many
mouth
of
but the Waziri seems to
more sporting form

it
highway robbery.
of
may, however, be worth while to
the pass, and
finish
dealing with the
himself.
of the clans,
Powindahs,
though classed as
differ entirely in
Ghilzais,
and spoken of as
almost every particular.
The Nasars,
short sturdy men, have practically no country of their own, but
pay
for the right of grazing equally in the Derajat
countries, living principally
by
and the Ghilzai
their flocks and herds.
they are divided into camel-folk, ox and
ass-folk,
Popularly
and sheep-folk.
THE POWINDAH AND THE

The
PAT.
Trans-Indus carriers par
camel-folk, the
83
excellence,
owning
between 30,000 and 40,000 camels, are probably the poorest, the
They
roughest, and the most unkempt.
Kohat mines
carrying salt from the

are
met with
and the
at every
or grain
town along the
ass-folk are to be
are largely engaged in
from the Marwat, and
frontier roads.
The
ox-folk
seen everywhere, with their oxen and
donkeys, carrying earth and bricks, or cutting and selling fuel in

every frontier town.
some
The
sheep-folk,
who
are credited with
owning
00,000 sheep, arrive with their flocks about October, grazing
them along the
foot of the hills,
and returning about the end of
The Kharoties, who come from the
April.
hills
near the source of
the Gumal, are a poor tribe, mainly labourers and carriers, and
have been nearly ruined by the luxury of a long-standing feud

with their more powerful neighbours, the Sulaiman Khels, which
feud
is
only suspended
when they
resumed every year as soon
The Sulaiman Khels

and the most
warlike.
enter British territory, and
as they re-enter the hills.
are the most numerous, the most powerful,
Fine, strong, well set-up
men
who, though
they behave well in India, have the reputation of being a very
rough
set,
out of
it.
They, with their allied clans, are scattered
over a great extent of the hilly territory from Peshin nearly as far
as Jelalabad.
bring but
some
little
Of those who come down

merchandise,
scale, travelling
selling
to
many
as far as
Some
of
them
and
and merchants on
are brokers
Calcutta, buying wholesale and
other Powindahs, taking back a good deal
profits in cash.
of their
figured rather prominently in the
disturbance that took place near
men
into British territory
of the Kirri were wiped out
Tank
in 1879,
and nearly
by our troops
all
the
in suppressing
it.
Probably the richest of the Powindahs are the Mian Khels, whose
summer home
is
near Panah and Karabagh, east of Ghazni, but
'syho are very closely allied to the tribe of the
within our border at Draban and Musazai.

latter
have not given up their Powindah
same name
many of the
and every now and
In
life,
settled
fact,
G 2
ACROSS THE BOEDER.
84
tlieu
a leading zaminclar takes a
trip to
Kabul
or
Bukhara,
his trading friend from Ghazni acquires an estate on
wliile
this side the
Most
mountains, which his relations look after in his absence.

of the
Bukhara trade
their hands.
silk,
They belong
the Persian for travellers

better, look better,
to the
Lohani or Rawani
division
of
Khan A Mian
is
in
from rawdni,
the Ghilzais
they dress
having often quite ruddy complexions
Mir Alam
better,
sheep-skin coats, and drugs
live
Khel Ghilzai.
and behave better than many of their
Neither are they so vulgarly desperate
less civilised allies.
they do not want for
pluck, but are credited with preferring to remonstrate " with all
the eloquence
smugglers."
of
avarice,
He may
and bribing with the generosity of
take castles
they are not ashamed to
own a
who has nothing
preference to
to lose, but
leading caravans
rather than armies into that profitless breach where the exchange
is
against
all parties.
THE PO WIN DA II AND THE

The Dautanis
and imimportant
are a small
85
tribe,
who have a
Gumal and the Waziri hillmen,

Powindahs who manage to keep on
of country between the
little strip
but they are almost the only
good terms with the
growing
valley,
PAT.
rice
The Niazais
clusively from Kandahar in dried

in former days the
fertile
well to do, and also carry on a
serials, are
with Bukhara.
trade
profitable
They have a comparatively
latter.
and
fruits
trade almost ex-
The Tokhis,
and madder.
most prominent of Ghilzai
hold the
clans,
northern part of the Argundah, with head-quarters in Khelat-i-
The
Ghilzai.
Tarrakkis,
from the Shaltjar
who were the
who
district
hail
from Kandahar, the Andars
south of
Ghazni, and the Daulatzais,
Tank, and founded
original settlers in
there, are all distinctly Kufila folk,
men and
The minor
camels.
a family
and come only with fighting
clans
may be
be both
to
said
numerous and unimportant.

Within the Dera Ismail Khan border, many of the Pathan
more
tribes are
or less closely allied to the Powindahs.
and graziers came from the
times, traders
and
reason or another, a branch
one
for
In earlier
the plains,
of the tribe
The Mian Khels have been
permanently.
to
hills
previously
and a similar process of emigration has taken place

the
hne.
who
About the
time of
settled
in
The
Tank.
Bannu
part of the
corner of Dera Ismail

in
Akbar
latter
ment
Edwardes
Kulachi
as the
in
the
and the northern
district
Gandapurs, who are
the result of
tahsil.
most superior
Babar
is
holdings
assist
extensive
them
settle-
by
race Trans-Indus, and whose
and intelligence has given
their
an
Po-
Similarly the Babars, described
civilization
fool
Lohani
Khan; the Tatars and Daulat Khels

called
Marwats, with
the
in the
along
the Marvvats
windahs though of a lawless and brutalised type, to

against
noticed,
all
the
of
several
were driven forward by the Sulaiman Khels
clans
settled
rise to
a proverb that a
equal to a Gandapur sage, were pressed out of
by their
next
neighbours
and
kinsmen,
the
ACROSS THE BORDER.
86
Shirinis,
and settled round Chandwan, "where they are reported
rich, quiet
and honest
traders.
Regarding the extent of the Powindah
it
was estimated
fifty lakhs.^
no very reliable
In the Punjab Report to the Secretary of
returns are available.

State,
trade,
at Rs. 33,00,000, in 1861,
careful estimate
and in 1870
at
by the settlement officer put the im-
lôrts
as averaging twenty-two lakhs, of which the largest items were
fruit,
madder,
lakhs, the
The
silk,
wool, and drugs
and the exports at nineteen
most important items being indigo, cotton-goods, and tea.
chief trade centres beyond our Border are Bokhara, Kabul,
Kandahar and Ghazni
and within
it,
Dera Ismail Khan, Tank,
and Kulachi Trans-Indus, with Leiah and Bhakkar Cis-Indus. What

effect the extension of the
railway to Bhakkar will have on this
trade, remains to be seen, but
it is
in excess of the estimated value,
wonders in
and
it is
would ensure a
already
certainly capable of very
safe route for the caravans,
this direction.
is
Needless to say a more forward frontier
considerable extension.
policy, that
probable that the trade
Approximately 500,000.
would do
The Flying Throne of Star-taught Sulaiman.

(Facsimile of a Punjab lithograph.)
CHAPTER
IX.
Solomon's throne and the gUxMAL.
According
place,
came
to
one of the
Solomon, not
legends of the
content with the daughters
once to Hindustan to marry a lady
of exceptional fame.
their
many Muliammadan
As the happy
named
of Jerusalem,
Balkis, a beauty
pair were starting back on
honeymoon, seated on a throne" the flying throne of Star-
taught
Sulaiman "carried through the
begged
for
air
a halt to enable her to take one
loved home.
by
genii,
the lady
last look at
her be-
Opportunely they had just arrived over the Takht,i
and the distinguished author of the Proverbs, desirous of obliging

top,
his spouse, directed the genii to scoop out a stand on its
upon which the throne was
placed, and the fair Balkis
was able
referred to
to indulge her fancy for a view of the plain, recently
1
Throne.
ACROSS THE BOEDER.
88
"Dera
as
The
Dismal.''
quite a fashionable
place
but of one of the usual
of Solomon,
much
held in
is
of pilgrims,
resort
and
respect,
though the shrine

" pole
is
not
stars of guidance,
extract of the herbage of religion, crocodile in the ocean of unity
is
some distance north
The summit
of the true Takht.
which has only recently been
of this mountain,
mapped by our
"
surveyors,
is
about the centre of the Shirani
country, a tribe who, with their affiliated clans, extend from our
Border to the Zhob river in the west,
up
rather
that separates
ments are
them from the Masaud
in the
low
ar)d
north to the Gumal, or
no man's land,
to the little bit of
to the
hills
" the
Waziris.
east,
run long narrow valleys of the most
bloody Border
"
Their main settle-
between which and us
and
arid
character
sterile
right along to the Kasrani country in the south, frequent
but
narrow gaps like the Gumal, the Zao, the Draband,
the
Dahri,
affording
the
to
The
plain.
crest
and upper
Takht are well wooded, though the bulk
valleys of the
Shirani country
is
The more
rally.
egress
and
of the
bare of trees, and exceptionally barren genesettled clans
who occupy
fixed homesteads
and
pasture their flocks on the higher slopes, are the most friendly
disposed to us
the least so
given
to
the clans nearest to
us, fortunately
one or two sections, notoriously lawless, at times
plundering
and
villages
other
Sikh times they sacked Draband, and a

out of cultivation through
fear
respect they are insignificant

in
not numerous,
malpractices.
lot of land
In the
was thrown
In any other
of their attacks.
an expedition sent against them
1853, consisting of 2,500 of the Frontier Force and Military
Police,
went through the heart of
defence,
The
and returned
fighting
the bulk of
us.
even
to
strength of
whom
all
Pathans,
country,
turned their
losing a single
man.
the clans does not exceed 8,500,
are desirous of maintaining good relations with
Since this lesson they

for
their
Draband without
have behaved
exceptionally
well,
but they are
democratic, caring nothing for
AND THE GUMAL.
SOLOMON'S THRONE
89
and certain of the irreconcilables not even acknowledging
chiefs,
Petty thefts in British
the Jirgah.
wliich the elders

enforce order necessitated
territory
admitted but pleaded their inability to
a blockade in 1883, which brought about the fullest submission,
and enabled us
aid
tribesmen
the
of
to carry out the
the intense dislike of
Takht survey
themselves
all
an
in 1884, with the
event which, considering
Pathans to any survey, was considered
one of the greatest triumphs of our Border policy.

Generally of middling stature, with bold features and high cheek
men
bones, the
and
of the Shirani clans are active, hardy, wild,
manly, but distinctly inferior in fighting capacity to the Waziris.
For
the
dress,
poorer
tribesmen
have
seldom more than one
coarse blanket round the waist, and another over the shoulders
The
chief probably adds an exceptionally dirty linen shirt, baggy
Pathan
trousers,
black ringlets
and the greasy puggaree that secures
surmounted by a
is
clingy gold
his straggling
His large
cap.
thick canoe-shaped shoes were once decorated with red and gokh
while
if
below the sheep-skin postcen that covers other things be-
sides a multitude of sins,
he
he can run to a garment of Multan
the picture
up
a buck of the most magnificent type.
is
old English double-barrelled pistol,
of
silk,
curved sword, an
and a jDowder horn complete
the Shirani on the
who
war-path,
he
if
live
in the highlands calls himself a Burgas, in contradistinction
to the
Lurgas who
poor
exceptionally
lives
;
many
are employed
Barbars and Mian Kliels in

life,
As a
the valley.
in
tribe,
they are
by
as servants
our territory.
They marry
the
late
in
and unlike other Pathans, the father of the bride gives a
dowry, instead
liave
kind,
also
is
sort
of local
called NiJca,
oldest family.
scarce
receiving
of
Providence,
who
or " grandfather," the
so, as
chosen head of the
their trade
Their principal employment
is
They
tithes in
receives
Money, as with many other people,
perhaps, exceptionally
on by barter.
a price for his daughter.
is
is
said to be
mainly carried
agriculture,
and
this
ACROSS THE BOEDER.
90
impossible
is
lutely
witliout
They have few
irrigation.
no camels, and no great wealth of
Except
cattle.
which the Takht supplies plenty, they do not seem

keep out the cold
to
horses, absofuel, of
much
have
to
up on the heights they cut their houses out
of the hill sides, and close the entrance at night with the branch
All the trade which they have
ff a thorny tree.
where many of the
territoiy,
are every year located,
tribe
many
they are dependent on us for
of the necessaries of
There can be no doubt that they would be

off if
they were brought entirely under our
settle in large
numbers
ful
as a
tarium.
scenery,
fine
position,
rule,
difficult of access,
encouraged to
it
would be
is
great
valuable
and though
to
be use-
as a
forests,
sani-
and grand
pleasant hot weather station
Dera Ismail Khan.
of
water
j^robably too
much more
it
than the cantonment
is
magnificent pine
climate,
would make
life.
in the plains, helped a little in the matter
the Takht
strategic
Its
and
infinitely better
of irrigation and capital for the purposes of trade
the altitude of
with British
is
It is
somewhat
scarce at certain seasons of the year,
but this would be remedied by
at least oar troops found it so,
the construction of reservoirs, while the occupation of such a

position
would go a long way
Gumal and
with the valleys of the
South of
the
Shirani
by a variety of wild
after a holy
to
securing a good trade-route
the Zhob.
country the main watershed
tribes,
which the Usteranas,
of
Sayud who married
is
held
so called
into the Shiranis, are the chief.
Their lands are mainly across the Border, in villages just beyond
the passes in
are
now
tiie
low outer
hills,
though large numbers of them
regularly settled in the plains within
it.
Until about a
century ago, they were entirely a pastoral or Poivindah people,
when a
to
quarrel with the
take to agriculture.
Mnsa
Kliels forced a
Their country
is
depending entirely on rain water, but they are
men, quiet and orderly,
many
number
of
them
very barren and sandy,
enlisting in our
fine well set-up
army and
police.
AND THE GUMAL.
SOLOMON'S THRONE
be venturesome traders, dealing largely in
Others are said to
They
and travelling anywhere, from Bengal to Kandahar.
cattle,
two main
are divided into
the one who wear their hair long,
clans,
a Biloch, and the other
like
91
who
cut
short
it
and, as between
the Cavalier and Roundhead, a deadly and bloody feud exists.
Eastward of these two large
Zhob
the
nomad Pathans
of
tribes
the
are
river,
importance and
of
the
for
Kakar
origin
reported
extensive traders, but in the
with us
and the Zamarais, two small
Isots
both
are
neither are of
and
qiaiet
much
not
inoffensive,
main dependent on
trade they have.
little
and between them and
tribes,
their relations
handful of
fakirs, called
the Haripals, on the western side of the Takht, depend on the

Shiranis
are
and another settlement, the descendants of Shaikh Haider,
located
which
village
Beyond the
the
Zirkanni,
at
is
burying-place
gTeat
and
Zhob,
entrance
eastern
between
the
pass,
the Powindahs.
of
and
river
the
to
Ghilzai
the
country, are the Mandu-Khels, iinother off-shoot of the Kakars,
who
a fairly peaceful and agricultural community, but
down
to trade with us.
British
to
may
its
Guma], and
Robert Sandeman seem
name from
come
proportion of the people
large
the opening of
for
rarely
or less favourable
be said to be well under British influence.
as the
Sir
All of
and
interests,
these are more
The pass known
which negotiations under

successfully,
progressing so
the village and the valley on the
Tank
takes
border,
though the stream called the Gumal higher up, bears other names
along
Khan.
its
and
finally
It is pojiularly
described,
Really
length,
it
and
is
becomes the Luni
merely
regarded
a highway of the
commercial importance,
range to Kajuri-Kach
Dera Ismail
in
associated wtih the Powindah
doorway of Ghazni.
strategic
as
well
as
winding through the Sulaiman
plain of palms, though there are no
palms, and no plain beyond a stony
Gumal and Zhob streams
the
greatest
for after
the
as
traders just
join, the
river
bed
or
to
where the
road bifurcates; that along the
ACROSS THE BORDER.
92
last-named river leading by two important routes west and south-
west to Peshin and Kandahar, the other continuing north-west along

the
Gumal
Up
proper to Ghazni.
to the junction, the whole has
been mapped a railway survey being actually commenced, and the

route traversing the
Zhob
Leading more
well known.
towards Peshin
valley
also pretty
is
or less into this, are passes like the
Shaikh -Haider, the Draband, and the Dahna which again comlateral valleys described
municate with one another through the
Holdich as a peculiarity not merely of the Takht, but
by Major
The Draband
of the range.
is
even a more direct pass than the
Gumal, but some lengths where nature has torn a passage through
the
limestone gorges are at times
terrific
The Dahna
now
said to be
is
Shaikh Haider
or
all
but impracticable.
though both
little better,
it
and the
Zao have at times been used as the main
caravan routes.
The upper
distance
it
part of the western route
traverses the
Kundil, follows
the
it
Gumal and Helmund
forty miles
Zhob
to the head,
elevation
is
it
crosses into the
drainages, to Maruf, an important place,
of
about
mainly,
if
7,500
feet,
into
The Powindah
Masaud
getting clear of the
after
Sulaiman Khel Ghilzais,
Kohnak range by the Sarwandi
country to Ghazni.
route
For some
known.
and across the watershed separating
traverses the country of the
across the
less
from Khelat-i-Ghilzai.
The north-western branch,

Waziris,
is
whence
valley,
Kotal, which has an
Katawaz
and the Shilgar
trade which follows this last
not almost cxchisively, in the hands of Ghilzai
clans like the Sulaiman Khels, Kharotes
and
Naisirs,
who occupy
the plains south and east of the Ab-i-Istada, and the Indian side
of
the above-mentioned range.
siderable portion of the trade
beyond
this range,
prising clans,
but
if it
It
may be doubted
if
any con-
comes from countries very distant

does,
it is all
carried
by these enter-
whose doings have already been described.
The more immediate want
in the care of the
Gumal,
so soon
SOLOMON'S THRONE
the
as
is
necessary
tribal
AND THE GUMAL.
arrangements
have
been
93
completed,
the construction of a thoroughly good military road, adapted for
all
arms of the
service,
would be even more valuable

that just ojêned from
Zhob
by the
valley to Peshin, one that
the
Kandahar
position
than
Dera Ghazi Khan by Fort Monroe.
The
On
for
the Road to Quetta.
opening out of a subsidiary route to Maruf and Khelat-i-Ghilzai
would
necessarily
follow,
while
the
be a good trade route through the
third
desideratum would
Sulaiman country
to Ghazni.
This third road, whether railway communication should hereafter
be
extended
by
the
Dawar
valley
to
Ghazni, or
by the
ACROSS THE BORDER.
94
Ivliailier direct to
Kubul, would be invaluable as a flank protection,
but as a railway route
North
Pass,
of the
we have
it
must take a place second
No-man's L ind referred
to deal with a
powerful
tribes.
troublesome of
whose
Waziris,
abuts
only
territory
the main
road to this country
is
the.
border
on
the
ours
at
Pass,
though
through the Tank Pass by Jandola,
the remainder being shut off by the
It will therefore
Bitannis.
hill
be convenient to refer to the latter
and reserve the Waziris
first,
Waziristiln for subsequent notice.

Bitannis, or descendants of Bitan, the third son of Kais or
The
Kesh
the
who
Afghan,
distinguished
Medina and brought back the true

founding
for
and
the
all
Urman
extreme end of the Gumal Valley by the
to
peojile,
The most important of the divisions of these, are the
Mahsud
and
Gumal
to as bordering the
much more
among the most
Waziris are
to either.
all
from the Gumal
Bannu
tain in the
wholly in the
Tank
and
the existing Afghan tribes
for forty miles, or
district.
hills,
Till
but have
to
to
are
years
fifty
gone
have
be responsible
our neighbours
Valley to the Gabar
some
now
said
is
f;iith,
moun-
ago, they lived
spread in numbers into the
and
one of the three principal clans hold consider-
able lands there.
The range separating Tank from the Marwat
is
plain
also
Bud
in.
them, as
called after
On
the west they are
have necessarily
our border.
to
are generally
until recently the Bitanni
when any robbery was
the
through
pass
The two
far as
hemmed
sanitarium of Shaikh
by the Waziris, who
in
their
more
or less at feud
was always ready
reach
to
territory
though
to assist the Waziri
In spite of their family
afoot in our direction.
pedigree, they are only just emerging from barbarism, their hill
posses.sions are stony
and uncultivated, their
villages small, often
hidden away in hollows, their houses mere hovels of

brushwood.
stupidity
Wiry and
and
hundred sheep
active,
thriftlessness.
" is
they have
"A
still
hundred Bitannis
a country-side joke.
mud
and
a reputation for
will
Inveterate thieves
eat
when
SOLOMON'S THRONE
opportunity
offers,
AND THE GUMAL.
95
they have been more frequently employed as
sjsies
and guides, abetting theft by their more jiowerful neighbours, and

have earned the
strength of
and their
all
title of "
the clans
is
the Jackals to the Waziris."
probably not
much in
villages are entirely at our mercy.
were more or
less ill-conditioned,
The
fighting-
excess of 3,000 men,
For a long time they
but their acceptance in 1875 of the
pass responsibility, has changed the character of that
jârt of
the
Border, and for some years the Waziri lion has been restrained,
and the Bitanni jackal has given no cause
for complaint.
CHAPTER
X.
AFGHAN TRADITIONS.
According
most Oriental
to
historians, the
themselves descended from the Jews,
They
tribes.
if
Afghans believe
not actually from the lost
were carried into captivity together, shared their
lot,
but subsequently escaped and found refuge in Arsareth, which
some would
identify as the
modern Hazarah. Their own
traditions
refer to Syria as their original home, whence they were carried
away by Nebuchadnezzar, and planted
in different parts of Persia
and Media, from whence again they

mountains of Ghor, and long
moved eastward
claim that they were in Ghor, east of Hirat,
Muhammad
reliable
called
quered
ff
arose
the
Bani
it
in
Israil,
as
there
when Chenghiz Khan
There
the features of the Afghan and the
is
most
people,
The weight of authority
in the thirteenth century.
favour of their Semitic origin.
Projjhet
of the
mentions
histories certainly
settled
when the
One
the seventh century.
Persian
into the
Kabul and Kandahar. They
after to
conis
in
a great likeness between
Jew
in
many
cases
it is
so
striking that the two could hardly be distinguished, but the same
might perhaps be
in
said of certain Kashmiris
no way connected with the Afghans.
and others who are
The
use of Jewish
is
so
common
mistaken
for
chapters taken out of Genesis, but going back to the
names
that some
of their
genealogies might be
AFGHAN
early tribal names,
TRADITIONS.
comparison does not hold good.
the
have some peculiar customs,
tribes of purest blood
calamity,
an animal, and
the offering
up
smearing the
of sacrifices,
the
doorway
On
to
Muhammadans
southern Pushtu,
soft";
nothing in
common
to the Aryan,
is
Hebrew
who know them

however absurd the
and historian may
be,
hereafter assist
and written,
King
more
to
a
in
sound
worth telling in their own

says the erudite
ligent, learned
people
a sneaking-
Their
traditions,
tracing their descent from Saul, or
The
not less for his
" Malik,"
who from
wisdom
the shoulders
and upwards was higher than any of his people.
is,
is
Afghan genealogist
conclusion.
Israel, celebrated
than his mightiness in war.
It
allied
especially
the
appear to have
fictions of the
is
they contain material which by patient study
persist
of
best,
Pukhtu
Opinion
stock.
theory,
who have no acquaintance with
feeling, that
Talut, the
or Chaldaic, but
against the
while those
rites
hands declared to have
all
and a branch of the Persian
with the savants
oral
the
generally.
on
is
with the
divided, all the learning
may
lot,
the other hand, their language, the hard northern
or the
avert
to
of which the last two are no
of circumcision, purification, &c.,
common
practice
stoning to death of
blasphemers, the periodical distribution 'of land by
doubt
The
particularly-
The Passover-like
suggestive of the old Levitical law.

of sacrificing
97
The
story
is
style.
Niamat
and accomplished
Ullah, well
known
to every intel-
scholar, that the reason
has ever been satisfactoiily recorded by those
who
why nothing
explore notable
events and elucidate novel facts in any book or liistory relating to
the early Afghan nation,

is
its
tribes,
and their conversion to Islam,
partly because, ever since the time that Musa, the interpreter of
the All- Wise, vanquished Iharo, and since Bukhtu-n-nasr, the great
magician expelled and exterminated the

to subjugate
Israil,
Sham
Coj^tes,
(Palestine), to raze Jerusalem,
and was
jDerraitted
and vanquish Bani
they have been continually living amongst mountanis and
ACROSS THE BORDER.
98
deserts, without
any science gaining gi'oimd among them, except
Islaraism and the five pillars of practice
and partly because, since
the time of "Malik" Sarul, surnamed Twfdut,
ascends by Yacoob,
chosen of God," down
Ibrahim, to
IsaCik,
Nuh
tln;ir
and Adam, "the
as late as the time of Sultan Behlol Lodi's
no one amongst them raised himself
accession to the throne of Ind,
and became a monarch
to sovereignty
the pi-ince of
through whose tribe of Ibnyamin,
stature," their great ancestor,

pedioi-ree
"
and
it is
only under mighty
sovereigns the rose -grove of erudition, and the pearls of eloqu(mce,

Avbich go to
make up such
compositions, are enabled to flourish.
But those who have preserved
memory
and committed to
traditions,
the transactions of ancient times, relate there was a
descendant of Ibnyamin-bin Yacoob, called
Kais
or
Kesh, the
whole of wdiose inheritance from his father and his uncle consisted
Kais had a son, a choice young man, whose name
of four sheep.
was Sarul, but by reason of

and besides
looking
fetched Avater
astray,
and
young man
from
wdiile
after
the
the
Nile.
sheep he kept an ass and

of
kinfj
of Lawi, two wives,
for
them, he
Ismael,
went
fell
in with a
who
forthwith
from a horn, which instantly

;
and saluted him as Malik,

married
Sarul
by one of
the sheep once
named
assumed the appearance of a crown

over Bani Israel.
Tawalut,
called
Two
Tawalut looked
oil
was
four
of the tribe of Lawi,
anointed Tawalut's head with
and
he
tallness
whom
into
the tribe
he had a daughter,
subse-
quently married to Daud, the youngest of a family of twelve

sons,
who had
distinguished himself so greatly in the wars with
the Amalika tribe, that
lie
had been entiusted with the uncon-
trolled administration of the
most
important
affairs of
dom, and ultimately succeeded Sarul on the throne.

two wives, were
also
born
death,
in
two
tlie
the king-
Of these
same hour, immediately

Barakiah
and
Iramiah.
after
their
Daud
treated the two afflicted widows with great kindness, and
subsequently
father's
entrusted to each
sons,
of
the
two
sons
the
govern-
AFGHAN
merit
of
promoted
tribe
high
to
by the
that
so
TRADITIONS.
divine
on the
bore
state,
99
favour
arena
they
the
were
ball
of
bravery and fortitude, and every army they led on, was by their
by
able conduct, visited
Such proof
the
and triumph.
victory
of
and bravery induced Daud
of superiority
them exalted
bre(ize
Barakiah became
positions.
prime
to grant to
and
minister,
Iramiah commander-in-chief, and by their prudent conduct, unireigned from tribe to
versal welfare
and population of towns and
them was
in his time
and
tribe,
the
cultivation
Euh
villages increased ten-fold.
blessed,
of
with an accomjDlished son, the
former named his Assaf, and the latter called his Afghana,
the death of their respective fathers, both
filled
After
the same important
positions
under the government of Sulaiman the son of Daud.
Afghana
also superintending the building of the Bait-ul-Makaddas,
which Daud had commenced, and which
or temple at Jerusalem,
by the care and labour

After
of
Afghana was brought
descendants
their
this,
having eighteen
sons,
angel of death,
stood
multiplied
and Afghana
forth
and saluting Sulaiman, bore
forty.
to completion.
exceedingly
And when
Assaf
Azrail, the
on the part of the Great Pardoner,

his soul to
even time to take leave of Balkis
Heaven, before he had
no tribe of Bani Israel equalled
them.
Time
passed, and
nasr to subjugate
when the All-Powerful permitted Bakl.lu-nthe territories of Sham,
Israel to worship
him
the
their
religion
of
and required Bani
as a God, the tribe of
on
forefathers,
Afghana adhered
account of which,
great struggles and persecution they were vanquished, and

to seek shelter in the
and Kohistan-i-Faroza
fixed their
on
the
mountainous
;
where the
heathen
put to death
Kandahar, and
infidels
extending
Ghazui.
their
Assaf and Afghana
increasing
and making war
them, most
around
borders
At the
same
had
Kohistan-i-Ghor,
districts of
tribes of
habitation, continually
to
after
to
of
whom
they
Kohistan-i-Kabul
time
part
of
them
moss
100
Tin-:
uorder.
sought shelter in Arabia, remarking to each other, that, being

prohibited the temple
by Ibrahim.
to neglect that founded
up
residence
their
in
homage and obedience

hundred
Fifteen
Muhammad's beauty
Daud and Sulaiman, they ought not
of
the vicinity
"With this view they took
where they paid
of Mecca,
to the Compassionate, the Merciful.
years
upon
after
Sulaiman's
whom
be peace
arose and
the darkness by the directing light of Islam, and
all
the nobles
blessing,
a small number only of stubborn people prefemng to oppose
Nine years
after the light of
in the place
it.
Muhammad's countenance had appeared

named
of Ibrahim, a fellow Israelite,
sword of God," son of Walid

of the standard of Islam,
of
illumined
Arabs resorted to the Majesty, and received the
of the
sun
the
time,
who
Khalil, " the
had become a firm adherent
and whose descendants are
day
to this
called Khalidi
Afghans (and are represented on our border by the
Bangash
sent a letter
tribe)
to the
Afghans in the mountains of
Ghor, informing them of the appearance of the last of the Prophets.
On
the receipt of Khalil's letter several of the chiefs of Ghor
departed for Madina, the mightiest of whom, and of the Afghan

people,
was one Kais, whose pedigree extends by thirty-seven
degrees to Sarul, forty-five
As
and 603 to Adam.
to Ibrahim,
soon as the party arrived they were, under Khalil's guidance,
enabled to become adherents of the Prophet,

of blessings
sorts
Arabic Kais
Wise
"
upon them, changed
becoming
their
Abdu-r-rashid,
and f)romised that the
title
of
revealed
to
pilot of his
countrymen
Abdu-r
in the
way
it
for
the
of
their
As they were about

title of
Pathan^
and drew a simile
comparing Kais to
in the Faith, the

it
servant
Malik bestowed on
signifies rudder,
him by the Angel Gabriel
of the ship wliieh steers

fully did
"
upon Kais, the additional
which in the Syrian language
lavished all
Hebrew names
the
great ancestor should never depart from them.

to leave, he conferred
who
the
rudder being the part

should go.
So success-
rashid, the Pathan, steer the ship of faith, that

AFGHAN
TRADITIONS.
101
within a few years from his return to Ghor, a large proportion of

the nation had, by the divine pleasure, become
had accelerated
and
[or
and amongst them rose up
their descent to Hell],
dervishes, devotees
Muhammadans
both deed and speech.
saints, excelling in
There rose up also a great posterity to Kesh, who had married

the daughter of Khalid, and by
whom
of
sons,
and the third Ghurghusht

and
on
tribes
such
he was blessed with three
from each of
as
scale
The worthy Kliwajah proceeds

All Merciful
whom
he called the eldest Sarbun, the second Baitan
The Almighty
to relate
all
sons
conception.
In the name of God, the
universal sovereignty pre-
of his
Sarbun, son of Pathan, with two
sents
whom descended
pass
to
Sharkhbun and
sons.
Kurshbun. * * * *
But
it
necessary here to
is
and his friends
j)art
company with Niamat Ullah
who supported him by
the distinguished friends
their amiable kindness
and consummate erudition, who collected
and arranged the scattered and confused genealogies, and from the
mines of Ahmedian records made schemes
for authentic histories
repositories of unparalleled value, but also of unparalleled
From
these
sons
of Kais
some 400 Zais and KheJs

Peshawur
proper, from
of
Sarbun
the
from
or
Abdiilis
From
claim
Yusafzais,
have
sjjrung.
sons of the
the
first
Tarins,
The Afghans
to the
two sons
are said to have sprung

Shiranis,
and Khe trans.
Muhammadzais, Mohmands, Daudzais, and many others
Persian lover,
round Peshawur.
all
From
Baitan's daughter and her
the Ghilzais, the Lodis, and the Suris, which two
gave dynasties to India.
ghusht, with probably a

stock,
to
Kandahar, are credited
Durranis,
length
the whole of the Afghan tribes
the second, fused perhaps with the ancient Ghandaris, the
in the plains
last
five
to
While from the three sons of Ghur-
large
admixture of
Turk and Sythic
combined with a dash of Jat and Rajput, are descended
all
the Pathans proper, the Kakars, Waziris, Shitaks, Turis, Khattaks;

Afridis,
and
others.
ACROSS THE BOEDER.
102
Some
of these last have special traditions of their own,
though Pukhtuns are not included among the Afghans,

adoption, they probably belonged to
one reason or other remained
for
Muhammadanism.
many
Karrhai, or
how they came by
Afghan saying
Wa-illahu 'alam,
In India
though
of
as
"
unconverted to
are generally
Divided into
Karralani.
"
for
the
all
many
the name, but in regard to which
doubtful cases eminently applies
all
only knows " the truth.
God
The terms Afghan and Pathan

ing.
longer
Khcls and Zais as the others, they have just as
legends as to
the
much
by
the same stock, but
The most numerous and powerful
included under the term

as
much
and
or only
are however apt to be mislead-
Pushtu-speaking-people are called "Pathan,"
Highlanders among them were sometimes spoken
Rohilla "
from
Boh
or Koh, a
mountain.
Even
their
country has only within comparatively modern times come to be

called Afghanistan, it
was
originally a part of Khurasan,
the people more generally speak of themselves by the

clan,
as DuiTani,
and are proud of

corruption of
who reside
'
it,
admit
Ghilzai, but all
or
and
Pathan
from
it is
" is derived.
this
to
name
of their
being Pukhtans,
word that the Hindustani
By no means
in Afghanistan are Afghans,
and there
all
the Pathans
any more than the English
or Scotch settled in Ireland are Irish, though they are generally
And
called so.
some
of
them
so quite a
as Scotchmen, Irishmen,
speak English,
number
of vastly dissimilar people
are included under the term
In Hindustan the
claim to
it
is
title is
of
Pukhtun
assumed by
Englishmen
who speak Pukhtu,
or Pathan.
all sorts
of mongrels,
whose
no better founded than the Eurasian, who describes
himself as European.
by virtue of
and Welshmen, who
are called collectively
But on the Border, a Pathan
his language,
the Amir, he
may
descent from Afghana.
be
and
if
is
so
called
he be a resident in the territory
called
Afghan, however doubtful his
Sulaiman Khel
(Ghilzai) Horse-dealers.
CHAPTER
XI.
THE FRONTIER SWITZERLAND.
Between
the " Bloody Border
" at
the base of Solomon's throne,
and the snowy peaks of the Sufed Koh, or

lies
the great country of Waziristan
west
frontier.
defiles,
land of high and difficult
hills,
way
deep and rugged
and
and in the presence of the common enemy, hardly
less
hardy people, in their
united, than the famous compatriots of Tell.

politically,
the two have several points in
the mass of hills that
Dawar
white mountains,"
the Switzerland of the northas independent
brave and
patriotic,
"
valley, of
lie
between the
Geographically and
common and as regards

Gumal and the Tochi or
;
which Kanigurum, the stronghold of the most
powerful of the Waziri tribes,
is
about the centre, this
is
more
ACROSS THE BORDER.
131
The
especially true.
by the Bitanuis
cliffs, Avhicli
fertile,
east front
protected by the bare hills held
is
beyond which
ravines, flanked
by precipitous
occasionally widen out to enclose small valleys fairly
from one hundred to one thousand yards wide, but narrowing
Not unfrequently the mouth
they ascend.
asfain as
gorge or tangi} where the water forces

crossing
it
at right angles,
its
and forming a
a mere
is
way through a range
colossal natural barriei'.
In these valleys, and the small strips of alluvial land which border
the base of the higher mountains, locally called "ketches"
are quite a distinctive feature of the whole range
there
and
to
The edges
field.
often a
a great deal of
being expended in leading the water from
ino-enuity
skill
hill sides,
is
and irrigated
o-ood deal of cultivation, the whole carefully terraced
by means of channels cut out of the
which
field
of the fields, which correspond with the side
of the watercourse, are planted with mulberry and willows, the
houses of the owners being perched picturesquely on the slopes
Lower down, where the
above.
valley narrows to the tcmgi, paved
rongh boulders and stones
Avith
enough
difficult
in
ordinary
times, but probably filled by a roaring torrent in the rains
the
Waziri has been provided by nature with the most magnificent

defensive position, the valleys behind furnishing a camping-ground
and a base of
supplies.
Until the
Dawar Valley
is
reached, there
are no passes leading directly through the country, though the
Tank Zam from Dera Ismail Khan, and

from Bannu, afford access to the heart of
even
less accessible,
of Kabul.
and practically
it
the
it.
Shakdu and Kaisor
From
the west
it
is
has always been independent
Secure in a long line of mountain fastnesses, possessing
considerable natural resources, and with constitutions that would
enable
them
to live
where most other people would
starve, the
Waziris could probably not be dislodged by any force which the
Amir
is
able to detail against them.
from our adjacent
frontier-lines,
1
it
Even
in our case, advancing
took nearly 7,000 men, and
Literally, icaist.

350
cost us over
whole country could,
much
Kanigunim
get to
lives, to
governed people
moi'e essentially
necessary, be dominated by us without
if
mountain homes are
of these
they are eminenly a fighting people, but
steal a pony, will take a bicycle
as the earliest,
in hand, to
who,
if
he cannot
to the ruder Mahsud, described
his oyster,
and he
open the
latter's
convey " rather than
the most united, of
and
bales,
cut
to
and
throat,
his
goods back to the passes.
to
They
in spite of intertribal feuds, probably
many these
family feuds they have
travelling
ready on every opportunity, sword
is
our north-west
all
The
your Waziri.
fits
" steal " his
are the most numerous,
all,
most prominent; and they are proud of
Every true man's apparel

is
Bannu
still
From
most inveterate, and most incorrigible robber of
this characteristic is the
Powindab
essentially a self-
and eminently are they a thieving people.
the comparatively civilised Darwesh of
"
though the
in 1860,
difficulty.
The inhabitants
it.
105
Of blood feuds and
tribes.
are luxuries
reasonable to expect any Pathan tribe to give
up
it
would be un-
but their very
democratic arrangements, observed in the distribution of lands
amongst the various

sections
country,
sections,
face of the
have contributed to make any formidable intertribal
feuds more
uncommon.
strength of
its position,
its
and the manner in which these
and their sub-divisions are scattered over the
independence.
And
it
is
to this,
that Waziristan
Taking
is
added to the natural
not a
into account all tho?e
classed as Waziris, their united tribal strength

of 40,000 fighting
men.
contingent that,
taken into consideration, would be no

sources of ourselves, or
ation of the "
and
is
mean
the problem
Backward School"
Tribally, the Waziri
little
spilt
is
indebted for
who would be
would be
when the
in excess
quality
is
addition to the re-
worthy the consider-
of our enemies.
up
into the usual complication of
branches, sections, divisions, and sub-divisions, the enumeration of
which wôukl be clearly a multiplying of words wîthout knowledge.
ACROSS THE BORDER.
106
Xor
"woukl
be profitable to try aud work out
it
tlie
descent of
Wazir-bin-Sulaimrui from Saul or even Kais, to the various Musas,
Mabmuds, and
By
Malisuds, whose
names
are
borne by the clans.
still
most important of the main branches are the Darwesh
far the
Khels and the Mahsuds.
up
Lalais extend
Waziris would
few representatives of tribes like the
Koh, or Spinjah, as the
to the slopes of the Safed
what they say was the
call
original
home from
Avhence they came, and some of the Gurbaz reside on the borders
of Kliost, but no great
The Darwesh Khels

and the Ahmadzais
numbers are located north
consist of
two great
of the
sections, the
Kurram.
Utmanzais
again split into divisions and sub-divisions,
important enough from a tribal point of view, but whicli there
no reason
right
The
to particularise.
bank
Some
Valle3'^s.
others regularly
come
between the Khost
hills
cultivate lands within our border,
in fo trade.
is
sections are mainly on the
Kurram, occupying the
of the
and Dawar
first
Another
division, the
and
Kabul
Khels, are extremely wild and lawless, ready to join with any one
in mischief and devilry, and have, as the Frontier Reports put
"
given a good deal of trouble
hensive
as for instance,
made twenty
it
villages,
In return
for
as a household
an expression somewhat compre-
covers the fact, that in one year, they
raids, finishing
Bannuchi
"
;
it,
up with a murderous attack on some
some fourteen
which Nicholson
of which they sacked
and burnt.
whose name by the way now

penetrated with 1,500 men into
is
god among them
the heart of their country and retaliated in kind on their villages.
Subsequently, in 18.59, they came in for a second expedition
all to
themselves, under Chamberlain, the punishment for an audacious
The Ahmadzai branch
attack on Bahader Khcl and the Salt-mines.

are mainly on the left
probably there are

as beyond
it.
flows into
it,
On
bank
now
of the
nearly as
Kurram, north
mnny
of
Bannu, though
residing within our border
the banks of the Kurram, and the Kaitu, which
both enjoy broad tracts of rich
soil,
surround them, whose jagged walls conceal
and the
many
hills whicli
a grassy slope,

good paskires
afford
settlements,
if
for their
camels and
107
Their proper
flocks.
they can be said to have any, are up on the higher
spurs; but of regular villages they have few, residing mainly in

kirris or
encampments, sometimes protected with a wall of loose
stones, often
merely stout woollen blankets stretched over curved
which, like the Irish cabins, are shared with their cattle and
sticks,
the family camel, and guarded by the family dogs of a particularly

large
and
The most permanent thing they ever
fierce breed.
possess are the tribal graveyards, which are scattered over

hill sides,
and are perhaps the only places they hold
boldest thief
among them
property deposited
will
keep his sacrilegious hands
among the tombs.
The
of the
Darwesh Khels extend moreover
Dawar
valley,
though not into
it
most
sacred.
The
any
off
lands of both sections
all
round the Tochi or
the inhabitants of that valley
being, curiously enough, almost a distinct race, greatly inferior in
physique, in morals, and in courage
contempt in which a Dawari
is
and considering the intense
held by the Waziris, and the small
scruple the latter usually has regarding his neighbour's landmark,
permitted so important a highway through their
why they have
country to remain in what might

is
be considered alien hands,
fairly
somewhat curious problem.
Something
will
be said hereafter about the Dawaris
of our Waziri friends,

of
all,
to.
first
and the most important and powerful branch
the Mahsuds, whose country around
been referred
the
find
Tochi, a route of the greatest importance to us, but to dispose
Kanigurum has already
These are sub-divided into three main
the Bahlolzai, the Alizai and the
Shaman Khel
sections,
the first-named
being probably facile princeps in the noble profession of robber
and as robbery
opposed
is
unless
it
be done on a sufficiently large scale
to the policy of the British
sequently our most inveterate

necessary to
institute
foes.
Government, they are conIn this respect
it
is
any comparison between the dwellers
Waziristan and those in the Swiss Alps.
The boast
unin
of the former,
ACROSS rilE BORDEli.
108
that, while
of all the
kingdoms and dynasties have passed away, they
Afghan
have remained
tribes,
and that the armies
free,
of kings have failed to penetrate their strongholds,
chord of sympathy
alone,
might
strike a
but they continue in a strain most repre-
know no law
hensible, to the effect that they
or will
but their
own, and from
generation to generation the plain country has
provided them
with
merry Switzer, wiser

it
hunting-ground
fair
for
in his generation, contents himself
out of the traveller in the
form of hotel
The
plunder.
by taking
bills.
Bahlolzais have, however, had to modify this boast.
Even the
series of raids filled
up the measure
of their iniquities,
and
in
1860, General Chamberlain forced his way into the heart of their
country to Kanigurum and Makin, and burned the
latter.
On
one
or two other occasions the whole Mahsuds were blockaded, and
paid
down
a cash indemnity, giving hostages for the observance of
Posts were established within the
the terms imposed on them.
passes of the Bitanni country, and offences effectually checked for

years.
In 1879, instigated by emissaries from Kabul, or excited
by our proceedings
again,
and
fired the
finally,
in the
amongst
town of Tank.
Kennedy being
Kabul
Valley, they
other tribes,
This led
sent against
to
them
became discontented
came down
in force
and
an expedition under General
in 1881,
and they again found
that not even their most distant glens, or wildest and pathless hills
them from punishment; and they ultimately
could protect
cepted
the
gi'eatest
humiliation
Pathan
clan
can
ac-
suffer,
surrendering some half-dozen of their proscribed ringleaders, and
sending eighty hostages to reside in Dera Ismail Khan.

the ringleaders died in Lahore, and
One
of
the rest were, in consideration
of their furnishing an escort to our survey parties in the Gumal,
and their general good behaviour, released in

Physically, they are a fine race,
many
respects
sparing an
noble savages.
enemy
tall,
1884<.
muscular and courageous, in
Desperate in their
of the male sex, even
if
forays,
never
he be but a Ghilzai boy

nor does the Ghilzai ever

Wazm
the
kill
He
women.
rob
or
are given to hospitality
women present in
" may you come
are
greatly to their
himself on
and entertained
ignorant,
him
will
never
a certain
men and
men
according to
and
illiterate
superstitious,
and show great reverence
of all sorts,
who
own
profit.
rank.
with
for Mullahs,
write charms, read incanfor ailments
For most complaints the prescription
and merely consists of enveloping the
patient in the skin of a newly-killed
sheep until he perspires
which, combined with a strong purgative, dry bread and a
good climate and constitution, answers as
But unlike other Path uns, they are

honour, and,
Many
he
the village, with the greeting " harlMlarslice"
uniform and simple,
freely,
catches
alms and pilgrimages, and prescribe
tations, enjoy
is
when he
far chivalrous,
Like other Pathans, the whole people
learning,
little
AJchunds and holy
109
guests are welcomed by the
always "
generally
dangerously
a Waziri
rather prides
gallantry in this respect.
They
let off
on the other hand, so
is,
of the
still
wêll as
anything
credited with
else.
some regard
more remarkable, with comparative
for
truthfulness.
Waziri customs are also peculiar to themselves.
For
adultery they kill the woman, but cut off the nose of the man,
though in some cases the lady apparently escapes with the

punishment.
women do
Their
with the men.
The bridegroom
in other words buys his wife
gives a dower to the bride's father,
the cost of an eligible young lady
ranging from Rs. 60 to Rs. 150
having
fifty or sixty
bridesmaids,
young men, and indulge
lesser
not cover their faces, but live freely
but this does not prevent her
who
bring double that
number
of
in a regular flare-up, including a dance
with a liberal drum-accompaniment.
Contrary to the usual rule
about the avenging of blood feuds, the Waziri greybeard of ancient

times ruled that the actual murderer must be the only victim
thus avoiding
vengeance
many
of those ramified feuds
where a blood account-current
generations from father to son
and
it
is
and indiscriminate
handed down
for
ultimatelv becomes almost
ACROSS THE BORDER.
110
Again, the "
impossible to strike a balance.
pecuniary commutation, has been
The
at exceptionally high rates.

tance,
is
make up money,"
or
fixed in the case of Waziri lives
Rs. 1,300, half of which
fixed price for a Waziri, for in-
must be
and the other
in cash
half in produce or commodities, including two gh-ls at Rs. 100
Darwesh Khel Waziris.
A woman
each.
lu/ifji
can be killed
or silk scarf of Rs.
manently incapacitates a
and
of Rs. 500
wounds
apportioned
is
billiard -cloth,
for half piice, or E.s.
The
50.
man
is
compensated
this is the cost of
much
cost of a
an eye.
in the
G50 and a
limb which perfor
The
by a payment
tariff for
sword-
same way as cuts on a club
and at very nearly the same rates
Rs. 12-8
for the

But
first half-inch.
of the Waziri
so on,
it
costs Rs.
250 to cut
Baron Cresswell presumably
down a
The moral
scale
to
it
would be tedious
off
Ill
a nose
E.s.
100
by mistake
for
an
ear,
and
to extend.
be pointed in connection with the Waziris
is
however, less their ethnological peculiarities, than the fact of the
importance of so large, warlike, and independent a people on our
immediate border, a people that cannot be
when
military interests are at stake.
three years ago, the agents of the

to gain over the
Mahsuds
stan
is
So
far
out of consideration
Amir were doing
two or
their utmost
to surrender their independence, permit
posts to be built in their hills,

tithes.
left
It is notorious that,
and
to
pay even the most nominal
without success, and as matters now stand Waziri-
particularly
open
to
British
influence,
which we could
extend without in any way complicating our relations with Kabul.
An
opportunity that would certainly cease
garrisons were posted in
if
strong positions
without some active interference on our part,
bounds of
a position.
possibility that
at
any time Kabul
in the country
it is
and
quite within the
Kabul persistence may
establish such
CHAPTER
Xir.
THE PRICE OF BLOOD.
Whether
Baii-i- Afghan
and
Ban-i-Israil
whether Ars-areth, \Yhere the ten
are
or
identical,
carried into captivity
tribes
ultimately found refuge, represents the modern Hazarah country,

or no, there
among
is
no doubt that
all
the race, Afghan or Pathan, has,
other Jewish practices, customs, traditions, and laws, followed
pretty closely to the old Levitical idea of a

for
an eye, a tooth
hand
for a tooth,
" life for
rudest form of this principle of retaliatory justice

tised
among
applied to
the
"
all sorts
liberty to lay
If
of offences.
"
it,
of the latter
may
to B, the latter,
If
an ox of
A's.
There
to
if
kill
it
is
is
at
any member
to "
pay
forfeit,"
outruns the constable,
Should
kill B's ox,
cannot arrange matters, B's remedy
Finally,
by the same summary process,
can recover from any of the debtor's clan.

tribal council
The
probably prac-
in Yusafzai.
an eye
life,
foot."
steals B's property,
be called upon
misconduct.
for A's
and gets into debt
and the
is
hands on similar property belonging
Any
of A's clan.
as they call
Children of Joseph
hand, foot for
for
is
to kill
B, the council must hand over the
former to the heirs and assigns of the murdered man, to be dealt

with.
Not
to so
hand him over
between the two families or

tion to generation,
and
clans,
is
to
ensure a lasting blood-feud
which may run on from genera-
finally defy all
attempts at a settlement.
THE PRICE OF BLOOD.

It
may happen
that B's next of kin
He
a British regiment.
commanding
to his
Officer with a story of " urgent private affairs," take leave,
home
again, kill
or one of his clan
house in order,"
rejoin,
to his country.
The Yusafzais
ing the law

of
them
go away
"
and, having thus
put his
proudly conscious of having done his duty

are particularly notorious for follow-
and avoiding compromise.
literally,
13
away, perhaps soldiering in
is
have to come up
will
mixed up
are pretty sure to have been
in
The majority
some
affair of
the kind.
In Swat there are some curious varieties of procedure.
If B's
property has been stolen, he can call upon A, or any one he sus-
him a Sayad ; that
is
the suspect must
produce a respectable person to swear that he
is
not guilty, which,
pects,
if
from
to Z, to give
needful oath,
is
B must
he succeeds in doing,
accept that as sufficient evidence
Should the Sayad not be forthcoming
of innocence.
is
guilty,
and
to take the
can treat him accordingly. Another
even a more simple, and certainly ought to be an
method
of binding disputants over to
keep the peace.
them
to expel both from the place; deprive
children,
home and
altogether,
property, which in
and leave them
of
some
more
spite of
cases are confiscated
to the charity of other villages, until
particularly applicable to
it,
simply
all civil rights, wife,
they can come to an accommodation or reconciliation.

is
effective,
It is
The
rule
the village headmen, but in
these are the people almost constantly at feud with one
another.
Revenge may,
though
as
Bacon
this particular
particularly profitable.
it is
says,
form of
If a
it
man
be a kind of wild justice, and
was enjoined by Moses,
it is
not
cause a blemish in his neighbour,
perhaps equitable to do the same
for
him again but

;
to
go
for
the particular eye for eye, or tooth for tooth, besides being unprofitable,
must on occasions have been highly inconven'ent
not to the early Israelite,
it
seems
to
and
if
have soon occurred to the
practical-minded Pathan, to reduce the damages to a
money
I
value,
ACROSS THE BORDER.
114
and assess
The
kinds of hurt, from murder downwards, in rupees.
all
idea of
" blood-
" is familiar
money
and, in one form or other,
Among
everywhere in Afghanistan,
common
is
Border Pathans.
to all the
the Western Afghans, says Elphinstone, a murder can be
compromised by giving twelve young women

six without.
among
Ordinarily,
six
with dowries and
common people, the dowry would
the
be about sixty rupees each, partly payable in goods. For the

a hand, an ear or a nose, the
tooth three
dentist)
women
for a
the forehead
(surely
wound above
unless
women
tariff is six
breaking a
for
an excessive charge, even against a

the forehead one
but
for
a hurt below
take a year to heal, an apology would be
it
Nearer our Border, the people prefer more cash
held sufficient.
and fewer young women, and the aggrieved may,
happen
relations
loss of
to
be very
much married
he or his
if
already, or he prefer
it,
stipulate for the whole in cash.
With the Barzai

is
Rs. 1,200, the.
thirds of
division of the
same as
which goes
for the
to the
husband
one-third to the village council.

expatriated.
Besides
Mohmands, the
If
it
or the
is
gun
gunshot wound
Widow
is costly,
is
pay Rs. 100 to

of their relative,
abduction
is
only half
Rs. 600, but to
a luxury naturally reserved for the well-to-do.
is
and
not paid, the offender
relations have to
this, his
to insure the council a feast.
as expensive.
murder
victim's heirs
free themselves of responsibility for the action
and
fine for
abduction of a married woman, two-
own a
To keep a
man who kept a

costs a Mohmand
sword, like the old-fashioned classification of the

gig,
is
" respectable,"
Rs. 100, a dagger-stab

is
and
is
to
wound with
Rs. 50
it,
and a plebeian blow with a stone
only Rs. 25.
The Mahsud Waziris on one
occasion,
by way of showing their
anxiety to conclude a treaty of peace with us, while expressing

their regret that they could not guarantee us against occasional
thefts
and raids and consequent unavoidable injury to individuals,
specified that our
Government should be
at liberty on all occasions
THE PRICE OF BLOOD.

to iademnify itself
regular scale
115
by looting their kdjilas of merchandise on a
Their scale laid down Rs. 600 for
money, Rs. 200
all
items of blood-
arms, legs, or blows equal to the loss of a
for all
limb, and a sliding-scale for minor injuries;
offering to give us
The Kuki
hostages to see the arrangement fairly carried out.
Khels paid a
fine of Rs.
3,000 for the murder of a British
And when
rather thin produce the murderer.

killed our coolies
officer
Utman Khels
the
on the Swat Canal works at Abazai, and the
compensation was adjusted after Cavagnari and Battye had surprised their villages, they agreed in addition to a fine, to
money
" at
and twenty-two
at Rs, 200,
None
of the tribes, however, can
He, or
in matters of this kind.
To
damaged
eight coolies killed
at Rs. 100,"
was the
come near the Waziri
provisions of
it are,
women
measures
with provisions
for enforcing
the weapon or
means
"
(2) against
for
used.
property
taking oaths,
Murder
them.
bullet,
and
(3)
trial
Death by sword-cut
inflict it is
more expensive.
for revenge,
they
may
kill
is
If the heirs of a
the murderer by the sword, he
murder was by a
bullet,
enemy's heirs Rs. 100 as compensation

of slaughter.
Where
and
all
on the same
murdered man
thirst
the murderer and plunder his house
if
mode
ordeal,
according to
considered more painful, and to so
to kill
first
(1)
a knife, a dagger, a blow
though,
the
refer to
by or relating
by
classified
is
from a stone, strangling or cutting the throat, are

level.
system
dates back 300 years.
in their way, a study,
offences against the person
for
his forbears, long ago codified the
customary law," and his " Criminal Code
The
to
coolies
'
actually paid.
bill
"
blood-
the rate of Rs. 200 for each coolie killed, and Rs. 100
each coolie wounded who recovered.
for
"
and the avenger
will
elect
have to pay to his
for the
difference in the
the original victim was a woman, the
penalty would be to cut off the murderer's right foot or his nose.
The pecuniary commutation would
respectively be Rs. 1,200 in the
one case, and Rs. 600 in the other.
At
least nominally, for it

I
ACROSS THE BORDER.
116
would probably be U^rgely payable in produce or commodities,

cluding
women
at Rs.
100 each, which seems
sort of fancy bazaar price
be considered a
to
much
the ruling rate being ordinarily
in-
lower.
After the expedition against the Kabul Khel Waziris in 18G0, a
very characteristic agreement was drawn up between them and the
The
British villagers of Thai.
details of the negotiations lasted
three days, and both sides pledged their solemn concurrence on the
The
Koran.
gones
first
clause specified that bygones should
the second, that
should cease
all hostilities
neither side should take the law into their

disputes through a British
details for "
Rs. 1,200
Pathan
in
The
officer.
hand
or foot (for
Rs 80),
as a set-off of
forefinger, Rs.
are
For
60
Rs. 500
for
laming an
him
to eat.
the
laming a
for
to
man,
inferior
fingers, Rs.
all
killing a Pathan,
his door ;for a
any three other
finger, a goat or a
to help
refer all
down
which giving a daughter was
him a daughter and do penance at
man's
own hands but
for killing an inferior man, Rs. 360
the third, that
fourth laid
make-up-money," as follows
be by-
count
to give
Pathan thumb or
60
for
an
inferior
sheep which the jirgah or village council

Restitution for robbery to be
made by
proof on solemn oath.
The procedure adopted

extreme.
The
suspect
in doubtful
murder cases
may bring a hundred men
is
simple in the
of his clan to swear
before the assembled village headmen, oaths on the
they are satisfied of his innocence, or
if
Koran that
inconvenient to bring so
many, he can bring a few men, but they must each take more
oaths.
Or, as a last resource, he
oaths himself in the case of a

case relates to a woman).
man
may
take the whole hundred
(reduced to
fifty
only, if the
If after this, the aggrieved clan kill him,
they are themselves held to be guilty of murder.

injury, the Waziri tariff runs
from Rs. 600
For bodily
for " half death,"
as the loss of a limb, to Rs. 20 for a blemish between waist

feet.
For a
still
slighter assault,
such
and
the aggrieved party may, with
THE PRICE OF BLOOD.

the
"
assistance
of
his friends,
menace him with
village.
threats
"
throw the aggressor
course which
is
payment
down, and
disgrace him, in fact, before his
But here again wounded honour can be
disgrace prevented, by
11'
of the
satisfied,
and the
modest sum of Rs. 8
said to be "generally preferred."
These are but samples of a code that provides and often provides
ingeniously for most cases of violence and theft either of the man's
goods or the woman's honour

its
and whatever may be the value of
precepts in the abstract, on the old principle that even bad laws
are better than none at
a feud, and probably
all, it
much
may
be said to have prevented
bloodshed,
Knife, Shield, Jezail,
among
and Belt
the Waziris.
many
CHAPTER
XIII.
THE DAWAR OR TOCHI VALLEY.
The Dawar
Valley has already been referred to as by no means
the least important of the main
considerably shorter, in some respects
Afghanistan.
It
more
than the Gumal
is
facilities,
is
highways into the heart of
it
offers
and though, as a trade route,
probably never likely to be of
much
importance,
its
it
value for
military purposes, as affording direct communication with Ghazni,

or effecting a flank
movement on Kabul,
is
even
still
the time of the Greek occupation and the early days of

sovereignty,
it
In
greater.
Hindu
must have been the scene of constant and direct
The
communication between Western Afghanistan and India.
high mounds at the mouth of the passes, and the ancient remains
scattered through the valley,
great and flourishing
cities,
mark the
while
it
one of the routes most affected by

raids
tolerably certain
Mahmud
Hindu
idols,
it
was
of Ghazni for his
on India when not aimed directly at Peshawiir,
the ruins of
coins,
is
what were once
sites of
And
in
Akra, among the scraps of Buddhist ornaments,
broken bricks and pottery, the hundreds of Ghaznavi
from the beginning to the end of the dynasty, Avhich are
laid bare after
heavy
rains, furnish
a complete record of constant
encampments.
Like so many others of the passes, the
only at the Indian end
and
it is
perhaps
''
tight places " arc
no
exaggeration to

THE DAWAR OR
say, the
wliole route
119
known from Ghazni than from
better
is
TOCIII VALLEY.
Bannu, though the entrances are within a few miles from our
As with some
and a morning's ride from cantonments.
outposts,
other famous plans for action,
there are from the Border three
courses open, all perfectly practicable and of no great length
ways which only need the
will
make them
to
perfectly easy,
but which, to judge by the holy horror the British Government

has always seemed to entertain for them, might have
The
Purgatorio behind.
is
but which
generally fairly level, and at most
the best
circuitous, involving a detour of
rough and stony
track,
the Baran, somewhat to the north,
more
is
Dante's
Tochi, just opposite the outpost of the
known a mere
same name,
long
all
is
only nine miles
much more
rocky and
about twenty miles, entering
the valley near the village of Isohri; and a third by the Khasora
which was used on the
Pass, about six miles south of the Tochi,
return of the
Masaud expeditionary
force in
1860
the easiest and

march
best of the three, though the longest, a twenty-five mile
being needed before the valley
Once through
is
reached.
this paltry range of almost uninhabited hills, the
valley, or rather valleys,
for there are two, the
Upper and Lower
Dawar, separated by an unimportant tangi or

into
what may almost be
well cultivated, irrigated
called plains
waist,
rich, productive,
by a considerable
river,
villages,
walled and defended
whole extending as
far as
slope of the Jadran Hills,
Dawar
Valley, and
finds its
way
fix
to India
and
the Tochi,
in British territory as the Gambila, studded with
wealthy
open
more
out
fairly
known
or less
by flanking towers
the
Sherannia at the foot of the eastern
which form the head of the Upper
the limit of the trade that at present
by
this route.
From Sherannia onwards
are several routes not quite so plain, so well-known, or so open,
but which recent information has shown

Crossing the range, which
is
also the
offer
no great
difficulties
water-shed dividing the
streams flowing to the Indus and the Helmand, the most direct
ACROSS THE BORDER.
120
and the easiest passing by Uighim, or Warghin as the Waziris

call
it,
of the
and the Kotani Pass, leads to Sarafza at the western

Jadran range, and from thence by Shilgarh
foot
Ghazni,
to
a country, which, as the result of the investigations carried on
by our native explorers shows,

movements.
Detailed information
is
still
One
wanting.
of the
Sayud, was unluckily suspected and
explorers, a
of these
last
no obstacle to military
offers
imprisoned at Ghazni, from thence sent on to Kabul, where his

survey books were taken from him, though he was eventually
But from information gathered
allowed to return to India.
way and sketches taken during
this
various
expeditions,
in
the
general features are pretty well known.
The Lower
though not nearly so bad
is
somewhat
as
Bannu, but the Upper Valley
at
the
feverish,
head of
ordinarily fertile
in every
is
of the ground,
that respect
in
way
desirable
healthy highlands,
breezy,
are
it
and with a splendid climate.
command some
be taken up there that would

parts of the
swampy nature
Valley, owing to the
position
lie
much
main stream
in the
of the very best
manner
The course
line of a
connected with
with the
To
its
to,
where
of
the
river,
east,
and flows on towards the
according to Major Holdich,
good road through the length of Birmal, and
is
head by an easy pass across a low water-shed
Gumal system
what are shown on
just referred
and then enters the Upper Dawar by
a sudden and sharp bend to the
marks the
tribes.
of the Tochi, which flows northward through
it for forty or fifty miles,
Indus.
might
the highlands of Birmal, a tract of country only
lately prospected,
rises the
and
Afghan border, and would, moreover, ensure a grip
on some of the best and sturdiest of the independent

the south
more than
old
southwards.
maps
as the
From
Kohnok
the eastern slope of

Hills,
but are really
the southern continuation of the Jadran Range, there rises also an
important affluent of the Gutnal, called the
Dua Gumal,
a stream
not yet surveyed, but described as flowing through oprii valleys
THE DAWAR OR
main Gumal
joins the
it
till
and would doubtless
The waters
cation.
TOCIII VALLEY.
to the
south-west of Waziristan,
an excellent second
afford
of the Tochi are sweet
line of
rises
it
Along most
may
of its
hard and stony, and though liable to sudden
is
The Dawar Valley
many
than one mile, and in

a great part of
;
it
never impassable even for footmen for more than a
is
few hours.
grown
communi-
and good, and
always be depended on for a plentiful supply.

course the bottom
121
and the
herds of cattle.
it
well
througliout
Powindahs grazing their
a more debatable land, some of the

there
cattle
Waziris apparently holding
prosperous and possess considerable
villages ore
is
seldom narrower
good deal of grain being
cultivated, a
Birmal
is
two or three miles wide
places,
it
and unkempt, as they may be
in winter.
do
the summer, and the
in
The
not look as
former, dirty, wild,

if
they came from
a bad climate or a poor country.
There
is
probably no reason, save the persistence in a policy
of non-interference with the tribes,

in
at the Tochi, travel
why
a force should not march
round a great part of Waziristan, and
out by the Gumal, without meeting with any serious difficulty
and one of the

from
south of
easiest routes to the
Dawar Valley
the
Jadran
the
over
Range
Masaud country
the
is
Razmak
wide
is
Sir.
admittedly
West and
undulating country,
gradually flattening into broad level plains, with a few isolated

hills,
affording
easy
roads
to
Kandahar, Khelat-i-Ghilzai, and
Ghazni, from which last the road to Kabul
Of the people who

Dawari
is
Edwardes,
a byword of
is
live
is
well known.
along this highway, the very
name
The Bannuchi, according
reproach.
an exceptionally degraded specimen
with
all
to
the
vices of the
Pathan rankly luxuriant, his virtues stunted
the Dawari
universally described as
somewhat more eminently
An
object of supreme contempt
is
vicious and additionally degraded.

to his warlike neighbours, the
as a bad character
Waziris, he
by a Bunniichi.
is
but
even looked upon
Worse probably could not
ACROSS THE BORDER.
122
bo said of
To
liini.
call liim dirty
would be almost a compliment
worn
bis clotbes, usually black cotton to start with, are
would be considered malodorous by a Ghilzai.

respect
is
with him a matter of pride,
rancid butter, which
or
Hyat Khan, a
bound up
for it indicates
he can
demand, not only
in great
is
piece of bread saturated with
less
food,
but
for
it
will carry,
in his pocket
him the sweetest scented
in his clothes, as to
one eye black and one red
as a
sachet.
As a youth he
will
young buck have
his
His complexion naturally inclines to yellow.

stain
more or
He
head, his face, and his dress.
for anointing his
says
in this
largely in ghee, or clarified, but
afford to indulge
they
till
Rankness
beard plucked out to keep his face smooth, and wear flowers in
his turban
as an older warrior, his idea
and frighten
enemies by putting on a
his
old age his regularity at prayers
hardly any
He
he
known
ready for
narcotic with
is
to
shave one side
fierce
any robbery, or
which he
to
In
expression.
unimpeacliable, but there
is
will not stupefy himself.
a non-fighting man, and an unenterprising
is essentially
is
is
and eyelids red and blue
of his face only, stain his eyebrows
back up any
villainy,
man
but he has
not energy or pluck enough to venture out of his valley to attempt

it;
as
and even as a trader, he looks on the thirty miles
an exceedingly
far cry.
settlers to a cruel
degree
He
the
will tyrannise over the
Hindu has
to give
to
Bannu
few Hindu
up a
wife if
she be good-looking, pay a tax on a son, and a ransom on

daughter's wedding
and though ho manages withal to hold the
purse strings, he will rather buy
off,
than cope with the Waziri
marauder who harries him from time
is
and who has a
equal to one hundred
His unnatural licentiousness would have made him
conspicuous in
if
time
to
proverb that one Waziri with one stick
Dawaris.
the requisite
to save tlic
of the plain.
Sodom
or
number
Duwar
Gomorrah, and
it
may
fairly
be doubted
of righteous could be found in the valley
villages
from the fate that
fell
on the
cities
THE DA WAR OR
TOCIII VALLEY.
From what wandering horde he

history
is
originated
is
123
His
not clear.
ancient and obscure; but he has remained for centuries
shut in by strong hardy neighbours, and has probably been as

nasty for ages, and
is
only desirous to be
which the valley
is
The
come.
evil courses for ages to
go on in his
let alone, to
tion from annexation over
by
fringe of warlike tribes
surrounded has, however, really been
and over again.
It
seems
its
to
protec-
have been
included in the Mughal Empire during the time of Aurangzebe,
whose
son,
Bahadur Shah,
is
said to have levied in person
some
The Durrani
lieu-
heavy arrears from the wealthy inhabitants.
to extort revenue
tenants occasionally used their armies from Khost
and there are

relate to
shadowy Sikh jurisdiction, but which
stories of a
mere
forays.
Though Dawar has
nominally subject to the Kabul
and
still
is,
India, as usual ready to disclaim
Border,
renounced any rights
Muhammad, though
enough
at different times been
authorities, practically
perfectly independent.
really
it
has been,
In 1855 the Government of
any intention of moving over the

in
the
favour of
Dost
Amir,
neither he nor his successors were ever strong
to enter into possession,
and the sovereign rights of Kabul
remained just as imaginary as before.
The people have
several
times expressed a wish to come under British rule, protesting

against being
must be
handed over
to
any other power, and begging,
subjects, to be subjects of the
directly with them, and,
or blockades without
when
they
And though
Queen.
proposal has always been refused, the Indian
if
Government
the
has dealt
necessary, proceeded to expeditions
any reference whatever.
Both have had
to
be resorted to on occasions either on account of raids and murders
by Dawaris, or because they provided a rendezvous

it is
and
only some few years ago the valley was reported a hot-bed of
disaffection
plead
tlie
for others
it
and fanaticism.
was not
until they
Wazaris, that they
righteousness, and
The Dawaris, however, may
fairly
had asked and been refused aid against
made
friends with the
became notorious
for
mammon
of un-
harbouring rebels against
ACROSS THE BORDER.
124
us.
Wlietlicr or no these Dawaiis
it is
needless to consider
we
would make desirable subjects
make
they would not
could probably enlist their neighbours on both
to
excellent
workmen but
work as navvies
inveterate beggars,
in the cold season,
"hill-wolves," on account of the
They
carry back with them.
but their
The
fertile
of
numbers are too
many
come
into
of
Bannu
where they are nicknamed
amount
of earnings they usually
are said to be very well disposed,
insignificant to be taken into account.
strategic value of a position
among
the well-watered and
highlands near the sources of the Tochi, and the possession
points
Sherannia,
like
command
practically
the
cannot be long
were at Bannu instead of ourselves,
that a line of railway was in progress.
Bannu
to
line
is
completed, and
presumably
Nor
Gumal.
than
is
there
would be
hills
any apparent reason why these
not be successfully crossed, certainly with less
Jiighlands should
difficulty
this
out of any sound scheme of frontier defence, a
left
continuation up to the eastern slope of the Jadran

perfectly easy.
would
that
Sarafza,
the highway from Ghazni to Bannu, cannot
we should probably hear
When
and
Urghiin,
If the Russians
be doubted.
same range could
the
be
via
negotiated
Tiiese crossed, the reports of native surveyors
special obstacles right on to

is
The
sides.
Jadranis beyond them are a primitiiê, hospitable race,
whom,
though
soldiers,
Ghazni.
From Ghazni
the
show no
to
Bannu
considerably shorter than by any other route, and the principal
argument against
This, however,
difficulties.
traffic,
It
or for
its
may be
is
adoption
is,
that
traders
do
not use
it.
a good deal due to causes other than physical
Kabul and Kandahar
quite off the
enterprising
Border traders
Its inhabitants are at the other
like
extreme of the
lines of
the Powindahs.
scale,
not only the
most degraded, but the most unenterprising.
The
phy.sical
difficulties
in
way
the
certainly the reverse of formidable.
of
an
occupation,
are
mere cavalry reconnaissance
proved sufficient to carry a scare that was almost a panic through-
THE DAWAR OR TOCHI VALLEY.

out
the
The
valley.
expedition
only
undertaken in 1872, was an

Early one morning some
the
the
against
affair of less
1,-500 of
125
Dawaris,
than twenty-four hours.

Force
Frontier
fell
occupied the heights covering the Tochi Pass, cleared and

the road through
it
occupied
through,
burned their
three
of the
four
or
leading
villages,
and
by lunch, received the complete
towers
submission of the Dawaris, and were on their
for
made
passable for guns by breakfast time, marched
flanking
to afternoon tea, at
in,
any rate were
outside
all
way
back,
the
Tochi
not
if
again
a late dinner.
It
is
present
at
unnecessary to annex
perhaps
the
Davvar
Valley, but that our surveyors, engineers, and soldiers should be

perfectly free to
To permit
book
come and go
in
it,
so important a line of
might be reasonably
communication
behind them, affording free access
almost to the centre of Afghanistan, but as
Eden
the gate of
in
to the Peri,
is
much
closed to us as
an obvious absurdity.
And
to
maintaining a curtain immediately in front of our
outposts, behind
be
remain a sealed
that within a short ride there should be passes a few miles
long, with a great fertile valley
persist
to
insisted on.
dependent
which no
for
our
P>ritish officer is to
be allowed to look
information regarding the country,
capabilities, its strategic positions,
in disguise, stealthily noting in
and
its tribes,
to
it?
on native explorers
rough sketches, and approximating
distances regarding which precise information might at any time be
of the greatest importance to us

liable to confiscation
of our allies
as fatuous.
is
surveyors whose field books are

to
imprisonment at the hands
to persist in a policy that can only be described
The Dawar Valley and the Jadran Highlands
at least, be as free to us as
that
and their persons
Mahmud's highway
is
to Ghazni, is fairly passable in case cir-
cumstances should ever compel us to go there

to say
how
should,
Kashmir; and we should be assured
soon such a contingency
may
arise.
for it is impossible
CHAPTER
XIV.
BANNU AND THE BANNUCHI.
As
regards
provided,
means
Bannu
of communication,
in
is,
many
respects,
and not the
though almost the worst
one of the most important,
least interesting of our Frontier
one of the
prettiest,
stations.
Its position, its history, its
and
its
fertility,
" an emerald set in a country pre-eminently of rocks
and
stones,"
have
all
writers,
combined
to
make
it
a favourite subject with Frontier
from Edwardes downwards.
great lake before the
immigrants,
was
it
"
Aryan
Dand"
race
"
scenery,
had
Geologists talk of
it
idyllic.
left
and in winter
As
if to
make
a graceful variety of the sheesham-tree,

is
still
many-coloured harvests look as
copia in this favoured vale.
after their
fruitful,
even
stuck to the
it,
perfectly
a vegetable emerald
" it is
stumbled against the Great Salt-Range, and
the willow,
was
a series of pictures of
In spring," he says iu one,

its
it
famous, and whose name has
modern cantonment, has

"
Bannu,
on the Frontier would
And Edwardes, whose Year

it
as a
earlier
The Bannudzais, who
the Marsh,"
mother, the wife of Shitak, because, they said,
alone have made
To the
left its cradle.
dug drains and sowed corn, took to calling
as she was.
it
spilt
if
Ceres had
half her cornu-
the landscape perfect,
whose boughs droop like
found here, and here alone
while along streams,
and round the villages, the thick mulberry, festooned with the wild
BANNU AND THE BANNUCHT.
beneath which well-fed Sayuds look
vine, throws a fragrant shade,
exquisitely happy, sleeping

too,
127
midway through
without which Enghshmen have
their beads.
Roses,
learnt from the East to think
no scenery complete, abound in the upper parts at the
Most
spring.
of the fruits of
would bring them
and melons are
to
Kabul are found
perfection
delicious.
Even settlement
ness
is,
with
picturesque
and when he turns

found ad-
spirits of evil ever
officers
grow eloquent over
about
bits
and culture
nature has so smiled on
and not only did Thorburn enliven
report
wild,
the limes, mulberries
a paradise
it
wonders how such
to the people,
it
Altogether,
Bannu, that the stranger thinks
mittance."
as
close of
yellow
its pretti-
most interesting
corn, green
trees,
murmuring
waters, reapers, and pet lambs with tinkling bells in
every
haunts of peace and content, with a background of
grey
field,
hills,
of glory
weird rocks, gloomy glens, and snowy peaks in a blaze
but he overflowed into a
with the district and
fully
its
graphic volume, dealing more
people, their stories, songs, and
proverbs.
Historically,
it
has been the scene of a succession of changes,
exceptional even for a Border along which they have everywhere
been numerous.
The ruined mounds
of
Akra mark what was
probably a flourishing city before ancient Greece became a power.
Alexander
is
Badsliah."
still
a popular
local
hero,
known
His Macedonian successors have
both of Greek
art,
as
"
left distinct
Ram.
it,
and
records,
and of the permanence of Greek occupation.
So have Gra3co-Bactrians, Indo-Scythians, and Buddhists.

re-colonized
Sikandar
fill
up a gap by
The Brahmin kings
in the ninth century,
Hindus
traditions of the city of Sat
of Northern India were a
and Sabaktigin seems
to
power there
have followed and
adopted their heraldic device of the lion rampant,
Mahmud and
two centuries of Ghaznavis passed and repassed, and from their
camps on the banks of the Kurram and Gambila, raided on India

till
they were finally crushed by the Ghoris at Lahore in the twelfth
ACROSS THE BORDER.
128
century.
The
valley
was a highway
for the
armies of Timour at
the end of the fourteenth century, and was ravaged by Baber at the
beginning of the sixteenth.

small bodies of Afghans
Before Timour,
it
had been colonized by
the Bannudzais that Baber found there,
had aheady driven out the Mangals and the Hannis, and had a
comparatively long spell before they were gradually ousted by the

Nidzais.
Closely following the latter,
the Maraats
came
their
a great host of splendid men,
still
finer
who drove
kinsmen,
the Niazais
eastward, settled down, and possessed the land which they called
Marwat. after their forefather.
Their children hold
it
to this
day,
BANNU AND THE BANNUCHl.

and very
wave of
last
colonists
For a while they were content to drive their
from their own bleak, dreary
flocks
The
fine cultivators tliey are.
were the Waziris.
129
pitch their black blanket
hills,
tents in the luxuriant valley during the winter,
and go back
to
their highlands again in tlie spring, but as flocks and herds increased,
and as they looked on the
and the harvests, the
fields
Waziri became, as Edwardes describes, possessed with the lust of

land,
and promptly proceeded
to take
While
it.
clansmen exercised their profession by taking

dah, the
Darwesh gradually took
the Bannuchi, and what
is left
toll
to acquiring
their
Mahsud
from the Powinlands from
fertile
to the latter is probably
due to the
advent of British law and British protection.

All these changes, however, are only a part of what has gone to
make up
the hybrid Bannuchi, a designation which has
now come
to include, not only all the so-called descendants of Shitak
wife
Masammat Bannu, but
nearly
the
all
and his
Muhammadans, and
even the Hindus, who have been long domiciled among them
Jhuta or "leavings" of
times,
and
all
for various reasons,
the adventurers
the
at different
found their way to the irrigated tracts
These have, in Edwardes's words,
in the valley.
intermarriage, slave dealing, and vice,
to
Every
character of the Bannuchi people.
weak Indian
who have
to that of the tall Durrani
"
contributed, by
complete the mongrel
stature,
from that of the
every complexion, from
the ebony of Bengal to the rosy cheek of Kabul
every dress, from
the linen garments of the South, to the heavy goat-skin of the

eternal snows,
is
to
be seen promiscuously among them, reduced
only to a harmonious whole by the neutral tint of universal
Small in stature, sallow,

"
Shut up
nation
fleshless,
in close villages
hot beds of
bigoted in the extreme,

at all hours
and in
all
all
amongst
that
is
and
the lowest type of priests
"
wizened in appearance.
heat, dirt, squalor,
and stag-
enervating and demoralizing
amosque for every

places,
dirt."
"
thirty-four houses, praying
bhndly obedient
to
the direction of
impudent impostors, who contribute
ACROSS THE BORDER.
130
common
nothing to the
but inflammatory counsel, and a
stock
fanatical yell in the rear of the battle "
ways
" litigious,
enemy
advantage, however mean, over their

feelings
though possessing none,"

"
the epithet
harping
them, always
about
vicious in all
utterly regardless of truth
degraded
manner
without any manly
about
honour
'
;
'
'
izzat,'
they appear certainly well qualified

that
"
applied to
is
of
ready to take any
for
them by Edwardes,
Reynell Taylor, Thorburn, and almost every one who has had anything to do with them.
them with being "
credit
After
excellent revenue-payers, quiet, inoffensive
subjects," or to charge off

lificness
and the climate
seems a small merit to
this, it
most of their bad qualities to their pro-
which they
in
live.
may have had much
Climatic influence, pins canal irrigation,
do with
it,
as
some
reverse of
Fine,
tall,
Certainly the ad-
theorists persistently urge.
joining Marwats, with their sandy
what has been
said
soil
and dry
to
air,
are almost the
immediate neighbours.
of their
muscular, well-bred Pathans, with ruddy complexions.
Fair and handsome women, not ashamed of a rather mischievous

face
and a
fairly
good ankle.
people frank, open, and truthful,
mainly agriculturists, with a profound contempt
The Waziri has
previously been sketched
for the
Bannuchi.
where he has
settled
within our border, he seems, in spite of climate, to have improved

rather than deteriorated
virtues,
and
is
lie
has lost none of his characteristic
but has been somewhat weaned from his passion
for plunder,
rapidly learning the rudimentary lessons of civilization.
Interesting
as
may be
the climatic, historic, or ethnographic
characteristic condition of
Bannu,
gic position on the Border
it is still
one which on
be of exceptional importance.
To
say
more
all
so
hands
this, is
attention to the subject.
is
its strate-
admitted to
only to echo the
opinion of those best informed military authorities

exceptional opportunities for judging, and
from
who have had
who have given
special
Whether we accept the view, that our
true strategic position cannot stop short of the Kandahar-Kabul
BANNU AND THE BANNUCHL

and recognise what
line;
own
perhaps of more
importance, the
bringing the border tribes behind this line into
desirability of
our
is,
131
recruiting
as soon as political circumstances permit
field,
or whethei', as one of the; authorities referred to has put
we
it,
propose to leave this factor of strength to become in the future

the steel point of the enemy's lance, ready to be turned on to
our most vulnerable point

undiminished.
It
importance of Bannu remains
main roads between our
diverge, several of the
from
the
the centre on which converge, or whence
is
frontier outposts
Kohat and Thai, from Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, and
From
the Gumal.
at
any time most
Khost Valley, the Mangals,
the
control
country.
we could
it
It wôuld
or
the
effectively
entire
be the initial point for a road by the
Waziri
Dawar
Valley to Ghazni, wbich, as already described, involves no special

difficulties,
and a distance
less
Bannu
When
than 150 miles.
the railway
become the natural base
for
the alternative route to Kabul by the Kurrum, from which
we
to
is
it
constructed,
could best outflank an

great extent this has
administration
much
will
enemy advancing by
now been
that route.
has been done.
has
to opposite
Avhich
frontier road,
in
than a track, from both these points
now been converted
into a first class military road, bridged
little
metalled
Kurrum
and
The
throughout.
the
frequent loss of
if
The
other.
bette^'
places
and
was
Railway communication has
been brought up to Khushalgarh on the one hand, and
Dera Ismail Khan on the
To
recognised, and under the present
life
important
Gambila
sources
of
have
now been
crossed
necessary, will carry
streams,
like
danger
constant
by bridges
broad-gauge railway.
the
and
that,
survey for
a new line of railway from the Sind-Sagar system, via Mianwali
and Mari, Kalabagh and Isakhel,

and
it
is
to
to
Bannu
itself,
has been finished,
be hoped that no plea of financial
be permitted to stand in the way

project so vitally important.
difficulty will
of the early completion of a

^
ACROSS THE BORDER.
132
As
a position for any large garrison, the present cantonment
of Etlwardesabad
with
reason,
been charged, and perhaps not without
lias
disadvantages
certain
the valley
irrigated part of
is
regards
as
said to be
The
climate.
and un-
as malarious
healthy as Peshawar formerly was, probably to a great extent
The Bannuchi makes the same water
very similar reason.
for a
serve for drinking, washing
gating his
the
field
whenever
he does wash
and
only he frequently reverses the order, and lets
water flow over his highly manured
fields
first.
remedy
and there are excellent
this;
Mountain, over G,000 feet high,
use
of.
a sanitarium, and
for
facilities
its
little
While going a
Upper Dawar, the Jadran
further afield, the
Khost, would
It possesses
occupation would bring
advantages both to the tribes and ourselves.
the mountains around
The Ghabar
within the Batanni country,
lies
midway between the Kurrum outpost and Peyzu.
many
that
sites for sanitaria
made
might, and undoubtedly ought, to be
pure
much
water supply, which could easily be obtained, would do

to
irri-
offer
highlands, or
climate
equal
to
Kashmir.
One
other matter in connection with our position on this part
of the Border
merits of the
is
too important to be overlooked.
Kurrum
route, as
an approach to Kabul
the construction of a railway to

it
still
Bannu
will
may
be,
undoubtedly make
more the point of departure from which operations might
be most properly undertaken.
Kurram
direction
sixty-six miles
Kurram
Thai,
is
more by the Gumati

can be turned.
wedge
of our territory,
furthest post Avest
167 miles from

is
and
some
again thirty miles from a
is
about forty-two, or about ten miles
or Barganattu Passes, by either of
Here, again, this route

of
Kabul, and
in the
following approximately the course of the
Thai,
River, to
Waziris, a
Our
from Kohat, which
From Bannu,
railway.
it
Whatever the
whose country
is
for all practical
is
in the
which
hands of the
driven right into the ndddle
purposes the road
is
closed
BANNU JND TEE BANNUCHI.

In
to us.
assistant
was unmapped, and Major Holdich's
fact, until lately, it
was only allowed
133
make
to
a plane table survey of
it
one
of which was
that he never slept on the far side of the Border.
The railway
in
1882 under the most stringent conditions
completed, the construction of a thoroughly efficient road direct
from Bannu
Thai, should
to
be promptly insisted on, and the
opening out of the Dawar Valley be at the same time taken

in hand.
There
is
no need to anticipate any special obstructions
During the winter of 1878-79, the Thal-Bannu route was used by

a detachment of our cavalry, the whole of the Jhind and Kapurthalla contingents
marched by
1880 convoys were
it,
and up
to
under
sent
regularly
The Dawaris have, over and over

under our protection
and
source of trouble, nothing

tact to
it is
so
is
far
clear to
them that
and they are keen enough
the
in
British
to see they
by obstruction, and everything
escort.
again, asked to be brought
wanting but a
tlie
hadraga
from either route proving a
insure Waziri acquiescence
made
the beginning of
to gain
Safe conduct.
little
firmness and
of
both, once
Government
will insist,
case
would have much
by assisting
us.
to lose
CHAPTER
BORDER ECCLESIOLOGY.
XV.
SHORT DISCOURSE ON THE PATHAN

CHURCH.
The
superstition uf the
pei'haps
" lived
respect
this
iu
materially from
he
does
have no Hmits, but
said to
is
after
not,
the Christian of the Middle Ages,
an atmosj^here
in
Patbau
charged
very
differ
all,
who
notoriously
with the supernatural."
On
the Border, miracles, charms, omens, are believed as a matter of

course, just as the miracles of the Church,
and table-turning, were
spirit-rapping
even be said
is
no
some
cases
it
miglit
accepted by the average worshipper
in the
necessity, therefore, to be too severe
on the
are
still
There
West.
in
magic and witchcraft,
former in respect of his belief; the wonders accomplished during

the Jandah festival at Peshawur by Pir
Saliib iu Kliattak, are uot
tiie
lish
Baba
in Buneyr, or
more incredible than the
stories
Kuka
about
thronging to hear St. Antony preach, the restoration of
amputated limbs by the virgin of the palace at Saragossa, or the

liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius
much
ism
Naples.
In spite of
outcry about the spirit of the age, the progress of Rational-
is
slow
and respect
prayers, alms, fasts, pilgrimages, reverence for saints,
for their
modern
representatives, are
and fundamental duties of the Pathan
much
at
nearer home.
among
as of several
the binding
other people
All classes and both sexes resort to the " sacred
135
shrine," interesting devotees confess their sins, talk of their " pure
prophet," and " blessed
men,
to their holy
religion,"
and
yield as implicit obedience
an Irish peasant does
for instance,
as,
to his
parish priest.
Wherever the demand

pretty certain to equal
relics,
supply
for miracles is so considerable the
it.
The Border Muhammadan has few
images, pictures, or crucifixes
in
fact,
or
is
no
hardly one of his
sacred shrines boasts any building more imposing than a big heap
of stones
crows,
and the
is
faithful.
collection of rags that resemble dilapidated scare-
the only outward and visible sign of the offerings of the
But a
visit to
zidrats of the Border, equiva-
some of the
lents to the Saint Cuthberts, Beckets, Nicholases, or Dunstans, will
ensure a cure from fever, ophthalmia, rheumatism, and most of the

ills
to
which mortal
from the
evil
flesh is heir.
eye render his cattle

;
Others will protect the believer

prolific, or,
on too frequent occa-
The earth from
vouchsafe the desires of intriguing lovers.
sions,
Akhund Darwaza
the grave of
near Jelalabad,
is
at
Peshawur, or of
Akhund Musa
a specific for burns or snake-bites
can be restored to mental health by going to the
Women, who
place of Mian'Ali at Ali-Boghan.
and the pious pilgrim, who
Mecca, can do himself almost as

of visits to
holy places in his
number
cannot afford
resting-
not blessed
are
with children, can obtain their wishes at quite

shrines
and lunatics
last
a round
much good by paying
own
locality,
of
a journey to
and feeing the
local
institutions.
He
Ignatius, or
like
own
has his
the
primitive fathers, compared to
Polycarp
are
quite
modern
whom
creations.
Clement,
The
Pathaii,
Irishman, again, dates back to the early patriarchs, and
apparently, the older they are, the longer their graves have become.
Near Balabagh
HazTcit Lut,
who
is
in
Nangraha, the grave of the patriarch Lot,
over 380 yards long.
The Zidrat
corresponds to Lamech, the father of Noah,
and the ark of Noah himself
is
of
is
Mchtar Lam,
in
said, after the deluge, to
Laghmau
have rested

ACROSS
136
oil
border.
nil-:
the Kuiul Aloiiiitain, the adjoining valley being called Dara-i-
Xuli, the Vale of
The
Noah,
to this day.
prophets Ayîh (Seth), Sis (Job),
and of proportionate dimensions.
tainous,
stature
a moderate
" nine-yarders,"
As
the term by which they are
is
their sanctity increases so does their
known
reputed
one celebrity, buried in Peshawur cantonment, kept on
growing
his
till
and the
tomb bid
district
"
they
had
thorough-
obstruct the
fair to entirely
authorities
Shrines of the mighty
put a wall round him.
to
literally are,
but not even the most
Puritan could complain that anything had been wasted
austere
upon
is
Hindus, or Kafir British, are honoured in a similar way.
in the Punjab.
"
Fifty feet
martyrs {Shdhid) or warriors (Ghdzi) fighting against the
Nao-Gaj'i
fare,
others, are nearly as
Minor dignitaries who have
length for a prophet of this importance.

fallen as
infidel
and
art or decoration.
mud,
or even
long, low
made with
The reputation
the most famous.
suffices to cover
of the Border Saint does not
heap of stone or brick masonry,
depend upon
either palaces or shrines
hands, any more than his officiating jiriesthood does on
canonicals.
Of modern
number with
clergy
list
ecclesiastical offices
and dignitaries he has a goodly
sufficiently long-sounding
was to be published, the
perhaps be broadly defined somewhat
names
and
if
a Pathan
Valor ccdcsiasiicus might
as follows
Astanadars, literally holy place-possessors, might stand for Lay
Rectors with a traditionary devout reputation, or the descendants
who, by virtue of the sanctity of an ancestor of pious memory, enjoy

the present endowments
Theoretically the
shrine.
the son-in-law of
church,
of the
Hhah,
"
benefits
or
Sayud
Muhammad
who would be
Your Grace," and
to
is
of
the Asian, Zidrat, or
the direct descendant of 'Ali
practically
he
is
a bishop or primate
usually addressed by the
whom
the Pathan would
title of
figuratively
take off his hat.

Pirs would, however, stand uhuost at the top of the precedence
ACROSS THE BORDER.
138
for
list,
"
they would be saluted as Bddshdh,
The congregatiou should
remain standing
till
he
is
rise
"Your
Excellency."
when a
Pir joins the assembly, and
He
often has charge of a shrine,
seated."
and the Pathan Burke would show him as descended from a
Chapter, having
all sorts
position
off, if
or less obsolete.
in order to devote
doctrines of Islam, but they
possess special powers
tlieir
social
The Mians have
themselves to teaching the
of the
Frontier.
Some
of
combat pestilence and famine
to
experts in discovering
are
His
Bellew, "all
hold positions of dignified ease,
still
luxurious benefices, the Barchesters
others
"
status of a Rural Dean, in that as a
becoming more
is
abandoned the world
them
flocks.
not rich."
Mian midit have the
prelate he
and
independent of his merits," and, says
is
Pirs are comfortably
powerful as
as
is
of exclusive hereditary rights and privi-
a tithe of the fields
receivino-
leges,
he
Ecclesiastically
of repute.
saint
the Dean and
neighbours, and in pointing
who
are
among
the sinners
them out with the
finger of
scorn.
Sahibzadas,
sons of holy men,
the
position in regard to Sayuds, Pirs,
occupy
same
about the
and Mians, as Colonial Arch-
deacons do to Deans or Bishops, though
all
four classes are equally
place-possessors, often comfortable place-possessors.

It is not necessary that
active
list,
priest,
but the Mullah
Muhammadan
the mosque,
and
life,
or Precentor
mendicant
D.D.
the
parish
title
all,
his
may be
service
friar,
ho
is
The
the most important factor in ordinary
iuHuence
is
immense. The residentiary Canon
represented by the
Imam, whose business
and lead the congregation.
generally
of
has to attend to the services of
teach the creed, and look after the schools.
most numenjus of
intone the
the ordinary hardworking
is
has taken holy orders, perhaps with
who
Maidvi, the
Pathan
any of the foregohig should be on the
Shaikh, an elderly gentleman,
The Fakir
Dominican or Black Friar.
who has
is
is
to
The
relinquished worldly plea-
whom
sures, or
worldly pleasures have
comes the Talib-nl-ilm, or seeker
The
wisdom does just the
is
bottom of the
the
of this church
the head
to
a curate with a
the seeker-after-
contrary.
If the Border curate
approach
last of all,
the reverse of an almoner.
said,
alms and distributes doles
latter dispenses
and who has
And,
wisdom
after
might be
or it
stranded,
left
or the disciple of a saint.
become a Lay Brother,
taste for dining out
139
the nearest
scale,
probably an Akhund,
is
a teacher, but the famous Akliund of Swat was, for almost
literally
Pope
half a century, practically the Border
a character so famous
as to deserve a subsequent discourse all to himself.
Nothing perhaps
is
such good evidence of the deference paid to
a dignitary of the Pathan church, as the general security in which
he
He
lives.
is
man whose
almost the only
casual bullet or the hasty knife
life is
sacred from the
for whose blood the Pathan tariff
does not provide a rate.
Not long
ago, in the
Peshawur
to the bad, as to slioot a Mullah.
or
district,
It
he mistook his man, or pure villany
and
like
many
another outlaw, the murderer had to
and he was refused
He
shelter.
"
You
went next.
Sahib,
over the
fly
news had preceded him,
Mohmands,
to
had been any ordinary tribesman,
we would have
died,
Akhund would have none
shot a Mullah," said the
" If it
so very far
then tried the Swat valley with
no better success, the country of the

him,
man went
anyhow the Mullah
First he tried Buneyr, but the
Border,
might have been an accident,
stretched a point,
but you must
whom
or
even
go."
of
he
a
Even
the Afridis, small reverence as they pay to spiritual advisers, looked

askance, and would
have nothing to say to a ruffian whose hands
were dyed with the blood of a pious man.

being hunted from tribe to
"
None
of
you
will
he bethought himself of repentance.
have me," he
something to make you.

kill
tribe,
a Sahib." So back he
came
Wearied at length of
said,
"
then I will at any rate do
can but be a martyr.

to
I will
go and
Peshawar cantonment, and walked
ACROSS THE BORDER.
140
down
oft"
and went
some
it,
the Mall to look for a victim.

for a
horse, at
the
first
Not
fiiuliiig
rough rider sergeant, in
whom
difficulties
he took deliberate aim.
bullet wâs stopped
on him, but before the
by a range
latter could
one handy, he turned
finder the sergeant
go for his
assailant, the
got another bidlet through tlie sergeant's helmet,

for
it.
plucky native ran
secm-ed, tried
in,
and
with a trouble-
As luck would have

Pathan
and made a bolt
man was
tlie
had
ultimately
by the commissioner the same evening, and under
summary powers hanged
the next morning.
Perfectly satisfied, as
he declared, wdth himself at having expiated his oftence, and with

only one request
to
make,
wdiicli
was gTanted
might not be burnt. Some day perhaps they

Gaja for
liim.
that
wdll
his
body
put up a Nao-
CHAPTER
XVI.
THE BASE OF THE SUFED KOH.
By
the Kiirram valley to Kabiil has become almost as familiar
to the present decade of
Englishmen
almost as good a text as the
in India,
and has furnished
Overland Route
"
" did to the last.
Nearly ten years ago, in November 1878, our troops were in

possession of
Sher
'Ali.
scattering in all directions the followers of
it,
Less than a year
after,
an avenging
force
full
Amir
under Sir
Frederick Roberts was pushing forward, by forced marches, past

the old
Kurram
pine -clad Paiwar,

of the "
up the
Fort,
among the
Thousand
Trees,"
"
White Cow "
ascent, across the
glens of 'Ali Khel, through the defile
and over the
"
Camel's Neck
"
caring
nothing for the snows of the Sufed Koh, deaf to the Jaji drums
and
bagpipes,
brushing
aside
Mangals
the
delight in " Khushi,"i
finding no pleasure nor
and
j^^^t
Zaimukhts,
anxious only to
get to Kabul, and exact retribution for the dastardly murder of
In
the ill-fated Cavagnari and our embassy.
Khan had come
into the British
camp
at
May 1879 Yakub
Gandamak, and signed
a treaty by which, not only were the foreign relations of Afghanistan to be entirely subordinated
to
British
influence, a
British
Resident to be estabhshed in Kabul, but our Frontier was to be

rectified
by the inclusion within

1
The abode
it
of Peshin, Sibi,
of happiness.
and Kurram,
ACROSS THE BORDER.
142
from the latter place there was to be a
anil
By
Kabul.
swung
again, the treaty
The pendulum had
set up.
had been abrogated, "and October found
General Watson announcing

of our forces from
had been removed
established, he
and Amir Abdur Rahman
India,
to
to
Yakub's complicity with the
the middle of 1880
murder of our Resident had been
line of telegi-aph
to the
Turi Malihs^ the withdrawal
Kurram.
Miranzai, the western extremity of which valley
now marks
our border limit, and perhaps the pleasantest part of
the Kohat
The
has been arbitrarily
district,
though the
Kohat
divided into an Upper and a Lower,
toi,
which runs east down the
river
or
and
stream,
thence
goes
a feeder of the
latter is
the
to
the Ishkali, which runs west along the Upper,
is
while
Indus,
a branch of the
Both Upper and Lower, equally with the Kurram,
Kurram.
along the base of the great Sufed
Koh
lie
range, the white peaks of
which tower over everything else, a gigantic barrier between this
and the
still
more famous
"
Khaiber
route to Kabul.
"
no very great dissimilarity between the

Miranzai and the Kurram,
by
far the best
of the
lies
many
other cases,
across the Border.
It is a
land of mountains, small and great, of rocks, and of stones.

rivers that rush
down
dug
cultivated,
varied
With small and
where grain and
with " raviney
" wastes,
circumscribed, but well
fruit
growing
from the
flourish abundantly,
little
beyond the dwarf
whicli affords materials for one of the few staple industries
palm
the
in their bed.
valleys,
The
the steep slopes are at one time dangerous
torrents, at others yielding with difficulty a little water
holes
is-
characteristics of the
except that, as in so
country
There
country possesses.
tracts,
on which are pastured abnormally small
tionally fat-tailed sheep.
Kurram
More
These again are interspersed by grassy

cattle,
and excep-
Once past Thai, and the banks of the
river reached, there
is
a marked change for the better.
or less all along are corn-fields

^
Head-men.
and fruit-gardens, mulberry
THE BASE OF THE SUE ED KOH.

groves and
yew
olive,
in
fertile glades,
passing
and pines
tree
up
to ridges crested
Some
feet high.
by oak and
the range behind again culminating
snow-capped peak of Sita Ram, which
the
143
rises
over 15,000
parts of the valley have the reputation of being
unhealthy, for the same reason as Bannu, but there are few more
along the Afghan border than the Kurram.
fertile spots
To pass from the

Bellew,
jDlacc to
Though, according to
the people.
not improbable that the whole region comprising both
it is
sides of the Sufed
Koh, and the
the base from Paiwar to
districts at
the Indus, was, in the shadowy past, subject to one tribe, which he
thinks corresponded to the Assarytse of Herodotus

Afridi
the modern representative,
is
number
occupied by a great
Jaji,
it is,
of tribes
the
in the present, certainly
and
many
Zaimakt, Orakzai, Afridi, and
of which
septs,
Bangash, Turi
more, having perhaps
a sort of distant family connection, but differing from one another
widely
and
classed
among Afghans
little
Some
materially.
at
all,
of
them
even usually
are not
and may probably have got not a
mixed with the swarms of Turks, who came in with the
invasions of Subaktigin
and Timur, or with the Scythic stock
before that, though, for all practical purposes, no better term can
be found for them, than Path an.

Tradition has
it,
that
living
Ghilzais,
in
about
Gurdez
in
oi
Arab
origin, de-
apostle to the Afghans of Ghor,
Zurmat
but, pressed
by the
emigrated eastward, sometime towards the end of the
fourteenth
settled
Bangash were
Muhammad's
scended from Koresh,
whilom
the
centmy
or just subsequent to the invasion of Timur,
Kurram, and
themselves doincc a
with
little
the
assistance
invasion from
of
the
Orakzais and pressed them further up the slope.

further goes on to say that, to accomplish
battle lasting three days
Khattaks
the south, ousted the
this,
Local story
they fought a
and three nights, which only terminated
by the appearance on the scene of the proverbial horseman in

white, who declared that "the plain was for the Bangash, and
ACEOSS THE BORDER.
144
tlie
for
hills
proprietary
Orakzais," a legend
tlio
quoted in support of
still
By and by came
the
Turis,
who, at
subordinate, gradually in their turn displaced the
Bangash
rights.
became, what they
remain, the dominant tribe.
still
the Bangash would seem to have bee n divided
named
branches,
what elaborate
and Sdmil,
Gch^
the factious earning for
Be
destroyer."
and
as
this
it
may,
a notable factor in frontier
is
Bangash,
but
almost
by the
rivalled
all
the
them the
of " Bankash," or " root
title
the
distinction
politics, affecting
more rabid enmity
still
tribes,
existing
Shiah and the Sunni forms of Muhammadanism.
Sdmil in
religion are
cause
quarrels,
for
the
to enable even a
mainly Bangash
bulk
the
of
Pathan
innumerable,
short;
and
complicated
of the
Kurram Valley
The Westerns wear
Shiahs.
the
their
a few short Jewish ringlets on either side of
otherwise there
up
between the
Some Sunnis by
Kohat mostly Sunnis
the face, shaving the rest of the head
are quite
only
is
to thoroughly enjoy himself.
those towards
remainder
beards long, with
and
of ringing the changes in
The Kohat, Miranzai and southern part

are
not only the
in addition to the usual
so that,
possibilities
the matter of tribal feuds are
enough
remains,
still
some Shiahs are Gd7% and some-
politics,
times both cases are reversed
and Magian
enmity between
bitter
surrounding
the
Originally
two main
into
theory, traces back to the Buddhist

;
and
which Belle w, by a some-
titles
upon Muhammadanism
influence
first
;
is
much
not
to the average Pathans,
the Easterns clip
difference.
them
Physically they
though they are not generally
credited with great fighting qualities.
few deal in
salt,
but
they are eminently an agricultural rathe f than a pastoral people.
Reported
and
cruel,
addicted
their
ho.spitable,
to
many
of
them
are undoubtedly treacherous
not specially disposed to wanton violence, but

thieving,"
neighbours,
than
"much
They are rather the victims of raids by

raiders
themselves,
and have generally
behaved well from an administrative point of view.
Their situ-
THE BASE OF THE SUE ED KOH.

atioii
had the sense
such, they have
is
to
145
see that in
this
lay
their best chance of security.
The
the most powerful tribes of the Upper
Turis,
with having migrated from their
Valley, are generally credited
legitimate
home on
centuries ago,
first
Kurram
the banks of the Indus some three or four
as dependants
hamsayahs of the Bangash,
or
then gradually setting up on their own account, and now

the Bangash of
the Valley
who
Both they and the adjoining Jagis

dress,
calls
them Hindkis, and speaks
numbering only
creased and
lighting
differ considerably in
and customs, from most Pathan
ance,
They
Edwardes
tribes.
original emigrants as
the
of
appear-
but they must have rapidly in-
sixty families,
and could now turn out 5,000 to 6,000
prospered,
men.
it is
hamsayahs of the Turis.
are
not
are
very
big
nor very good-looking,
and have somewhat of the look of the savage about them, but
they are strong, hardy, and compact, and as essentially horse-
men,
as
the
Waziris,
in
horses, are essentially footmen.
Profusely
armed,
he
of
spite
has
their
The Turi
probably
is
well-known breed of
a model moss-trooper.
couple
brass-bound
of
carbines at his back, two or three pistols in front, knives of
and
sizes
sorts
in
his waist-belt,
mount, often a small sorry jade,

for,
and
in addition to the Turi
entire wardrobe
food for
beast,
some spare
an iron peg, and a picket rope,
which
is
is
highwayman
ordinary
tom him
to
the Turi road to
honoured with the
the hero
of the
life
to
his armoury,
His
side.
and active
necessarily wiry
is
has to carry his
it
packed under the saddle, certain wallets containing
man and
distinguished
and a sword by his
many
title
houi-.
all
carry
at.
on distant and daring
of khhlak,
The
local
raids,
Dick Turpin
the Turi equivalent for
The newly-born Turi
the sound, and
and a hammer,
the requisites to enable this
distinction.
by a number of shots
turn comes to be shot
shoes, nails,
is
introduced to
fired over his head, to accus-
prevent him shrinking
Nor does he
when
his
usually have to wait long
ACROSS THE BORDER.
146
for
this,
Waziris,
Jagis
or
ho
tor
ut feiul
is
Zaimukhts and
pretty well
witli
bitterly with the
even a Bangash has to attach to himself a Turi hadraga
safe
an
conduct,
" Malise
word
excellent
who
faithful little ruffian,
what ho
the
And
to violate
most ragged but
for
him from
protects
Give our safe-conduct
most
and
Maiigals,
his neighbours,
all
other Turis.
all
henchman came
to the Granne."
once given, whatever form
safe-conduct
it
takes, is as
exceptional on the Pathan Border, as in the Scotch
Highlands
no greater insult could be put on the Khan or the
clan giving
Plowden
it.
a Tuii Malik
tells of
He
is
hospitable, this moss-trooper, even to allowing the
di\ides
and
all
mankind
Turis
into straight
are
Sliiahs
in a
way he
are
Sliiahs
the rest crooked.
straight,
the Turi salute
a finger placed perj)endicularly on the forehead for a straight
man, and a contorted one

is
women
is religious.
The
and crooked men.
To a stranger the question takes a masonic form

is
fell
it.
of the house to wait on strangers, and
He
his cap
was plundered, and
as a hadraga to an Afridi kdfila, which
himself in revenging
who gave
for
crooked man.
If the stranger
well advised, he will give the countersign with a perpendicular
When
Kohat
was
first
annexed, the Turis
were inclined to give trouble, but the
first
and only expedition
finger.
the
district
sent against them, in 1856, found them at once ready to submit.
embassy
Their
how they had

bad
habits
finding
the
themselves
future.
in
made
fallen
regard
British
to
And
good
haste
in
to
to
with
" after
explain
evil
their
counsellors,
neighbour's
Government protected
behaviour
in
compliments,"
regard
its
to
and acquired
property,
subjects,
but,
bound
those subjects in
they seem to have loyally kept their bargain, acting
heartily with us against the
Kabul Khels
doing a good deal of useful service
in
for
1859
us,
when, besides
they,
like
Major
THE BASE OF THE SUFED KOH.

Dugald Dalgetty, having a knowledge
make some small
to
resisted
the Amir's
demand
of the use of war, failed not
Subsequently they
themselves.
for
profit
147
men and money
for
in 1877,
and
took part with us against the Zaimukhts in 1879.
Westward
of the Turis, again,
and along the
Paiwar to the Shutargardan,^ are the
who
JCigis,
from
hills
differ
but
the
little,
except that they are Sunnis, a reason quite sufficient to account

for the feuds
between the two.
Fine hardy mountaineers, though
and dirty withal, a condition
jjoor,
mode
of
life
liardly separable
from their
and the houses they occupy, or rather share with all
their live-stock,
and a great volume of the rankest smoke from the
pine logs, with which they keep out the rigorous cold of winter
on the upper parts of the
There are other
slopes.
or less importance on either side of the
passing to any particulars of them,
it
Kurram
tribes of
Valley, but before
should not be forgotten that
own.
the tribes just referred to were, a while ago, subjects of our
As
more
noticed already, this was one of the clauses of the treaty of
Gandamak, and when we evacuated the Turi country again in 1880,

They were to have no contheir independence was recognized.
nection with the
own
affairs, to
Amir
of Kabul, but to be free to administer their
keep up some
sort of
an armed
force, to raise
little
tax on their cultivated lands, and, in return for our recognition,
were to take our advice.

soon
through, and
fell
(quarrels
As might be
laid the
expected, this arrangement
foundation for some lively
amongst themselves, which lasted the
1882-83.
of Kabul,
who had
Sometimes
force.
the Jagis, sometimes the Zaimukhts, and
Amir
part of
While, as was almost equally certain, their neighbours
took the opportunity of raiding them in
the
gi-eater
little
when
it
was
the Turis retaliated,
not forgotten his former unsuccessful
attempts to coerce them, complained of their misbehaviour, and

threatened the direst punishment.
So that the
result of our action
has been to leave the Turis very much between the devil and the
^
*'
Camel's neck."
L 2
ACROSS THE BOB DEB.
148
deep
sea.
The moral
is
obvious.
Here
a large
is
tribe, affording
excellent material lor irregular cavalry, with all the elements for
forming a prosperous colony, anxious to be our subjects, and to
whose indepentlence we are pledged, and who,
if
we do not
bring
into our Border again, are likely to have no choice but to fall
midcr the authority of the Amir, or worse

bility,
be
and
so,
in all proba-
lost to us as fighting material for good.
Leather and Horn Powder-flasks from the Kurram Valley.
C"
CHAPTER
XVII.
THE KHATTAKS.
Of
the frontier Pathans there are perhaps few more favour-
all
Brave and industrious, warlike
able specimens than the Khattaks.
and hospitable, they have
showed under a roll
lost
famous
of
none of the best qualities they
tribal leaders,
recorded in the only chronicle of the

to us.
Khans
Ever since they became British

good
uniformly
been
citizens a strong
striking
whose deeds have been

that has
subjects, their record has
instance
Government can make
come down
of
what excellent
out of what, at
first sight,
might appear the most unpromising material.
A
last
tribe
whose importance can be judged from the
census showed
and Kohat
as
districts, of
as eminently
described
it
" fighting
as the
most
numbering some 118,000
fact that the
in the
which a large proportion may be put down

men."
people whose country has been
specially desolate
entire frontier, that of the
and unblessed on the
Southern Khattaks the most
barren mountains, deep, abrupt valleys, with nothing
way of
Peshawur
water, but the brackish torrents that rush
a few forlorn straw huts that do duty
so.
much
Stony,
in the
down them, with
for villages,
whose farm-
steads are represented by an occasional patch of corn on the face
of a
hill,
or
an insignificant green valley
visible
They have no highways, save those made by
from some height.

us,
whose
village
ACEOSS THE BOEDER.
150
roads are mere tracks, straggiiDg over
paths worn out of rocks, always
or
ravines,
est
varied by regions composed

salt.
But
and there a jungle patch.
At Bahadurkhel
made
of crystal,
of
salt,
olive,
their weird valleys are
almost entirely of the
most valuable
a bed of bluish- gray salt estimated to
is
be over 1,000 feet thick and

roads are
and
difficult,
Their forests are a few clumps of wild
occasionally dangerous.
or here
and among the rough-
hills,
In this valley the
miles long.
fifty
the streams are brine, with snowy borders
and where the blocks have only
to
be cut
and
out,
loaded on any beast that can be used as a pack animal.
Khattaks are rather
It is not astonishing, therefore, that the

salt-carriers
and
strength,
more
if
not handsome, not altogether bad looking, with
of the appearance
India,
and
Tall they are, of good stature and
than agriculturists.
and manners of the people of Northern
less like those of
Afghanistan than most PathCms.
In-
veterate gossipers, whatever their occupations, great affecters of the

Eujralis, or village clubs, enthusiastic dancers, noted pipers
pipes would astonish a Highlander, and the dances
Drury Lane.
stir in
are a meat-eating, milk-drinking people, and
They
Their most famous leader wrote
used to be a wine-drinking one.
an ode in praise of
it
Khushhal
"
Khan,
make
the
"
The sun
compared
is
a mere rushlight," declared
to a well-filled goblet "
and they
make
loaves, or rather cakes, excellent in quality, but about the
size of
a waggon wheel.
charge,
they
It is said
a shocking but not uncommon
do not always speak the truth, but they are hospit-
able and festive, ready to kill the fatted

sheep, for the Britisher
luck."
And even
who
the salt
Pathan cake, possibly
from
go and take his chance of
will
under
They have probably had more
There
is
"
pot-
carrier will produce a dark slab
invitation to the traveller to " stay
world than most
or rather the fat-tailed
calf,
his
and
pack-saddle,
with
of
an
eat."
quarrels with their surrounding
of their neighbours,
which
is
saying a good deal.
hardly a neighbouring tribe or clan with
whom
at one
1;
THE
KITA TTA KS.
With the Bangash on the
Khattak has not fought.
time the
north, for a while their allies in the
most severely contested battle
Kohat
district,
they had the
and again with the Niyazis of Isa
On
Khel, and Mianwali on the south.
the west they had
many
combat with the Waziris, while the Marwats are
a murderous
"
their hereditary enemies.

"
15
Friendship
with any one but a Khattak
is
good," say the latter,
may the devil take a Khattak
"
and both they and the Bannuchis have several most uncomplimentary proverbs against them.
Three times have they warred against
the Afridi, and for a century or so the Khattak was the bitterest
enemy
of all the Yusafzai tribes.
The
Peshawur
battles of the
Valley between Khattak and Yusafzai are like the historic quarrels
between the Percys and the Douglases, they were fought out
the
At
death.
Misri
Yusafzais lost a
number
of their chief maliks, or
Khattaks their great leader Yahiya
Sometimes
cf their
own
hills,
sometimes they were in
across the plains of Peshawur.
Yusafzais
traveller
was a
fair
victim
the freebooters
full
Under
till
the party should be
if
who
the firm rule of our Government,
enough
all
busy themselves with their own

tilling
to resist,
changed.
this has
tribe or clan,
still
smoulder,
to individual
acts
of
In the main, the Khattaks of the nineteenth century
vengeance.
and
roads
to attack.
of old wrongs
they are carefully restrained, or confined
to tlie foot
infested the
weak enough
among themselves the remains
the
cry after the flying
The Khattaks have now neither war nor feud with

and
In those days every
are spoken of as either avoiding a party strong

or watching
Khans
and many of his kindred.
was the Khattaks who were beaten back
it
to
Banda, a sort of Pathan Otterburn, the
affairs, their salt carrying,
trading
while the hot youth to a great extent take service in
the British army, and are reported capital soldiers.
Their national dance has already been referred to as a special

characteristic.
Any
sufficient excuse.
assembly, or occasion for rejoicing, furnishes
It is
danced by a number of
men
with drawn
ACHOSS
152
THE BOTiDER.
swords to the music of the Surnai, or flageolet, and drums, round a

hugfe blazino-
the
swords
enemies
First slow
fire.
alternately
and measured movements
waved on
high
or
cutting
to time,
imaginary
then gradually becoming quicker, the music more spirited
the dancers shouting their war-cry;
finally
they revolve
like a
band of demons, their swords gleaming, their songs more exciting,
Khattak Horsemen
till
ill
the whole party
is
exhau.sted.
particular sanctity, the
Kaka
in
Chain Armour.
One
Khels,
section of the tribe
who
at Naushera,
is
a noteworthy place of pilgrimage and the scene of
many
of the
of the
country, and
di-stant wilds of
is
Kaka Khels
more
Afghanistan,
held
are the descendants
of the great Khattak saint, Raliimkai, whose shrine
The reputation
is
miracles.
extends far beyond that part
or less of a talisman
Another only
less
away
in the
noted section are
THE KHATTAKS.
153
the Fakir Khels, the descendants of the elder brother of the noted
Khushhal Khan the
retired
from the world at the
Curiously, the eldest son
of the saint.
instigation
who
first,
Khan, Sir Khwaja Muhammad,
the late
of
has, in a similar way,
become an
ascetic.
Perhaps the most marked peculiarity of
is
all,
the power of
who among the Khattaks,
the hereditary Khans, or tribal chiefs,
in contrast to the intensely radical feeling
among Pathans
generally,
always seem to have possessed exceptional influence, and to have
In many
been looked up to as the real leaders of the people.

cases they exercised, and
continue to exercise, distinctly feudal
still
Of waste and uncultivated lands they claim ownership,
rights.
take from cultivators a share of the jDroduce or cash rents, and

levy a percentage on the salt trade.
arms
for
to take the field
some time
The
result
history of the doings of
is
Pathan
summer
came down from the

fell
in
Lukman, suggested
choice,
When
As the
be
that
but Lukman,
all
notice.
their
In the good old times
name.
of
Bannu, near the
retreat of the Waziris, four brothers
hills for
it
The brothers
and unable
by one of themselves,
a hunting trip in the plains, where
with four Pathan young women, from their dress
evidently maidens.
for a wife.
told
way almost the only
Shwal Valley, west
tribe lived in the
Ghul peak, now
they
chiefs,
its
Khans has a
rather a characteristic, though familiar, story as to the
way the Khattaks came by
when the
the tribes to
under one leader.
rallied
and being in
worthy of more than a passing

There
to
Khattaks
that the chronicle of the Khattak
special interest of its own,
is
call
themselves naturally taking the lead, and
at least, all the
is,
They could
ladies
came
near, the eldest brother,
would be high sport

agreed,
and proposed
to sieze
to
draw
as senior, claimed the right of
to see their faces, selected the
one each
first
lots
for
choice,
one most gaily dressed.
were appropriated and examined, Lukman's prize proved
old, shrivelled,
and
"
disappointing exceedingly."

ACROSS THE BORDER.
15-i
"The youth was by her
He
The
her
lifted
veil,
veiled face
and
seem
three remaining ladies
to
have had their
Lukmaa
good looks, and though pride compelled

selection, the
joke went against him.
had Pa Khatta larye

equivalent for "
Khatta
putting his foot in
This Pathun
transpired to be Sabaka,
"
but withal intelligent

of the other damsels a
fate,
somehow they
says the '
own
notes,
all his
Khan
all
"
'
his
to stick to his
and ever
is
after,
the Pathan
mud
the
known
belongings, for they were
elderly ugly daughter
'
whose name
of a dark complexion and stout figure,
had at
least
two sons by Lukman, and each
numerous progeny
came
to
though by the irony of
be called Khattaks.
of high renown,"
which
it,"
share of
full
was suggested that he
It
got into the mud," which
"
stuck to him, and
as Khattaks.
fine apparel gulled.
and chanced on his grandam."
At
least,
Khushhrd the Khattak.
grandson embodied
in
so
in his
the Tarikli-i-Mimisa,
or "the bejewelled chronicle."
the settlement in Shwfd, the tribe emigrated eastward to
From
what
is
now
the British district of Bannu, where they found two
other kindred tribes, the Honai and the Mangalai,

A.D.
had taken possession of the
valley, after it
who about 1150

had been pretty
well depopulated by a century and a half of ravages by
and
his
Ghaznavi
successors.
Mahmud
After a while, say about 1300 A.D.,
followed the closely related family of Shitaks,
who
driving off the
Honais and Mangalais, settled down amicably with the Khattaks,

and
for
Kurram
some time shared the lands between two branches

river,
where
is
now the cantonment
of
of the
Edwardesbad.
Shortly the Khattaks found they needed more elbow-room, and
extended themselves eastward again.

to the Shitaks,
who became
Leaving the Bannu country
the ancestors of the Banuchis, or rather
furnished the original stock for
all
the subsequent mongrel grafts,
they spread themselves gradually and surely east and north.
townrds Junoghar, "the Virgin's peak," or Kafir Kot, "the
Up
infidel's
";
THE KHATTAKS.
155
stronghold," as tradition variously describes a mass of pre-eminent
peaks, that in the distance might well be mistaken for the outline
of
to the Teri valley,
some huge impregnable castle up
still
the chief settlement of the western branch
south and east of what
Bungash
Koh
is
now
the Kohat
ard
finally
uniting with the

of the Sufed
reducing the country as far as Nihlb, the
In the main
water" of the Indus near Attock.
branches of the Khattaks hold these lands
is
over the whole
district,
up Tirah and the spurs
to drive the Orakzai
which
the
"
blue
different
and subsequently
still,
Malik Ako, the contemporary of the Mughal Akbar, extended them

to the south-east part of the
Peshawur
district,
where he founded
Akora, the present capital of the division.

This Malik Ako,
was perhaps the

the founder of
among
who
first
the foundations of Khattak fame,"
" laid
recognised
Khan
a line of chiefs,
who
any consequence, and
of
way
in one
or other are
Ako seems
the most famous of the Border Pathans.
to
When Akbar
have been a shrewd, as well as valorous warrior.
returned from Kabul, and founded the Fort of Attock, he found

the road from Naushera to the Indus a terror to travellers, and in
durbar appointed the Khattak
chief,
whose people were certainly
not the least of the terrors, a sort of Warden of the Marches, offering
him
jealous
said, "
But the Malik
title.
instead let
tax " he called
me
to
it,
No,
lest
my
impose a transit duty on
be shared by the
tribe.
tribesmen
cattle."
The
An
be
" ear
ear tax soon
and a land tax
extended to ferry dues, a well
tax, a house,
finally to a royal grant of the
country from Naushera to the Indus.
He
built a serai for travellers,
had aught
in the morning,
it
salt,
and entertained
was
all
liberally.
expended by the evening
but whether he kept the road clear of freebooters
He
undoubtedly cleared
it
of
Hindu
showed Akbar two large earthen jars

of the jogis
put to death
^
fakirs
is
Hindu mendicant
he
;
not so certain.
and their kind,
full of earrings,
for declining to
All Older of
" If
for
he
from the ears
become Muhamraadans.
priests.
A CROSS^ THE BORDER.
56
have made no other calculation of the numbers put
" I
to death,"
said he.
He
at least, held their seigniories
and his successors, nominally
under the Delhi Emperor, and though each chief seems to have
ruled a goodly
number
murdered by some
half a
poet
to
"
Ako,
relative.
century 1550
calls,
of years, they were in the end generally
to
instance, ruled for over
for
1600 but
in spite of Avhat a
wielding the silvery blade,"
viz.,
spending his money
win men's hearts, he was eventually killed by
His
Yilhiya,
son,
" of
lofty
and
stature
Khattak
in
own
his
due
clan.
brave,"
ratio
enjoyed about twenty years of power and of feuds, before he

fell
fighting the Yusafzais.

" in
talents,
killed
after
His grandson Shahbaz, a
bounty Hatim's peer," but undoubtedly

twenty-one years of
man
cruel,
of
was
in
a foray with robbers,
all,
Ako's great-grandson,
rule,
1G41.
came the most famous
Then
Khushhill,
who
stands out
a warrior, a poet of some
contributed to
is
tlie
in the armies of
rewarded.
He
man who
His
of
spirit,
period
for
some education, who
of high renown."
He
served
by Aurangzebe, that monarch had
and send him back
in
state, as
the only
could restore and maintain order on the northern Border
however, was broken by his imprisonment, though some
and shortly
many
of
though he was subsequently seized
six years
again,
in favour of his sons

for
Khan
best and most spirited
his
man
repressed the Yusafzais and other tribes raiding
and imprisoned
him out
skill,
distinguished as
his fellows,
Shah Jehan, by whom he was honoured and
the Peshawur Valley, and
to let
among
history of his people, and who, as a chief,
referred to as " the
still
of
odes were composed during this
after his return,
and grandsons.
he retired from public
He
lived
affairs
in his retirement
years, and died in 1809 at the age of seventy-six, his
dying request, that he might be buried where
"
the dust of the
his
hoofs of the Mughal cavalry could not light upon his grave,"
THE KHATTAKS.
insult the ashes of him, at
quailed
his son
whose name, whilst in
and by whose sword, and that of
best troops had been scattered
one
of
began to rule in 1659, the year
Mughal
years
1682
of his grandfather,
tastes
his clansmen,
their
Asraf
fifty-seven
who
was seized by
after his father
was the ruling chief
to
1741
inherited
all
the
for
literary
and was the author of a history of
the Khattaks from which this sketch
In his time, however, a
they
1682, and eventually finished by dying
Afzal, a grandson,
prison.
sixty
nearly
till
out
it
life,
like chaff before the gale."
some twenty-four, Raverty says
Aurangzebe, continued
in a
might seek
"
enemies
last resting-place concealed, lest his
and
157
is
split occurred.
taken.
One
son
who
did not
get on well with his father, established himself at Teri, which
from
time became an important place, and a
that
chieftainship.
separate
small section had previously split up in Ako's
time and moved down to
Shakardarra, where
they established
and became known as the Sagri Khattaks.
themselves,
For a
while the Teri chief was subordinate to the elder branch, residing
at Akora, but
when
Akora overlordship was
Valley, the
came
the Sikh invasions
entirely
Peshawur
into the
broken up, only a
few petty
Khans surviving the wreck.
practically
unaffected,
tinguished
Khans, the chieftainship passed by regular descent
to
and through a
The Teri Valley was
line of three or
the worthy representative of his race,
Nawab
Born
steady
Sir
Khwajah Muhammad Khau.
in
1824, Sir
distinguished for his
During the second
he rendered conspicuous assistance to our force at

fly
for his life.
were equally marked in 1857, and from
race,
Afghan
he has
died,
Government.
the risk of having to
recent
just
Khwajah was always
loyalty to the British
War
Sikh
who has
four dis-
troubles.
The head
as Macgregor wrote
different ways, never
faltered
in
Again
his good services
first
to last, during all
of a warlike
"
and turbulent
though tried in a hundred
his
allegiance."
In 1873 he
ACROSS THE BORDER.
158
was made a Nawab and a
K.C.S.I.,
and until a few months
ago, he lived in undisturbed enjoyment of his well-earned dignity,
a fine example of a gallant, courteous, hospitable, faithful Border
Pathan
chief,
coming of a
tinguished than
story.
many a
stock, in their way,
line
of heroes
hardly
chronicled in
less dis-
Western
CHAPTER
XVIII.
PATHAN HIGHLANDS AND HIGHLANDERS.
When
our Border policy
is
sufficiently
advanced
road between two positions as important as
we have
so far tested the " kindly
Dawar
venture to look into the
on a
to insist
Bannu and
Thai, and
feeling " of the Waziris as to
some other
Valley, which, with
items of communication and exploitation to be referred to anon,
may
fairly
be described as necessary complements of any policy
worth the name, a
little
further prospecting might with advantage
be done in the adjoining valley of Khost.

rather than an amphitheatre of
the Kurram, and
known
as the
is
really
hills, it
road leading out of the one from

it
its
still
more
difficulty,
several officers
seems
by a branch
to Thai,
would be the
can be entered from the Upper Dawar
miles long, not
from the west.
and some of our troops
known about
to be
so
it
Kurram Valley, and,
Though
in
it
broad, but quite as fertile as
rice,
and pasturage
wheat, and tobacco, which
to
visited
by
much more
Some
than about the Dawar.
afford plenty of timber, fuel,
good
was
1879, not
watered by three streams branches of the Shamil

to
latter,
This,
exit.
Bannu
circle,
between Dawar and
lies
Valley, past the village of Darpakhel, from the
with
by a
in
open only where a branch of the
Shamil River, makes
natural approach, but
Shut
forty
the Kurram,
it
is
reported
produce very
the Khostwals trade into
ACROSS THE BORDER.
160
Bannii
and large
the people about as mongrel a lot
They have no very
Dawaris.
are
force
and
is
excellent,
as their kindred Bannuchis and
large villages, but
well-to-do, paying
numerous and
many
small ones
to
no revenue to any one, save
troops have been able to get so far and collect
when the Kabul

by
The climate
tûantities of asbestos.
it
do this the Kabul forces have either to come by
Ghazni and the Jadran highlands, or the Maugal country.

referred to as a tribe whose in-
The Jadrans have already been

dustry
Khan
proverbial and whose country
is
describes
is
Hyat
particularly blest.
as consisting of "beautiful mountains, the rich
it
green slopes watered by numerous torrents and shaded by dark
where
fruit-trees of
and invigorating"
many
sorts
grow
readily,
and the
just the place that Bannu

Nevertheless,
for a sanitarium.
the needs of the tribe, which
would
firs,
is
fresh
like to
have
air
does not produce enough for
it
the same
author estimates, but
probably over-estimates, at 15,000 fighting men; or possibly, like
some other highlanders, they consider the noblest prospect is the

high road to British territory, for they come in large numbers every
Not
year to seek employment.

tion between the
Mangals and the Ghilzais necessitates their being
always ready to fight

customs,
an
is
ox, to
be eaten in
full
discredit.
be fined
from Mangalai or North- West
pretty strong probably 8,000 fighting
on the southern side of the
ings with
is liable to
tribal assembly.
possibly hailing
who muster
the Paiwar
least curious of their tribal
and not the
one ruling that an unarmed Jadran
The Mangals
China,
naturally quarrelsome, their posi-
Kurram
Valley,
men
and hold a tower on
are not very well known, nor have we had many deal-
them
but the
little
that
is
known
is
mainly to their
Both they and the Zaimukhts made every use
opportunities to harass the communications of the
of their
Kurram
force
under General Roberts, at times causing
considerable anxiety.
Their particular function seems to be
though they have no
scruple about
murder when a
theft,
safe opportunity offers.
Opposed
to
161
anything like organised attack, they would be insignificant in

every way, while they can be easily coerced either from the Jadran
highlands or from the Upper Kiirram,
The Zairaukhts, on the other hand,
are stalwart highlanders
physically fine-looking, powerful men, comparing in this respect
very favourably with the Turis adjoining.
Samil in
there
politics,
is
no great love
Sunis in creed and
between them and
lost
either Turis or Bangash, but their relations with both are peaceful,
compared
between their own two chief
to the quarrel
These number about 2,000 fightmg
men
each
and
sections.
afford a
good
instance of a tribal feud, which, beginning about the possession of
a village commanding a small stream, has lasted

so bitterly that, to a great extent,
of
what
trianofle
is
naturally
it
country.
fertile
for forty years
has prevented the development
Roughly speaking, a
drawn between the towns of Hanofu, alonsf the Miranzai
Valley to Thai, and thence by the
Kurram
to Ibrahimzai, with
the Zawaghar hills for a base, v/ould include the whole of the
Zaimukht country.
separates
hills
along the base of the triangle, which
them from the Orakzais,
exceeding 9,000
is
The
feet,
rises in places
a height
to
and up among the higher glens in the centre
a collection of hamlets called Zawo, the chief stronghold of the
tribe,
by them considered impregnable
until, to
punish them for
their raids on our lines of communications already referred
to,
General Tytler went there in 1879, and occupied not only Zawo,
but the ridge above, destroying the settlements of one
The
principal
terraced
Zaimukht
fields, lie
villages, often pleasantly situated
up among the
section.
among
precipitous and rocky spurs
peaks and ridges that are thrown
off this part of the
Sufed
the
Koh
Range, are as a rule here somewhat barren of timber, save a

few stunted oak and wild
is
plentiful,
and but
would possess great
olive.
for the
In the glens and valleys water
feuds of
the people,
possibilities for cultivation
the country
and development.
Before going on to the more powerful mountaineers
who hold
"
ACROSS THE BORDER.
162
the upper slopes of the range, the petty settlement of Chamka:]nies,
dropped in amongst them, deserves a passing word of notice
people described by Belle w as originating in a heretical sect of
own country by
Persian Islamites, driven out of their
constant
persecution on account of their peculiar religious ceremonies and
One
immoral proceedings.
of the stories against
altogether without a savour of the " Love Feast
England
sects in
of
"
them
not
is
more modern
and consisted in putting out the
lights at a
stage of the religious performances, in which both sexes joined

indiscriminately,
The Persians
prieties.
Or-mur ;
new
and which was the signal

called
possible impro-
Chiragh-kush} and the Pathans
it
have turned over a
but the Chamkannies, however,
for
and become orthodox Muhammadans.
leaf,
Those settled in the western part of the Kurmana Valley are

sometimes associated with the Orakzais, albeit the
guishers
"
are in every
from
occurring
Kanigoram
way a
"
lamp
extin-
distinct race, little colonies of
Kabul and
the Peshawar Valley to
them
down
to
in the Waziri country.
East of the Zaimukhts, and along the southern slopes of the
Koh
Sufcd
as far as the
Kohat Pass
Lower Miranzai on the south and the

the north,
is
the Orakzai country
home
of one of the
some
respects,
inaccessible
must be understood
in
for
Gdr and
more
spoken of as Tirah,
restricted area
the
fanatical, and, in
of our immediate Border
or
tribes,
though usually referred to as one,
an ethnographical and not a
Their six main divisions are

variously
to a
most numerous, powerful,
rather group of tribes
on
BiU-a River watershed
sometimes
though the name belongs properly
and between the
Afridis,
split
Scirnil in politics
up
into
and their
it
political sense.
many
parties,
are
intertribal warfare,
which has often furiously raged between the Tirah Sayuds and
Sunnis, formed the subject of a special report to Government by
Cavagnari.
^
"Lamp
Some
sections in a great
extingiiislier."
measure are dependent on

"
" Fire extinguisher.

British territory
others but slightly so
many
One, the Daulatzai, has committed
easy.
and
1G3
reprisals are not
acts of hostility
and against the Bizoti and Rubia Khel clans special expeditions
have been undertaken, while some of the most numerous have so
as a body would hardly be

it
Any
never given any serious trouble.
far
were
possible,
make up a
together the different elements that go to
men
fine
mountaineers
qualities,
doubtful
and tliough opinions
are
robust,
differ
as
by descent they arc Pathans
if
much
but
wiry-looking
their martial
to
they admittedly shoot very straight.
are probably not
It is
if
more than
not better, they
worse than their neighbours in the Pa than
Macgregor says
and cruelty.
qualities of deceit, avarice,

is
they
the Afridis,
as
fighting
As a body, though not
strength estimated at over 25,000 men.
such
them
the infidel, would unite
of plunder or hatred of
lust
relations with
and probably nothing, unless
" there
no doubt that, like other Pathans, they would not shrink from
any falsehood, however
atrocious, to gain
buy
the foulest deed
their services
for
revolting kind would

less foe, as
mined
much
mark
On
resistance."
cruelty of
their actions to a
as cowardice
Money
an end.
the
wounded
could
most
or help-
would stamp them against deter-
the other hand
it
must not be forgotten
that they have been embittered by centuries of bitter religious

feuds and the influence of fanatical teachers
a Government of
superstition
any decent
to
tight
whom
hand
They
second nature, but
who under a
transformed into a soldier ranking with the best
in our native army.

is
What we
call
"
wonderful forbearance," to
a mere excuse for further misbehaviour, while
prompt punishment has a magical

conducted.
place being supplied by
are certainly not worse than the Afridi
these crimes are

is
these people
they have never had
and they do not understand our theory of tolerance
or non-interference.
sort, its
What
effect in pulling
up the worst
they would understand, and in time appreciate,
would be a strong government
and once brought under
thi^,
ACROSS THE BORDER.
1G4
transform a troublesome set of neighbours, torn by
slioulJ
Ave
crushing feuds,
prosperous
stalwart highlanders to
draw upon.
Tirah, in
its
into
restricted
Valley above Torabela;
same
n!id
river,
above Hissar
sense,
people
another
includes the
reserve
of
main Bara River
the Orakzai, or southern branch of the

;
the Khanki River Valley, above Sidurra,
the Kurmana, above Khazina.
When
it
is
understood that
^#:
An
all
Orakzai.
these rise pretty near to one another, and the
first
past Peshawur into the Kabul River, the third into the
two flow
Kohat
toi
near Hangu, and the fourth into the Kurram near Ibrahimzai
that this comprises an area of about 700 square miles, Avith an
altitude, fur the
situation
most
between
part,
and advantages
will
5,000
and 6000
of these, including the valleys of Raigal and Maidan,

'
"Stream."
feet,
The
bo m(jre easily realized.

is
its
first
occupied
PATEAN HIGHLANDS AND HIGHLANDERS.

by Afridis
the other three, and the smaller ones that open into
them, by Orakzais,
the low
many
of
summer and
quarters every
into
165
hills,
whose tribes and clans vary their
winter,
coming down with their flocks
and often into
British territory, during the
All are more or less shut in by wild and pre-
latter season.
cipitous hills, the crests often covered with magnificent oak
pine forests
especially
this the case
is
and
on our immediate border.
The Zawaghar and the Sammanoghar, which bound the Khanki

on the Miranzai
Valley
Southern Bara,
the
a strong
one or two
separates
this
To say that they
it.
somewhat weak
to use a
is
9,000 and 7,000
over
rise
feet
from the
over 8000 feet and rises 5000 directly above
is
Khanki River below
access
Pass
side,
The Muzzeoghar, which
respectively.
figure
are difficult of
of speech.
The XJblan
position six miles from Kohat, and the scene of
the Bizoti clan
against
affairs
is
over 4000
feet
high, while below, the Southern Bara sweeps round the b?.S3 of
Mulloghar, a spur 7,000 feet high, almost directly opposite,

situation
it
Spartans to
would hardly be necessary
make
have three hundred
to
There are two or three passes
a Thermopylae of
or paths further on, practicable for very little
but when crossed, the real

beginning
for
the
main
of rich, fertile basins
there
form
proportionately
On
the
" waists,"
difficulties
valleys are split
by
bold,
affording
beyond laden oxen,
of advance would only be
up
splendid
natural
formidable obstacles to the
opposite
side
into a succession
rugged spurs, which here and

defences
passage
and
of troops.
the approaches are through the Afridi
territory.
Higher up, these valleys broaden out and become extensive,

almost open highlands; the
basin of nearly
Kurmarna Valley
200 square miles
is
estimated as a
frequently terraced
succession of fields, and dotted with hamlets and towers.
into
Well
wooded, abundantly watered, producing in plenty apples, pears,

grapes,
and
most
fruits,
variety of
vegetables and
excellent
ACEOSS THE BORDER.
166
timber.
winter,
And if to
the summer
less, as far as
a poorly-clothed Orakzai
climate
is
seems cold in
it
described as delicious.
the British Government
Neverthe-
concerned, the valleys of
is
Tirah might be as those in the kingdom of Amhara, from which

Rasselas found
so
it
though we have more
escape,
difficult to
excuse for knowing something of the
inside,
than the Prince of
Abyssinia had for surveying mankind " from China to Peru."

so long ago the Quartermaster-General of India excused
want of
information, on the ground that " though the furthest point
more than eighty miles from the cantonments
of
Not
not
is
Peshawar
or
Kohat, though the inhabitants are constantly to be met with in

our
territory, its
form one of the largest sections of our
tribes
frontier neighbours,
and
of frontier business
nothing of
regarding
This
it."
is
its politics
one of the most important items
any value has yet been recorded
perhaps not quite
ventured into Lower Tirah in 1872,

censured
a native,
Agha Abbas,
Captain Tucker
literal.
for
which he was severely
has written an account of
it
and
one surveyor, disguised as a native, and associated with Pathan

Shikaris,^ reached points
was able
to
map
from which he could overlook
Another attempt
a part of Maidan.
it,
and
to reach
points from which the Bara Valley could be overlooked failed, and
though British
them
still
be said
to
officers
have surveyed
all
round
it,
the inside
is to
Definite information cannot therefore
teroâ incognita.
have been yet advanced very
Highlands or Highlanders.
^
Iluutcrs.
far in the
matter of these
CHAPTER
XIX.
A PATHAN SURPRISE.
In
" Piffer
"
parlance " the tribes were out," aud this in a
frontier station always
Al-
meant some additional excitement.
though the sentries had been
doubled no
officer's
verandah was
without one or two, and patrol parties moved promiscuously about

with buckshot cartridges handy
of a wily
mess.
there was always
the off chance
Pathan getting a snap shot at any one going home from
The
walls of
Kohat Fort were the subject of constant
attention on the part of certain tribesmen,

their evenings in long range practising at
who seemed
any exposed
to
spend
part,
and
must have remained with a perpetual bead drawn on the opposite

embrasures, in the hopes of eventually catching an unwary passer by.
Outside of the cantonment limits no road was safe without an escort,
keep a pretty smart look-out when passing

The trouble was mainly with the Orakzais, some
and travellers had

outlying
hills.
to
whose clans had taken
of
joining their border.

fired
on,
Force.
adjacent villages
on the country ad-
were pretty constantly
and although the raiders bolted as soon as they were
attacked in turn,
had been
The
to frequent raiding
it
killed or
was seldom before one
wounded.
word compoimdea fram the
Unprotected
or
two of the
villagers
cattle were, as a
initial letters of the old
matter
Punjab Irregular Frontier
ACROSS TEE BORDER.
168
of course, promptly carried off into
tlie
Becoming bolder
liills.
the raidera had recently succeeded in surprising

posts
some
police out-
one or two policemen had been cut down, others carried
and detained.
misunderstanding, advanced too far into the

the steep ground
among
Ublan
the
spurs,
unsuccessfully, having lost one officer and
many wounded.
besides
Com-
small force sent out under the Deputy
missioner's orders to retaliate, had, owing to
The most
off
some unfortunate
hills,
got involved in
and had
to
come back
some dozen men
killed,
unsatisfactory feature of the
whole business was that the leading offenders belonged to a most

insignificant
clan;
though holding a position of such natural
strength, successful operations against
an extensive
In
scale.
fact,
absolutely secure, and traded

time, to take out an
lifters
the
them must
Bizotis
upon the
At the same
supposition.
army against a handful
themselves
of professional cattle-
and thieves seemed a veritable breaking of a
wheel.
The Ublan Pass
and they were

to a clan with
strictly
affair
was too serious
no trade
to lose,
run down from their summer

fight,
and
to
fly
on the
be overlooked,
blockaded, but this wâs a small punishment
who sowed
lower valleys, and went away to Tirah
necessarily be on
fancied
till
hill station in
it
a rice crop in their
ripened
who
could
twenty-four hours for
disperse to the four winds again in half that time.
Their winter settlements, though really only an hour's ride from
Kohat, were on the other side of a formidable range of
approached by a horse-shoe shaped pass, in which
all
hills,
the nails
represented positions for riflemen, and the centre lowest point to
be crossed, a
lip
4,000 feet high.
On
this stood the
towers, from which the Bizotis could

gai-rison, pretty nearly as effectually as
the tribes generally.
Kotal or watch
watch the doings of the
Kohat
A decent look-out on
is
supposed to do for
this tower, with the as-
sistance of a goodly supply of spies in the bazaar, kept the villages
of their valley nearly as well informed of the garrison doings as
the commandant himself.
The
rest of the
Orakzais professed the
A PATHAN SURPRISE.
part of good-natured friends
169
they were ready to ride with the
hounds, but not to assist in catching the hare, and resisted
made
efforts
to induce
expedition requires
them
money, and the possible

lot of
lives
to
An
to coerce the refractory Bizotis.
much more than
a good reason,
it
needs the
to the probable expenditure of a lot of
Government
sanction of
the
all
loss of
many
lives
rush the Ublan KotrU.
it
might
Still
easily cost a
was evidently
it
necessary to adopt some more active and potent measures than the
blockade, and as
was already February, anything
it
The Deputy Commissioner and the commanding
ponement.
therefore, determined
scheme
done
Delay would have meant indefinite post-
must be done promptly.
officer,
to be
to surprise
secret, that, until
to try,
and cast about
frame a
to
the Bizotis; and so well did they keep the
the whole train was laid,
it
was not suspected
even by the garrison.
was arranged that on a certain day a
It
from Peshawar,
a part towards the
force should
Aka Khel
move out
country,
and
so
attract the attention of the tribes to possibilities in that direction
the remainder into the Kohat Pass, and create some
At
there.
Kohat
to discuss business,
maining a few days to

all in
the
commanders
which they found necessitated their
settle
of
regiments
in
Kohat received
after dinner.
was
and play a
Just before midnight the

directed
mountain battery ready

were to be warned.
to
proceed
to
for service; half
At the same
little
officer
confidential
sound.
all
quiet rubber
commanding the
fort
and get
the
an hour
later the
men
the
time two regiments of native
infantry were paraded, and at one o'clock, a third

single bugle
it
Finally
and one night, towards the end of February, they
to dine at the garrison mess,
re-
was aroused,
so that if suspicion
the direction of the Afridis and the pass.
instructions,
artillery
diversion
the same time the pass Afridis were brought into
was
came
little
all
without a
Meanwhile, a regiment of Punjab cavalry
had quietly formed a cordon round the town, and prevented any
ACROSS THE BORDER.
170
one entering or leaving

stopped
At
all
it;
and police pickets had taken up and
the points by which a footman might enter the
1 A.M. the
hills.
Deputy Commissioner and the commandant, with a
body of picked men, and certain
chiefs
of the
friendly
clans,
followed by a mountain battery, two regiments of infantry and
some dozen
of
mule loads
ammunition, maJe straight
of
for the
According to the programme, the friendly chiefs were
pass.
to
be
put forward to square the sentries while the police rushed in and
them but
seized
so little
was anything suspected, and
so confident
the Bizotis of the strength of their position, that they had entirely
neglected this precaution, and the watch had actually gone into
Kohat
Quiet possession of the Kotal was therefore
for a spree.
taken, the troops brought
up
in the dark to the crest of the ridge,
and by dawn had moved down on one of the principal Bizoti

villages.
The
friendly chiefs,
who had been
let
go a quarter of
an hour ahead to warn the villagers against resistance, seemed to

think
it
was but
do a turn
fair to
for their
own
people,
and were
energetic in spreading the alarm, so that by the time the troops
arrived at the
fii'st
big village, the
women and
ing out of one end, and the fighting

other.
were streamfire
first to fall.
The
surprise
was complete, but
have attempted a further advance would have been
heavy
been
at the
It was, however, taken at a rush, the leaders of the offend-
ing faction being the

to
cattle
men had opened
loss of life
sufficiently
with no proportionate gain.
sharp and severe
live-stock captured, the
whole of the
The
village,
cover of their
fire
had
with the exception of
lost pretty heavily in killed
The mountain guns were
lesson
a large number of cattle and
the mosque, was completely destroyed, and the Bizotis,

bravely enough, had
to risk
who fought
and wounded.
therefore brought into action, and under
the force returned, and were in Kohat
within twelve hours, with the loss of three
Nothing probably could have more
men
agam
killed.
effectually disabused these
troublesome neighbours of their fancied security against punish-
A PA THAN SURPRISE.
nieut
doubt
it
was
all
to
them a genuine
it
more than
if
By
surprise,"
and there
is
no
a big expedition had been successfully
undertaken against them.

great.
Pathan
envied such a stroke of luck, and
the tribes round
apjDreciated
"
171
The
effect, at
any
rate,
was equally
the end of March, their jirgahs^ had come in and
agreed to pay a fine of Rs. 1,200, to give nine of their principal
headmen
as hostages fur future good behaviour,
their swords at the feet
and had
laid
down
of the Deputy Commissioner, a young man
whose name was Cavagnari.

^
The
tribes
Tribal Councils.
were quiet again.
CHAPTER
XX.
KOHAT AND THE FRONTIER FORCE.
ncTURESQUE town among

background.
ecjually
fields,
and shallow pebbly streams, with ranges of blue
orchards
for a
water-courses and wheat
To the
east
rugged Jawaki Afridis.
hills
the rugged mountains of the
Rising steep up, almost close
behind the Kctdl, over which the pass leads through the Gallai
Afridi country to Peshawur, and the steeper
UHan
pass to the
Westward the Orakzai
still
more
and
the rich Miranzai Valley, seldom without a breeze to
lofty
peaks of Midloghar.
hills
temper
the fierce heats of summer, at times so sharp and biting as to have
made
the Imwju, famous as the very coldest breeze along the Border.
More
to the south rises
Mir Khwaili covered with wild
the range round which the Toi river works through a

of cultivation
towards the Indus.
olive,
and
fertile strip
The foreground dotted with
mulberry groves and gardens, or a group of walnuts and Indian

fig-trees,
marks some more than usually famous
Bahadur, to which the Border Pathan resorts
shrine, like Haji
when he wishes
to
take an exceptionally sacred oath, one more binding than any

court could ever extract from him.
district,
Such
is
Kohat
an oasis in a
bare, barren, and stony more than most.
Alongside the town

the Border
line,
is
the Fort, practically within rifle-shot of
the exact range of spots where any careless
member

might
of the garrison
who have had
the tribesmen,
to
Not
tended practice.
moment
for
from
far
173
expose himself, well
known
opportunities for the most
this,
ex-
the cantonments with two or
three regiments of infantry, one of cavalry, one mountain and one

garrison battery, a total
probably amounting to 3,500 men,
force
belonging entirely to the Frontier
gardens, for there is
little
sentries
pots,
Trim
Punjab,
in the
called
little
they are
with trim, but very
houses,
much
not
" Piffers " as
the
force,
scope for gardening where
have to patrol nightly, keeping a watchful eye on the flower
and anything as big as a gooseberry bush may
to a trans-border scoundrel, intent
on plunder.
afford shelter
little
church, an
assembly room, convertible for either ball or theatricals, a

polo
racket-courts, tennis-courts, cricket-ground,
or its afternoon tea, enjoy
exercise,
from Mudie's
and racecourse,
All within a ring fence, so that society can take
also convertible.
its
its
band
or its last novel
Melpomene, without going
cultivate Terpsichore or
beyond the range of the mess
that garrison mess whose hospitable
doors are open to every one duty or pleasure carries in

It
not the fortune of every one
is
veriest wayfarer
are
possible
Eohat
is
is
gates
the
to Rajanpore.
of the Border people,
No
stranger.
strangers
the Kohat garrison.
of
manned by the
Piffers,
And
from
If hospitality is a reputed characteristic
the
it is
its direction.
be a resident, but the
to
not permitted to be a
within
only a sample of every one
Hoti-Mardan
library,
first
and most scrupulously observed
regulation of the Border grarrisons.
But the
garrison
will
do more than entertain the
they will furnish him with an

best
of sentries.
And
in
escort,
many
traveller,
and surround him with the
parts he
is liable
to
want both
badly, for ruffians on the other side of the line allow no traditions
of hospitality to interfere with business.
life
it is
not profitable to
kill
a sahib
They may not take
there
is
more
his
fuss about
the one English Kcijir than the ninety and nine self-righteous
Pathans
but they will not willingly leave any
of
his
property
ACBOSS THE BORDER.
174
that
movable, while as artists in negotiating this form of ex-
is
change, they are probably
the Commissioner, the camels from the
Governor under the noses of the guard

r;\cks in
To
steal the horses of
camp
of the Lieutenant-
/crciYc princeps.
the Peshawar barracks,
is
or the
merely routine business, nearly
as easy as driving off cattle from the villages, or

trader's only son
who
prefers to
the
out of the
rifles
apple of some
pay up on a receipt of the
boy's ear, to waiting for any of the
abducting the
Hindu's eye, a wretch
fat
dipt from the
first bit
remaining
to gut the
manners a
contents, leaving for
district officer's tent of its entire
To take
pieces.
however, the revolver from under the colonel's pillow
square bit of carpet cut out neatly round his bed or cut a hole in the
;
tent of the sleeping police
only clothes, from
among
the
and carry
and
his wife's,
drowsy constables, are
forms of
officer,
off his,
But
practical joking requiring a proficient hand.
entire
tent,
bristling as
it
the middle of the
pitched in
does with sentries,
who
to carry off an
Kohat cantonment
shoot at sight, was a master-
stroke performed not so long ago.
The
moreover are not as other
sentries of the force
sentries.
Instead of conspicuously walking up and down, in heavy boots, with
a glittering bayonet, a sort of friendly beacon for the Border thief

to
skirmish
the
by,
Piffer
sentries
probably lying
are
jpcrdib
behind a wall, watching for a chance, or in small parties carefully
stalking lively spots where a marauder might be
They
are
pretty certain to be dead shots, their weapons not un-
likely to be loaded with
buckshot in place of
the famous principle of a word and a blow
but to shoot
but
"
first.
There
may
is
quick, and at one time the

to
fall
and
down
to act
and
to challenge
last night,
a not improbable morning
challenged in the dusk on the Border,
tiling
bullets,
on
shoot,
be no addition to the guard-room,
two hudmashes (scoundrels) were shot
got away badly hit,"
safest
flushed.
Peshawur
flat,
it is
and a third
report.
If
always well to speak
tradition held
and then shout
it
to
" friend."
be the
The
KOIIAT
average Piffer sentry
AND THE FRONTIER

is
FORCE.
more discerning than
far
175
to shoot a sahib,
but the guest
may
stray too
about the place to-night, as a couple of patrol
far
tip, "
possibly get a
not to let his servants
parties are starting at dark to cruise about in search of suspected
thought likely to
raiders,
"
would
visit
who came
snipe " the sentry
light heart,
and so the
The
the lines."
raider for his part
at all in his way, with a
latter takes the best
means he can
to get
first shot.
What
do
the sentry does to protect the unit, the Piffers as a body
for the Border, or a
Peshawur
good part of
With the exception
it.
and Quetta, they garrison India's
outposts, are the advance guard of its army.
most
of
important
In every sense they
are a Border force, recruited almost entirely from Border people,
Sikhs, Gurkhas, Punjabi
Muhammadans, Afghans, a few
and a large proportion from the Pathan
The Queen's Own Corps
of the line.
Biloches,
tribes on the other side
of Guides, for instance, a
splendid body of both infantry and cavalry, with permanent headquarters at Hoti Mardan, in the Peshawur Valley, includes
ranks picked trans-border
its
most of the country and the

Tribes
whom we
against
undertake
expeditions,
men from
passes,
familiar with
between the Indus and Kabul.
have, at
and
all parts,
among
with
one
time
whose
or other,
fellow
had to
clansmen we
might at any time have a burst again.

In countries where patriotism
is
exalted as a primary virtue,
the policy of enlisting men, whose duties might involve the carrying
to
of fire
and
sword into their fatherland
march against
village
being
their
fired,
own
who might have
kith and kin, or watch their
would be doubted.
The Pathan
own
Piffer,
if
he has read Dr. Johnson, would probably agree in considering

patriotism that declined
this, "
the last
refuge
of a scoundrel."
Perhaps also he has an opinion in the matter of being

to his salt,"
or
" faithful
a strong sense of military honour, but in the
Frontier force, the policy has always been found to work admir-
ACROSS THE BORDER.
176
altlv.
he
is
He
will
inarch
led,
and
it
anywhere, fight any one against
has been found,
when he
goes
home
whom
again
he carries with him good feehng to the Government, whose power
and resources he has come to know, and exercises a good influence
A Distinguished Guides-man
ill
its
favour
men have
among
actually
own homes. Not

against
Ghuzis.
the
On
still
killed trying to
his
own
peoj)le.
marched against
only
against
more potent
save VVygram Battye
in
Afghanistan.
Over and over again these
their
own clansmen, and
their
fathers
and brothers but even
religious
appeals from the local
one occasion in the Miranzai campaign a native

whose father was on the
officer,
commanding
officer to
hill
to be
177
attacked, urged his
get blood spilt between the troops and the
Ghazis before nightfall, so as to stop any feeling of sympathy that
might
arise.
That before he enters our

villages, stolen
service,
he
may have
our
raided
our horses, shot our sentries, or fought stubbornly
against us, does not
make him any
over to our
Contrariwise, on the plan of setting a thief to
side.
when he comes
the less valuable
make
catch a thief, or turning a poacher inside out to

keeper, a desperate foe sometimes
Not only does the
soldier.
a foeman worthy of his
makes a most
a game-
useful Border
Piffer officer feel that joy in
steel,
he sees in him a possibly
meeting
fine recruit.
While the fight raged fiercest at 'Ali Musjid, a band of horsemen

the Amir's service came under the
in
infantry,
there
the
full
Guides
of the
fire
and suffered so heavily that they had to
But
retreat.
came back one Pathan, and shouted defiance while he took
fire of
half a regiment.
Somehow he was
promptly marked by the eye of the

opportunity to
enlist,
colonel,
not
hit,
who
but he was
took the
first
and turn him into as good a Guide as the
best.
Mr. Rudyard Kipling makes a capital ballad out of another
Guide
recruit,
colonel's mare,
his
lair,
whose
father, a
but spared the
well-known Border outlaw,

life
of the son,
lifted
the
who pursued him
to
from whence the Borderer sent back his own son to be a
trooper in the regiment, to swear on the bread and
the boy with his
life,
salt, to
and to harry the old man's hold
if
guard
such
should be the need.
One thing he does not
give up, but brings with
him
to his regi-
ment, keeps through his service, must have leave to look

resign promotion
thoroughly enjoy
got one
when he
as binding,
to
gratify,
and
looks forward to retiring to
and that his cherished feud.

is
joins,
though
it
after, will
If
he has not
he may inherit one, which may become just

concerns people he has not seen for years,
and hardly knew when he
left
home.
In India, the white
man
ACROSS THE BORDER.
178
Avants leave to get married, lie
much
The black man
a bad station
fortune.
very
he needs a change, or to avoid
is sick,
go home and enjoy a
less frequently, to
has
lost his
mother, or any more conve-
For the
nient relation, has a lawsuit, or a boil as per margin.
Pathan
but
soldier there
for this
regiment,"
or, "
God's sake
let
three
me
purpose he goes,
have
side,
urgent private
Six months,
least."
six weeks, for
Then
my
"
friend of Allah, for
business
if
He
will
what
for
do nothing rash within the Border, there

is
on the other
he does not come back, he has probably met with
misfortune, in the shape of a too

old story of a very
Khan and
ment, who
pressing and
is
Every one knows
it in less."
be nothing too rash for him as soon as he
and
affairs,"
Father of the
the only reason where refusal of leave would
it is
justify desertion.
"
leave.
months at
manage
I cannot possibly
will
only one
is
he must have
class of "
skilful
enemy.
There
is
an
bad blood-feud between two men, Manladin
Isa Khan, uncle and
nephew, both in the same
regi-
same time.
For
could never be allowed leave
at the
years they campaigned together, both were equally ready to fight
the enemies of the Queen, and behaved perfectly, but so bitter
was the
feud, if both
certain,
would come back.
were allowed to go home, only one,

After a while there came
and both unfortunately did got
He
leave.
Isa
Khan
new
it
was
officers,
alone came back.
did not mention that before starting he had got three days off
Khan and
parade and walked from Bannu to Dera Ismail
some 170
miles, to
beg a
flask of
powder from
back,
his former officer,
a crack shot; but he confided on his return, that he never should
have been able to

sahib's
settle
his affair,
" straight shooting
Among
commands
ill
it
not been for
Kuki
Kliels, is a small
the surrounding country for some
Of great
strength,
Norman
powder."
the low hills of the
residence of an ex-Guides-man, a
Ouida.
had
tower which
little distance.
man who would have
keen eye and
iron will
The
rejoiced
who had shared
the sliarp fighting of 18.37 against the mutineers; fought with
179
our troops, against the combined tribes at Ambeyla and the second
Black Mountain expedition
Kashgar
and
to
name
but finally cut his
was open
accompanied the Foisyth Mission to
him
to
honour and
to high
an inquiring
but he stood out,
distinction,
said, " I
he
officer,
The path
to carry out a feud.
knew what real happi-
never
ness was, until I had taken this tower, and could send a bullet
after
my enemy
that
enemy
still.
From
whenever he ventured to show his
dead, the ex-Guides-
is
man
the regimental records of the
volumes of such
the law as
a hero
the difference.
For him
"
could be extracted
Pififers
we understand
We
doubtedly hanged for murder.

villain, millions
him
the most gallant deeds performed
stories, records of
whom
by the men
Unless
face."
probably watches for
the Pathan
hold
is
"
it
would have un-
one murder makes a
not casuist enough to see
not numbers, but fancied obligation,
it is
that "sanctifies the crime."
One more,
which gives
enough, murder from the Pathan
characteristically
soldier's point of view,

"
must
cularly
and
suffice.
evidently
soldier,
a pleasant-faced
almost
something to
he told
me
say,
Pathan,
but
man, who
so I asked
his story.
'
him
The other
have served
in
it
he
he
made Subadar.
to
;
and in return
was a Jemadar,
me was
every-
was with
all this frontier.
I liked
have
to
my
it all
There
officers,
and
Recently some virgent family busi-
alluded to the family business in so delicate a way,
might have related

of an
said,
handsome,
seemed
'
iliat
for fifteen ytsars
has never been anything against me.
'
grievance.
of his welfare,
day,'
smartness
his
uniform, and a
no
evidently
through the Afghan campaign, and along
looked to be
from
with
the 1st Punjab Infantry, a regiment
thing.
a parti-
for the day, I overtook
upstanding
good-looking,
salute
my camp
manner that looked an unmistakable
ness
instance,
Riding from Bannu," says the narrator, "just before reaching the
outpost in which was
in
modern
quite
to the
enemy compelled
'
it
birth of a baby, instead of the death
me
to
take
leave
and
go home to
N 2
"
ACROSS THE BORDER.
180
Abazai.
I got four
months' leave, had the best of
man
every arrangement, but the
not come back

impossible for
till
me
he knew
to return,
my
and
and made
rifles,
wanted had gone, and would
leave was up.
was therefore
my
send any letter to
I did not
adjutant, because I thought every day the
It
man would come
back.
Well, sahib, I waited and waited, but he did not come for nearly
The very day he
three weeks.
a httle
'I
managed
And
ment next morning.

luck,
I
here
his eye glistened just
and started back
to
my
regi-
now, surely no one had ever such hard
my name
they have cut
was absent without
my
did,'
to shoot him,
leave.
and broken
am
my
because
service,
sorry about the leave, but
it
man did not come to Abazai sooner.

And, sahib, can you tell me where is the General just now
I am on my way to find him. He is a good man and a just.
Knows the Pathan people, and is certain to see me righted as
soon as he hears my case. * * * And here, sahib, are your
tents. Saldm-a-laikum. May it be well with you.'
was not
fault that the
Beijides the garrisons of
Dera
Abbotabad, Kohat, Bannu, Dera Ismail,
Ghazi, Hoti Mardan, and Rajanpore, the
of
first five
which
are also the head-quarters of civil districts, and the last two, of
civil sub-divisions,
are
also
On
Militia.
there
is
a line of small forts or outposts, which
by the Frontier Force, and the Frontier
garrisoned
the Hazara, Peshawur, and Kohat borders, these are
C(jmparatively few, and held in considerable strength
Bannu and Derajat
borders, they are smaller but
often ten or twelve miles apart, so as to
passes
and
the Piffers are associated
posts are held entirely by the latter.
man
is
different
"
Catch -'em-alive-0,"
from
practice he
is
in
along the
more
command one
with the
frequent,
more
or
militia, or the out-
In Border slang the militiaappearance he
is
not very
those wild moss-troopers already described.
In
a tribesman and a raider, employed to restrain his
fellow tribesmen and raiders from pursuing their trade within our
limits, only furnished
with better weapons of which he
is
proud
KOIlAr
AND THE FRONTIER
though as
in proportion,
His
would
inclination
he
implies,
and bring him
to catch the offender,
with.
name
his
kill,
law to deal
wars or feuds
little
of his own, but this disposition has been sternly, and in the
successfully
He
is
repressed,
so
our
as
far
not a soldier in that he
but
naturally be to utilize
and weapons to prosecute
his superior talents
181
not to
is
in alive for the
course
of
FORCE.
territory
main
concerned.
is
not trained as one, but he has
is
a very intimate knowledge of the country and of the movements
whom
of his friends on the other side, with
not a
little
of which
of
his
he manages to spend
time, and he furnishes capital material out
could be made.
soldiers
Excluding these,
and the
tribal
the Frontier Force
levies,
is
approximately some 15,000 strong^ commanded by a brigadier
up
general,
few years ago under the immediate orders of
to a
the Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab, but
Commander-in-Chief
organizes
its
own
sitated a council of
moment's
war
notice.
There
by any power, no
The
is
is
artillery
under the
own
carriage,
ready to start
emergency that neceswould within a
marching out prepared
probably no more mobile force possessed
whom
soldier of
that power might be more proud.
that have necessarily to some extent
of events
progress
An
its
in KohS,t or similar garrison,
few hours see infantry, cavalry, and

campaign.
directly
transports and commissariat, and
for active service at a
for a
now
Every regiment keeps up
modified the organization of the force, will probably entail some

further
changes
retains
its
orders
of
of
the
the Indian
tion
in
local
not
distant
character,
it
future.
has
by
Commander-in-Chief, become
With the extension
army.
and a more or
remain a
the
distinctive
and
less
Though
essentially a
Border
force.
still
part
of the Quetta posi-
general moving forward,
also a
it
passing under the
it
can hardly
Rajanpore and Dera
The Frontier Force at present consists of four regiments of Punjab Cavalry

the Corps of Guides, Cavahy, Infantry, to which screw guns are to be added ; four
Mouctain Batteries; one Garrison Battery; four regiments of Sikh Infantry; five
regiments of Punjab Infantry
two Battalions of Gurkhas.
^
A CROSS
182
Khan
Ghiizi
have
Piffers
longer Border stations,
are no
moved a couple
THE BOEDER.
the outposts have
many men on detachment at Khur,

and Kot-Muhammad Khan, as remain at regi-
already
Rakhui, Kiugri,
mental head-quarters
as
while heyond again, in the Bori Valley
and Peshin, are stations gamsoned by Bengal regiments.

up, Dera Ismail
a part of
Bannu
its
find
Khan may
shortly find
garrison to Apazai and the
organization,
best
levies could
it
special value,
it
force,
should not be
tribal
entirely passed
but there
is
no
affiliated irregular
For the organization of
special tribal
there can surely be found no agency more suitable than the
men who have
graduated as
its
officers,
and acquired the most
A moderate estimate
intimate acquaintance with the Border people.

places
these changes
appears essentially
The day has
any sense an irregular
in
if
which additional militia and
why to its splendid regiments
ones of excellent militia.

levies,
its
to
be gradually attached.
for considering
reason
or that at
sacrificing the distinctive character of the
because apart from
force,
a way through the Tochi to the Jadran Highlands.
any way involved
the
Higher
necessary, to detach
it
Zhob Valley
It would, at the same time, be a misfortune
in
The
hundred miles to the west of them.
of
the fighting
men
of these tribes at 160,000 Pathans,
and
150,000 Biloches, for the Punjab alone
without taking account of
the Sind Border or Bilochistan proper
and whether as
mihtia or
levies,
Whatever the
is
undoubtedly
there
is
regulars,
no doubt of the value of the material.
precise figures
immense, the
may
be,
the
field for recruiting
extension
of
the Frontier Force
merely a question of policy and of funds

changes develop either in
this
direction, or
and should future

in
change of loca-
tion, it is certain to
take a foremost place in any comprehensive
sclieme of Frontier
defence.
dicted, that
as in the
the
past,
Piffers
may
"With equal safety,
it
may
be pre-
be looked to supply, in the future
leaders capable of directing the most important
operations in connection with that defence.
CHAPTER
AND THE KOHAT
AFKIDIS
What
is
XXI.
PASS.
true of the Orakzais and their country to a great extent
applies to the adjoining Afridis, the next great group of tribes
occupying the Sufed
Koh Range, and
our neighbours for upwards
of ninety miles along the Border in the
districts.
over, 26,000
still
Kohat and Peshawur
finer race, they are equally numerous
men
fighting
more
certainly
than most others important,
inasmuch as they hold possession of the KohCit and Khaiber Passes,

and, for the purposes of defence, their positions are nearly inaccessible.
Classed
but, at the
among the most
same time, the
treacherous, the Afridi
is
bravest,
lawless
and savage of Pathans,
most open in manner, and most
perhaps the Pathan whose manliness and
manner most strongly prejudice Englishmen

frontier highlander of
many
whom
characteristic stories,
who
is
whom
it is
very
and about
write, save in a series of contradictions, is in
muscuhir man, with a rather
fair
the hero of so
difficult to
appearance a lithe
complexion, high nose and cheek
bones, frequently associated with a not

possessed,
The
in his favour.
we hear oftenest,
unhandsome
independent, and almost courteous manner
face
as
self-
Macgregor
himself a distinguished kinsman of Rob Roy, and no bad judge

athletic highlander, whose springy
describes him, "a
fine, tall,
steps,
even in traversing the dusty streets of Peshawur, at once

ACROSS THE BORDER.
184
denotes
"
liis
mountain origin
a ruthless, cowardly robber
brought up from
" but, as
the same authority continues,
a cold-blooded treacherous murderer

amid scenes
his earliest childhood
him
treachery and merciless revenge, nothing has changed
has lived
shameless, cruel savage
so
he
And
dies.
seem that, notwithstanding his long intercourse with

fact that large
numbers have been and are in our
have learnt in some way what

the Afridi
is
faith, justice,
He
some of the Khattaks and Yusafzais

for a righteous
man.
life for
has passed beyond the shelter of his
sanctity of marriage rights.

" occur of
looking
is
and must
and
not so
in
Both
tall
and
Peshawur he
is
one of his
Stories are
his heart.
is
outside his lands, or
Not a few
roof.
of his feuds
credited with small regard for the
"Frequent
Mackeson,
cases," writes
an Afridi in good circumstances marrying
girl,
would
his guest, and equally of his plots
to take that guest's life so soon as the latter
are about women, yet he
is
Hospitality
and more than most things wins
told of his sacrificiug his
he
as
and the
no better than in the days of his father."
might almost pass

virtues,
it
us,
service,
and mercy mean, yet
estimates are perhaps somewhat extreme.

fine as
of appalling
first
but as times get harder exchanging her
fewer personal attractions and so
much
cash."
a good-
one of
Nothing but blood

"
can wash out an insinuation about his honour, but his

willingly offered to the embraces of those
for
who can
women
are
pay
for
afford to
the indulgence."
Eminently a "professing" Muhammadan, and

the precepts of the Koran, he has really
and has small reverence even
for
strict
observer of
little religion
of any sort,
the Mullahs.
"
As
to
the
Orakzais," says the Khattak poet Khushhal
They
are altogether from orthodoxy astray.
No call of Mu'azzin is to be heard in Tirah,

And the Afridi.s, than those erring ones more heretical
still,
Neither say prayers over the dead, nor Mullahs have they,
Nor
The
alms, nor offerings, nor the fear of
confiding priests
who ventured
God
in their hearts."
into Afridi land fared so badly

AFRIDIS
AND THE KOHAT
PASS.
185
MuhammaJan clergy, and is somewhat

Among unfaithful Pathans, the " faithless-
was never popular with the
it
a dangerous place
ness " of
still.
an Afridi
is
Nothing
notorious.
perhaps so dear to a
is
fanatical Pathan as a plentiful supply of ziydrats, or sacred shrines to
martyrs and saints
a heap of stones raised over a (jhdzi who has
murdered an English kdjir

well as a Westminster
will serve the
Abbey
Bellew, there was not such a thing
country
to
and he
remedy
tells
At one
Afridi land
time, according to
as a ziydrat in the whole
way
a good story of the
Through very shame the
this.
But
or a City Temple.
strangely deficient in this respect.
is
Pathan purpose equally as
the Afridi
tribes
managed
had been driven
by their more orthodox neighbours to entice a zealous Mullah from
Peshawur
to
come and minister
naturally wanted
some place
to
Once
them.
to set
up
installed, the priest
his altar
his
Beth- cl
dilating on the necessity for the establishment of ziydrats,
and the
advantages to be derived from the contributions and offerings

pilgrims would bring
who came
to worship.
This was enough for
the Afridi, avaricious at any time, here was a fresh prospect of gain
opened
out.
What was
easier than to
have a ziydrat; and who
suitable as a martyr for the faith than the venerable priest
more
So the Mullah was forthwith
sacrificed,
and the
first
ziydrat in
Tirah was raised over his remains.
On
"
You
them
another occasion a Mullah was caught copying the Koran.

tell
us these books come from God, and here you are making
yourself.
It is not
indignant Afridis
As
less
in morals
anomalous.
good
made another
and
for
a Mullah to
tell lies," so
the
ziydrat for him.
religion, their politics
and pleasures are hardly
The most democratic and disunited people among
themselves, uncontrolled, and often uncontrollable even by their
own
chiefs, all
the clans have uniformly joined in hostility to us
whenever opportunity
off'ered; still
more
so to
everything con-
nected with Kabul, whose Amirs, instead of levying tribute, have

^
"The
place of God."
ACROSS THE BORDER.
186
always had to pay
In punisliiug one contumacious
toll.
expedition has invariably bad to consider the
bined action by
should retribvition be pushed too
all,
extra-tribal feuds are almost as
That
are innumerable.
is,
uncommon
tribe,
far.
an
com-
possibility of
Their
as their internal ones
the Afridis do not care to waste their
energies in fighting with their neighbours, but reserve the luxury
Among
home consumption.
for
themselves, feuds occupy a great
same reason that an Irishman
part of their lives, possibly for the

at a
fair,
or
is
not really
until he has broken a head, or given or received a black eye
happy
so a feud to
It
an English navvy on Saturday night,
an Afridi
is
the one pleasure that
has been described, as to him the
makes
salt of life.
He
life tolerable.
does not need
the plea of difference between Gar and Samil, Sunni and Sayud.
It
may be
water,
begin
about Zan, Ear, or Zamin,
but,
;
woman,
money, or land, or
Lucius O'Trigger, any excuse will serve to
like Sir
and, once begun,
it
is
never spoiled by explanation, in-
terrupted save by pressing business, nor terminated as long as any
male representative remains on either
man, who, when he
finds time
side.
Just as the English-
hanging heavily,
is
credited with
proposing to go and shoot something, the Afridi's one idea of

sport
is
to shoot
some
take up his position,

rock for hours,
till
Having no business
one.
rifle
in hand,
Not
almost meritorious.
common
to find
to
will
and wait patiently behind a
will wait
spot that neighbour must pass, would,
is
he
he can put a bullet through a neighbour
the patience with which he
it
in hand,
and
with a bead drawn on the

if it
were not murderous, be
mention the disputes between clans
one half a
village, or
one half a family,
carrying on a skirmish with the other half, taking advantage of
any shelter or any
artifice;
keeping up a guerilla warfare until
several casualties have occurred on either side, their
ammunition
is
exhausted, harvest operations, or a marriage between the factions

necessitates a truce.
murder"; the
We
call
Afridis considers
this
it
"cold-blooded,
treacherous
superior to pigeon shooting or
AFRIDIS
fox-hunting.
AND THE KOHAT
The women, who
PASS.
are iu every sense the real hewers
of wood and drawers of water, are of course too

in the fields,
no
than at the hearths
less
part in the quarrels
187
to
much
occupied
take any prominent
but they are deadly shots with stones, and
Whether,
can make excellent defence at a pinch,
in addition to
other objections, the Afridi looks upon us, with our judicial and
criminal regulations, as likely to spoil sport
probable, our frontier procedure
wanting in savour
for
him
been uniformly hostile to

opportunity to
show
more
and
certainly
and not slow to take advantage of
us,
The
it.
is
too gentle
or whether, as
own mountains he has
in his
altogether
is
we know about him
little
or his
country has been information gained at the point of the bayonet

and, again to quote Macgregor
"though we have been intimately
connected with the tribes for so
many
Fcr
entered Afridi land as a friend,"
years,
contra,
that not less than 3,000 to 4,000 Afridis are

or those of native chiefs
service,
a very
strength
in
relations with his
now
serving in our
of their
must have passed through the
any other way
It is estimated
and, considering the short period of
proportion
considerable
Afridi has gained
he has uniformly
ready to enlist in our army.
shown himself most
army
no Englishman has
ranks.
Moreover, the
a soldier than
a greater reputation for fidelity as

It
is, it
own
may be
kith and
argued,
kin,
should cheerfully fight with us against
fighting
total
considering his normal
not
saying
much
be quite ready to help us to conquer his native country.
many campaigns he
perhaps a
trifle
little
has shown
more ready
to
all
the qualities of a good
plunder than to
home-sick in the hot weather
that he
them and he would no doubt
fight,
Bat
in
soldier
and maybe a
but a very different
the "savage" whose safe-conduct would hardly run in his
man from
own
hills,
and who has not got the honour possessed by a Waziri robber.
Antithesis applies not merely to the Afridis themselves, but in a
measure to their country.
Strong as are the natural positions
they hold among the spurs and defiles of the Sufed
Koh and
the

ACROSS THE BORDER.
188
bare rugged inhospitable ranges of the Khaiber
which might have
proach the passes,

as the clans
may
makes
it
dependent on the
great field
them up
in their
own
and the source of supply
punishment
to
is
common
weakest point, and
really their
Exclusion from Peshawur
wants.
ap-
plains, their position
for their plundering operations,
their produce
of
may sound is
easy to shut
it
difficult of
be to defend them at the signal of a
danger, ths people are so

secure though
be forced, and unanimous
to
also the
for their
many
and an effectual blockade
Peshawur, the
hills.
is
market
many
for
dofnestic
clans a severe form
cut
tliat will
them
off
from the outer world, would probably bring them to terms sooner
than an expedition.
Bellew
It is unnecessary to discuss the origin of the Afridis.

identifies
both the name and the position with one of the peoples
referred to by Herodotus, and thinks they and their allies occupied
much
up
greater extent of country than at present, but were pressed
into the hills in the general struggle for territory.
admittedly of a
of
them
mixed
stock,
applies ethnologically to the whole, they are divided into
several distinct communities.

clans, or
Broadly speaking, of the eight chief
Kheh, into which they are divided,
and are entirely south of the Bara
Valley
while the
Adam
Kohat, the great wedge
river, in
the Peshawur
hills
between Peshawur and
of country driven into our border almost
and across which
to the Indus,
spoken
Khels, the most mmierous of any clan
are again distinct, inhabiting the
up
six are usually
The Aka Khels have no connection with
of as Khaiber Afridis.
these,
They come
and though what has just been said
lies
the road
between two
important frontier cantonments.

This, the
political
Kohat
pass, has not of course either the military or
importance of the
strategic value.
From
Khaiber, but
seven miles, of which ten only are

Khuslialgarli,
it
is
of considerable
Kohat to Peshawur by this pass,
where the Indus
in
is still
is
thirty-
independent country.
By
unhridged, to Peshawur by

A FRID IS AND THE KOIIAT PASS.
railway,
200 miles, by road suitable
is
Two
150 miles.
clans of the
Adam
for
marching with
open, there
is
no disputing the
fact that the
in regard to a most important section of our
communications
who have
in the
who,
if
arms,
keeping
for
it
whole arrangements,
main
frontier line of
hands of a lawless and uncertain
and may at any time in the
in the past,
infinite trouble
us,
is
all
Khels are the keepers of the
and however good may be the arrangements
pass,
189
tribe,
future, give
they could not absolutely close
it
against
could occupy tie attention of a large force, at a critical time,
when
it
possible such a force could be
is
ill
Further,
spared.
although we pay a considerable subsidy every year, we are even
now
not allowed to
a road, or to remove the boulders that
Here and there a
obstruct the path.

across,
make
cultivator runs a plough
and a great rock that blocks the way at one
The
standing joke.
of rupees
the
point,
is
Afridi chuckles and swaggers about the lakh
Government would give
have
to
it
moved.
whole history of our proceedings in regard to this pass
is
The
a striking
instance of the unfortunate infirmity of purpose, that, under the

guise of tender feeling for the proud spirit of independence, accepts
auy excuse
for
avoiding decisive measures.
compared to the
"
direful spring " of
our frontier troops, but
still
more
The
pass might bo
innumerable woes, not only
to the Afridis themselves
cause of most of our complications with the
Adam
Khels.
to
the
From the
expedition in 18.50 against the Gallais, to the occupation of the
Jowaki country
in 1877-78,
more
suffering to
there
is
which
much
them than absolute annexation could have been
a long record of troubles arising out of
again the question of a road, to be

traffic
alone was the cause of
made
it.
Over and over
practicable for wheeled
has been taken up only to be dropped again.
In 1878,
it
formed one of the terms laid down by Lord Lytton at the com-
mencement
of operations,
we occupied the
spirit of
and could have been carried out while
country, but was put aside to avoid " breaking the
the tribe;"
who, by the way, had just requested their
ACROSS THE BORDER.
190
losses
during the expedition should be taken into account, in ad-
At present
justing the fine to be levied.
the total
Adam
the shape of pass allowances to the
amount paid
in
Khels and a few of the
Orakzais amounts to some Rs. 12,000 a year; an insignificant sum,
but perhaps a
fair
guarantee, in the absence of any better
the good conduct of a poor clan.

intentions to close
during the
it
offer, for
There were rumours of their
Afghan war, and
last
again, in
1883, on the occasion of the enhancement of the salt tax, but these
came
nothing
to
and
ourselves to settle
it
some
has never since been closed, except by

local
passable from bad weather.
something to improve
it,
tribal dispute, or it has
been im-
But, in spite of Afridi promises to do

the whole length, through their lands
They
remains in a state of nature.
will
do nothing themselves
nor permit us to divert the track out of the bed of the nullah,
where
any
real
attempt been made to coerce them.
attempted by the
tribesmen well
at
the back
The
worse.
or
anything on wheels.
for miles it is impossible for
local officers
know
while
there
only weakness
only tends to
Afridis affect to believe that the
may
country
for
vacillation
make matters
Government cannot,
it.
be unhesitatingly admitted there
a financial point of view,
and
them, and though they pocket the
subsidy, will do nothing whatever for

It
All negotiations
have come to nought, because the

is
every failure
dare not interfere with
Nor has
is
no inducement, from
us to occupy any part of the Afridi
but there arc other considerations that seem to
make
it
very undesirable to leave such a position, in the middle of our

territory,
almost on the banks of the Indus, and within striking
distance of
Peshawur and Kohat, unoccupied.
There may perhaps
be a difference of opinion as to the actual occupation of territory,

but there
is
no doubt about the need
for the road,
and that we should
be contented with the state of tilings on this part of our Border

certainly not a subject fur congratulation.
is
CHAPTER
XXII.
AN AFRIDI FEUD.
LITTLE more than a mile to the
towers and buildings,
Akakhel
Afridis.
left
of the fort of
Jamrud,
is
an insignificant cluster of detached
known as
the village of Jam, belonging to the
before entering the Khaiber,
Rud
is
simply the Pashtu for
river,
and here the
stony and generally dry bed of this one forms the Khaiber defile.
The
village
pavilion in
famous
is
it,
by the river
there
is
a tank with no water, but a
enjoying a sort of tradition,
wine-bibbing
Persian
king,
used
that Jamshid,
to
sit
there
the
and
during a reign of 700 years, which Firdausi credits him with, he

certainly
might have found plenty of time
Zahar-i-khush, or the " bewitching poison."
for quaffing his
And
there
streamlet that waters the village lands, from which the fort
mitted to take
is
its
share of a very scanty supply.
nothing noticeable about
it.
up
to a temperature
chilly,
and,
if
per-
are dreary in the
if
they could heat
would have made the Inferno seem
the people
might be a share
much
that
is
little
Otherwise there
The surroundings
extreme, and the bare rocks and stones look as
cup of
is
had anything
worth fighting
in that stream, wliich indeed
the opinion of the residents of Jam.
any member of the Viceroy's
staff,
If
seems
it
to
for,
be very
had occurred
dashing past on a recent
it
to
visit, to
stop and visit Jam, he would probably have had an Afridi guard of
ACROSS THE BORDER.
192
go with him, who would have scattered aboir
Jezailcliis told off to
ahead, and on
looking carefully behind walls and roun^^
either side,
comers, as though they expected to flush a brother lying perdit
with a
rifle,
and
He
of sport.
it
behoved them to do their best in the interests
would have been perfectly
Jam were
residents of
just then at peace, and in
have had no quarrel with him.
some curious
however, for the
safe,
any case would
But he might have
carried back
com-
particulars regarding the domestic life of village
munities thereabouts
and though they perhaps might not have
provided an exactly suitable commentary on Lord Dufferiti's congratulatory address to the chiefs, regardmg the peace and prosperity prevailing on the frontier, they would have furnished
him
with an excellent instance of a characteristic Afridi feud.

It
how
began long ago

it
was
started,
so
but
long ago, no one could quite
all
agreed
it
had lasted generations
the water-course always came
somehow
remember
in.
and
This, a little channel
about eighteen inches wide and half as deep, ran meandering

throusfh
Jam
all
or rather through the three scattered hamlets that
constituted the village.
Four or
five
hundred yards apart they might
be called north, south, and east divisions of Jam, and their chronic
condition be said to be that of open war on one another, varied by
an occasional truce to enable the ordinary business of

carried on.
About three years ago the northern had
life
to
killed a
be
man
of the southern division, and the eastern had killed a northerner

so that
were
if
south and east could only arrange a settlement matters
fairly even.
But then came the question
of improving the
and the
of the remaining
channel to supply the
fort,
water upset everything again.
division
All three divisions found
it
neces-
sary to throw up earthworks, so as to approach the stream and
obtain water under cover.
native regiment, and a
Amir Khan,
man
of light
a pensioned Subadar of a
and leading
constructed a regular shelter trench sangar
have the
life
of Khai.sta
in
North Jam,
and swore he would
Khan, the chief person
in
South Jam, and
AN A FEW I
every morning sat
He
down with
FEUD.
193
and waited
his rifle
succeeded in shooting two Southerners, and after
patient waiting, he caught Khaista
and broke
Khan
if
The
member
the
many days
of
an unguarded moment
in
his thigh with a long shot.
round on crutches, and,
a chance.
for
now hobbles
latter
of the staff understood
Pushtu, Khaista would have been happy to explain the circumstances

in detail,
more
what happened next.
especially
minent
citizen of
outflanking
Amir Khan's,
who
dawn Amir Khan took
his trench to
self for
pro-
East Jam, went one dark nioht and duu; a trench
protect himself by a traverse,
grey
This was merely
Akbar Khan, a
that Khaisfca's party, with the assistance of
watch
for
had unaccountably neglected
and then waited
his pipe
and his
rifle,
and
any Southerner rash enough

Hardly had he
an early drink.
lit
when
bowled over by a couple of Snider
bullets, and, as
"
remarked, went where he could not take his
triumph there was a
lull
it
and
the
was
Khan
After this
Aka Khels
people to allow pleasure to interfere with business.
him-
he
Khaista
rifle.
commence
was, moreover, necessary to
the season's ploughing operations
in
and adjusted
ping, ping "
the sights on his neighbour's wall,
down
to expose
his pipe
sat
to
In the
for him.
are not the
truce was
declared for six months, which, at the time of His Excellency's
Peshawar
for the
visit,
to
run
though preparations
renewal of hostilities were by no means being overlooked.
Amin Khan,
two
had about two months
the brother of the unlucky Subadar, boasted of having
field-pieces of long
range up in Tirah, which were to be brought
down, and from the tower of North
Jam
perfidious Khaista; while the latter
was reputed
of sorts"
already in position in his
many
divisions possess
service,
may be
A few
have a "cannon
and
all
three
walls.
said to be almost a family affair,
must not be supposed that

other villages.
to
court-yard:
excellent shots, not a few trained in British
and have well loopholed
This, however,
to deal destruction to the
and
it
similar amenities are not extended to
miles on the opposite side of the road from
ACROSS THE BORDER.
194
Jamrud Fort towards the Khaiber

might be
Afridis, that
Jam
which
in general,
called after its
and North
The
a very pretty quarrel.
woman.
a
mau
there,
Jam
said,
Jam
a village of the
Kuki Khel
owner Rahimdil Khan, with

in particular, has established
phase of this began about a
last
lady was robbed of her jewels by,
Thereupon her
of Rahimdil's village.
and
is
it
was reported,
friends took
your people have stolen our woman's jewels
must take her
also,
she
is
no use to us without them
The Rahimdil
spite of disclaimers, left her.

either, so took her
back next night and
left
folk did not
her
you
and, in
want her
her outside Jam.
The
Jam returned the compliment, and so on the unwoman spending alternate nights outside each village, until
following night
fortunate
she was
fessed
made away with by one
extreme indignation, because, though to
be a desirable thing
kill
amply
woman
to do, it is
reflection
a Rahimdil
man
was evident a
almost discreditable
Jam man
killing a
doing the same for a Jam.
bio" things
mioht be made of
Rahimdil Khan^ himself
kill
on his character that
sufficient to justify a
Now
both pro-
a few
men may
side or the other.
to
Rahimdil one, and
Once
it, bijj
fairly started, it
enousrh to induce
in the British service,
been in London and Paris and seen much of the world
village,
He
and see that the whole thing was put on a proper
apparently
still
was no place
like
The suprcssiou
this account.
who had
to take six
to the barren desolate hills of his native
retained
some
spite of all temptations to serve
anything;
native officer of high rank, highly
honoured and twice decorated in
months leave and go down
an Afridi to
justifies
with other nations, considered there
home, an Afridi home,
of Kahiiudirs real
footing.
of the salt of his youth, and, in
name
i.s
for a really
good feud.
the only de|)aitui'e from literal fact in
CHAPTER
XXIII.
THE KHAIBER AND THE KHAIBERIS.
The
known and most famous road from India
best
the Kliaiber
has
With
former invasions of India from Afghanistan.

past and present,
to
Kabul
been more than any intimately associated with
Mughal
or English, to that country
expeditions,
though
to
our troops probably most associated with heat, cholera, fever, and
flies,
and consequently more detested, by both British and Native,
than any other bit of trans-border country.
Has
for centuries
been
a trade highway from the markets of Central Asia, Bukhara, and
Kabul, and
still,
in spite of
Amirs and
camels starting almost daily
even Kussia
itself.
reported, specialists
Is
for
transit dues, sees strings of
Khorasan. Persia, Turkistan, and
the route about which engineers have
have written the most excellent confidential
memorandums, and a good many

sponsible for a great deal that
is
others, not specialists, are refar
from excellent
and
it
may
perhaps be considered too familiar to justify any lengthened notice.
More
particularly as the specialists are always, in a strictly con-
fidential way, already so
much
better informed
while to some of
the "others" nothing could probably be more distasteful than any

accurate information that does not
theory.
Nevertheless,
theories are built
the
fit
notions
especially for the
in with their
on which
own
particular
certain
of these
arc
probably
home market
o 2
ACROSS rilE BORDER.
196
many and
based on delusions as
Not merely among
Indian.
of a scientific frontier
and mortar,
like the
excursionists,
certain
who
between Jamrud and Jagdalak
realize the difference
is
most things
as startling as about
barely
whose idea
associated with a defensive line of bricks
Great Wall of China, and who, having rushed
out to 'AH Musjid or Lundi

feeling qualified to expose one
Khana and
to find
failed
return
it,
more Tory fraud^but even among
those better informed, the students of large scale maps, but

still
associate the " dreadful Kliaiber " with the disasters of
many
success
to
whom
all
200 miles are Khaiberis who are thoroughly
for over
wait
Men
of our misfortunes ever since.

;
only to the nation, as to the man,
is
the tribes
satisfied that
who knows how
to
and whose doubts probably do not extend beyond the
question of letting the
stopping both ends, or
Russian
like
Army
fill
the
Pass,
Macaulay's Romans,
bridge in the brave days of old
of
may, perhaps, be doubted
if
and
who kept
then
the
taking up a îosition at the
mouth, and disposing of tliem in detail as they come

It
who
1842 and
out.
the advocates of this Fabian
policy fully realize that there are three parallel routes between
Kabul and Peshawur

their southern flank
Kabul
Ivliurd
Valley
the
perfectly practicable,
Pass, the Tezin Valley,
second
and
by the Safed Koh Range
all
:
the
protected on
first
by the
Pesh Bolak, and the Bazar
by Butkhak, the Lataband Pass, Jagdalak,
Gandamak, JeKdabad, Dhaka, and the Khaiber, both debouching

near Jamrud
the third by the Lataband,
Lughman,
Jelfdabad,
Dhaka, the Shilman Valley, and the Tartara Hill debouching by

Shahgai
which
latter
can be varied again from the Shilman
Valley by crossing the Kabul River at the
Shamilo ferry and
debouching by Fort Michni, and probably by other roads through

the
Mohmand
are by no
Hills, which,
though
means impassable.
sufficiently steep
and rugged,
That when Nadir Shfdi found the
Pass closed against him by Afiidis and Shinwaris, the Orakzais led
him by a
roail tlirougli Tirah.
That
it is
(piitc possible to
advance

THE KIIAIBER AND THE
KIIAIBERIS.
197
on Jelalabfu] by the Kunar route from Chitral, instead of from
Kabul
at
while, there are several well-known
all,
from the north and south
Chitral, both
at least a couple of routes
by which
it is
and, moreover, there are
from Badakhshan, through Kafiristan,
down
at Peshawur,
and
"
wait
till
be compared to the method of the
when he has
To assume,
possible to operate on the north flank.
therefore, that, in the event of troubles arising,

sit
ways of reaching
the clouds
will
be safe
It
to
can only
who imagines he
ostrich,
hid his head in the sand.
it
roll by,"
safe
is
would be obviously a
mistake to be found waiting in the wrong place.
The route through the
inwards
actual Khaiber defile has been compared
between two combs placed with their teeth pointing
to a passage
the
which correspond to the spurs of the ranges on
teeth,
either side, being prevented from quite meeting by two insignificant
streams flowing, respectively, towards Kabul and Peshawur, the

shingly beds of which constitute the only possible road.
Assuming
the combs to be old and broken ones, the comparison will do very
well
according as the teeth are sound and approach each other,
the width of the
defile,
the drainage from the
the intervals between
hills
is
them representing
north and south, while here and there
a larger gap forms a small glen in which
may be found
a village, or
a practicable road into the Afridi or Mullagori country.
In other
places these spurs are so steej) and precipitous, as to be impractic-
able from the Pass on one side or the other, occasionally on both.
Thus
at
Kadam, the
real gate
the hills begin to close

a
little
further and
been knocked out
the
"
it
called after
cliffs
some three
and the Pass
narrows to 250
is
feet.
miles from
Then a few
it
has diminished to forty
1,300 feet high on
either
feet,
side,
road.
Another
six or seven miles
teeth have
'Ali,
with slaty
and a
the mosque below, stands on an isolated
manding the
Jamrud
only some 450 feet wide
but approaching the spring and mosque of
Lion of God,"
perpendicular
in,
hill
fort,
com-
and the Latabeg
Valley has opened to a mile and a half wide, only to close a
little
ACROSS THE BORDEN.
198
beyond, to less than ten feet between quite perpendicular walls of
Over the Landi Khana Pass,
rock.
most
the road
difficult part of
steep
comb
Kabul River
tliat,
rises
it
probably the
by a steep ascent between
than 150 feet apart, and down again
cliffs less
of the
called the Kotal,
reached at Dhaka.
is
Over
the valley
till
thirty miles of
good hands, would be calculated to intercept most
in
living things.
But the Khaiber
defile is only
one of the obstacles on this route.
There are several more combs, thougb the teeth may be occasionally set further apart, that
plains
barren
more
is
cultivation than
named
"
like
might be supposed
"
Haft-Chahi, the
;
Thousand Canals
gardens
have between them a
there
"
and in halting places
Seven Wells
and many others named
fertile stretch of
At Jeirdabad
has
and
by a well-watered
country, a score of miles long by a dozen wide,
all
becomes a broad
lies
Hazarnao, the
after springs
ninety miles from Peshawur the
dotted with towers, villages, and trees
that
"
;
evidence that the jjeople associate them with
is
things pleasant.
cross ranges of hills are, for a change, replaced
River
series of small
and stony ones generally, though even here there
and where the Kabul
along had to straggle through mere cracks
Thence the route
100 yards wide.
clear stream
through a thoroughly unattractive country again, over long
stony ridges, across rocky river-beds, varied with an occasional fine

valley like Fathabad, or an oasis like Nimlah, to
by way of comparison with what
Gandamak, which,
beyond again,
is
is
a land flowing
with milk and honey: for on by Jagdalak and the Lataband Pass
or Tezin and the Klnird Kilbul,
rounded by
still
become more
more
lofty
is
a wild waste of bare
and forbidding mountains
closely set together
the road narrower
hills,
sur-
the teeth
the stony
ridges change to bleak heights from 7,000 to 8,000 feet high
the river-beds, deep valleys, or narrow defiles, like the fatal Jagdalak, almost devoid of verdure, and into whose
winter sun can hardly penetrate
gloomy ravines the
these are the outworks timt have

TH E KIL IBER A ND TH E
[
to be negotiated before the gardens

forts of
Any
on
Kabul
frontier to
admittedly
it is
about 170 miles from our
naturally
difficult,
too
sounds formidable
much
and
should not be counted
The road was immensely improved by our Engineer
during the operations in Afghanistan, and the feasibility of
constructing a railway through to
Such a
99
and orchards, the bazaars and
description of the Khaiber route
this.
officers
Kabul, can be approached.
Peshawur
though
KllA IB ERIS.
line
would not present the
what has been accomplished

importance
sideration
Kabul was abundantly established.
is
difficulties, or
at least equally great.
what
cost us in the
it
When
way
equal the cost of
Kandahar
in the direction of
it
is
its
keep the
of transport to
present line of communication intact, the 1.5,000
and
taken into con-
men
that during
the last war had to be detailed for the duty, the endless posts and
forts
nnd commissariat yards, and when
foreign occupation of
probably be in a
fair
way
fully realized
it is
Kabul would mean
to be accepted, as probably the
pressing of our present frontier requirements

of such vital importance as to
As an
what a
for India, the railway will
demand some
and the question
no doubt
is
that in the hands of scientific defenders the Khaiber could be
simple business which
Of the
tribes
who
Avorking back from
Jagdalak, and
is
is
Kabul
the
Gundamak, almost
is
by no means that
country along this
valleys
and
defiles
to Jelalabad,are held
Khels, and
route
about Tezin
by
Ghilzais,
others of the powerful
Ever notorious highwaymen, they were
clan.
it
too often assumed.
inhabit the
the Babakar Khels, Jabbrir
Suliaman
defence
made
But
practically as unassailable as the Fortress of Gibraltar.

it is, its
is
separate consideration.
outer defence of the approach to India, there
not in our hands, and until
most
specially
distinguished for their unremitting attacks upon Sale's disorganized
army
from Kabul.
army
and
defenceless
camp-followers
during
the
retreat
They were the persistent opponents of Pollock's
of vengeance, the implacable foes of every invader
and
yet.
ACROSS THE BOIWER.
200
under good management, are nndoubtedly capable of being converted into most useful
of
name, a man
that
allies.
Jabbar, the founder of the clan
many
weight in his day, founder of
of
Ghilzai institutions, lies buried in a miserably cold, bleak spot
between Khurd-Kabul and the Haft-Kotal, or

a place
evil report
up the northern
is
held
Seven Passes
even among Kabulis.
strip of country
closely related
by the Khugianis, a tribe
and Turis on the other
Opposite Jelalabad, and
Koh, a broad
slope of the Sufed
to
range the former
side of the
including both the latter, and, with a
"
wolves a bye-
the lurking-place of robbers and of
still
word of
"
number
the Jagis
at one time
Khostwfds,
of the
were not improbably originally Turks who came in with Chengiz
and Timur, but by long separation formed into

are estimated as
The Khugianis
men manly and

Governors
of
Jeirdabad,
mustering 5,000 famiHes, the
but
engaged
dance of excellent
for three
fruits in
mainly
home
shepherds, and seldom leaving their
though under snow
the
always a thorn in
warlike,
distinct tribes.
months
side
as
of
tillers
of the year, yielding abun-
due season.
Two
Jehangir reigned at Delhi, cost a thousand
sections of one clan
lives,
trifle
Koh
is
Nangraha, a word which several authorities would trace
back to NangnaliAr,
tween
ruler,
still.
East of them, the whole northern slope of the Sufed

as
when
and was only
put an end to by both parties submitting to the Kabul
known
and
their rugged slopes,
are credited with a feud which began about the merest
whose subjects they are
the
tlie crest
"
nine canals,"
of the ridge
near Jeirdabad and
its
pear-shaped country be-
and the Kabul road, with
stalk at
its
base
Lundi Kotal, occupied by the
Shinwaris, a powerful tribe of some 10,000 or 12,000 fighting-
men
and
if
among a people who,
like Cacus,
would have stolen
the cattle from Hercules, there can be faid to be any degree, their
habits are possibly not (iuite as predatory as their neighbours.
Nominally, they also profess to be
tillers,
and they cultivate a
THE KHAIBER AND THE KHAIBERTS.

certain
amount
of rice
and
fruits, especially figs
201
and almonds, and
they export silk and wool, but their most congenial occupation was,
and
pillage.
is,
they carried
off
They attacked our
forces at
Pesh Bolak, in 1841
a good share of plunder after the disaster of 1842,
which they were subsequently punished by a
for
Monteith
and during our
under
force
campaign in Afghanistan, they
later
caused considerable annoyance along our line of communications,

necessitating several punitive expeditions.
regard for
property
the
sufficiently safe-guarded.
Of the
the Sangu Khels, short, thick-set
headlong courage,
present Amir,
the
of
They have
more
little
unless
it
be
four chief clans, the worst are
men
of a proverbially fierce
who have always enjoyed
and
the most sinister
reputation, and are said to be nearly as good with the stones of
native hills
their
At the other
as
with the bullets of more lethal weapons.
end, the Alisherzais,
who
inhabit the Loargai valley
round about Lundi-Kotal, generally known as the Loargai Shinwaris, are largely
engaged
in the carrying-trade
between Peshawur
and Kabul, are exceedingly well-behaved and give no trouble

whatever.
To the
north,
strip of land
down the Kabul River from Jellalabad.includinof
along the right bank, the river
our border, and the network of

are
all
until
it
reaches
and valleys east of Lrdpura,
hills
within the lands of the various clans of
and important tribe to be noticed anon.

corner,
itself,
Mohmands, a ereat
Occupying a
between the Kabul River and Jamrud or near
it,
little
and
between the Shilman Valley on the west and our Border on the
the Mullagoris.
east, are
Mohmands, whose
now
Put down
vassals they
still
as original settlers from tlie
practically are, they are not
classed as either fish, flesh, or good red herring.
Mohmands,
latter say
Afridis, nor
they are descended from an illegitimate child found in a
graveyard, wdio grew
name.
Neither
Shinwaris will acknowledge them, and the
up
to
know something, and
originated the
Besides being despised by the Shinwaiis, they have a
ACROSS THE BORDER.
202
chronic feud witli the Afridis, and were
it
not for a
from the Mohmands would soon get the worst of

excessively poor
tribe is
sandals
made out
nominally they
of the dwarf
for opportunities of
palm
little
The whole
it.
mats, and
sell ropes,
but this mainly
backing
is
an excuse
robbing the Peshawur cantonments.
Numeri-
cally they are utterly insignificant, barely mustering 400 fighting
men
but their principal merit
tain, nearly 7,0(J0 feet high,
for
Peshawur
importance, as
Tartara, and
much
of
it
Afridis
and
strategically a
is
would command the approaches
Abkhuna
routes
;
possible to see
to
Moun-
position
of
to the Khaiber,
form a useful point for checking
and give a good hold on the Khuki
and the Mullagoris themselves, who ought
known
way, best
in possessing the Tartara
which represents a possible sanitarium
value,
Lalpura and the Shinwaris
Khel
is
to
political officers,
in
some
be brought as soon as
the advantage of selling mats to a cantonment
established there.
Almost the whole of the Khaiber
defile is
in the
hands of the
half-dozen clans of Afridis already referred to, collectively spoken

of as the Khaiber Afridis
Zakha Khels,
the most influential being probably the
though the Kukis, Malikdin, and Qumba Khels are
also powerful clans, composed of fine men, well armed, in
with English or Kabul-made
many good
soldiers.
rifles,
who have
many
cases
furnished us with
In our earlier Afghan campaigns, they fully
maintained their ancient fame as bold and faithless robbers
but
from the time the Punjab was annexed, up to the second Afghan
war
their
behaviour has always been, for Afridis,
They have never ceased from marauding

opportunity offered, and though
fairly
good.
excursions whenever
now and then minor expeditions
have had to be undertaken against one clan or the other, we have

never had against us any formidable tribal combination, or regular
stand-up
fight, as against
Mohmands
or Yusafzais
circumstance
doubtless partly due to the ultra-democratic nature of the Afridi

Con.stitution,
and
])artly to
so
many
of
them being dependent on
THE KIJAIBER AND THE KHA [BERTS.

Peshawur
lis,
203
In 1878 some of the clans took sides with
in winter.
and others played into the hands of the Amir, necessitating
a couple of expeditions into the Bazar Valley, which

alternative routes referred
to,
is
one of the
but where the clansmen are least
dependent on Peshawur.
Under the
treaty of
Michni Passes, with
Gandamak, the
all
control of the Khaiber
and
relations with the connected tribes, were
A Khaiber Pass
Afridi.
retained by the British Government, and on the retirement of our

troops arrangements were proposed
Khaiber
tribes called
affixed their seals to
a complete jirgoh of
all
the
Peshawur, and in February, 1881, they
at
an agreement under which their independ-
ence was recognized, provided they maintained exclusive political

relations with us.
The
tribes
^
were
to furnish a corps of Jczailchis'^
Inegular riflemen.
ACROSS THE BORDETl.
204
protection of the Pass, to be paid by our
for the
under whose pohtical

from
all
The
they would be.
officers
raids on British territory,
and
Government
tribes to abstain
undertake to be jointly
to
responsible for maintaining order in the Kliaiber in consideration

of certain subsidies to be paid by Government, which, per contra
was
to take all
are divided proportionately
small
sum
is
The
on caravans using the Pass.
tolls
among the
six Afridi clans,
subsidies
and a very
The whole,
also given to the Loargai Shinwaries.
with some trifling allowance to head men, only amounts to between

80,000 and 90,000 rupees a year, and the
three-fourths of this
so that, as far as
an economical and an excellent

trifling
spirits
raised
difficulties
it
tolls realized are fully
goes, the
arrangement
more
by the
occasionally
turbulent
a body of Zakha Khels attempting on one occasion to
a caravan, but they were promptly stopped by the

several of their
number
shot
raid
and
Jezai/cJiis
down; and individual Border outlaws
Kamal Khan, have been
like the notorious
guilty of local outrages
On
but altogether the tribes have loyally kept to their bond.
and caravans at
fixed days an escort takes charge of travellers
Jamrud, and hands them over

Kliana,
Luiidi
Peshawur
and the
of the success
as the
receiving
is
in
is
to
the Amir's representatives at
return
political
due,
is
There have been some
one.
the
officer,
to
convoys
charge of
whose
not a
tact
now
able to report the Khaiber
for
little
as safe
Grand Trunk Road.
Beyond Lundi
Khana
the
traders
may
be secured against
highway robbery; but there are complaints that even the Shinwaris and Ghilzais were less exacting than the Amir's dues, by
which, and
the high duties imposed
BukhTira and Samrkand, the trade

so,
that
it
is
said
to be
is
by Russia on exports
much hampered
cheaper to send goods
to
Bombay and
Mo-scow than by the Khaiber and the Hindu Kush.

not be literally true, and
Rahman had
it
was even hoped
so
to
much
This
that after
may
Abdur
established himself as a strong ruler, trade would
THE KHAIBER AND THE KHAIBERIS.

revive
case,
after
the war
of
1878-80
205
such, undoubtedly,
was the
but any expansion was summarily checked, and the trade
has since been falling
Between 1887 and
off.
exports and imports of the Western Border
fell
the
1881)
total
from an annual
value of 121 lakhs of rupees to 95 lakhs, any increase due to
the extension of railways in the Kandahar direction being more
Nor
than covered by the diminished trade through the Khaiber.

is
this to be
wondered at
from the Khaiber
Kabul the Amir's
to
dues are Ks. 21 per camel load of merchandise, with further dues
at various points,
if
the journey
is
continued on to the Oxus.
the Ghazni route a camel load of piece-goods
and one piece out of every

fore say with
can account
Marechal
for
my
Villars
"
is
The Border
forty.
Defend
enemies myself,"
me
By
mulct of Rs. 26
trader
from
may
my
there-
friends, I
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE KABUL
Without
POSITION.
going deeply into vexed strategical questions,
perhaps not too
much
to say that if ever
it
is
an invasion of India
is
attempted from the north-west, one of the
objects of each
first
The
contending army will be the possession of Kabul.

triangle
comprised in the
command
Valleys, with the
over the
Panjsher,
some
of
to
Helmand and
Bamian and Balkh,

Girislik,
position in the
forms
most important passes
of the
he who
Khaibor
is
holds
to the
the
strongest
natural
The
city itself
probably
and there
is
C({ually the historic
route for
the
is
a well-known proverb
Kabul holds Afghanistan.
in the earlier phases of the great
the
Similarly
many
of
Whatever, therefore,
successful advances on India.
Kabul
Unai Pass
or by the
whole of Afghanistan.
historical capital of the country,
fate of
great
and Paghman
Hindu Kush towards Turkistan and the Oxus, over the
Koh-i-Baba
that
Ghorband,
the
may
most
be the
campaign of the
future
" Wlion the
it
will
]>i'^ !:;u]is
undoubtedly form, of
speak to the Kliaibcr peak,"
all
the cities
now
ruled by
Rahman, the most important factor for offence or defence

will carry
Its
with
it
Abdur
and
it
a proportionately valuable prestige.
importance has, of course, long ago been
fully recognised
by
THE KABUL
some time,
Russia, and for
at
POSITION.
207
any rate since the Penjdeh
affair,
the
deduction has been tolerably obvious, that, in the event of any
movement
against Afghanistan or India, Russia's objective
likely to be
more
is
Assuming that Russia has
Kabul than Kandahar.
already by railway extension linked her garrisons in the Caucasus
and Central Asia proper, and can concentrate troops pretty well
anywhere between Kizil-Arvat and Samrkand, and that a

good
be completed to Sarakhs, the
line will
upwards of 200 miles from Herat.

Kandahar,
or 64^0 in
by
tribes
it
it
must
route along this line
Persia, Bilochistan,
also
through a country held
is
it lies
and Kabul.
open
to flank attacks
Any
force advancing
count upon meeting a powerful army in an almost
impregnable position at the end of

their base at
again 370 miles from
most warlike and independent of the Afghan
has but scanty supplies, and
by way of
by
The
all.
is
latter place is still
70 more from our outpost at Chaman,
itself distant
certain of the
Herat
fairly
Jam, near Samrkand,
On
it.
to Kilif
the other hand, from
on the Oxus,
is
230
miles through the Bukhara khanates, quasi-independent, but for
the purposes of an advance practically Russian.
Pass, to
Kabul
is
4G0 miles, while Kabul
from Peshawur and India.
In this connection
that a survey for a line of railway from
been ordered, and that the

Kerki along the
left
Kilif as a
and either Walishan or Bajgah, and the
base, via Mazar-i-Sharif
Unai
From
bank
rails
is
only 170 miles
it
must be noted
Samrkand
to Kilif has
are being also laid from Charjui to
of the Oxus.
An
advance in this direc-
be from excellent bases in the
Oxus
valley through a country with a fair capacity for food-supply,
which
tion would, consequently,
could be largely sujDplemented from the fertde valleys
Zerafshan and Ferghana.

hara,
Khokand, and the
Mazar-i-Sharif once
of
the
Transport could be drawn from Buktrans-
Oxus country generally;
while,
cleared by a successful engagement, there
would be no risk whatever of a flank attack
-for a rapid move-
ment upon Herat would naturally be coincident with the invasion
ACROSS THE BORDER.
208
of Afghau-Tiirkistrui.
The
Kabul route
physical difficulties on the
would undoubtedly be greater than those on the Kandahar side
much
but the distance from the Russian base would be
less,
and
the Afghan resistance to her arms, would have to be measured
mainly by the assistance that could be given from India in good

time.
It is
undoubtedly true that the Kabul position could not be
taken by any
jjossible
Even with our admittedly
de main.
coujJ
imperfect system of intelligence regarding Russian movements on

the
Afghan
border, no important advance
the direction of
in
Kabul could be made without due notice reaching us

enable assistance to be sent to
Amir.
tlie
request for that
and probably would
assistance might, however,
in time to
be, delayed
and
though the Afghan power of defence, combined with the enormous

natural
Abdur Rahman
any
by the Hindu Kush, would enable
advantages offered
to hold the northern
force Russia could hurriedly
able to effectually assist
Turkistan
and
the
him
passes for
some time against
push forward, we should hardly be
in maintaining his hold
Cis-Oxus
unless
territories
on Afglian-
Khaiber
the
communications had been very greatly improved.
But
party
all
this is
faction,
supposing matters stand as they
supineness,
or
more
past,
and some fresh Penjdeh lead
without a shot being

Avliat
fired
to a
many
the
blunders of the
in return,
succeed.
it is
hard to say
Certainly the
nexation of Balkh and Afghan-Turkistan would follow

natural order of things.
There
is
known
to
from Kabul.
and Chehl Burj, which

If this road
in
an-
the
be a road, though
at present a very indifferent one, along the valley of the

to Daulatyar
masterly
Russian occupation of Herat
by England
new development might not
"
exhibitions of
inactivity," result in a repetition of
Should
are.
latter place is only
were made practicable
Harirud
268 miles
for all arms,
and
good communications established between Herat and Mazar-iSharif, the long-coveted frontier
of
the
Hindu Kush would be
THE KABUL
POSITION.
209
Russia would by that time have her railway
practically realised.
extensions southward from the main line well advanced, and she
would be within striking distance of Kabul.
At
this stasfe, thouffh
the need for an efficient system of railway communication between
India and Kabul would have become more imperative,
somewhat
late to set
then to go as
about
allies of
its
commencement.
compelled to go and to hold Kabul at
us.
would mean more,
It
enemy would
involve
throughout India
men
not indeed
for or against
occupation of Kabul by the
would
that
affect
us
not merely the
against us
themselves with tbe side that appeared
ally
if
the
we should be
Its possession
risks.
all
a loss of prestige
certain to
successful but the bulk
India,
for
we should have
Afghans
Whether we had
Afghanistan or the reverse,
would mean the influence of 50,000 fighting
would be
it
of the fighting tribes between tliem
many
within our
in that direction for offensive
own
measures would be nil
and
Our power
border.
:
we should
only be able to act on the defensive, and to wait and
see
from
which direction the next attack would be delivered.
To
reverse the picture
ally great; the valleys
large
amount
the possibilities of the
The
defence are exceptional.
position for
resources of the country are natur-
round Kabul are capable of furnishing a
of excellent supplies,
and with a railway even to the
and
so
is
the Jellalabad district
latter place the
whole of the best
part of the northern Punjab could be directly drawn
upon
and fodder, men, material and supplies of every kind.
much
in fact
be
50,000
men
easier to maintain a couple of
in Kabul, than half the
number
in
army
for grass
would
It
corps, or
The
Kandahar.
importance of a line of railway through the Khaiber to Jellalabad
and eventually onward
momentous
its
who have most

There
is
to
Kabul
will hardly
importance might become,
is
be disputed
best realized
how
by those
closely studied the position.
nothing either as regards the magnitude of the
cost, or
the engineering difficulties in construction, that need be considered
ACROSS THE BORDER.
210
There are at
as exceptionally formidable.
through the
feasible routes
From Jamrud,
least two, if not three
the west of Pcshawur.
hills to
(1)
which point a railway was actually sanctioned
to
and commenced, through the steep
of the Khaiber proper,
cliffs
knocking out a few more of the rocky teeth here and
and
there,
over or by partially tunnelling the Lundi Kotal or pass, to Lundi-
.Khana.
Peshawur, by the plains to Shahgai, through the
(2)
^[ullagori
country
by Murdadun, the saddle at Kambayla, and

peak by Spol and the Jazeri pass
skirting the Taiara
Yakubi following the Kabul

either
alternative
would work
The
Lundi Khana.
river to the
Shulman
through
the
Loargi
latter for part of the length
or from
valley,
whence
plain
to
would involve
gradients of 1 in 50, and possibly occasional bits as steep as 1 in

33, wdth perhaps 3,000 to 4,000 yards of tunnelling, along a dis-
tance approximating forty miles from Peshawur.
(3)
and
third,
possibly better alternative, turning the actual Khaiber pass alto-
gether, would be from FortMichni, our outpost north of Peshawur,
following the
Kabul river
all
the
way
to
Dhaka. The distance in
case would approximate to forty- five miles or

of levels between Michni and
than 300
fpet.
The
river
Dhaka
is
less,
known
this
and the difference

to
be
little
more
no doubt occasionally runs in very narrow
deep ravines, in places not more than sixty or eighty feet wide the
;
sides are generally steep, occasional places rejoicing in perpendicular
spurs that would have to be negotiated by more or less of cutting.
By
thus following the Kabul river the steep gradients needed to
climb up and
down
the passes to the south would be avoided
the other hand this route would be somewhat

or
interruptions by the
Mohmands on
outside our present jurisdiction
Gandamak
treaty, the tribal
and the Michni
on
more liable to attack
the opposite bank,
who
are
while as already noticed, under the
arrangements of the Mullagori country
passes, are equally
with the Khaiber, entirely in
our hands, and the railway arrangements would involve no risk of

political or tribal difficulties.
So
this,
by no means the
least
im
THE KABUL FOSTTTOX.
211
portant part of a railway to Kabul, could be at once begun quite
independently of any existing treaty arrangements with the Amir.
From Lundi-Khana,
Dhaka,
or
to Jelirdabad,
and
some
for
dis-
tance beyond, there are no serious physical obstructions to prevent
a railway from being rapidly constructed, with the single exception
Barikab and 'Ali-Bughan, which would
of a short bit between
require more careful aligning and more time to construct.

Jellalabad the location of the line as far as
be
difficult.
Beyond
Gandamak, would not
but short cutting would be needed
formidable,
through the Daronta gorge, while a certain amount of rock cutting,
though nothing insurmountable, by Katz-i-Aziz, would bring
it
up
Adrak-Badrak Kotal, not very far from Jagdalak, or to
to the
Avithin fifty miles of
Kabul.
A three
days' march, with
what might
Chaman
in the fertile Jellalabad valley as a
difficulties
undoubtedly become more formidable,
be made a second
base.
Further again,
and
is
it
a question
not be by the
There
is
if
from Jelalabad, a better alignment would
Lughman
Yalley,
and again by the Kabul
river.
every reason to believe that a perfectly practicable route
could be obtained in this
used for the
movement
direction,
which in former times was
of formidable armies, and
avoided by trading caravans
is
now
only
on account of the want of proper
escort.
There
is
no reason why such a
exceptionally costly.
railway to
For the greater part of
its
Kabul should be
length the outlay
would not exceed that on ordinary Indian or Russian frontier
lines,
and on even the most expensive lengths should not be nearly so

great as similar ones on the Hurnai
difficulties there are, are
mainly
railway to Quetta,
political.
Would
it
What
be possible to
obtain the Amir's consent, and having his support, to carry out
the work without encountering the serious opposition of the tribes-
men,
is
really the
problem
Situated as Kabul
is,
for solution.
the centre of trade with a great part of
ACROSS THE BORDER.
212
Central Asia, the majority of the people, the MJila traders and the
merchants at both ends of the Khaiber route, are
There can be no doubt of
railway advantages.
Indian
now diminishing
Afghanistan,
As
panding.
why
as fast
home
Russia
of
is
is
ex-
no reason
in so substantial a
Marri, Kakar, or Kandahari
Bilochi,
Chaman
as that
Asia via
Central
far as the tribesmen are concerned, there
the benefits that have come
to the
with
trade
and to English
traders,
fally alive to
importance to
its
manner
between Sibi and
should not in a short time be equally appreciated
by the
between Jamrud and the Koh-i-Daman.
Afridi, Shinwari, or Ghilzai
All are particularly fond of rupees, and would soon discover that
was better
it
to earn these
by some form of labour
in connection
with the railway than by risking their heads for insignificant loot
from the Amir's Mfilas.
The Amir, though generally
jealous to a
degree of anything savouring of interference with his kingdom,

is
man and
a shrewd
So
commercial.
own
not Wind to his
far as his light goes,
interests,
though
policy in the matter of prohibitive customs duties
than Russian competition

remains.
ours
it
is
even more
such trade with India as
fast killing
railway to Kabul would be as
would immensely strengthen
much
to his benefit
his position against
Russian encroachment and his hold on the tribes most
manage.
or
political
his short-sighted
Last year,^ while the troubles with Ishak
as
any
difficult to
Khan were
still
unsettled, the suggestion that an Indian division should be sent to
Jelirdabad was the Amir's
looks for assistance against

of the Indian
lente,
there
is
own
all
it
is
to India that he evidently
his enemies.
Government in dealing with him
Although the motto

is
necessarily /cs^ma
no reason why the strongest pressure should not be
brought to bear upon him to lower his transit duties, and

affording
more
extended trade.
facilities for
By
communication
failing to
by
to develop a greatly
do this his own subjects are equal
suffererS; while a railway would, in the form of greatly increased
THE KABUL
trade,
bring
receipts,
to
treasury
his
POSITION.
2l3
not only considerable additional
and enable him to develop many of the mechanical
industries for which he has a taste
but in the event of certain
by no means improbable contingencies, the successful defence of

his
Cis-Oxus provinces might to a great extent depend on his
capital being linked in with the railway system, of India.
objects to intrusion into his territories he
make the
line himself
may
when
it
to recognise these advantages, or at
necessity of the situation.
left to
any rate
enjoy the
It is quite
is finished.
possible that, with a little careful handling, he
he
be encouraged to
beyond the Khaiber, and be
pleasure of personal ownership
If
might be brought
to accept
them
as a
Meanwhile nothing should be permitted
to delay the construction of the portion of the line either through,
or turning the Khaiber,
and in having ready a complete scheme
for
the remainder, which events might at any time compel us to carry
out not merely without the Amir's consent, but

opposition.
in
spite
of his
CHAPTER XXV.
THE PESHAWUR VALLEY OF THE
PAST.
However
interest-
ing the attempt might

be, it
is,
for the
pre-
sent purpose, unnecessary to go back in

detail
any
the ancient
to
history of the Pesha-
wur
Valley.
valley
colonized by the
Aryan
first
patriarchs, tlie
Gandhara
of the early
Hindu, the Pushkalavati
Purana
a
the
of
;
Vishnu
that boasted
populous
city
Alexander's day,
under
his
in
and
successors
became the centre of

an important Gra^coBactrian
The Buddhist Prince Siddhartha, from Yusafzai.
That
fiiiures
kingdom.
in
San-
THE PESIIAWUR VALLEY OF THE

skrit,
Chinese, Greek,
and Arabic
Strabo, Ptolemy, and Arrian
PAST.
was desctibeJ by
literature;
in the first
215
and second centuries
whose Buddhist Stupas were famous when the valley was visited
by Fa-Hian
in the fifth,
in the seventh
Sung-yun
and Hwen-thsang
in the sixth,
was the subject of long notices by the Arab
geographers, Masaudi, and
Abu Rihan
in the tenth
diavans, or Lunar race of tradition were succeeded
intermediate stages
we do
against Alexander, and

rocks, the great
years
in
ago,
know
not
whom
he
by the
calls
and eleventh,
Where
and by the MuLjhal Barber in the sixteenth.
the Chan-
by how many
people
who held
it
Asaceni; where, on the
Buddhist king Asoka cut his edicts over 2,000

mystic characters, a puzzle
madan, and Sikh, not altogether deciphered
MuhamAnd where
Hindu,
to
yet.
successive dynasties have flourished, through a series
since then
Pushpamitra, Greeco-Bactrians like Eucratides
of
Brahmins
or
Menander, Scythians like Kadphises or Kanerki, Buddhists
and
again,
like
Hindus, Muhammadans, Sikhs, down to the
attain
Deputy Commissioners.
present excellent one of the British
But
are
to arrive at
clear idea of the relations of the tribes that
located in the valley, or that wonderful semicircle of hills
now
round
any
it,
some short notice
got there seems desirable.
of their past connection
The
first
and how they
appearance upon the scene of
the Pathans was towards the close of the seventh or beginning of

the eighth century, then described as forcing a
Lahore
to cede to
south of
them the Kohistan,
the Kabul River,
in
which
or hills
Hindu Rajah
of
west of the Indus and
localities
they
may
probably
represent a part of the original stock of Bangash, Orakzais. Afridis,
and Shiiiwaris already noticed.
These,
most
likely aggressive
Afghans from Ghor, joined with Gakkars from the Salt Range,
were to hold their lands
frontier.
The Peshawur
conditionally on
Valley and
occupied with tribes affiliated
with
hills
India.
their
guarding the
beyond were
then
Those of SwS,t are
credited with sending a contingent to the assistance of the Chittore
ACROSS THE DORDEPu
216
Rajputs early in the ninth century
when Peshawur
bracketed
is
But
with Lahore and Kaugra under one Anunga, a chief of Delhi.
Ghaznavis, Subaktagin, and Mahniud, not
the invasions of the
merely proved a deathblow to the power of the Hindus in northern

India; they changed the whole aspect of
the valley.
in
affairs
Anung
After the final defeat of Jaipal at Naushera in 1001, and
Mahmud
Pal at Peshawur in 1008,

to
the tribes
who had
dealt out
any way
in
assisted the
Muhammadan
Pathan, but probably in few cases

wholesale conversion to the
of Islam,
ffiith
summary punishment
enemy
possibly
insisted
on their
and proceeded
to harry
the country generally.
In his subsequent invasions he made
Peshawur the place
arms
surrounding
hills
army, which valley and
his
for
consequently received his special attention in this
However
respect.
of
civilized
his continuous invasions left
and populous
it,
as
it
may have been
before,
says, a deserted wilderness
Bellew
the haunt of the tiger and rhinoceros, only occasionally visited for
the sake of pasture by the shepherd tribes accustomed to roam
"
about the neighbouring countries,

re peopled
and cultivated
in
scattered
came
in
and
tribes of cultivators
thej/ are at
stand
hovels
its
war
in
the
till,
was gradually
in time, other
on
the
are
ruins of
still
eleventh
much
as
country, however, has never
in
the remains of massive stone walls."

of
spots,
it
former condition of prosperity.
of which
the buildings
these
settled over the plain,
The
the present time.
properly recovered
mud
By
Wretched
former towns and
many
places
Mahmud
traceable by
his dogs
slipped
century, and such was
cities,
the
effects
ot
the " havoc " they created, that Barber in the sixteenth recounts
the pleasure taken by his followers in
hunting the rhinoceros
there.
One
of the
first
of these tribes of the fresh settlers
Dalazak, doubtfid Pathfins to start
and adoption of many of
tlie
was the
with, and who by intermarriage
customs of the " unconverted,"
speedily lost any national characteristics they
may have
had.
To
THE PESHAWUR VALLEY OF THE PAST.

the Afghan of to-day they are
little
Ghazuavi gave place to
and Ghor
seem
to
have held
Glior,
called
from
Kandahar
two
had
panied by the
the
to
Mughal, the Dalazaks
Meanwhile two
Khakhai and Ghoria Khel,
whilom
brothers,
credited
with
so
settling
at
increased and multiplied, and the former, accom-
Usman Khel and Mudammadzai
other divisions, sought fresh
When Timour
Kabul.
better than Kafirs,^ but while
iDossessioa of the entire Valley.
important Pathan divisions
217
tribes belonging to
and established themselves at
fields,
invaded India in 1397, the Khakhai had
acquired considerable importance, and became numerous enough

to divide into clans called Yusafzais, Gigianis,
Kabul they waxed

for
their
fat
and kicked, and were even then notorious

acd feuds, and
turbulence
neighbour's cattle.
At
and Turkilanis.
Kabul
them more than he could manage,

entrap and slay some
a preference
for their
Ulugh Beg, Timour's grandson,
First useful to
to establish himself as ruler at
for
in 1470, he eventually found
so took the first opportunity to
seventy of their head-men, sparing the
remainder on condition the whole tribe cleared out of Kabul.
They did
so,
and moved on
to Basaul, Jelalabad,
first
Adinapura, and Laghman.
Shortly after the Yusafzais,
madzais, and Gigianis advanced another stage, and
by the Tartara route
to the
Peshawur
plain,
and begged from the
Having thus
gained a footing, they commenced their old habits of

their
Dalazak
with
neighbours
Muham-
came through
Dalazaks permission to occupy lands in the Doaba.
charging
then called
the
cattle-lifting,
same
offence,
Breaches of faith soon brought about a war; a great battle was

fought on the Swat River, in which the Dalazaks were routed with
great
slaughter and
many
fled
the
fertile,
across
The
aggressors to divide the spoil.
well-wooded Doaba
the
Indus,
leaving the
Gigianis took as their portion
the
between the Kabul and Swat Rivers
"
land of two
to th.e
waters
"^
Muhammadzais,
or
Muhamandzais, was assigned Hastnagar, "the country of the eight

1
Infidels.
ACROSS THE BORDER.
218
cities,"
stri})
about thirteen miles wide, west of the Swat River
and to the Yusafzais, and their great offshoot the Mandanrs, the
remainder of the country north of the Kabul River, an open plain
or
maim
mark the
broken with ravines and studded with
after obtained
a place in the
hills
mounds
that
The Usman Khels shortly
habitations of bygone peoples.
about the Swat River;
the
Turkolanis remaining partly in Laghman, and partly effecting a

settlement in Bajaur, ousting a chief who, like the ruler of Swat,
The descendants
called himself Sultan.
much
be said to retain pretty

appropriated in this
Not very long

Swat.
may
the positions their forbears then
summary way.
after,
Advancing
of all five divisions
to
the Yusufzais extended their conquest to
the
foot
of the
they surprised the
hills,
Swatis by a ruse, and obtained possession of the lower valley.
Towards the end of the
added Buneyr and
fifteenth century they
Chamlah, and about the end of the sixteenth separated into two
great divisions
the
first
known by
the general
the second Mandanzai after Yusaf's
nephew
name
the
Yusafzai, and
former finally
locating themselves mainly in Dir, Swat, Buneyr, and the
Indus
hills;
the latter in the
between Buneyr and the Indus.

one
little corner,
Yusafzai plain and
the
Upper
valleys
Roughly speaking, and excepting
the whole country, both within and without the
existing border, from the
Swat River
to the Indus,
came
into the
possession of one tribe or other of the great Yusafzai family, and
except
among
themselves, the
covers the whole.
The
name
of the superior division
still
aboriginal Swatis, once a powerful nation,
that Elphinstone thinks extended from the Jiiulaui to Jelalabad,
were forced eastwards over the Indus, where they took possession
of the bit of country adjoining the Hazara Valley,
by their descendants.
Those who remained were either reduced
to servitude, or subsequently emigrated
famous
saint,
now occupied
and the Swati
tribe
undur the leadership of a
have now no connection with the
country or the inhabitants of the Swat Valley.
The small corner
THE PESIIAWUR VALLEY OF THE
PAST.
219
above excepted, includes the southern slope of the
MCdiaban
Hazara, and
distinct
Peshawur Valley and a
in the south-east of the
Mountain
home
the
is
of the
from the Yusafzais,
bit of
Jaduns or Gaduns, a people quite
who had a
though somewhat
little,
doubtful, history to themselves.
By and
as
by, the Ghoria Khels, comprising the divisions
the Mohmands,
and Daudzais, followed
Khalils,
known
their friends
from Afghanistan, and took possession of Basaul, Jelalabad, and
Laghman
Mohmands beginning
the
occupy the
to
hills
Lalpura and Peshawur, where they or their kinsmen are
between
In
still.
1504 Barber acquired the sovereignty of Kabul and Ghazni, and

in the following year
made an extensive
frontier tour,
whole Border,
along the
the Khaiber Pass to Peshawur, going
coming by
returning by the Sakhi Sarwar Pass and the Bori Valley to Ghazni.
At
this period the
established
in
Pathan
are described as pretty well
settlers
Laghman, Kuner, Peshawur, Swat, and Bajaur
though some of the original occupants

ence under
years the
Mughal Barber undertook many
could not bo called anything else

to protect his
women and
own
cattle
enemy
forays
punish the
to
for
most of them
hill
Pathans, or
off the
men, carrying
but, as a rule, the tribes
were even then
against Bajaur, carried

escalade, using the
struggled for independ-
subjects, dispersing tlie
able to hold their own.
"
still
During the next twenty-five
their hereditary chiefs.
fully
Guided by the Dalazaks, he marched

the fortress
new matchlocks,
of
"
the
Sultan
original
by
which greatly astonished the
the net result being to extend the power of the Tarklanis.
Discretion, in the case of the " troublesome Yusafzais," suggested
diplomacy
to his
he forbore an invasion, but added a Malilcs
daughter
harem.
Both
his sons
the
restless
Kamran and
figure in the history of the valley
the Ghoria Khels at Pashut tn the

^
the patient
Hamayun
the former as a fugitive with
Kuner Eiver the
Tiibal chiefs.
latter as follow-
ACROSS THE BORDER.
2-20
ing him there, and hunting him from tribe to tribe, chastising those
who
slieltered
him, but making no particular impression.
In
no sooner had Hamayun gone, than, about 1554, the three
Khel
of Ghoria
the
Daudzais, Khalils, and
Mohmands
fact,
tribes
entered
the plain of Peshawur, drove out the balance of the Dalazaks, and
established themselves in their existinf( holdinos
the
Daudzais,
from Michni eastwards between the Adizai branches of the Swat
and the Budni stream, about as

from Michni, southwards
Peshawur and round
Akbarpura
far as
alou": the base of the
east
to
Jalozai
the Khalils
Khaiber range
and in the
hills
to
about
Michni Fort, one clan of Mohmands established themselves, and

another powerful colony across the Bara River,
among the
intricate
valleys and ravines of the extreme south-west corner right
the Afridi Hills
rich, well irrigated,
finally driven across the Indus,
now
in the criminal annals
The balance
and
all
to
and productive corner, but
one that has probably become most famous

as a specially criminal district.
up
of the Dalazaks were
that remains of the tribes
are one or two villages on the west, and a few
more on the
east in Hazara.
The
south-east of Peshawur, from Naushera to the Indus, by
Attock round the Akora Hills to Kohat, and the whole south and
east of the
tribes
than
Kohat
district, is
on our whole
frontier,
held by the Khattaks, one of the finest
but located almost entirely within, rather

Their original home was probably the
across, the Border.
northern slopes of the Sulaimans, and they also moved gradually
eastward about the thirteenth century, by Bannu and Kohtit, until,
about the close of the

latter with the
teenth
Bangash
later again,
had divided the most of the

about the middle of the
they appeared in the Peshawur Valley
Khairabad
to
Naushera being granted
services rendered
tribe.
fifteenth, they
by Malik Akor,
at that
They made further progress
successors,
to
six-
the plain from
them by Akbar
for
time chief of the whole
undur Akbar's
immediate
have encroached from time to time somewhat on their

THE PESHAWUR VALLEY OF THE
Mohmand,
settled
Government would probably soon extend
repeats
rest,
first
In the case of
itself,
increased,
making
many
still
less
further into
of these tribes history not merely
The Khattaks,
becomes monotonous.
it
2^1
and Mandanr neighbours, and under a
Klialil,
the valley.
PAST.
like
and have since divided into two divisions
their head-quarters at
Akora on the Kabul
the
the
River, the
other at Teri in south-west Kohat.
Excluding the Khattaks, the settlement of the Ghoria Khels
may
be said to have practically completed the location of the tribes
Though
that fringe the Peshawur border.
there have been minor
changes, modifications, and developments, no subsequent immigration seems to have taken place.
And, though during the
last
three centuries they figure in history more frequently than those
along other
jDarts
of our Border, their
ruling powers within
it
position relative to the
has not changed very much.
Their sub-
jugation was determined on by Akbar, but his control was at best
He
never more than partial.
who was
killed
lost
one famous general
Bir Bal
Even
by the Yusafzais, and his force cut up.
dis-
Mai and Raja Man Sing had
tinguished leaders like Todar
to
content themselves by taking up positions in the valley and keeping the tribes out of
still
is
more independent, and
found agreeing
The
Under succeeding Mughals they were
it.
earlier
to
after
some years
terms that were
all in
of struggle,
Aurangzebe
favour of the Pathclns.
Durrani s brought them more under control, and, by
inter-marriages, into occasional alliances
has since been less than nominal.
century came the Sikhs,

valley to subjection,
and
yet the hold of Kabul
With the beginning
of this
who under Runjeet Sing reduced the
tlie
surrounding
hills to
obedience.
Where
previous rulers employed whips, the Sikhs substituted scorpions.
They employed not merely the

stands,
force,
but
"
their force
only remedy " the Pathan under-
was
brutal.
village or tribe fell into their hands, their
When
a resisting
measures were as severe,
and their cruelty as indiscriminate, as the Russians are credited

with dealing out to the unfortunate Turkomans.
There
is
probably
ACROSS THE BOEDER.
222
no name more bated by the Pathan than Havi Sing, who hves in
memories as their most tyrannical oppressor, yet withal
their
admired
for his
bravery and
skill.
His name
Pathan mothers frighten unruly children

described
like sheep
as "
by the
lion."
But
a.nd old
grey-beards are
in spite of all the harrying, the fines,
tribes
have maintained their own
institutions, their customs, their freedom,

;
the bogie by which
loving to point out hills over which they were chased
and the punishment, the
hills
is
and they have probably suffered
far
and their position

less from
all
local
in the
the invasions
put together, than from their own petty wars, and their own bitter
and unceasing feuds.
The Great Renunciation Buddhist Sculpture from Yusafzai
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE PESHAWUR PATHAN OF THE PRESENT.
There
many
are in
ways, wide differences
between
various
the
and divisions of
tribes
Border Patlians, even

located
present,
at
round
the Peshawur
Valley,
and
haps dangerous
to at-
generalizations
tempt
cannot apply to
that
however
Still,
all.
much they may

in
decided
;
ing
family
to
notice
it
may
worth while to
Peshawur Aftaba and Chilmchi.
ern
few
rival
be
con-
leading
characteristics,
mon
is
like-
and before pass-
houses,
sider
differ
there
detail,
ness
per-
is
it
com-
to all these East-
Capulets
and
"
ACnOSS THE BORDER.
224
The manner in which the
Montagues.
round the valley has been examined
from the time they did
so,
in
have swept over them, they cannot be
spite of the troubles that
said to
tribes estabh'shcd themselves
have been subject to any man.
For some centuries
at least
they have acknowledged no law outside the custom of their
tribe,
and in the rugged fastnesses of the frontier ranges, have led a

albeit lawless,
Avild, free, active,
life,
and acquired a
spirit of in-
dependence rare in India, and not common in any oriental country.
The
'
manner
style of the tribesman is a little after the
My
foot is
Even when he
with him.
my
on
native heath," and "
Am
of
I not a
Rob Roy,
Pathan
leaves his native heath behind, he takes his
He
will
come
manner
down, a stalwart manly-looking ruffian,
with frank and open manners, rather Jewish features, long hair
under a
plentifully oiled,
choice
the better
higli turban,
he wears
baggy drawers, a lungi sash
to hide the dirt
clothes very long in both senses
with a loose tunic, blue for
worn very long
his
or
across his shoulders, grass sandals, a sheepskin coat with the hair
inside, thickly populated, a long
He
allowed to carry either.
is
heavy
knife,
and a
rifle, if
he
is
and he may be
certain to be filthy,
ragged, but he will saunter into a Viceregal durbar as proud as

Lucifer,
and with an
in the least like
nate,
air of
unconcern a diplomatist might envy. Not
any other Indian
even to his own
chief.
subject,
At
he
is
best the chief
perhaps a delegate, for tribal purposes, with a
but in no other respects superior

This inordinate pride
all.
the
"
Am
will glory
I not a
Pathan
in robbery,
is
is
"
not always subordi-
to the
but an equal
is
little
brief authority,
humblest radical of them
one of his marked characteristics, and
embodies
all
he
is
most proud
murder, will admit being avaricious, not deny being

trustful,
envious,
resentful,
and
vindictive
or
faithless, dis-
he
boast
will
perpetually of his descent, powers in arms, or independence
the being a Pathan more than covers

other.
He
of.
rather vain of a successfully conducted
all
the one and caps
all
but
the
THE PKSIIAWUR PATHAN OF THE PRESENT.

To honour,
in
the Western sense, he
importance, but he has a code of his
and
refers to proudly,
225
much
does not attach
own which he
strictly observes,
under the name of Nang-i-Pukhtdna.
This
code imposes upon him the necessity of recognizing the right of

asylum, even in the case of his bitterest foe
pliant
who comes
as a sup-
the necessity for revenge by retaliation, an eye for an eye,
a tooth for a tooth, or a

obligatory of
all,
for
life
life
and, almost the most
open-handed hospitality to
all
who may demand
There are differences of opinion as to the genuineness of
it.
There
hospitality.
is
often not
much
to give, the little
this
may be
of
a simple kind, and sometimes given to avoid the ridicule and scorn
attaching to the suspicion of being considered a miser, a
But those who know the tribesman
infinite scorn.
him with
readily credit
sociability
men
the
delight
village guest-house,
to
make
of good
best,
fellowship,
of
most
and of
Festive gatherings are frequent,
people.
women have
for the
bits of scandal
Malik
the virtue
among his own
name
their separate
opportunities for
meet at the shrine
of a saint, or the
a noise and be happy; while a tribal
will entertain as recklessly as the old-fashioned Irish land-
the Bengal planter, and will get deeply into debt to do
lord, or
it.
Nevertheless the over-zealous traveller would do well to bear in
mind the Abbot's maxim
" Who
suppcs with the Deville should
have a Imig spoone."
Bracketed with hospitality, the Path an puts courage as the

first
of virtues
He
is
his
own
the two have often to do duty for
undoubtedly brave to rashness,

or
any one
else's.
sets
the others.
all
no value upon
life,
either
Trained from youth to feats of strength,
endowed with wonderful powers of endurance, he commands the

There
admiration of most Englishmen.

the better
sort,
nature, and
even his
Equally certain
kind.
He
that inclines
will
is it
many
" vice
is
people
is
a sort of charm about
to forget his
treacherous
sometimes by action dignified."
his courage is too often of a coarse
meet his enemy, and
kill
him
and brutal
or be killed, without
ACROSS THE BORDER.
226
but he prefers to shoot him from behind, or stab him
flinching,
while asleep,
to take
him
for war,
he
fails
he
is
and
will not
meet him on equal terms,
if it is
notoriously impulsive, and best in attack.
is
up
easily disheartened and difficult to bring
will fight splendidly in his
own
possible
Moreover, though said to be born
at a disadvantage.
hills,
If that
again.
He
though a flank attack upsets
him, and a suspicion of being cut off causes a precipitate retreat.
Peshawur Cooking Bowl and
He
is
predatory to the last degree.
"
There
discriminate between tribes here, and
it
is
is
that her son
so shocking as
daily bread.
stabbed
iiis
it
may grow up
seems, for
it is
not
is
no
and theft are to many the business of
pillage
prayer
Long Spoones."
libel to
to
say that
The mother's
life.
a successful thief
not perhaps
only another form of petition for
Another story from the nursery,

tutor, the latter
much need
is
of a child
being implored not to mind
it,
who
as
it
THE PESHA WUR PATHAN OF THE PRESENT.

was the poor child's
first
attempt
a parable which suggests Punch's
pup pinning
picture of the Sheffielder on his knees, the bull
cheek, and
it
would be the making of the pup.
part of a liberal Pathan education.

is
life "
or
West
the Pathan will take the
is
let
off
with the
successful use of the knife
"
highwayman
the formula of the
is
life first,
Your
in the
and the plundered who
his purse only,
loss of
is
" Give or I take," with a knife
a comparatively modest request.
money
your
his
it " if he can, as
the child encouraging his father to " bide
at the victim's throat,
227
may
consider himself
extremely lucky.
His superstition
The Mullahs, the
unlimited
is
wisdom," are to him
more
" air
knife.
will
He
"
that
worse than the men.
the vagabond
St. Peters,
who
"
seekers after
hold the keys of
an Arabic verse
sounds like
than the whistle of an enemy's bullet
terrible
drawn daggers
many
all so
heaven, and any jargon

infinitely
the women
Pirs, the disciples,
have
for
him more
is
the
than the assassin's
terrors
has the firmest belief in miracles, charms, and omens
never pass a shrine without stopping to salaam
say a sentence without an
can hardly
Inshalla," or cut a throat without a
prayer; but he will not allow the creed of the Prophet, or the
ordinances of his religion to stand in the
"At one moment a
desires, or his passions.
devil "
is
woman's
proverb about him.
As
rights.
an agent to
in
common
select her
gossip
alight,
invested,
is
and
is
might probably
is
bound
To
sufficient
cost her
is
and the next a
not a believer in
is
so
much
property
and he becomes more suspicious

see her speak to a stranger
ground
life,
for mistrust; a
and be ample grounds
to establish his reputation
for a
by an intrigue,
and rumour credits the wives with exceptional willingness

having their throats
man
chance
Therefore, elopements are common, every
feud against the man.
young blood
saint
He
but once acquired, she
of her than of anything else.
him
of his business, his
often as not he purchases his wife, or employs
which his honour
sets
way
cut.
Q 2
to risk
ACinjSS nil:
228
There
no doubt the
is
JiOlllJllll.
Pathiiu
is
extremely avaricious and
as does
heavy in the scale against patriotism, honour,
grasping, and gold, the saint-seducing gold, weighs
elsewhere
condemned
or friendship; but he has sometimes been
appear too sweeping terms
The worst
worst.
he
is
to be tested
who has mainly
by the
however, undoubtedly very bad indeed.
is,
by the standard of a Peshavvur judge, or

do with the criminal
to
what
in
the whole being sampled
classes,
it
"crime on the Peshawur Frontier" has been
work by a distinguished
officer of
If
official
would be almost
The
impossible to paint his picture in colours dark enough.

of
not
it
fidelity
story
told in a recent
An
wide experience.
appalling
record of five years' experience as a Border Commissioner and
Judge, Mr. Elsmie speaks of
it
as a greater
"
the rest of a long Indian service together.
worst conceivable kind
murder in
murder
by
Crime," he says,
of the
a matter of almost daily occurrence
a crowd of witnesses
the carefully planned secret
of the sleeping victim at dead of night,
by poisoners, by
rioters,
"
all
phases, unblushing assassination in broad day-
all its
light, before
is
mental strain than
boys,
murder by
robbers,
and by women sword in hand.
Blood always crying for blood, revenge looked on as a virtue, the

heritage of retribution passed on as a solemn duty from father to
son."
Murder, as a business
ficult to find
men
and
it is
perhaps hardly more
who, for a consideration, will carry
it
out, in
of the above forms, than to obtain a porter to carry a parcel.
Peshawur
District
the Punjab
the whole
but
it
is
dif-
any
The
approximately about a thirty-second part of
accounts for about a third of the murders of
the police report one in every 4.500 of the entire
population, or in every 3,000 Pathans as murdered annually.
The
necessity for revenging feuds, wrongs at the hands of the seducer,
jealousies in regard to
women and
the objects of unnatural

" It
lust,
and
girls,
account for
would seem," says Mr. Elsmie,
latent in the heart of nearly every
"
still
much
more, of boys,
of the bloodshed.
that the spirit of murder
man
in the valley."
There
is
is
Tilt:
PATH AN OF THE P RESENT.
PKSIIAWUh'
almost a worse feature.
Public opinion
screening the murderer.
The discovery
men do
impossible, if the influential

do,
mostly in favour of
is
of the offender
not wish
it,
is
almost
and they seldom
innocent
against
accusations
while wilfully false
229
persons,
supported by fabricated evidence of the most astounding and

circumstantial character, are often concocted
to divert suspicion
from the real criminals, or wreak vengeance upon old enemies.

Justice
is
almost as
most
all,
much
by
baffled
false accusations established
home
by the difficulties in bringing
in this way, as
villages it is almost impossible to do so with
and
" it
offenders
to
any certainty at
but seldom the police have been able
is
necessary, frontier
officers
recently, tribal councils
have
regulations
Special
justice."
summary
with
invested
to deal with
empowered
In
real crime.
bring
to
been
found
powers, and
some of
their
own
crime, which, in a rough way, they are often capable of doing

effectually.
It is unnecessary to refer further to the records of crime.
that
it is
Grant
equal or more degraded than the Newgate Calendar
so probably are the dark stories of other Oriental countries.
that the city of
Peshawur may
as startling chronicles
come
Or
rival Constantinople or Port Said
occasionally from the West, and few
cities or peoples could afford to be judged by their police reports.
It
may
also be
urged that the position of the valley encourages a
great immigration of lawless
digenous scoundrels.
their
own
spirits, in
Outlaws who have made
country, and
find British
where at the same time, temptation

criminals of
with tribes
all
all
addition to
will
It
average tribesman beyond
the
is,
that both have, as a people,
asylum when needed,
it,
no matter how red-
however, improbable
Border
than his brothers or cousins within
it,
hot in
offered to adventurous
is
have to give
handed the seeker comes.
too
in-
protection convenient, and
kinds, in the form of a certain
round who
life
own
its
the
any better or worse
is
and
that
it
many more good
may
fairly
be hoped
points than they are
ACROSS THE BORDER.
230
likely to
come
have developed by examination of the
mainly
into our courts.
more true
It is
of this Border
Pathan than of most men, that he
lives in
a state of war by nature.
\vithout
it
it
class that
him has no charms

have made
his surroundings during all these centuries
a necessity of his existence
man he
every
Life for
his
hand has been
seen at his best
is
when
literally against
raiding or plundering.
Trained from his youth to add to the narrow resources of his bare
hill sides,
by the plunder of the more
nothing will prevent him doing
so,
or binds
him over
upon such
all
the alert.
order,
He
his neighbour.
looks
an interference with his most sacred
restrictions as
rights, the depriving
much on
government which introduces law and
keep the peace with
to
plains,
but the knowledge that his
neighbours are too strong for him, or too

Naturally he hates
and
fertile valleys
him
of legitimate pillage,
and the best part
For years the plains of Hastnagar and Yusafzai
of his revenues.
were the hunting grounds of bands from Swat, who chased the
Hindu
trader,
and put him
to
ransom.
Their mountain fastnesses
They
the rendezvous for any one hostile to our Government.

so
still.
are
For a long time the Mohmands are recorded as averaging
twenty-five formidable raids a year, to try and force the British to
buy
off depredations,
and
dislike to the
by paying blackmail.
Swat canal
It
was mainly suspicion
project that brought
down theUtman
Khels one night, to knock the tents over the sleeping
them
like birds
canvas.
in a net,
coolies,
catch
and hack them to pieces through the
The recent construction
of a border police tower on the
high road to Kohat was a grievous wrong in the eyes of the

Khels, because
it
would stop their ancient right
to
Aka
highway
robbery along that length, and they did their best to prevent
by carrying
tion
is
off the
closing the
Wild West,
masons.
But
so the enforcing of
of the Border
hills,
just as the extension
happy hunting grounds
while
it
of the red
it,
of civiliza-
man
in the
law and order up to the very edge
brings substantial benefit to the people
THE PESHA WUR PA THAN OF THE PRESENT.

within that border, has possibly
beyond
it
has indirectly
made
life
harder for the tribes
increased the Peshawar criminal
Gradually being deprived of
all
Whether he
is
likely to be, or
some
congenial
consideration.
it
is,
satisfied
is
is
gone
with the altered condition
would not be worth while to
occupation,
list.
opportunities of war, the Border
Pathan, may, like Othello, complain that his occupation
of things, and whether
231
problem
Avell
find
worthy
him
of
CHAPTER
FITZHARDY's
Perhaps
start
it is
murderer
XXVII.
as well to disarm suspicion, and, like Bottom, to
by disclaiming any attempt
Pathan henchman, known
In
to affright the gentle reader.
spite of the title, nothing is going to

faithful
DOMESTIC BORDERER.
happen
to Fitzhardy
and
his
to all familiars as "the Murderer,"
would have waited behind any reader's chair as harmlessly, and
most as
well, as a
London footman
al-
and, lion as he undoubtedly
He had
salute for all his master's guests, inquired in the best Pashtu
if
was, have roared
you " as 'twere any nightingale."
they were well, strong and in good case
commended them
come
a
to the
fine, tall,
to be in God's care.
and, as they departed,
Unfortunately he had
regiment originally with the brand of Cain upon him,
clean-limbed, well-set-up, tough old Yusafzai Pathan,
from the Ranizai country up by the Swat River, with a straight

nose, dark hair,
and a complexion almost
frank enough, and he
An
made no
fair.
His manner was
secret of Jiis reason for enlisting.
unavoidable business engagement had compelled him to
kill
couple of his countrymen, whose clansmen waited for him, and
made
return to his paternal hills impossible.
He
had, therefore,
taken the Queen's nipee, and, with a heart as light as his name,
Khushhal
Khan
fell to
1
soldiering in a native regiment.
"The
hapiiy-coiiditioiicd.''
FfTZ HARDY'S MURDERFJiA DOM EST li' BORDERER.

As chance
fell out,
he became attached
and the two saw much
233
Fitzhardy as orderly,
to
service in different parts of the country, in-
cluding an occasional brush with his
own people along the Border, but
he never developed any further sign of abnormal bloodthirstiness,
when
save on one occasion
many
other soldier
Adam came
the old
Like a good
out.
as the regiment called him, did
officers, Fitz,
not suffer from a superfluity of dollars, and was occasionally de-
spondent about ways and means
a circumstance that
escape the notice of his faithful orderly,
was
not
did
who one day asked
if
there
by way of mending matters.
nothing the Sahib could think of
Had
the Sahib no expectations from his family, no one likely to
give
him any money
The Sahib could think
of no one but an
old aunt who might leave him her money when she died
prospect,
Khushhal looked
however, that seemed very distant.
was
carefully round to see that the coast
shut
clear,
all
the doors,
and, with a gleam in his eye, and his hand searching for a knife,
whispered, " Sahib,

catch
The
I'll
go home and
offer
be sure of the money."
will
was perfectly genuine, and the Murderer was greatly
disappointed to find his officer had so

to decline
They may perhaps
kill her.
and hang me, but any how you
little
spirit of enterprise as
it.
By and
by, finances improved.
and blossomed into a District

induce Khushhal to "cut his
as general
manager of
thing pertaining to
Khushhal's
affairs,
it.
officer
name"
Fitz's
a reason
also,
bungalow
quite sufficient to
and join the new concern

at Pindabad,
and every
master stroke that marked a tide in
and led him on
took absolute possession of
Fitz got a civil appointment
all
to fortune
domestic
He
and to fame.
affairs,
regulated
Fitz's
household, engaged his servants, managed his camp, and eventually

did
it
" Fitz's
so completely, that his
Murderer."
fame passed into a proverb,
have more accurately described their relationship.

feature of the
as
To speak of the Murderer's Fitz, would perhaps
management was based un
The great
the very eciuitablc law
ACROSS THE BORDER.
234
The Murderer contracted
of contracts.
monthly contract
When
it
tooth
for
oil,
for the
However,
picks.
He had
for everything.
supply of matches, for blacking,
was
all
for
on a sliding
lamp
scale.
him eight annas a month
Fitz was a caj^tain, matches cost
was inconsistent vnth his dignity as major
to use less
than
twelve annas a month, while the Murderer held no lieutenantcolonel could light his pipe effectually for less than one rupee a
His ponies were fed and groomed by contract.
month.
were canied in the same
mended by
least
If he
Avay.
contract
fed,
little
holes in
He
on regular monthly terms.
his stockings with bits of string
was
was not clothed, he was at
the Murderer tying up
His tents
and at times almost well
by contract
fed,
but the ar-
rangements were conducted on the most thoroucrh-ojoing Pathan
Sometimes they ran rather long
principles.
tough
salt beef;
travagant
one more
scale,
slice "
at others the supplies
were on an almost ex-
and Kushhal stood by urging master to try "just
story of the Great
through a
salt
beef once more.
Beef Contract was almost as famous in
Pindabad as Mark Twain's.

disguises,
This chance,
of a particularly succulent joint.
unduly neglected, the menu would revert to
The
in the direction of
long course of salt beef in various
of deadly
series
hot days, induced a re-
monstrance even from Fitz, and resulted in a day or two's respite
and change to elderly chickens; but
more instalments of junk,

the
all
cow had become altogether hateful
Look
here.
too soon there followed
Fitz had to explain that the flesh of
at these casks
said the
"
to
him.
"
Sahib come
Murderer, pointing to a
corner of the verandah, " I have bought a whole cow, which has
been
salted,
and which has
viously there
hoping
was nothing
for better times
Of course Fitz never
to
be eaten.
for Fitz
when
What
can I do
"
Ob-
but to work steadily through,
the contract was next revised.
married.
That could not have been brought
within the four corners of any contract.
But the Murderer came
radiant one day, having bought a
a bargain, for twenty-five
girl,
in
FirZHARDY'S MURDERER A DOMESTIC BORDERER.

His matrimonial
rupees.
There was a row one day
or
...
he sold the
various forms.
But
Finally, Fitz
some
one,
and the suggestion was put
no,
like
He knew
some grumblers.
and was not going
to visit his
might persuade him
an Enfield
a Pathan
to desert so kind a master.
perhaps
to stop.
when he had
If there
street corners
having
of the sea
persuasion in
is
Fitz
submitted to
but eventually
The
to return.
meet him when he landed, was Khushhal Khan.

to
leave,
man
this old
knife, they probably would.
buying his matches casually at the
Murderer had come
in
a good place
holiday with no salt beef, and
the time came round
him
mountain home, where peradventure
his friends
bullet, or
to
was not convenient to go home, and
it
sort of lingering idea, that
years'
territory
on the transaction.
went on furlough himself, and took long
might be induced
had a two
British
baggage next day, and made, as the old
little
leave,
Khushhal was not
when he had
was in
occurred to Fitz, that the grim Path an heathen
it
might like some
and was being
to the gardener,
ruffian informed Fitz, sixteen rupees
Occasionally,
The small
a sound of great wailing.
the flirtation
Fortunately
corrected.
however, was of short duration.
bliss,
wife had been caught talking
235
first
man
The staunch
Bombay, and he had brought a Nazar
the Saliio, because, he said, he had learnt in India, that
for Fitz
old
for
never
it is
good to come empty handed into the presence of a superior.

Watson's Hotel he spread out the presents
to
At
a second-hand
Continental Bradshaw, which he thought the Sahib might find
made
pleasant reading, and a thing like a fiddle-stick or plectrum,
out of the wood that grew on
Adam
Khan's grave, which as every
Yusafzai knows, will enable any one to play perfectly on the
though he did not say

not perfect.
The
Fitz's
third gift
fiddle,
performance on the instrument was
was a remarkably mongrel pup,
for the
keep of which he proposed to enter into a contract at once

the fourth was an old Letts's Diary, which he
1
The present with which
it is
felt
and
sure the Sahih
Eastern etiquette to approach a superior.
ACIiOSS
i'3(;
would
tind useful to
keep
THI-: Boh'D/Jh'.
With these he wished
his accounts in.
Ma
the Sahib, Salam-a-laikum.
khwarc
ye.
May
"
evil
not come
nigh him."
They had many an adventure and many a

Fitz and his old Murderer
and the
suggestions that involved any break
latter
up
was perfectly deaf to aM
of the arrangements.
once went so far as to offer to pension him.

I
had not
left
my
regiment to take your
been Subadar Major.
Why
" Sahib,"
Never."
You
he
service, I should
Fitz
said, " if
now have
I cannot go back to Ranizai.
should I take pension while I can work on
allowances?
you.
You know
contract after that,
are a good master, Sahih,
and
full
I'll
pay and
never leave
CHAPTER
XXVIIT.
PATHAN WIVES.
Before Max O'Rell undertook
educate them, our Gallic
to
neighbours affected to suppose that John Bull bought and sold his
womankind
market
in the
of Smithfield.
Not that the
Pathans purchase their wives.
money on
the Pathan sometimes spends his

the bride, and
fees to "
Just so most Border

practice
feasts,
go-betweens," or there
presents, a sort of Eastern marriage settlement,
Dera Ismail Khan
Some,
great
and
many
cases,
and with most
many
for
an exchange of
is
and entertainments
is
not
in fact, like the Shiranis on the
border, go so far as to give a
sold, exactly as so
universal;
apd that the bride
to satisfy the guardians as to his position,
going to absolute poverty.
is
ornaments
tribes,
cattle
to the circumstances of the purchaser
dowry
wives are
but in a
literally
bought
quotations varying according
and the youth and beauty of
the purchased.
In England, according
elopements are common.
ing to post a
married."
for
my
it is
young people
husband
"
same excellent French
young
girl
authority,
goes out one fine morn-
and on her return informs her parents she
In Scotland
cient for the
you
letter,
to the
'
an easier business
to say,
'
still.
" It is suffi-
take you for ray wife
and the thing
is
the other hand, though he takes care to
is
I accept
done."
The Pathan, on
make
very easy to get
it
ACHOSS
238
out of the
BO HUE It
Till-:
matrimony, has a process
toils of
them
for getting into
elaborate enough to furnish matter for anotlier volume by the

gifted author of Les Filles de
The most Arcadian
John Bull.
For instance, when the
are the Waziris.
Waziri youth wants a wife he gets some respectable old clansman

to consult the girl's parents.
desirable, they
"
reply,
If to
Bring us the hiri
The admirer then deputes
rupees.
them the connection seems

"
about
his father with his friends,
who, taking with them a sheep or two for a

girl's
60 or 100
feast, repair to
the
house and pay up the stipulated amount over the roast
mutton, a
sum being returned
trifling
The couple
as luck-penny.
are then held to be engaged, and whenever Corydon goes to visit
he takes with him the wherewithal
his Phyllis,
dishes,
company
He
eat.
into the dish,
present
and the
scarf,
father, in
return, to
make him
is
called "
Binding the
the wedding day arrives, the bridegroom's friends,
are invited.
village,
is
and even
which
on the village with sticks and
the rejoicings, which last
modation
feast, to
ass."
thought of;
fire,
all
arrives
oily
and
stones, join in
sort of sleeping
"the hearth, with
accom-
brands of pine
no more of the cold than did the
Next morning
Virgil.
mounted on an ox
all parties
blackening the door-posts with perpetual soot,"
in winter they reck
Shepherds of
No
night.
When
men and women,
Towards evening, the bridegroom's party
after a feigned attack
an abundant
and provide a
a small
The custom,
a pair of shoes, or a cheap ring.
go to the bride's
savoury
Damon and
then expected to put two or three rupees
is
with a fine touch of humour,
the bride
is
carried
off
or an ass, the bridegroom remaining behind for
a day or two, to console her parents for their

night's
for the
which possibly Phyllis dresses, and Thyrsis,
honeymoon she
visits
loss.
After a fort-
them, to take back the presents given
by her family, which the bridegroom usually divides among his

party.
in
It is
doubtful
if
the privileges of leap-year are understood
Waziri land, but occasionallv the
woman
chooses, and she
makes
PATHAN
known her
WIVES.
239
drummer
fancy by sending the village
to pin a
hand-
The drummer
kerchief on the favoured one's cap with a hairpin.
watches his opportunity and does this in a public place, when the
swain has to marry the lady
if
he can pay her price to the
father.
In Yusafzai, Coelebs to a great extent employs a professional go-
between
to
arrange
matrimonial
his
The preliminary
affairs.
negotiations over, he and his confidential agent settle the matter

of presents with papa,
and quaff a cup of eau sacrd together as a
pledge of good
Tiie
faith.
may
hopeful Benedick
engagement
then given out, and the
is
the family as often as he likes, taking
visit
presents each time for his fiancee, though he never sees her.
become
privilege does not indeed
are over
"
his
and the bride has been conducted
best-man
"
to her
new home by
and his party, the bridesmaids being
the old people
an
two
first
time.
Such
left to
the
comfort
improvement on the Waziri arrangement.
Even then Benedick has

nicfhts before
That
the marriage ceremonies
till
to entertain his guests for three days
and
he unveils his bride and sees her face for the
is
the theory at any rate.
presents from their friends, on very
much
as prevails about such matters in the
Both look
for
weddiog
the same understanding
West;
only, not to return
the compliment to friends under similar circumstances, would in
The bridegroom has
Yusafzai probably lead to a serious feud.
stand the " shot " on both sides, and the cost
is
to
sometimes heavy
cheap marriage with a maid would probably run to Rs. 100,
an average one probably Rs. 250, while a rich Yusafzai might have
to
A single
spend several thousands to marry himself respectably,
regular one
is,
much
therefore, as
apart from the adage about

weather," for which there
the
full
In
many
straint.
is
Khan must
Muhammadan limit
equivalent.
parts- of the
Women who
"
as
an excellent
be well
off
afford,
and quite
if sliglitly
who can
broad Pushtu
afford to
run to
of four.
country there
in
most can
two women together making cold
is
naturally
much
less re-
towns or large gatherings would not
THE BOHDEIL
ACh'OSS
^40
venture out unless covered
bead
I'roni
to foot in the burka, a sort
of large v:hite cotton blouse with a little network in front of the
hood that covers the head, and a pair of large ungainly white
own camps
cotton boots, or rather leg coverings, go about in their
and villages unveiled, and bare-legged, with no other

than the general opinion that
restraint,
indecorous to be seen associating
Intercourse between the sexes
with men.
free,
it is
and matches are made up by mutual
is
therefore
attraction,
much more
and the pre-
liminary negotiations are at the best of the most nominal kind.
This however does not exempt the lover from paying some price to
the
girl's parents.
To
elope with a girl
by many clans considered
is
an outrage equal to murder, and to be punished with the same

mercilessness.
Among
most Border Pathans, or among the Afghan people
Sometimes the
generally, the ceremonies do not vary materially.
bridegroom has to stand treat to the lady's family, sometimes to tho

tribal
Jirgah or Council, sometimes to the village.
Pathan" does not

any one
else's
like to
expense
has to be paid
all
down
throw away a chance of dining out at
and in addition
as purchase-money.
Rs. 30.to 100
Ghilzai.
is
is
Even
tribes
the quotation for
B(trder, the trade in
still
women
is
ing, useful Afridi wife can, according to
150
Rs.
goes on
to 200.
r)ri
One remarkable
1,000, or even more.
to say, "
the
has
otlic-r
little in
linnd she
Bannu
it is
about the
more expensive, the
tariff
Along the Kohat, and part of the
ranging from Rs. 200 to 500.
for Rs.
look
The 60
on the Kohat border to Rs.
rises
100 or 200; in Miranzai, brides are
Peshawur
who
is
sum
probably Rs. 100 with the adjoining
same among the Khattaks, and
her
to all the feasting, a
business as vulgar are not above trade in wives.
rupees hiri of the Waziri
price
" hospitable
but among the majority the transaction
essentially a business one,
on
The
the
for
"The
way
works
notorious.
hard work-
Tucker, easily be procured
beauty will run to a fancy

ordinary
hill
of good looks to
like a
woman," he
recommend
donkey, cuts grass and
ACEOSS THE BORDER.
242
accustomed to poor
Avootl, carries Avater, is
much
as the
more
delicately nurtured
Not only do the Trans-Border
living,
woman
and does twice as
of the valley."
own
tribes sell their
relations,
but the trade in wives brought from Swat, Bajaur, and other valleys
sometimes
sometimes purchased
stolen,
brought to the
official
was, a
On
notice of Government.
Border measures were taken to check
The
it.
the Indian side the

stolen
taken from their purchasers and sent home again,
made away with on

But the market
sale
by their
is
relatives,
District Officer are
the
their return
reputed
by
many.
To take one
woman
marriage to a Zakha Khel Afridi,

ing against us in the Khaiber.
with her
little
to
is
of Tucker's, a sketch of
more than enough
to point a
slopes of the Safed
who was
Her
Koh, her
her relatives sold her in

afterwards killed fight-
father-in-law at once sold her
daughter to a Bazoti Orakzai
for Rs.
He
00.
her so badly she ran away in a month or two, leaving her

daughter, and reached the
Mani Khel country
in Tirah,
beat
little
where she
stopped three mouths, and was sold for Es. 120 to a Bar
hammad Khel
be
their dishonoured relatives.
when she was young, and
parents died
possibly
well-stocked with those sold, or for
Born a Ningrahari on the
moral.
women were
and the instances that come before the
of a Trans-Border
life
still
few years ago,
Mu-
whom
Orakzai, residing in British territory, with
she lived happily for three years, until the Bazoti found out where
she was and came to claim her.
The Bar Muhammad paid the
claimant back his Rs. 100, and the case was settled
of the possibilities fate
may have
in store for the
a
"
fair
sample
widowed wife
and wedded maid" on the Border.
The
treated
effect of all this
and,
brought
ujj
is,
that though the
woman may be
well
of course, according to the standard she has been
to,
she
is
more often than not well treated
mainly looked on as property.
she
is
Maid, widow, or divorcee, she
cannot marry without the consent of her male relations.
The
husband can divorce
The
his wife without assigning
any reason.

PATHAN
WIVES.
243
even with the best of grounds, would have small chance of
wife,
obtaining a divorce, were she rash enough to sue for

the Patban knife would
retically,
her
threatened
with
flash to
though
insult,
article
is
owner
is
satisfied,
If she fails to please, or falls out with the
and aunts, or the times grow
mother-in-law, or the sisters, cousins

sells
her with the other live-stock.
bonour can only be washed out in blood,

adultery
is
respondent
Pathan
he
is
is
is
That female
another theory
and
the
Occasionally,
co-respondent.
young and ardent enough
sufficiently cautious to reflect that the
make
a liberal bid
it is
almost a rule for a
first
till
she meets the

so
common
man
is
So common
for instance
She
whom
is
sold in
she has to live

off
with her.
money arrangement
that the
she fancies, or
the subsequent
who
will
run
Pathan has invented a special and most expressive word for

"sharmuna," which might be
A
a
son gets blush-money
widow
if
his
and
So he foregoes
to elope once.
instance to a selected husband, with
the
And
woman
the
Oftener
in rupees,
the Southern Khattaks
adultery with some tribes,
that
and
market value of the
him a considerable sum
so likely as the lover to
indeed,
to prefer vengeance.
the blood, and comes to terms with the co-respondent.

is
dis-
supposed always to demand the blood of both the
erring one represents to
who
So long as the
and she looks well enough, or works hard
enough, he keeps her.
he
the
Actually, the jiurchased
treated in the most casual manner.
hard,
from
not
certainly
chivalrous feeling imagined by Burke.
Theo-
it.
avenge even a look that
freely
translated
mother re-marries
or spinster, has, marriage or
it
"blush-money."
a
man
seducing
no marriage, to pay blush-
male next of kin; and a surprising number of

husbands pocket their wrongs on the same terms. To draw on
Tucker for one more specimen case an atrocious one enough.
money
to her
was charged with adultery with a TransBorder woman. Her relations killed her, and a claim for Es. 300
blush-money lay against him. His relations, therefore, bought a
R 2
An
Afridi policeman
ACROSS THE BORDER.
'lU
woman
poor Hindustani
for Rs. 40,
took her to their village and
pretended she was married to one of themselves and had gone
away with one

set
of the opposite party.
up a counter-claim
for
They then
killed her
and
blush-money; the two claims being
held to cancel each other.
This
is
but there
perhaps an extreme instance of the treatment of women,

is
no doubt that the wife-selling, the theory that the sex
generally are only
fit
Pathan vices combine

and degraded.
for playthings or slaves,

to place
them
At the same time
it
and certain other
in a position extremely low
must not be forgotten that
the worst cases are those which come most often to notice, and the
average of Pathan wives are married in their
among
their
own
peoj)le
and
it
may be hoped
own
villages,
live
that the current of
their domestic joys glides just as smoothly as in other parts of
the world.
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE MOHMANDS.
By
comparison
Peshawur Border
his
to
" divine,"
altogether
pleasant to turn from the Pathan of the
is
it
it
is
surroundings.
by no means without
leave the court and bazaar
reputation
and
If his
the
country
is
not
charms.
To
atmosphere of murder and
evil
its
go up to the top of the Gor Khatri, the old
caravanserai that tradition places on the side of Kanishka's great

Vihara,\vhere esoteric Buddhist
The holy place
Vehicle."
residence of
Afghan
monks
of the
refugees,
instructed in the
Hindu
jogi
'''
Lesser
converted into the
and from the top of which there
is
view of the whole of that great picturesque amphitheatre, from the

stony slopes of the Khattak range, by the banks and the marshes of
the Kabul and Swat rivers, the glens of Yusafzai, to the black peaks
of Hazara, with the
a background.
snows of the Hindu-Kush and the Sufed
And
with
of the valley
itself,
courses;
villages
its
it is
Koh
its
luxuriant fields and innumerable water-
and hamlets half hid among mulberries and
pomegranates, poplars, and willows
its
orchards and gardens
there are roses at the Bara as fine as by Bendemeer's stream.
scene which from this

for the "
for
tempting to dwell longer on the beauty
point of view, might almost as
for
easily pass
haunts of ancient peace," as one of continuous feuds.

1
Druid
(?)
or mendicant priest.
ACROSS THE BORDER.
246
But the scenery of the Peshawur Valley has been

terms by enthusiastic
in glowing
Border has here
artists
so often painted
the halt
within the
been already somewhat too long; and
necessary to pass to the people beyond
it
is
it.
Crossing the Doaba, to the bare stony irregular
hills that rise
almost.abruptly from the plain on the north-west between the Kabul
and Swat Rivers,
numerous and important,
both
a tribe
our immediate
to the
the country of the independent
is
and
the
Mohmands
only one on
border that professes even a nominal allegiance
Afghan Amir.
These low, bare
hills,
the last outworks of
the Hindu-Kush, rise until they reach the higher ranges which
separate the
north,
The
Mohmands from Bajaur and
Utman Khels on
the
bit of Mullagori
little
country and the
Khaiber route to
The
Kabul, as far as Jelfdabad, being the boundary on the south.

aspect of the country generally
in the extreme, but the
same time, the
alluvial land along its
by
or other,
approached from
more than
the
and
the
hands admittedly dreary

unfruitful, and, at the
on the south-east
the best parts the Brdzfii Hills on
Kabul River, and the
to the
by
are
with
barren
rocky
spurs
slopes
wdiich
the river
The three
the
by the respective
for
rich
In one
is
the
largest valleys
Gandao,
Shilman,
PandlTdi, covered
Abzai,
to Lalpura.
irrigation,
wealth.
border,
dry, stony water-courses,
rains,
shingle to
all
banks from Jelfdabad
Mohmand
our
Michni, Shabkadr, and
in
transit dues or
principal source of
Avater valley,"
on
most rugged and
down from Bajaur
the west,
is
least accessible hills are those
bordering the Peshawur Valley
way
the
and the Kuner Valley, which forms the western boundary.
" Fetid
forts of
most of the year
little
changing to raging torrents

leading
flank
from the beds
them.
Some
of
of
the
glens opening out north towards Bajaur, and south to Lalpura, are
better; but dry ravines, alternating with rows of sterile rocky hills
and
crags, are the
There
is
little
most striking characteristics of the country.
vegetation beyond coarse
grass,
scrub wood, and
THE MOHMANDS.
In the summer the heat
dwarf palm.
247
said to be very great,
is
There are
and the lowlands are not then particularly healthy.

two or three roads that have been improved by
from
us, like those
Shahgai by the Shilman Valley to Dhaka, and from Michni, by

the Shamilo ferry to the Shilman
country
is
but, with few exceptions, the
without roads, the rudest tracks leading straight up the
and down again.
hills
Roads and water are the two great wants.
In the hot weather the latter
everywhere scarce
is
drinking has often to be brought long distances,
whose supply
rain
from springs
made
uncertain, or from small tanks
for
to store the
the laborious task of carrying falling to the women.
The
The
is
even that
resources of such a country, as
mamly
crops are
more
or less distress
may
be supposed, are few.
dependent on the rains

is
The
certain.
poor, the extent of cultivation
the way of exports.
if
these
round them limited
and are
little grass,
to a few cattle
Hills, is all the people
fail,
have to
and
offer in
All the manufactures of civilization they have
They do a
to purchase.
and
villages are small
firewood, charcoal, and dwarf-palm mats, added
some honey from the Baizai
certain
amount
of business as carriers;
the Kachi clan depending almost entirely on the carrying trade
Kabul, and
between Peshawur and

chiefs realising a
floated
down
women
or
"
the Kabul River.
and
rafts
and goods
Guide money," levied on

is
Michni
kdjilas^
another source of revenue
two clans are credited with a scandalous trade
stolen from Swat,
and Orakzais.
population that
of these
Buneyr
But even
is
in
or Bajaur,
and
ordinary times there
opportunity offers, to the
is
a surplus
is
steadily
Peshawur
district.
have taken up land on the Swat Canal
numbers would only be too glad
to follow their
example.
times, it is quite intelligible that the unfortunate

^
Caravas.
in
sold to the Afridis
unable to find support, and which
emigrating, whenever
Many
Lalpura
good deal in the way of dues on
from Bajaur or Kuner to Peshawur,
and one
the
and
In bad
Mohmand, with
ACROSS THE BORDER.
248
the drought in his
own
country, and the prospect of loot in his
neighbours, should occasionally become a desperate man.
In physi(|ue, though there are among them fine men, they are
as a rule, inferior to
many
of the surrounding Pathans
they have on occasions fought well against
us,
their courage
They have plenty
decidedly open to suspicion.
and though
is
and
of pride
haughtiness, sufficient reputation for cruelty and treachery, and

like other Pathans, a
good deal to say about their honour
value of which may, perhaps, be best judged
by the
the
frontier
proverb concerning them to the effect that " you have only to put
may
a rupee in your eye, and you
They
woman,"
look at any
Mohmand, man
or
are on fairly good terms with their neighbours of
Bajaur and Kuner, have usually avoided
collisions
with the Afridis,
though between them and the Shinwriris a guerilla war has lasted
for centuries
the belt of desert from Lundi Kotal to Pesh Bolak
bearing witness to the destruction caused by raid and counter-raid.
common, and the
Private blood feuds are
somewhat
In
low.
many
resemble the Yusafzais

"
which to the Pathan

notion of a club,
stamp a
tariff for
injuries runs
other social and domestic customs they
but they have no
Young-blood
the want
tribe as little better
hiijras,
an
institution
con-esponds to the English
"
of which, in a Pathan's opinion,
They
than savages.
differ,
is
to
moreover
conspicuously in having a more aristocratic tribal constitution, in

that they have
families,
Khans
hereditary chiefs or Khans,
who from
ancient times have supplied
are appointed and are removable
the most important being the
the Baizai
Khan
The whole
is
Khan
far the
The
leaders.
and
who both enôy jagirs'^
district.
tribe is divided into four principal divisions, of
by
old
by the Amir of Kabul
of Lalpura in the east,
of Goshta in the west,
Isangraha or the Jelalabud
the Baizfd
drawn from the
which
most numerous but the Halimzai probably

;
possesses the most influence, as they hold

1
Freeliolds.
command
of the im-
THE MOHMANDS.
The
portant
iâsses.
fio-hting
men but
entire strength
is
249
put at 17,000 or 18,000
nothing like this number has been or probably
ever could be brought into the
field.
So
far,
the tribesmen have
never shown themselves very ready to enlist in our army, though

in the regiments of the Amir,
many
there are a good
Government have never been altogether
Up
1864 their history
to
conflict or raids, often
British officers
satisfactory.
For many
was annexed they gave more trouble than
vears after the Punjab
any other tribe.
and in the
Their relations with the British
contingents of the local Khfms.
is
one of continuous
on a formidable scale; and the murder of
who ventured
There
too far from our outposts.
were expeditions against them in 1851-52 and 1854, and between
1855 and 1860 they were charged with no

on the Peshawur
beino-
of
more
into the
than 125 outrages
fiery cross,
and brought 5,000 Mohrnands
but they were defeated with heavy
field,
many
Akhund
In 1863 the emissaries of the
or less serious.
Swat sent round the
less
object plunder or murder;
the
district,
loss.
From
that
time, which corresponds with the lesson taught the tribes by the
Ambeyla campaign, the
Mohmand
record of Frontier Expeditions describes
history as a period of " comparative " peace
though
they murdered Major Macdonald at Michni in 1873, attempted to

at Shabkadr, attacked our
murder Captain Anderson

in 1879,
conflict
Survey party
and on three occasions between 1878 and 1880 were in
with our troops; the
last
time at Dhaka, where their force
Since the close of the last Afghan war
was nearly annihilated.
the Shilman Valley section, adjoining the Khaiber route, has been
under exclusive
political relations
with
us,
and the tribe has been
on better behaviour, though they threatened to give trouble in
1882
and there
would be the
The branch
of the
is
little
Mohmand
doubt that any future
difficulty of ours,
opportunity.
of the family that settled in the south-west corner
Peshawur Valley, when
Dalazaks, have
now been
so
their progenitors finally ousted the
long separated from their country
a
ACROSS THE BORDER.
250
cousins of the
hills,
they have practically
They hold
lost all touch.
very productive lands irrigated by the Bara River
are reported
excellent farmers, superior in this respect to the adjoining Khalils,
who have
also a share in the
Bara water
but the
villajjes
Afridi hills have ever been proverbially troublesome

so for forgot
their position within our border, they appealed to
arms, rather than
to the
Deputy Commissioner.
was with the Khalils, over that most

water,
nearest the
and recently
which
fertile
Their quarrel
cause of disputes
developed into something like a pitched battle
eight being left dead on the

final settlement,
Divisional Judge,
field,
and many more wounded.
The
however, naturally finished in the court of the
who sentenced one batch
larger one to transportation for
Besides the four main divisions of the

certain afiiliated clans,
of
to be hanged,
and a
life.
Mohmands, there are
hill
which two, mainly agricultural and
the Dawezai and Utmanzai, located between- Bajaur on the north and the Utmankhel on the
may
numerically insignificant,
east,
be
practically
included
Mohmands
among the
proper.
Mullagoris on the south have already been noticed

west, the Safis
distinct.
but on
The
-the
a tolerably numerous tribe are a people entirely
They occupy the
north of Jelalabad, and some of
hills
Kuuer
the valleys opening on to the

Safis
River.
Geographically the
come between the Mohmands and the country
of Kafiristan
and probably, ethnographically and ethnologically, furnish a connecting link between two peoples otherwise almost diametrically
opposed.
In appearance often
florid,
with light eyes and hair,
speaking a language only distantly related to the Pushtu of the
Mohmands, whose
dialect has
much
in
common with
either directly
Kafirs,
descended
from,
or
largely
name which Masson
still
called Kafirs
suggests they
may have
Valley are
admixed with, the
and are comparatively recent converts
Barber's time they were
that spoken in
Lughman
Kabul, both they and the Dehgans of the
to
Islam.
in Nadir's, Safis
In
acquired by becoming
THE MOHMANDS.
" pure," in
comparison to the adjoining " impure
like
many
converts, they are fanatical
still
retain
many
Their
hills
251
" idolaters.
Muhammadans; but they
peculiar customs and vestiges of ancient arts.
which are
little
known, are reported as yielding
of grapes, the chief products being wine, vinegar,
The
the Safis are great bee-keepers.

natural
home
Now,
country,
and honey
moreover,
lots
is
for
the
of the Narcissus.
Politically, the position of this
in regard to our Border
is
powerful
Mohmand
confederation
another somewhat unsatisfactory feature.
Their being nominal subjects of Afghanistan necessitates, at least

in theory, a reference to that court for tlie redress of offences
mitted by the tribe
while even
if
the
Amir wished
com-
to exercise his
authority, the tribesmen are almost entirely beyond his influence.
He
cannot even collect his revenue.
are credited with " settling
on the PeshawHir border."

should at any time
down
'
For the
last
few years they

with us
to peaceful intercourse
Cras crcdcmus, hodie
If they
nihil.'
become troublesome as regards our com-
munications with Kabul, we should, no doubt, be able to take such
measures as would speedily bring them to their bearings
but, as
already pointed out with regard to other tribes, there are times and
seasons
do
this.
when
it
would become eminently inconvenient
to
have to
CHAPTER XXX.
TRIBAL JIRGAHS.
Each Pathan
clan
a separate democracy, but a democracy in
is
which the interest of the individual comes

those neighbours
who compose
save in the presence of a
combination
is
his sept or his lihail, second
common
He
civil discord, is content with war's alarms,
but
of
and never
not,
is
government would seem
is
to dispense his
own wrongs,
if this
to
own
wreak
justice
is
also a
to
power
him
to
tliis,
in the state.
with
His science
man
be a law unto
rather than civic, or

"
of the average
Khan
his proud privilege to redress his
on the original otfender
if not,
on brothers, cousins, or
even the offender's
do
said,
content with blood,
every
happiness
can be done conveniently,
Grundy looks
that
of personal,
own vengeance
his
uncles, the next of kin, or
is
mean
" greatest
The
national, liberty.
to
maximum
with the
himself,
is
be content with a master.
will
and
community runs
Mian Khel
content, as an old
is
danger, or some question where
absolutely necessary, the general
a bad third.
the welfare of
first,
tribe.
The Pathan Mrs.
and across the Border Mrs. Grundy
Her
notion
of
what
is
scandalous
the only respect in which she differs from her Western relative.
And
after
globe,
all,
is it
the custom
on either side of the Border, or on either side of the
not very
?
"
much
the surrounding society that establishes
Revenge," according to Bacon, "
is
a kind of wild
TtilBAL JIRGATIS.
justice
and
"
revenge."
would be
many
not so very
duelling as "
described
it,
is
it
show himself just
German student not
or
mode
feud, or neglecting to
of
avenge
wanting in good Pukhtunwali
as
ton as, in their respective countries,
editor
years ago that Elphinstone
only a generous and well-regulated
Pathan without a blood
to
253
it
would now be
for a
to fight duels, or for
French
an
Irish
patriot to pay his rent.
Nevertheless, necessity has forced the Pathan, like the rest of
the world, to recognize the need for some form
some system that

some
organization
tribal
of government,
even the rudest customary law,
shall enforce
to fall
of Lords,
of Khans, Mullahs
and headmen,
it
combines his House
bench of Bishops and Legislative Assembly
the functions of
all
most offices,
and
War
In
county court.
his
concerning debts,
fact, it
performs for him
society, the parish politics of
deeds,
mortgages and
enough,
among
the most lawless,
civilized,
the law
is
much more
legal
for
the
greatest risk to
beinsj
ill
civil side, it
curiously
the
most scrupulous
often associated with the
is
more
privileged to kick his wife to
treat his children, at a far cheaper rate
than he can snare a partridge, or
While the
do matters
Just, for example, as his
life.
fortunate Western representative
the verge of death, or
so
And
ruffian has the greatest
documents of the kind
owner's
Border Little
severe on offences against property
tenure of land
its
sales.
Tribal
perhaps among the most
as
The Border
than against the person.
for
It is at once
Office.
Pedlingtons, of course, furnish a lot of business
reo-ard for
discharges
from those of the Senate to those of the Vestry.
customs affecting village
respect
it
the divisions of the Queen's Bench, Probate
and Divorce, the Board of Trade and the

his Convocation
his
him and more.
tribal jirgah, or council of elders, does all this for
Composed
And
back on at a pinch.
steal a pair of boots.
legal business of the jirgah
is far
the heaviest on the
has also considerable criminal jurisdiction.
an Afridi or a Yusafzai,
is
Life,
not always beer and skittles
even
;
the

ACBOSS THE BORDER.
254
luxury
of reprisal.^,
and the pleasure of personally killing one's
enemies, must perforce be occasionally carried out by deputy, or
Where
entrusted to a tribunal.
common and so
blood feuds are so
though they may be allowed to slumber
bitter that
for years, still
remain a sacred heritage to be eventually taken up and continued

as long as possible,
may
to carry out.
many
a man, whose ancestors have been violent,
find himself with more legacies on his hands than he can hope
of
lot
burden
The constant anxiety and watchfulness
feuds,
an inheritance calculated to make
and, wearied out, the Pathan's only resource
his country for
some
is
entailed
India, or
in
service
up by a
of his quarrels patched
often prefer expatriation
is
get the
to
jirgah.
is
by
life
to leave
most trouble-
That he should
so
only further evidence of Mrs. Grundy's
power.
In the face of common danger, or in defence of the

faith,
the jirgah projDortionately enlarges
rival clans,
Rival parties,
its base.
and occasionally widely separated
common
rival tribes,
patch up
their disputes, and selections from the smaller councils become the
representative jirgah.
united of
all,
Among
the patching u^)
the Afridis, perhaps the most dis-
is
somewhat
takes a stone, and in turn placing
solemn vow, that until the
it
common
quaint.
Each clansman
on his neighbour's, swears a

cause be settled, and these
stones removed, any feud between the parties shall be dormant
an oath generally religiously kept.
The jirgah assembles on the
bare ground, and having gone through
its
opening formula of
prayer, to the effect that though events are with God, deliberation
is still
men
with man, settles the plan of the campaign, the number of
each branch of the tribe
is
to find,
village, usually in proportion to its
takes the
field
with a sheep's skin
munition as he has been able to

these will last
the campaign.
is
very
much
and the quota from each
numerical strength.
full of flour
collect.
Each man
and as much am-
And
the period that
the measure of the probable length of
Even the jirgah seems powerless
for
any extensive
TRIBAL JIRGAHS.
In matters of
commissariat or transport arrangements.
however, they show a

gether, and there
much more
made by the
decided power of holding to-
would naturally be with the
On
all
the
the Biloch border negotiations
tribal chief
the jii^gaJis are the only bodies that

it
Government with
British
Afridi tribes concerned in 1881.
and though
treaty,
no more satisfactory instance than the Khaiber
is
Pass agreement,
255
but dealing with Pathans,
Government can
recognise,
not always easy to be sure that the jirgah
is
is
really a representative one, the real leaders sometimes holding
aloof
men
and putting forward
of no importance or influence,
agreements once entered into by a genuine
With
generally respected.
their
word once given,
treaties
Of
certain
offers
tribal
tribes, like
council
are
the Buneyrwals,
probably a better security than
many
with the more civilized nations.
and judicial functions of the jirgah
late years the detective
have been turned to account within our own Border, and in the
Peshavvur district
now form
part of the regular judicial system, the
Deputy Commissioner being empowered

punishment on their
decisions.
Where our
to
accept
and award
police Avould be utterly
unable to fathom the dark mysteries of Border crime, and our

executive
fail to
convict or punish perfectly well-known offenders,
whom
but against
evidence
is
not forthcoming, the
on the principle that no one makes
has not
old poacher
so
trial
hy jirgah
good a gamekeeper as an
Crime
unfrequently come in most happily.
has been detected, brought home, and punished, that could not
have been satisfactorily dealt with in any other way.
Sometimes the process
mind that can take
is
in the
up the
criminal; can follow
peculiar.
strange
For
it
is
only a Pathan
working of the Peshawur
reason, or trace the
still
more ex-
traordinary course his vengeance, lust, or greed will take.
And
sometimes the finding of the jirgah would be calculated to astonish
Her
Majesty's judges.
illustrative one.
recent instance of the latter
is
a fairly
man, notoriously of the worst character, was
ACROSS THE BORDER.
256
charged with the most brutal and aggravated
murder.
Every
presumption, short of judicial proof, was against him, but no direct

evidence being forthcoming
against a ruffian of influence
made him
to convict,
it is
the
over to the
consideration, tlie jirf/ah to a
not always safe to give evidence
forward and swore to the
recommended
Valley.
his deportation
The Deputy Commissioner had no
to accept the finding,
and the
The jirgah
British territory, slew
followed,
him
was probably somewhat
man was
If
choice but
subsequently sent out of
and the day he
themselves.
as f(jllows.
After due
trial.
Khan from the Bajawar
prisoner's complete innocence, but
the district.
jioyah for
man came
'Sherdil," a Representative
across the Border.
Deputy Commissioner, unable
trihsii
we
set foot out of
Their train of reasoning

bring
him
in guilt}^, the
most the Deputy Commissioner can give him on our finding
will
TRIBAL JIRGAHS.
be some seven years' imprisonment.
case,
257
This would not meet the
but once beyond British jurisdiction, the summary process
adopted would be
much more
satisfactoiy.
procedure clearly
not judicial, but a rude notion of justice quite sufficient to satisfy
a Path an jirgah.
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE CHILDREN OF JOSEPH.
With
all
respects,
is
his republicanism, the
especially
Border tribe prides

imaginary
as "
Bani
in
so
on
itself
lineage.
is
common, and the grey"
beards are fond of carrying history back to
However
Yakiib."
there
is,
Ibrahim, I'sak, and
far fetched the idea of the connection
may
be,
as discussed at length by.Bellew, a savour of Israelitish
custom, and an often remarkable similarity of
more
possibly
To speak of themselves
past.
the children of Israel,
many
Every petty
descent from some
its
ancestor in the distant
Inrail,''
Pathan, Hibernian in
matters of
among
especially
those
to
be
now
name
noticed.
surviving,
Amazites,
Moabites, Hittites, or Amazai, Muhibwal, Hotiwal, will be found
on Mount Morah, the

valley
of
Sudhum
hill
Pehor, the plain of Galilee (Jalala)
the
observing the " passover," offering sin and
thank-offerings, or driving off the scapegoat laden with the sins

of the people.
In venturing, therefore, upon a genealogical tree
always witli the risk of dulness attending the recounting of a

" lang pedigree "
than would be
no more
to the
historical value
undoubted
need be attached to
it,
belief of the people themselves
and such historians as they possess.
not the hero of that somewhat doubtful adventure with

but the grandson of that Khakhai, whose descendants,
Joseph
Zulikha
Peshawur Valle^^
four centuries ago, drove the Dalazaks out of the
had
at least one elder brothei',
man, who came
to
named
much
hound, though
Oaier, an exceedingly worthy
India, married a lady there, and
widow and one
a disconsolate
259
son,
died, leaving
Joseph, as in duty
Mandanr.
against the lady's inclination, married his
brother's widow, and, either
sons of his own, Uriah,
by
'Isa,
and Mandanr, are descended
her, or other wives,
Musa, Mali, aud Ako.

all
had
five
noted
From whom,
the innumerable tribes of Yusafzai,
distributed over the country, both within and without our Border
from the Swat river to the Black Mountain, on the Hazara side of
the Indus.
named
story,
tract, that
conformably to Pathan custom, has been
after the tribes possessing
sons,
by a slave
XJsman and Utman, as
of the Indus.
Mahabun Mountain, down
The Khudukhel
occupies the
western slope
section
of the
between the Gaduns and the Chamla Valley
much more numerous remainder

of the
di-
Kamazai, and Akazai, are located beyond our Border,
along the eastern slope of the
Saddazais,
some
he
half dozen others
Three comparatively insignificant
girl called Razai.
visions, Alazai,
well as
to the
whom
married a daughter of his stepfather, Joseph, by
had two
bank
Mandanr, according
it,
Peshawur
district,
to the right
of the fourth, or
same mountain,
the whole of the
dwelling in the south-east corner
and the south-west corner of Hazara.
Their clans would now include the town of Swabi on the west, and
Harripur on the east of the Indus.
The descendants
ant.
of X^smfln are
still
more numerous and import-
Primarily they split into two divisions, the Kamalzai and
the Amazai, and each again into two more.
remark
applies
to
the
Originally
whole Yusafzai Border
included, under the direction of a famous priest

in its share a portion of hill
and the
each
division
named Shaikh Mali^
and a portion of more favoured
plain,
the residents havino- to exchancê lands with each other at intervals,
but by degrees the custom became obsolete, more especially since

British occujjation.
If those in the plains
have
lost their possess
ACBOSS THE BORDER.
260
sion
the
in
hills,
they have, with the protection of the British
Government, stuck
ants of
to the
more
Mandanr," or Yusafzai
lands
fertile
Usman, who have become
and
for the
descend-
firmly established in the " Malik

result has been a better share
plain, the
of good fortune than has fallen to most of the children of Joseph.
The
Karaalzai have
among
Hoti, and the Amazai,

significantly
named
their chief towns. Torn,
Rustam and Chargholai
valley of
Sodom.
Mardan and
in the fertile
but
branch of the Amazai
have given their name to the north-eastern slopes of the Mahabun
Mountain beyond the Border

still
but though in
social
matters they
keep up their connection Avith their brethren in the plains,
they are politically in alliance with the adjoining Buneyrs, and have
a tribal chief of their own at Charorai.
slave girl have done no
after their
common
The
more than found a
half dozen sons of the

single division
named
mother, Razai, and that one of secondary
importance, established mainly about the villages of Ismaila and
Shiwa,
&c.,
More
between the Amazai and the Utmanzai.
or less,
though
it is
only in an Administration Report any
one would venture to use the optimist sense,
all
Mandanr
these
clans within our Border have beaten their swords into plough-
shares
or as Bellew describes
plough with a
rifle
it,
"
the cultivator
who went
over his shoulder and a sword at his
watched his crops with armed patrols day and night, now
seed into the ground far
mounds formerly used

sexes, " deli.fht the
away from
his village,
His children graze the
no further anxiety."
as pickets
and
to
side, or
casts his
is
troubled with
cattle
and play on
while the old
women
of both
youth untutored in the use of arms with
ing recitations of the manly deeds of their fathers."

that the son of Joseph, with these advantages,
is
in
It
many
thrill-
is
true
respects
a fine fellow, a peaceful, well behaved, almost industrious Pathan,
and where he has the further benefits of canal water and an easy
settlement,
may no
is
becoming
longer rouse
rich
him up
and well
to
to
do battle
do.
fur
The alarm drum

his
hearth or his

crops
but
with so
probably only a poetic imagination that credits him
it is
much
261
Although he roar you as gently as
pacific virtue.
any sucking dove, Bottom
much
not quite so
is
translated as he
looks.
Of Joseph's own
sons, far the largest proportion of their posterity

"
are entirely across the Border.
Uriah,"
who was
windy," on account of his villanous temper,
widow, and got cursed

exceed thirteen
souls,
the lady praying his progeny might never
whom
sons, of
cattle-lifting
Mughals.
out with his father's
fell
which tradition says they never
Badikhels dwelling in poverty
had twelve
called Badi, " the
they became extinct.
till
the
did,
" 'Isa
"
nine were killed in an affray with some
From
the other three are descended the
Hassanzais, Akazais and Madakhels, settled on the spurs of the
Mahaban and Dumah Mountains, on the right bank of the

more
Indus, and,
extensively, in the Agror hills to the left of that river, where,
with some others, they are now known as the Black Meuntain
tribes.
In comparison with the other main Yusafzai divisions, they
are small and unimportant, though for a long series of years they
have caused more annoyance than many of our
more formidable
The Hassanzais brought themselves
frontier neighbours.
front rank of frontier scoundrels,
defenceless
far
Customs
officers,
into the
by the deliberate murder of two
Messrs.
Carn and Tapp,
in
1851
an
outrage that, Hke the recent Black Mountain one, took place within
They
our Border.
gating
altogether
troublesome of
ful,
all
are split
into
probably not
some ten
2,000
the clans being the
but whose head
is
sub-divisions, aggre-
fighting
Khan
men, the most
Khels, a mere hand-
for the time being the practical leader of
the whole of the 'Isazai.
numerous
up
The Akazai
as the Hassanzais,
division
is
and has only taken
not quite half as

to giving trouble
to us within the last ten years, inspired not improbably in the first
Khan of Agror.
many other Yusafzai
instance by the
As with
is
so
clans, not
little
of the trouble
brought about by the fanatical colonies of religious adventurers,

ACROSS THE BORDER.
262
>vlio,
from early times, have been the cause of the most of the
who
bloodshed and mischief in this direction, and
iu the shape of
the Pariari Sayuds, were again found associated

forefroina divisions
the oiitraoe that
in
Major Battye and Captain Urraston.

insignificant colony
on
"vvith
the
us
cost
two
the
of
lives
These Pariari Sayuds are an

Black Mountain, north
the east face of the
of Agror, and close to the fort of Trund, but their glen has always
been a refuge
the surrounding
all
both Pathan and Swati, and they exercise considerable
tribes,
There
influence.
tribes,
from
for discontented settlers
which,
is
no doubt
Black Mountain
that all these
however much they may be
spilt
up among them-
selves, are identical in their ill-feeling against us, have,
with the
exception of the expeditions against the Hassanzais in 1868, and

recent one
tire
immunity from punishment
being
difficult
method
owing partly
worth the
hardly
with equal
said
of dealing wdth
certainty,
its tribes,
and open out a road along
it
maps
is still
shown
But
life
the
that
to
right
effectual
summarily annex the
up
to the
Indus bank
as a practically
cost
unknown country
General Galbraith's
of the gallant Major Beley.
to continue the traditions of Joseph's family tree. "
had one
son,
It
attacking.
most
from Derband, a route that on the
an unfortunate bit of ignorance that
column the
to their position
of
trouble
them would be
whole Black Mountain and
published
enjoyed almost en-
of approach, and partly to their insignificance
rendering them
might be
Mc Queen,
under General
the
" Elias,"
from
whom
Four
divisions called the Iliaszai.
sprang the
five
Moses"
important
of which, the Salarzai, Gadaizai,
Ashazai, and Nasozais, are located in Buneyr, and the Makhozais
on the eastern slope of the Dosin-a Mountain beyond "Mali"

left
four sons
]Jaulatzais
and
the Chagarzai,
Duma
western
by
t,wo
wives, of which
two main
divisions,
the Nurazais, are also settled in Buneyr.

is
partly in
Buneyr and the northern
the
third,
slopes of the
Mountain, on the right of the Indus, and partly on the

slope of the Black
Mountain.
So that
with this
last

exception,
modern representatives
are the
allies,
There
Mali.
almost
all
Musa and
of Joseph's sons
probably no finer race on the whole north-west
is
in their way, they are the pick of the family.
and
frontier,
be said that the Buneyrwals and their adjoining
may
it
2G3
With
the good points, and several of the failings strongly
developed, they are peculiarly representative Pathans, not the least

characteristic, being the
marked
from
way they have always
stood aloof
us.
Of Ako, the
last
son of Joseph, the descendants have proved
the most numerous of

half a dozen sons,
all.
each of
The
important divisions.
To begin
whom
with, he
had by two wives
subsequently founded several
chief of which are (1) the Khwazozai,
that with half a dozen sub-divisions, holds a good part of the right
of the
Swat
Valley, the country north of
it,
as far as Dir,
the mountains that separate the latter from Chitral.

the Malizai, under
its
chief
One
and
clan,
Khan, holds Dir and the
Gazan
Panjkora valley right up to the border land of Kafiristan and

Kashkar.
(2j
The
Bazidzai, or Baizai,
whose seven clans extend
from the Lundkhwar Valley in British territory above Mardan,
by the
bank
left
of the Swat, the northern slope of the Dosirra
Mountain, and the highlands of Ghorband, round to the valleys

draining into the Indus, by the Kohistan that separates Yusafzai
from Gilgit
and
the Kanizai, whose clans occupy the western
(3),
end of the Swat Valley adjoining the
Utman
Khels.
Akun
These are the sons of Joseph, according to the

their
most learned
priest,
historian,
and saint
Darwaiza,
and such their
approximate distribution along the Border at the present time.
Other Pathan
their country,
tribes are here
and there
and of course large
settled within the limits of
numbers
of Hindus, Hindkis,
Gujars, Kashmiris and other tribes, that, taken together, consider-
ably outnumber the
Yusafzais.
These
have either descended
from the original inhabitants, or immigrated, and throughout the

country form perfectly distinct
little societies
of their own, retain-
ACROSS THE BORDER.
264
ing
most
their religious
of
The Hindus
undisturbed.
the most bigoted of the
like the
Gaduns, Jaduns
Utman Khels on
especially, not
and even among
particularly flourish,
Muhammadan
bulk of the mercantile business.
the
and national characteristics
rites
or
population, transact the
There are again other
tribes,
Yaduns, in the eastern corner, and
the west,
who
though, in the former case
even remotely related to
A Border Gentleman,
Rissaldar
the Yusafzais, are
Muhammad
other ways associated with them, and can for
in
Khan.
many
purposes be
most conveniently considered together.

Bellew estimates the total Yusafzai population at
every
man
fighting
capable
of
bearing arms
man, and he puts the
Almost
may be reckoned
total strength at
and 43,000 within the Border, though
upon
close
quarter of a million, the larger half within our Border.
as
30,000 without,
of course the former are
Eminently an agricul-
scattered over a vast extent of country.

tural, as
opposed to a trading, people, living on the produce of
and
their fields
famed
265
for
they at the same time have always been
flocks,
turbulence and reluctance
As shown
government.
to one another
to
submit to any form of
above, though they are collectively
by a common
descent, the various clans, or
bound
groups
of clans, have formed distinct communities, governed by separate

chiefs,
with rival and opposing interests, which have developed
Of
continual feuds and jealousies.
government, they have none.

able, has set
up
tribal combination, or regular
Each son
for himself, exacts
such revenue as he can from the
mixed population, allows the cultivator

of
the produce
acknowledges no
Akhund.
But
of
his
suzerain,
land,
of Joseph that has been
and
unless
it
to retain a third or fourth
recognises
be
no
master,
or
chief
or
religious
in their relations with foreigners, individual feuds
and jealousies would
to a great extent
be put aside, and
it
is
not
improbable that the entire community would act together against
an invader.
CHAPTER
SWAT, PANJKORA,
The
XXXII.
AND BAJAWAR.
southern half of the Yusafzai country, which
British rule,
is
is
under
practically the only portion accessible to Europeans.
Information regarding the larger portion of that across the Border

north of the Hazarno and Mahaban Mountains,
and
scanty.
but uncertain
points, is
Long
that contained in the report by Dr. Belle w.

Iklardan,
is
Probably the best obtainable on most
residence in
and an exceptional knowledge of Pashtu, enabled him
command
to
the best native sources; and his vivid and entertaining
account, of a most interesting country and people, has
recognised standard work.

it is
still
Physically,
among
all
become the
our Border lands,
one of the most difficult of approach,consisting of a confused mass
of lofty mountains, divided by deep, though fertile valleys, that

alternately
stretch,
continuously
almost
till,
far
beyond
the
Yusafzai country, they converge in the great central mountain

knot, expressively described
whence spring
so
round, and to take
by direct
many
it
as
the
"
roof of the
famous Asiatic ranges.
in rear,
would be
still
country
to
from
move
more formidable than
assault.
This phy.sical inaccessibility, and the hardly

nature of
world,"
So that
its
full
people,
is all
of interest.
the
more
to
less
unapproachable
be regretted, in that
Though not
altogether
it is
a "Land
a
of
SWAT, PANJKORA,
many
Promise," yet
among
its
oil,"
and honey and ghee} which
read, corn
are clothed with
Its hill tops
exports.
principal
267
with milk and honey.
of its valleys are flowing
For "corn and wine and

are
AND BAJAWAR.
rich forests, giving place to a variety of excellent fruit-trees in its
aud
its
temperate even in summer,
Its climate is
well watered valleys.
Many
capabilities great.
parts of
becoming fewer and

tific
tablets,
investigation, to
Greek and Pali
in
valuable every
less
be rich
indi-
Buddhist and Hindu, and
cate the former presence of Greek,
inscribed
to
Swat and Bajawar
in ancient remains; the frequent ruins in
innumerable
known
are
it
probably
year only await
scien-
throw much light on the ancient history of
this part of the world.
Although the people of various valleys may
offer
very striking
differences and in fact from their habit of mixing so

the world outside their
own
little
with
circumscribed holdings, and constant
intermarriage, the divergence between the clans
would hardly be credited as belonging
to the
is
so great, they
same stock
there
great natural similarity between the valleys themselves, and
it
is
will
be unnecessary to do more than briefly notice one or two of those

that occupy the most prominent position from the Border point of
view.
n:iost
is
Of
these the most important and extensive, the richest and
but most unhealthy, and perhaps most inaccessible,
fertile,
the valley of Swat, or Suwat.
trict
takes
its
The
river
from which the
dis-
name, probably the Suastos of Arrian, debouches on
British territory near the fort of Abazai, whence,
with the Panjkora
the ancient Garaois
rushing between precipitous banks
it is
up
to the junction
a swift, deep torrent,
the surrounding hills im-
practicable for any except foot passengers, and not easy for them,
being in the hands of the
Utman
Khels.
From
the point of
its
meeting with the Panjkora, some seventy miles north-east, nearly to

its
source,
is
The main
Swat proper.
valley, intersected
and glens draining the ranges on either

1
Clarified butter.
side, is in places
by ravines
ten miles
ACROSS THE BORDER.
268
wide, in others the hills narrow to a few hundred yards apart,
natural
dividing
it
Ranizai,
Swat Kuz
into
Beyond, further
sections,
north-east
the Kohistan of Swat, and

race,
having more
which
A formidable
country
is
Ranges of
make
20,000 feet
great barrier
lofty
as
snow-clad moun-
what
one, locally called the Larani, from
is
from the net work of
it
up the Panjkora; the Kohistan on the north-
snow fields and extensive glaciers,
east rises from
known
is
approached only by a few negotiable
probably the only feasible pass, separates

valleys that
Upper Swat.
inhabited by an entirely different
is
Chitral, than with the Yusafzai.
passes.
the
again,
are
principal
or
with the people of Yasin, Gilgit, and
affinity
tains shut in Swat,
which the
of
Lower Swat, and Bar
or
to
on the south-east the Gorband and
between
peaks of nearly
Hum
and the valleys draining
it
oppose a
to the Indus,
territory.
The
passes that afford the best entrance are over this last named.
The
while the Mora range
Ranizai country
quite so easy
it
and British
and most used from the Peshawur
easiest
more
still
between
lies
is
the Mora
difficult
one
Not
one.
approached from the Baizai country, and
is
by Shahkot.
it
has already been said
throughout Swat, the inhabitants belong to the great Akozai
Speaking generally, the Khwazozai sections are mainly
Division.
valley, the
on the north of the

the Baizai the
range,
up
known
as
'SSam"
But
some distance
The two
to the south of the
or lowlanders, in contradistinction to "

all
Mora
own
different clans,
and even in these often several
quarrels and
with his neighbours.
Bar
the natural divisions of the Swat valley,
minor glen, are occupied by
factions as villages
its
for
length.
to our Border by the Lundkhwar valley, being there
hic^hlanders.
O
tu each
Ranizai occupy the west end, and
bank along a considerable
left
have overflowed
latter
with
through the
the Malakand, a fairly accessible
is
Referring to the children of Joseph,

that,
district
its
own
chief, not
with as
" or
down
many
factions, each,
seldom at mortal feud
AND BAJAWAR.
SWAT, PANJKORA,
The whole
valley
269
highly cultivated, and densely populated,
is
each glen or gorge has
and the total popula-
or hamlet,
its village
tion has been estimated at not
far short of
The
100,000 souls.
by
terraces one above another, extensively irrigated
fields are in
channels diverted from the river or the torrents flowing into
The course
valley
is
working from side
of the river itself,
marked by more numerous
almost unbroken
cultivation.
to side of the
villages, groves of trees,
in the fallow lands
ground
is
grains, sugarcane, lucerne,
and Upper Swat
tobacco, lots of vegetables, are extensively grown,

yields excellent fruits.
and the
hardly a single yard of tillable
Wheat and most
neglected.
and
The very burying grounds, usually
especially sacred to Pathans, are regularly ploughed up,
dead buried
it.
In the hot weather,
when a
great portion
of the valley can be irrigated, the lands everywhere near the river
are a sheet of luxuriant rice, the steamy exhalations from which
no doubt contribute largely to the unhealthiness of the

Picturesque
it is
in the
extreme
the upper reaches of the
tains are well clothed with forests of pine or deodar
beautiful velvet- like turf,
with houses
among
wretched
valley.
and again stretches of
moun-
below
lies
hovels enough, but artistically half hidden
rich clusters of plane or poplar
and bright clear streams
evevywhere rushing down to the brisk noisy Swat, dashing over

boulder-strewn bed, like a Scotch salmon
notorious insalubrity of the valley
this beauty.
is
river.
Completely shut in by the high ranges referred
much
milder than in the plains
and
still less
wind
almost without a breeze,
of a
Pathan highland, while the hot weather
continuous.
The
it is
all
to,
is little frost,
the very reverse
more oppressive and
storms that burst over the hills produce Httle
more than an atmosphere
of hot steam, which,
malaria from the rice cultivation, seems

affect the entire inhabitants,
The men
is
there
its
All the same, the
a very serious drawback to
is
the winter
cultivation, dotted
who
especially are weak, thin,
all
combined
Avith the
to bring on fevers
which
look more or less unhealthy.
and
feeble, hardly
resembling
ACROSS THE BORDER.
270
Patbans in form or feature, and more
Gujar of the Lower
The women, on the other hand, seem
Punjab
less
like the
affected, for
curiously
much
they are described as stout, strong, and buxom,
and though by no means good looking, retain
far
more
of the
They have, moreover,
entirely reversed the
position of the sexes prevailing in ordinary
Pathan communities.
Pathan appearance.
Not
only do they go unveiled, and enjoy more liberty, but rule the
men
to
a greater extent than
The men
where.
of the
Swat
known among
is
PathS,ns
else-
valley are, in fact, credited with
living to a great extent under petticoat influence.
Swat, however,
only one of a series, that, parallel or nearly
is
drain into the same river.
form the group known as Panjkora

is
also the
name
"
"
the five torrents
or
gorges defiling into them, the Avhole
The
north-east to the south-west.
generally for
range of
all
snow melts,
as the
where 90
for three,
plentiful,
Pathans
is
it
And unique
description of
is
frequently impassable
lbs of
Swat
ansv.'ers
cultivation,
for fifteen
stamps the people with a

in another respect, it
to all travellers
to get there.
almost without roads
is
the country equally

better climate, a
country suggestive of
wheat can be bought
and a buffalo
much
summer.
largely turned into soap
and hospitable
enough
from the
behind, a stream flowing past in front, which,
colder winter and a healthy
sheep
sloping steeply
but with a finer peasantry and
fertile,
l)lenty,
glens and
villages with strips of terraced
hills rising
All are
many
narrow, hill-bound, valleys, with
less
which
of the stream, that, having absorbed the drainage
of Bajawar and Talash, joins the Swat, as already noticed.
more
so,
Five of the principal of these unite to
for
one rupee, a
where animal
commodity
fat,
being
so fi^reign to
civilization of their
own.
reputed exceptionally safe
and traders who are enterprising
Enterprising they must needs be, for
the best
fat
it
is
being mere tracks winding along
precipitous slopes, skirting the river banks, with very occasional

passes across the hills possible only for foot passengers or draft
SWAT, PANJKORA, AND BAJAWAR.
271
and at times, from floods in the valleys or snow on the
cattle,
mountains, altogether impracticable.
Nevertheless, there
is
caravan route through both Swat and Panjkora to Chitral and

Turkestan, reputed a three months' journey.
The
chief of the
up under the base

also the
who
name
group
the Yusafzai Ultima Thulc, right
is
of the Laori range, the valley or valleys of Dir,
town and residence of the Khan,
of the principal
the recognised head of the Malizai Division, and whose
is
authority extends from the
to the passes lead-
Kunar and Bajawar, which mark the
ing west into
The town
of the Yusafzai.
fortress, is
Swat boundary up
furthest limits
of Dir, which boasts
respectable
one of the principal marts of the country, and
is
the
centre of exchange for produce brought by the Chitralis from the

north, and
by the Yusafzai and Khattak
Omitting minor
SwS,t, is said to
known
carriers
from the south.
valleys, like the Talash, which, along side the
be exceptionally rich in grain, and the
tributary
ones,
equally rich in iron
like
still
or Barawal, reputed to
Biraul,
less
be
a route from Maidfin, the most southern of
the series, leads altogether oat of the limits of Yusafzai, into
Bajawar, that, by comparison,
being in places as
in
ground
grain,
for large
iron
is
herds of
80
lately
mixed with
sells in
Fine
lbs.
hills,
cattle,
which
iron,
but
is
It does a fair
and affords excellent grazing

is
chiefly
known
charcoal,
is
Peshawur from three

forests of
and the climate
is
in connection
largely exported
to
obtained mainly from black sand washed
streams, and
which
miles wide and some forty in
as fifteen
especially wheat,
with the supply of
The
almost open country; the valley
Here again are great natural advantages.
length.
trade
much
is
Peshawur.
down by the
fused into a consistent mass,

to six
rupees per mauoid or
oak and pine abound in the neighbouring

said to be like that
of Kabul.
It
has
been the subject of a great deal of unpleasant attention on
the part of the Amir,

establish
his
who
evidently persists in endeavouring to
authority there
though heretofore
it
has been a
THE BORDER.
A CROSS
272
independent State, only paying tribute to Kabul when
distinctly
forced to do
The
so.
numbering
ruling people are the Turkolanis,
probably 10,000 to 15,000 fighting men, whose immigration has
been noticed, and whose Chief rejoiced in the
The "Baz"
Badshrdi.
or bind,
of "
title
power
possesses almost absolute
Baz
"
or
to break
independent of the jirgah and enjoys a large revenue,
is
derived from a tax levied on the Hindkis, and a land rent from the
Rudbaris, a mongrel race the most numerous in the valley,
who
probably represent the remnant of the aborigines subduded by the

Turkolanis.
This absolute government
in
is
marked
contrast to
the custom of Yusafzai, otherwise the people resemble one another

in
many
West
which
as
ways.
of these again
latter people
is
Kunar
the
Bajawar
is
Bajawar and our Border, are the

occupy the
strip
Kafiristan, with
generally at war, carrying off Kafirs
whenever opportunity
slaves
and
river
While
offers.
hills
of the
Utman
or
in a series
Daman, and the
number
larger
of valleys which radiate from
where the country
is difficult in
which here rushes between steep
As a
tribe,
is
who
From
called the
of the clans are located
Every-
mountain.
this
the extreme, there are few roads
passable for horsemen, and the only
few rope bridges.
Khels,
between the Mohmands and the Yusafzai.
our actual Bolder, up to the Koh-i-Mohr mountain,
Larman
between
east,
the
means
cliffs
of crossing the Swat,
a deep swift torrent, are a
Utman Khels
unimportant, probably under 5,000
fighting
are comparatively
They
men.
are
neither powerful nor influential, their country more like that of
the Mohmands, cultivation being very inconsiderable,
and the
people eking out a scanty livelihood as labourers in the
Peshawur
They
district.
are,
however, quite a distinct people, unconnected
with any surrounding Pathans, either Mohmands, Bajauris, or

Yu.safzais,
Baba,
in the
and claim
who came
to
be descended from the
in with
five sons of
Utman
one of Mahmud's expeditions, and settled
Peshawur valley about 997
A.D.
During the
first
years of
SWAT, FANJKORA,
AND BAJAWAR.
273
British occupation they did a great deal of raiding, sheltering
outlaws,
and mischief generally, and
in
1852, were summarily
punished by an expedition under Sir Colin Campbell.
when
the Sw^t canal was being made, a gang of
and hacked
to pieces a
remained unpunished
surprised
killed,
number
till
of
1878,
Pathan
when
fullest retribution
them came down
coolies,
an outrage that
certain of their villages were
by the "Guides" under Cavagnari,
and the
In 1876,
exacted
since
their ringleaders
when
the
Khels have given no further trouble.
They
mountain brigands, tall,
and hardworking
stout, fair,
naked from the waist up

but not very
civilized.
sober,
Utman
are a hardy set of
often
custom opposed to Pathan ideas
They
live
in small groups of houses,
rather than villages, stuck on the mountain sides, secure in their

inaccessibility.
CHAPTER
XXXIII.
BUNEYR AND THE BUNEYRWALS.
To
look at a Frontier map, even
Office " large
one of the famous India
maps," and find Yusafzai printed across a big space
between Kafiristan and Kashmir, does not convey much idea of

that country, nor
make
clear
that
the Yusafzais
of
Swat are
separated from their relations of Buneyr, and the valleys draining

directly into the Indus,
mountains, seldom
the
Hum,
less
over 9,000
there are several
by
so formidable a barrier.
range of
than 20 miles wide, with peaks
feet, or
passes
the Dosirra, over 10,000 feet, though
more
or
less
The family
practicable.
connection of the clans on both sides would probably bring

together in cases of emergency, but Buner and
valleys
may
to all intents
its
them
neighbouring
and purposes be considered a separate
group, and the tribes, under the
name
of Buneyrwals.
Geographically, the position of the group
Commencing from
like
is
somewhat
as follows.
opposite Torbela on the Indus, and from the
boundary of our Border on the right bank, the Gadun country

extends right up to the crest of the Maliuban Mountain, or rather
that cluster of peaks and ranges which, rising 7,000 feet from the
Indus, extend back as a great spur of the
thoroughly
classic
ground
the
"
Mora, or Hum.
Great Forest
"
of
the
early
Aryans; the "Sinai" of Sanskrit, Avhere Arjuna wrestled with

God, and, like the Jewish Jacob, though defeated,
weapon, ground that
irresistable
Aornos,
if
that was famous for
Hwen Thsang
numerous monasteries (Mahawana) when

630
in
it
and
A.D.,
The Jaduns,
is
who now occupy
hill,
its
visited
the soutliern slope
are not Yusafzais at
distantly connected with them.

origin
his
studded with ruins to this day.
or Gaduns,
of this famous historical
Indian
won
still
not identical with Alexander's
probably not very distant
is
^75
name
Their
is
all,
or even
evidence of their
but though not improbably the descendants of
Rajputs, they have nevertheless thrown in their lot with their
Further to the west are the
neighbours.
immediately on the other side of the range
is
Khudu
the
the eastern end of which, adjoining the Indus,
Amazai
country.
Chamla Valley from
spur of the
and
Khels,
Chamla
Valley,
known
as the
is
Guru Mountain
separates
the
the larger and more important one of Buner,
or Buneyr, an irregular oval with the Barandu, a perennial stream
Beyond, again, are three or four more
running down the centre.
many
narrow, deep, and winding valleys or gorges between as

ranges, with small tributaries to the Indus
of
which
Ghorband
all
the
largest
are
the
down the centre

Chakesur,
Paran,
the latter called after the range
at the
of each,
Kana, and
head of
it,
and
exceedingly difficult of access.
The
clans of the group collectively
known
as the Buneyrwals,
numerous, and in some respects divergent, as they occasionally
are,
mostly, as already noticed, claim their descent from Joseph's sons,
Musa and
Mali.
The Amazais and Khudu Khels
are only distant
connections, being descendants of Mandanr, though, for political
purposes, all
The
may be
treated as
more
or less influenced
characteristics of the climate of
Swat would serve
accurate description of Buneyr, though
open, a
trifle
which
to
fertile, it is
some extent
is
as a fairly
the latter is rather
more healthy, and a thought
Perhaps equally
by Buneyr.
less feverish in
more
autumn.
richer in cattle, but poorer in grain,
imported; while as regards the ranges

T 2

ACROSS THE BORDER.
276
that surround
and the difficulties of communication
it,
the difference
>vorld,
is
Avith the outer
In both
only one of degree.
cases,
Among
direct approaches from British territory are the easiest.
the best
known
Lundkhwar
Bazdara
one from Ghazi Bala, at the head of the
is
by
Valley,
Sherkhana
and
Pali
the "falcon country," a
name
the
is
to the old Persian
more general use
in
Ambeyla
the
the
"
Buneyr.
district of
Rhinoceros
"
third, still
pass, according
scene of the long and hard fighting in
1863, by way of the Chamla Valley.

Indus, Buneyr
crossed the
and
by Rustam in the Sudura Valley, and the
is
Malandri Pass into the Nurazai

better known,
Baizai,
in
suggestive of difficulties
Another
into the Salarzai district of Buneyr.
by merchants,
the
can,
on the
Finally,
with
still
more
east,
having
difficulty,
be
entered by the defile of the Barandu River,
The people themselves
men
of
Swat
are infinitely superior to the enfeebled
in fact, there are in
of Pathans than the Buneyrwals.
many ways few
specimens
finer
Simple and temperate, they are
content with the plain wholesome food, the produce of their

cattle
and lands
courteous and hospitable to
treachery to a stranger seeking refuge
is
almost unknown.
who
claim shelter,
among them, being
con-
fall
upon the clansmen, and
Upright
in their dealings, with
sidered the deepest reproach that could
such a case
all
own
enemies as well as with strangers, they have always been adverse

to us,
and though probably not anxious to begin the war, they were
among our most determined enemies during

They seem
the
Ambeyla campaign.
to avoid, as far as possible, intercourse
with our
officers,
limits.
Among
but t) discourage robbery and outrage within our

the
list
of their misdeeds, there are hardly any of raiding,
and
though they harbour many outlaws, are seldom found participating

in the depredations committed.
in their way, which
though they hold
is
all
Patriotic they certainly are,
and
a pastoral and agricultural one, industrious,
trade in the very lowest estimation
that savours of the shop or of trading
is
anathema
to a
anything
Buneyrwal.
2Y7
Therefore they are poor, but, for poor Pathans, have an exceptional
regard for the law of meiun and tuum.
through the council of the
depended on with almost
Their word, once given
may, according
tribe,
Lastly, they
certainty.
tlie "
for their ignorance," and ignorance being
they are deeply religious
class,
which
is
probably the
perous section of the community
whose heritage ought
to
are "
distinguished
mother
of devotion,"
greatly under the influence of the most
bigoted of Mullahs, Sayuds, Pirs, and the

priestly
Warburton, be
to
many
most
varieties of the
powerful and
while, if there
be one of woe,
it
is
this
is
any section
for it is
jaros-
from
the priests most of the offences come, throughout the whole of

Yusafzai.
From
the late Yusafzai Pope and kingmaker, the venerable and
Akhund
venerated
the
before
tribes
of Swat,
who
at one time in his career
had learnt the lesson taught them
and
by the
Ambeyla campaign, encouraged a system of marauding on our

frontier,
and
tion
his followers to deeds of depreda-
and undoubtedly incited

violence,
and
finally,
allying himself with fanatics he
abhorred, and stigmatised as " Wahabis," brought
all
his priestly
influence to bear against us in the severest Frontier struggle
we
fanatics
of
ever had
to
the
ill
conditioned,
evil
intentioned,
Sittana and Malka, the remains of the organised bands of Mujahidins
the
" warriors of
the Faith " that Sayud
Ahmad
of Bareilly
grafted on to the most turbulent and superstitious of the border

races
the
ill-feeling of adventurers, yclept saintly,
has been at the
bottom of most of the mischief in Yusafzai.
Such adventurers have
often, for their
own
ends, beguiled the
simple and credulous children of Joseph, have scattered distrust
among
the clans, fomented rebellion, and intrigued with Wahabis
and the
to
disaffected
the other.
Muhammadan
From
the days of the
colonies in the recesses of the
Hazara border,
population from one end of India
Mughal,
to
the present,
mountains on the Peshawur and
calling themselves " nurseries of saints," but that
ACROSS THE BORDER.
278
are really " hot beds of fanatics," have provided veritable Caves of
Adullara for
all
Adullamites
may
the malcontents on both sides of
it.
occasionally be burning enthusiasts,
Among
who
the
are too
pious or too zealous to live quietly under a Government tolerating

all
creeds
but the larger number are either grossly ignorant or
exceedingly
and many are
craft}^,
criminals
of
sorts,
convicts, traitors, murderers, too guilty to find a refuge
debtors,
anywhere
else.
The
larger
number
of our complications wath the tribes on this
part of the Border have been due to the intrigues of these fanatics.
The colony
of Sittana
Sikh times.
was a chronic cause of disturbance from the
They were
a great extent responsible for the
to
misconduct of the Hassanzais in 1851, and an expedition became
them
necessary against
They
in 1853.
tried
form a general
to
and their constant outrages necessi-
coalition against us in 1857,
tated a second expedition in 1858, that drove
them out
of Sittana
only to settle again in Malka on the northern slope of the Mahaban.
Two
years after they had regained their influence, and become
worse than ever.
"Disloyalty of
all
kinds flocked," as Hunter
describes, "to the Apostles of Insurrection."
Ultimately, in 1863,
they forced upon us the Ambeyla campaign, where tribe after tribe
was drawn
in,
until
we had
Yusafzai clans and their
at one time
allies in
the
nearly 60,000 of the
field against us.
learnt a severe lesson, but a lesson that also cost us
There they
much, both
money and men, some 900 of the latter being killed or

Avounded.
The combination broken up, the tribes revenged
in
themselves on the fanatics who had brought war into their valleys,
more
especially on the Hindustanis
but again
in
1868 the priestly
party were within a measurable distance of raising another tribal
combination on the Black Mountain, which only prompt measures,
undertaken
at
the
most
unfavourable
season
of
the
year,
suppressed.
It
would be tedious
to trace their
efforts
at mischief since, but

it is
not too
much
to say that this class of
of reHgion, contributed
spirit
of unrest,
men
more than anything
and continues
to
this
has,
else to
279
under the guise
keep
alive the
day the most formidable
element of danger on our Border, a danger that cannot be overlooked, though
it is
at times perhaps not sufficiently appreciated.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
A BORDER POPE.
Born
during the closing years of the
shepherd's hamlet in
probably
Gujars
Upper Swat,
though
religious origin even for
of
last century, at Jabrai,
poor and
have since discovered a
disciples
his
them
Abdul
obscure parents,
Gafur,
like other
famous
Eastern heroes, passed his early boyhood tending his father's sheep.
And, just
good
like the
books, his childhood
is
little
boys and early saints of the story
credited with a precocious development of
those gifts and graces said to find such certain divine acceptance.
He
Avould not drink the milk of the cattle that trespassed on un-
lawful grounds.
supplied
The
him with
string, instead of
single buffalo that " for years "
this nurture,
whacking
Gujar boys generally, and

driving
them
pasture.
it
generously
he always led to pasture with a
with a cudgel, after the manner
finally
took to muzzling the goats
out, lest they took a sly
ot
when
nibble at the neighbours'
custom, so far removed from the average Gujar notion
of the fitness of things,
must have ensured him summary and
regular mortification at his parents' hands.

intelligible that, at eighteen years of age,
It
is,
therefore, quite
he had discovered the
world was a wicked one, and resolved to sever himself from
and devote his talents to a religious
No Samuel came
to anoint him.
it,
life.
No
distinguished order of a
A BORDER POPE.
church was ready to welcome him as a convert, and
powerful
make him
countr}',
281
According
into its champion.
he attached himself
after-wisdom."
to a priest,
to the
custom of the
"
and became a
seeker-
For some time, he wandered from zidrat to mosque,
from Pir to Mullah, from Fakir to Saint, of
whom
not a few had a
great reputation for sanctity, and having gone through a course of
the four modes of religious devotion, he esjiecially selected the
NaksKbandia, a perfectly silent and motionless one, in which the

devotee
sits,
ground.
his
head bowed on his chest, and his eyes fixed on the
And, the better
he
to ensure its undisturbed observance,
took up his abode at Beka, a bare, barren, lonely spot on the banks
Here he
of the Indus, about ten miles above Attock,

self a
fighting the battle of Waterloo, settled down, a
twenty years of age, to a
life
built
him-
Western world was
camelthorn hut and, about the year the
young man, hardly

For twelve
of the greatest austerity.
years he remained shut off from the world, absorbed in study,
meditation and worship
his food during this period of
the seed of a very inferior millet
penance was
growing wild in the
rice-fields,
moistened with water.
In after-years the water was replaced by buffalo's milk, but,

his death, at the age of eighty-three, his only food
till
was of an equally
simple kind, and his only dissipation, large quantities of strong tea,
which he subsequently drank to keep him

perform his religious exercises.
The
suflSciently
ascetic
gradually brought jDCople from far and near to

intercessory prayers.
His fame dates from
vellous self-restraint.
It spread
from the Kurram to Kabul

finally
awake
rigour of his
to
life
solicit blessings or
this period of
mar-
from the Indus to the Kurram,
the renown of " the Hermit of
Beka
"
extending throughout Eastern Afghanistan, to distant parts
of Persia.
Temptation, however, came to the hermit once too often, perhaps

in the shape of secular ambition
^
or
it
might with equal
mere weed, Panicumfnimcntacciim,
fairness
ACROSS THE BORDER.
282
be
shape of patriotism
said, in the
1827 he got mixed up
for in
between his neighbour the Khan of Hund, and
Wahabi, Sayud
Ahmad
The
of Bareilly.
famous
the
who had
former,
just
joined his forces with the Sayud, proved traitor and betrayed the
hitter's
To Abdul Gafur, the
slain.
and
phxns to Rimjeet Singh, being in his turn betrayed and
flight
unknown and uncared
wandering,
till
result
meant abandoning
he established himself in
for, to
make
him again a
'
good.
Man
was not
It
God
of
him the
centre of attraction, and earned
of
and had added
British Yusafzai,
miracles to devotion, that his notoriety as a "
his retreat
him years
a serious blow to his prestige, that cost
"
made
titles
of
Saint " and Akhund.
On
and
at least
two subsequent occasions the
the " warrior for the faith,"
In 1835,
of the saint.
proved too
the patriot
spirit of
much
for the asceticism
when the Afghans were
war with the
at
Sikhs, and the Pathans were rallying against their natural and
hereditary enemies, he
Amir, Dost
following,
accepted an invitation from the
Muhammad Khan,
and joined the
latter
But, ill-trained and
numerically considerable.
armed, such a contingent could at best have been of

against
the
disciplined
Sikh
Maharajah Runjeet Singh was

cipitately through the Khaibar,
of the faith " in all directions.

"
seekers after
wisdom
"
army.
Kabul
with a pious
worse
use
little
The mere approach
Amir
sufficient to drive the

"
and scatter the rabble
The " warriors,"
of
pre-
champions
" martyrs,"
and
were noisy, but had small stomach to try
and the Akhund had no
conclusions with the Sikhs
to seek safety in Buneyr,
and return
choice,
but
to his life of unrest once
more.
Again during the general
Ambeyla campaign
in
crescentade against us
18G3,
for
tribal
he
excitement that preceded the
was drawn
into
a while throwing in his
the Wahabi fanatics, whose tenets he had spent so

in opposing.
At
this
preaching a
lot
much
even with
of his life
time he was close upon seventy years of age.
A BORDER POPE.
For the previous twenty
affairs of this world,
283
bad mainly held himself aloof from the
lie
preached peace, and counselled the tribes to

In 1847, he had
avoid quarrrels with the British Government,
used his best influence to prevent the people of Swat from assisting the rebellious Bazai villages
punished by our troops.
In
1849, he endeavoured to persuade the Palli people to discharge

their gangs of
fugitive
highwaymen, and
Native Infantry,
Nicholson, entered Swat, he summarily deported

Indus, where they were cut
When
refrain from raiding.
55th
mutineers of the
up almost
to a
flying
them
man and
across the
all
the
from
through
the troublous times of 1857, his attitude was one of friendly

support to our Government, which assuming the lowest motive,
does credit to his sagacity- and foresight.
he took measures
whom
to repress the colonies of
he stigmatized as
forward as
to
changing his
On
There
is
Hindustani fanatics
and several theories have been put
kcifirs,
the reasons which actuated
front.
one or two occasions
really
him
in
no need to go far
so
for a reason
the pressure brought to bear upon him was practically
The Buneyr and

priestly classes,
disputes,
irresistible.
other tribal chiefs and people, the mullahs and the
who
moment had put aside their sectarian

women made passionate appeals to him to
for the
and even the
take up their cause.

influence,
entirely
combined with the
This,
fear of seeing his
then immense, pass to some more sympathetic and
compliant leader, furnish motive enough, for an action that after

all
was again more
He
patriotic than personal.
The expedition
accepted defeat handsomely.
sumed
his former attitude,
and
for the
resisted
Amir
the requests from
Kabul
he
concluding years of his
seems to have tried to restrain the wild

all
over,
to
spirits of
make
relife
the Border,
cause with the
against us, and remained firm in his attitude of friendship,
nominal and diplomatic,

his death in
if
not sincere, towards our Government,
January 1877.
the Jawaki raiders
Among
who appealed
his last acts,
till
he condemned
to him, as thieves
and
rascals-
A CnOSS THE BORDER.
284
Kohat, and excommunicated
for pluiuleriug their co-religionists in
the authors of the Swat Canal outrage at Abazai.
A
more
few years after his defeat by the Sikhs, his wanderings were
by a grant of land
or less brought to a close
which the Yusafzais gave him

support, and which he ever after
surrounded by numerous
who looked upon him
his
for
made
disciples,
hundreds of
multitudinous desires
Credited at once with the
lamp of Aladdin, the
visitors
and the Elixir Vitse
merous the pilgrims who waited

wanting to supply their
the distracted in mind and body
No
matter
though
in
outward appearance
offerings brought to him.
him than
for Elijah to
His simple wants were
sum
It
tithes,
and
was no more
take thought for the morrow.
easily supplied,
rising from his prayers, a
how nu-
at his threshold, funds were never
necessities,
he remained as poor as the humblest, took no taxes or
necessary for
for all
were daily fed and clothed, their
all gratified,
soothed, and the sick cured of their ailments.
steadily refused all
and per-
as practising all the saintly virtues,
of the Egyptian physician,
ills,
disciples'
There he lived
his home.
possession of the purse of Fortunatus, the
mortal
his
visited by crowds of devotees
forming the most astounding miracles.
Nepenthe
Saidu in Swat,
at
own and
and every morning, on
of money, sufficient for the day's
needs, was found under the praying carpet.
Whether the ravens
or the disciples were the custodians of the saintly treasure chest

is
an immaterial
The fame
detail.
of the
Hermit
to the influence of the
Muhammadans
of
Beka was almost
Akhund
of the Border
great as that of Loyola
iti
of Swat.
obscurity,
compared
His ascendency over the
and Eastern Afghanistan, was as
R')rne, or
Luther in Saxony
his edicts
regarding
customs and secular observances were as uuo religious
o
o
questioned as the Papal Bulls in Spain. When the chiefs of
Swat recognized the
possibility of British military operations ex-
tending to their valley, and the necessity for federation,

the
Akhund
they turned to select them a king.
it
was to
His selection was
A BORDER POPE.
a Sayud of Sittana,
who
for
some years
285
carried on an organized
Government, under the patronage of the Border Pope.

aside the incredulous stories about
him
as priest, his life
Putting
seems
have been one of devotion, humility, abstinence, and charity
to
the
doctrines he taught were as tolerant and liberal, as those of his
Judged by
intolerant and puritanical.
Wahabi opponents were
the standard applied to other religious leaders, he used his influence, according to his lights, for good, supporting peace
and
morality, discouraging feuds, restraining the people from raiding

'
and offences against their neighbours, and enforcing the
Muhammadan
of
law as
precej^ts
Pathan custom would
far as ineradicable
permit him.
Celibacy he by no means regarded as the highest form of virtue,
for
he married a Yusafzai woman of the Akozai
had two sons and one daughter.
Mannan, the Mian Gul,

in a struggle for
The
clan,
by
whom
eldest of the former,
after his father's death,
he
Abdul
became involved
supremacy in Swat with the Khan of Dir
and in
1883, aided by the Chief of Bajaur, and the virtue of his father's
name, established himself

his chances of
The younger
for a brief while
any wide-spread power, either

sou,
Abdul Haq,
still lives,
when death
cut short
spiritual or temporal.
an ascetic and a hermit,
after the fashion of his father, but entirely without his father's
and outside his valley almost unknown.
The Border
Pontificate can be no
more hereditary than plenary
inspiration or
apostolic succession
and no Border Pontiff has yet arisen who
influence,
can successfully
Akhund
of Swat.
fill
the chair of his eminence Abdul Gafur, the
CHAPTER XXXV.
APOSTLES OF INSURRECTION.
Considering the Pathan's eminently material form
of faith, his
confidence in saints and shrines, prophets and priests, prayers and

pilgrimages,
it
is
directly opposed
not a
There
believers in the
of 'Ali
is
for there are
few more bitter feuds than have
Muhammadans,
all sorts
to,
Pathan and the puritanical
ritualistic
colonies of these
Hindustani to boot.
Yet
and the troubles which
this
and other religious adventurers
have been sheltered, and, so long as they refrained from
interfering with Pathfin
cherished.
Gar and Samil
Four Companions, and those who are the followers
in spite of the long record of mischief,
of
or
certainly less difference between the orthodox
latter very often a despised
mischief has led
reformers
can hardly be put down to the
than between the
Wahabi, the
religious
It
arisen between Sunni and Shiah

politicians.
that
should from time to time have obtained
such influence on the Border.

virtue of toleration
curious
little
to all this
custom, have been protected, and even
The complications due
to
their
notorious three centuries ago as at present
matter of trouble to
us,
intrigues
were as
but, except in the
the fanatics of Palosi and Maidan are as
distinct
from the surrounding clans as ever, and probably as
loved.
To the tribesmen they have been as much an influence
evil, as
Mephistopheles to Faust
little
for
perhaps for a somewhat similar
reason, for they have held out a temptation to the Border
Pathan
most
hope of robbery and plunder.
dear, the
that
is
said,
moreover, that
287
It
may be
the dangerous heresies that have afflicted
all
the posterity of Kais, have been drawn from Hindustixn, and after
soil especially
they have taken root in a
devoted to their rapid
development, the produce has been returned with interest
-in
crop of fanatical thorns in the side of the dominant power for the
time being, whether Mughal, Sikh or English.
In the middle of the sixteenth century quite a bumper crop arose

out of an apostle
who
called himself Pir
Rokhan the
" saint
of en-
lightenment," or Pir Tarik the " saint of darkness," as he was
more properly termed by the
him
Bazid Answari, to give
opposition.
was the son of a learned, devout and
his full designation,
orthodox Mullah in the Masaud Waziri capital of Kanignram,
where by the way a colony of intriguing Sayuds

Brought up within the
said to
strict pale of
" edifying
have been
Sufis,
but he went away, travelled,
"
He
adopted a good deal of
migration of souls
own, and went
learnt a
to
little
philosophy from the
some
knife.
promulgate heresies enough to turn his
The
latter
came
life
of adventure
and
own
He
sedition against the State.
conclusion
country, and so left
established
himself on the
to religious heresy, the
Peshawur Border, adding
Bazid's career
common
to the
there was no chance for a prophet in his

and, after a
trans-
startling theories of his
raged, that he prepared to close the argument
it;
who taught
others,
In fact the Mullah's feelings were so out-
father's beard grey.
with the usual
is
fell
aud
the Hindu dogmas regarding
grafted on this
home
flourishes.
the church, his early youth
into evil company, consorted with Jogis
the Mullah's son too much.
still
preaching of
put aside the Koran, the shrines,
the miracles, or any set form of religion, and taught that divine
manifestations were
in his own.
made
in the persons of holy
The only way
of the Pir Kamil,
"
to
men, particularly
heaven was through the intercession
the perfect saint."
He
had
also inspiration or
genius enough to see, that in order to succeed he must adapt his
ACROSS THE BORDER.
288
creed to the wild Border people
and he made his religious
cipline proportionately lax and accommodating.
All
dis-
men who
did
not recognize his sect were considered as dead, and their goods
were the property of the survivors, to be seized when or where the

self-created heirs
might
opportunity.
find
This, joined to
further inducement of libeitinism in the matter of

sort of social
communism
in the
the
women, and a
matter of property, at any rate of
other people's property, offered a form of Church Government that

obviously
commended
itself greatly to
Peshawur
lawless clans of the
the Afridis, Orakzais, and
Eventually, though Bazid
Valley.
was strongly opposed by the Yusafzais and the even more famous
champion of orthodoxy, Akhun Darwaiza, he was accepted at
own
value by a large
number
considerable forces, and enter
Mughal
British
He
ruler.
Wahabis were
and
upon an
his following
to the Sikhs,
Government.
of the tribesmen,
They
was able to
his
raise
irregular warfare with the
became
to
Akbar, what the
and the Hindustani fanatics to the

systematically plundered
the high
road from Peshawur to Kabul, until communications were almost

entirely cut
Man
off,
in spite of operations
undertaken against them by
Singh and others of Akbar's leading generals.
Finally the " perfect saint " was surprised in a night attack, and
died not long after at Hastnagar

father's steps
but
five
sons followed
and with their bands infested the Border,
their
until they
were gradually hunted down, and burned, drowned, or beheaded, which
was the Mughal notion
of a punitive expedition.
The memory
of
perpetuated by a pair of most dangerous rocks, Kamaliya
two
is
and
Jalaliya, opposite the
Attock ferry on the Indus,
were so christened by Akbar,
for
being as
These rocks
troublesome
and
dangerous to his boats, as the two most notorious sons of Pir

Tarik had been to his troops.
grandson named
Gradually the heresy died out, but a
Ilidad, flourished in
of religious burglars and sanctified
Tirah at the head of a band
highwaymen
for
many
years,
han'ying his neighbours with exceptional cruelty and success.
No
made a
sects
289
condemning sepulchral
stronger point of
honours to holy men, prostration before shrines, encouragement to
and the kind of religious exercises which Pathans
their keepers,
most
Muhammadan
than the Wababis, or
affect,
Unitarians
and
yet no more formidable apostle of insurrection ever appeared on the
Ahmad
North- West Frontier in India, than Sayud
The
which he planted
colonies
made
fanaticism has just been
evident during the Black Mountain
campaign by the two hundred who came on

at
The
Kot Kai.
career of this particular
connection with the State
of Bareilly.
and the strength of their
still exist,
trial
certain
to
man
is
of
Arabic
pilgrim
of his supporters in India,
in
and
Indian
his
horse-soldier under a Pindaii freebooter, a student
under the
learned
doctors
Delhi,
of
reformer of the faith
Mecca, a zealous
to
known
well
has been sketched in powerful lines by Hunter in
Musalmans.
death
passionate
Islam,
of
proclaiming his divine commission to extirpate the infidel world
from the Sikhs
among
Chinese,
the
his
the mountains of the Yusafzai.
his reforms
them.
to
when
it
came
They massacred
really great
The
would have none of
and very nearly made an end
of "the just prophet, the defender of the faith" himself,
essayed to reform their marriage customs.

selling their
was
tribes cared httle for
to the point they
his retinue,
success
They
when he
preferred to go on
women, and keeping their miracles but they responded

;
with enthusiasm when he proclaimed a holy war against the rich
Sikh towns of the Punjab.
was a delight not
The chance
to be missed.
Hindus
of plundering the
Those who
fell,
had the
apostle's
assurance of heaven as martyrs for the faith; and, better

those
who returned would be laden with
The Jehad ^
the apostle's
booty.
against the infidel Sikhs began in 1826.
followers added burning and murder, and
carried all before them.
still,
To
raiding,
for a while
In 1830 they reached their culminating
point by capturing Peshawur.

^
The Sikhs
Holy
retaliated
by expeditions
\var.
ACROSS THE BORDER.
200
that were extonninativc rather than punitive.
The villagers turned
out and hunted back the fugitives into the mountains, destroying
them
The
like wild beasts.
The
bitterest hatred.
history of the time
is
a record of the
traditions tell of massacre without mercy.
Hunter quotes one instance
in
which the very land tenure, was a
tenure by blood, certain village lands being held by the Hindu

borderers on payment to the Sikh grantees of an annual hundred
heads of the Hassan Khel. The decline of Sayud Ahmad's fame as
an apostle came
after his ill-advised effort to reform the
Pa than
marriage customs, which was really an attempt to provide wives

for his
own Hindustanis.
were repeated, the
Something
fiery cross
to a
man.
they
He
hills as
and in one hour,
the
the hour
were murdered by the tribesmen almost
In 1831 he was
under Sher Sing.
Sicilian Vespers
was passed round the
signal for the massacre of his agents,
of evening prayer
like the
finally disposed of
was
slain
by the Sikh army
and his followers
the time
for
being almost exterminated. Out of some 1,600, not more than 300
are said to have left the field alive.
The Sikhs made
apostolic
succession almost impossible.
Nevertheless
the
colonies
re-established
by Sayud Ahmad's
lieutenants, and recruited by the disaffected from India, and outlaws
or individual Border ruffians, were left as a legacy to the British
Government
perhaps
one of the most troublesome legacies we

Against the colonies at Sittana among
took over with the Punjab.
the Utmanzais, at Malka on the slopes of the Mahabun, at Zazkata

in Buneyr,
among
the Black Mountain tribes on both sides of the
Indus, there stands a long record of campaigns, a great expenditure

of
men and money, due mainly
to their agency.
Where they have
not openly undertaken hostile operations against
us,
they have
proved to be at the bottom of most of the tribal complications.

Their nominal object a crescentade against English, Hindu or
infidel Kafirs of
any
sort,
of inspiring ill-feeling,
they seem never to lose an opportunity
and
to
be always ready to join hands with
any lawless Khan, or
the
Buneyr
Maidan were founded
after
move them out
of
and from the Black Mountain Expedition of 1868
to
Akhund
the one
can be persuaded into taking the
colonies of Palosi and
The
initiative.
clan, that
291
of
Swat used
his influence to
1888 they have steadily practised their apostolic
of
vocation of preaching sedition
among
the tribes,
who have
at length
brought on themselves a just retribution for following their advice.
Even
of late years,
though
so
much may
not have been heard of
them, they are known to have been active enough
During the
last
Buneyr
the Buneyrwals
difficulties in
for mischief.
1885 they were ready to join
and their missionaries were canvassing supporters

In the same
in India for funds in anticipation of a disturbance.
year their leader, an old Maulvie of Maidan, had the effrontery to
demand a
contribution of 5,000 rupees from the
missioner of Hazara, and
The more
closely the events
Mountain expedition are
Deputy Com-
to threaten reprisals if it
which
up
led
was not
to the
paid.
recent Black
investigated, the larger the share of in-
trigue that seems to be traced home to Palosi and kindred colonies

like the Parari Sayads.
It
was from among the
who
fired
on our villages in
down peaceable
villagers in 1888,
claimed outlaw found the partisans

1884, raided on Bagrian, shot
and kidnapped others continuously

Palosi that another better
latter that a pro-
till
And
1889.
known proclaimed
outlaw,
Khan, whose name has figured conspicuously in
it
was from
Hashim
the
'Ali
frontier
disturbances of late, originally drew the most dangerous section of

his followers.
Whether the
severe lesson which the tribesmen have had at the
hands of General Sir John MacQueen,

all
will induce
them
to once for
turn out these disturbers of the peace, remains to be seen, but
it is
probable nothing would contribute more to the establishment
of a
permanent peace than a convention
for the
summary
extradi-
tion of all the insurrectionary apostles in future.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
BORDER ROJVIANCE
Although
PATHAN ROMEO AND JULIET.
in a sense the Border
Benedick includes a wife or

set himself up,
two among the properties with which he has to
and
of
pay
to
for at the ruling
market
rates
and though the position
Pathan womenkind may too often be somewhat
of the
remaining live-stock
hewers
of wood,
inferior to that
and drawers of
water, rather harder worked than the ordinary household donkeys

it must not be supposed that their menkind are by any means
impervious to the arrows of the Wind god, or that in Border

hamlets, courts, camps, and groves, the warriors or saints, are not
ruled by exactly the same
The
little
word
so potent everywhere else.
character of the most ruffianly and murderous tribesman has at
times quite another
and the dance

dance
is
side.
For the most
common
part, a love for the
characteristic.
The famous Khattak
an institution familiar to even the most casual
is
The huge
blazing
camp
fire,
song
visitors.
the flashing swords, the circle of per-
formers going round with weird movements, and dancing to the
music of a wild chaunt.
The Khattak
pipes are as thrilling on
the Punjab Border as the slogan to any Highlander, only rather
more
piercing.
Festive gatherings are more or less
common
all
and wherever they have not been prohibited by the

Mullahs, music and dancing make up the best part of the amusealoDg
it,
BORDER ROMANCE-A PATHAN ROMEO AND

ment
drum, and the guitar
if
he adds a chaunt recounting the daring
deeds of a warrior clansman, or

less anacreontic.
little
The
To be
a love song, more or
trolls forth
mirasi, or improvisatore, occasionally adds
acting and burlesque, and
uncommon
if
he varies
spice of impropriety, fairly brings
able to play the guitar
for the
Crusader, and
is
with a not
this
down
the house.
rahdb has wire strings
played with the hand or a short bow, and
than a fiddle
find a sympathetic
(rahdh), never fails to
audience, more especially
293
flageolet (surna), the
The performer on the
both sexes.
for
JULIET.
more
is
like a guitar
no more discredit to a Pathan than
the former will occasionally set himself
road, substitute the rahdb for the
the mirasi in playing;
rifle,
it
was
to a
down by the
and do his best
to vie with
accompanying himself by singing some
Pathan ballad in a very loud, but not by any means inharmonious voice. Similarly a gang of Pathan workmen will draw
favourite
after a long day's tramp,
up together
and
troll
out a wild chorus half the night.
Like the
fact far
and possibly a short meal,
rest of the world, the
more
of
it
Elphinstone doubts
than most
if
Pathan has
also his
romance, in
of his neighbours in Hindustan.
there are any people in the East, except the
Afghan and Pathan, that know anything of the sentiment of love,

There are many
according to the Western idea of that passion.
Border courtships that are not done according to regulation, and
much love-making managed without a go-between. An enterprising Khan does not always wait till the arrangements about the
If he does not mind fighthioî, or marriage dowry are made up.
ing,
he can get a sweetheart without her parents' consent, by
ing a lock of her hair, snatching off her

still
veil,
simpler expedient of eloping with her.
steal-
or mantilla, or the
Nor
is
the Yusafzai
always so dull as to observe the etiquette laid down for him of

waiting
bride.
till
He
the marriage ceremonies are over before seeing his

steals
under cover of night
secret understanding with
to
mamma, who
her house, and has a

contrives to leave the

ACROSS THE BORDER.
294
couple alone together and square papa, by
be considered a deadly affront

little kisses
under the
if
he
whom
the
knew
officially
And
for
any
these
they are
rose, " sports of the betrothed," as
termed in Pushtu, no doubt compensate
would
visit
it.
delay in the
little
remaining negotiations.
But besides the abduction and elopements,

matron, and the other dangers which so
to encounter in the cause of
parisons with the

instances of
love and
West seem very
many Pathans
appropriate
there are
lots of
exchange pledges, have stern parents demand-
who have
to separate, the one to work, and the other to wait, just for
world like similar Western

Their ballads, songs, and
all
the
stories.
tales,
moreover, mainly
Shakespeare, but the most popular of
might have been based on the
all
is
and
no Border
the Border poems or
story of
Famous, more especially throughout the
love
tell of
There
war, occasionally in a very dramatic wây.
it tells
com-
where youug
ing solid assurance in the shape of land and beeves, and
tales
or
are ready
in this Elphinstone's
what might be romantic attachments
couples fall in love,
maid
either with
Romeo and
Juliet.
Avhole Yusafzai-country
in good manly Pushtu the touching story of the loves of
Adam Khan
specimen
of
and Durkhani
Border
folklore,
is
perhaps the most representative
and gives a particularly graphic
account of one of the most pleasing phases of Border
The story, which has been
noticed by
life.
many writers, from Elphin-
stone downwards, and translated from both Persian and Pushtu

versions, but
most completely by the
Pushtu edition compiled
at
late
Major Plowden from the
Peshawur by Mulvi Ahmad
of Tangi,
goes back to the days w^hen the Yusufzais of Swat used to leave
their
mountain fastnesses and come down
summer
to the plains in the
Peshawur Valley.
Shaikh Malli had divided out the

different
tribes
hill
end of every
at the
Before the famous
and plain country among the
when bows and arrows were
still
weapons, and Barber had not yet introduced them
to
the
common
matchlocks;

BORDER ROMANCEA PATH AN ROMEO AND JULIET.
the Mithakliel sept of the Abakhel clan had then their
home
at Barikot
Adam
on the banks of the Swat
river,
295
summer
and amonj; them
Khan, the son of Hasn Khan, was the most distinguished
the clansmen for his good looks, his grace and his prowess.
of
Renowned
as a
hardy sportsman and a
skilful
musician
and none
could equal his skill in playing the rahab (the Pathan guitar)
Romeo
Durkhani, the
circle of friends.
was a daughter of Taus
Juliet,
Khan, a wealthy chief of the Khasi Khel sept

and lived at Ghalagan, a village
as the
the
of the story was recognized as the chief of an admiring
close by.
most charming and accomplished of her
same
of the
She was no
"
sex.
less
clan,
famous
Everywhere
was the fame of her beauty, her amiability, and her talents noised
Nowhere
abroad.
The
at that time
was there her equal."
scene of the lovers' meeting
first
is
variously described as
by the snow-fed waters of Swat, or by the spring at Bazdarra

"
The Hawk's Eyrie"
to
which Durkhani resorted
for
water when
the clans descended to the plains for the winter, a huge isolated
rock being riven in twain to enable them to meet.

favourite trysting-place
Malakand
Pass,
where
Durkhani her spindle
moment they
that
for
peg
many
to
was a blacksmith's shop on the road
Adam
to be
loved."
Adam
his
horse
" Tlieir
to be
to the
shod,
and
met, and from
e3'es
Similar easily devised pretexts sufficed
meetings, and a tree
which
took
mended.
more
still
is still
pointed out, grown from the
used to tether his horse.
But between the Mithakhels and the Khasikhels was a long

standing feud.
An
ancient quarrel, as bitter as any in Verona, and
Durkhani was by her parents betrothed
to " Paris"
in the shape
of Payawai, a powerful chief of the Babuzai, a third sept of the clan.
The mutual passion

observed a
life
of the lovers remained a secret,
of such privacy, that even at festival times,
social restraint is a crood deal relaxed,

face.
With
and Durkhani
difficulty she is
no one could
oret
when
a view of her
persuaded to go to her cousin Basaki's
wedding, though a long promised bridesmaid, and only goes on the
ACROSS THE BORDER.
296
condition that she
a word
may be
may remain
closely veiled in her mantilla, if such
used as a translation for a garment which covers
not merely the face but the figure.
from the view of either
man
or
Vowed
to
woman, she
keep herself secluded

sets out
accompanied
by her duenna, who throughout might be the counterpart of Juliet's

nurse, for
she never loses an opportunity
Path&n
Woman
in
of pouring into her
or Mantilla.
mistress's willing ear the praises of her lover.
The
cousins " glad-
den their hearts by recalling the events of their childhood," but
none can succeed
in obtaining a glimpse of the fair one's face.
Bards vie with one another in making verses in her honour, verses
of " such sweetness as to
weep."
"
make
e'en the sad smile
They sang quatrains and roundelays
exhausted, but in vain.
till
and the happy

they were quite
Durkhani unveiled not her
face."
BORDER ROMANCE-A PATHAN ROMEO AND JULIET.

Anon comes Adam, with two
of his
297
henchmen, who commence a
serenade outside the courtyard, the verses of which in some of the

metrical versions
touched by the
"
make up
from the duenna
strains, inquires
A green parroquet
is
she the
he," says
and
thou desirest to see him, this
and then thou
as to the singer.
parroquet being held a
type of manly beauty, as the nightingale

in right proper garments,
Durkhani,
a large part of the poem.
is
of
song" apparelled
If
his t;vo friends are his wings.
Soon
thy time.
is
name
wilt grieve, for his
is
Adam
will
he
away,
fly
Khan."
One
of
the " wings" extols her raven tresses, the other "her dainty arms,
that, like polished blade,
have cut in twain Adam's heart ;" while
he sings of the beauty of her
unhappy
his
case,
face,
laments in most touching notes
and speaks of seeking
exile in
some distant
land.
Durkhani, recognizing the voice, her resolution no longer avails

against the pleadings of her heart, and despite the duenna's cautions,
"inflamed with the wine of love,"
she,
flings
the veil from her face,
and, rushing out of the chamber to meet her lover,
falls
fainting to
tbe ground.
"
Her
Modesty and shame, nay, wisdom lier forsook

Forgotten are by her the precepts of the book."^
:
kinsfolk upbraid her for this most unseemly conduct, accuse
her of being bewitched, and proceed to fumigate her with wild rue,
"
to avert from her the evil eye.
done, I
am
reiDlies, "
have
not bewitched, and since I have by the flame of love been
burnt, scorch
me
Good aunt," she
forth with
me
not again with
Adam,
that I
from that time their love
is
fire.
may
fly
If
you would cure me, send
with him."
The
secret
is
out
a matter of notoriety.
Then, in the version as compiled by Maulvi Ahmad, comes what
may
not inappropriately be compared with the balcony scene.
Durkhani and her party have gone home

in
Lower
to their winter quarters
Bazdarra, the lovers contriving to

1
Viz.,
The Koran.
meet again en
route at
ACROSS THE BORDER.
298
To Taus Khan's
their favourite springs.
much
house, with
caution,
comes at dusk the Yusafzia Romeo, with Mercutio and Benvolio

(Miru and Bale), and by the aid of a ladder made of a cradle,
Balo holds Adam's horse Majnitn" the love
scale her courtyard.
bewitched
(Bucha)
Miru keeps watch
"
though
"
such sweet sorrow, Durkhani will not

she reflects that
if
close
place.
her lover go,
let
day dawns, and her father becomes
may
aware of Adam's presence, he

kill
and under the
silver,
some very dramatic love-passages take
curtain of civil night,

is
some
silenced by a gift of
is
Parting
the usual troublesome boy Peter
say naught to her, but he will
him, and her heart will break."
"The
walls are high and hard to climb,
And
If
the place death, considering
my
any of
kinsmen
who thou
art,
find thee here,"
are lines that might almost have been stolen by the Pushtu bard.
Now
comes the
The nurse
is uneasy, " the cocks
urges, " methinks
They
the
are
of the
soft breeze
still
it still is
" Nasiin-i-Sahar."
begin to crow," but
it is
Adam that
night, the birds have crowed too soon."
exchanging vows, when
call to prayers,"
morning
and Miru has
" the village
to interfere,
ing the rashness and imprudence of
Adam,
priest chaunts
and the nurse, abus-
to contrive a pretext to
remove the watchman.
Adam's
is
madly
my
love-lorn condition
in love
becomes obvious
with Durkhani," says his father.
dear brother look so sad
declares her heart
is
"
remarks his
"
to everybody.
"
He
What makes
Durkhani
little sister.
broken Payawai, the betrothed, who
is
away
filled
with
hunting, hears enough to bring him back hastily, and,

jealousy, he insists on hurrying on the marriage feast.
Durkhani
dream have
is
forced to consent, but quoth she to him,
I learnt
in a
that in seven days time I must die, but
peradventure I survive, then

consents to so
"So
much
grace,
will
be here
and thereon
is
for thee."
called
ia
if
Payawai
the Friar
BORDER ROMANCE-A PATHAN ROMEO AND JULIET.
299
Lawrence, Pir Salih, the trusted confidant and preceptor, who with
the nurse arranges a plot to carry off the lady by force on the day
fixed for her
wedding with Payawai.
tribal chief,
Mir Bami, and
self
Adam, moreover, goes
in approved
upon him, a suppliant
Pathan form
for assistance,
which
throws him-
given in the
is
These,
shape of three hundred armed men, and a promise of shelter.
Adam
arranges as his supports, while
he, at a given signal catch
up Durkhani and the duenna in
and one hundred of
Miru and
to a
his own,
the approved Lochinvar manner, are off at speed and in Mir Eami's
house before Payawai's
forces
are
fairly
aware of what has
happened.
Events
now proceed apace.

give up Durkhani an
Mir Bami
in the tragedy
bribed by Payawai to
heavily
is
act of treachery, from
So much
a Pathan point of view, of unpardonable baseness.

that Mir Bami's son, Gujar Khan, the friend of
Adam,
so,
attacks his,
own father, and resolutely pursues him until he encompasses his

Death alone was not even
death.
honour of betraying a refugee
sufficient to
wipe out the dis-
the whole of the perfidious chief's
clan were afterwards seized with leprosy, and gradually died out,
nothing of
name
it
surviving but the disgrace, which has caused the very
of Mir, or Pir,
ally treacherous
Bami
to
become a synonym
man a Border
an exception-
for
Judas.
Gujar Khan unites his forces with Adam, but both are drawn into
an ambuscade by Payawai, and though the

Balo
is killed,
and
Adam
badly wounded.
latter is
beaten
off,
the
Durkhani, meanwhile,
Adam
spends her days and nights in tears waiting succour from
her only solace the tending of two flowers in the garden, one named
after herself, the other after her lover.
the flower
named
after
Adam
sympathy, and while she
drawn
1
can
is
On the day
of the
ambuscade
appears to droop and languish from
watching
it,
Payawai enters with
sword, wet, as he boasts, with the heart's blood of
Claims the nanatcatai (something akin to the Hindu Dhanna)

reliise.
wMch
his
Adam.
no Tathan
ACROSS THE BORDER.
300
The
"
trial is fatal.
Overwhelmed with
sinks senseless to the ground," and
with flowers." The news
is
him
to find consolation in the
named Gulneza,
"
"
her hands and apron

village,
filled
where his
his kinsfolk are trying to induce
charms of a beautiful young maiden,
The
flower-loving one
"
but he will none of her."
Were
all
is
the
damsels in the world assembled together, they could not equal
a single fingernail of Durkhani," he says

fate,
and sorrow, Durkhani
Adam in his
the flower-loving one."
not altogether coy,

fairest
dies, "
carried to
wounds have been bound up, and
grief
he
starts up, his
wounds burst out
and when he hears of her
and he gradually
again,
sinks from weakness, calling on his mistress's name.
Another version
kills
Adam
and makes Durkhani
first,
of his fate from the trusty Miru,
whom
first
learn
she recognizes disguised as a
wandering minstrel, playing his master's guitar, and hearing the

news, gradually pines away
even Payawai at
last
repenting for
having caused the death of two such true lovers.
There are other variations and other endings, but
all
agree that
the pair were separately buried at their respective encampments,
by the Kabul river near Naushera, and afterwards found by a
whose scarf or hmffi was
lost in
the grave, and who, searching for
found both lovers together in one.
between the
clans,
man
it,
Twice, owing to the bitter feud
were the bodies again separately buried, but
twice was love again triumphant, and both are found united in one
grave.
Finally, the clansmen, persuaded
in to such persistence,
and agreed
grave that formed the
Durkhani,
whom
of
last
it
to
by the holy
as
gave
bury their feud in the same
resting-place
may
priest,
truly
of
be
Adam Khan
said
as
of
and
their
protoypes,
"A
pair of star-crossed lovers,
Whose misadventured
Do
Near Mardan
where the
rival
piteous overthrow
with their deaths bnry their parents'
strife."
are two hillocks, Ta-us-Derai, and Hasn-Derai,
houses established their camps, and where tradition
BORDER ROMANCE A PATIIAN ROMEO AND JULIET.

Not
ended.
says these love-passages tragically
far
Naushera, at Zira Maina on the banks of the Kabul

grave of the lovers,
bow
{nakhiin) for his guitar (rahdb)
becoming an excellent musician, but

in the
And
bloom
in a
away from
river, is
the
from which sprang up two acacia trees with
intertwining branches, and from these the youth
301
is
who makes himself

Adam, of
certain, like
also, like
him, of risking death
of his youth.
hamlet almost adjoining Torn, near Mardan,
is
the
grave of Pir Salih, the good friar of the Babuzais, whose shrine
still
almost as famous as the
memory
of
Adam Khan
is
dear to the
pride of every Yusafzai.
A Pathan Romeo Khwajah Muhammad,
the
Kh^n of
is
Hoti.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Pathan Poetry.
Somewhere between
the rich and occasionilly extravagantly
voluptuous Persian and the simple verse of the ancient Arab
may
probably be placed the poetry of the Pathans, in fact of Afghans

generally.
Like the former
niystic doctrine of
it
the Sufis
numbers and richness of
is
tinged to some extent with the
poetry abounding in harmonious
fancy, but that suggests merely pleasure
while professing to chaunt the fervour of love
to the profane
that deals in metaphor often of
the most extravagant
divine
kind
enthusiasm that takes the form of religious allegory scarcely
distinguishable from very earthly depravity

dervish's cloak of rags, thickly-wadded
^just
as the khirkah or
and lined with
silk,
a form
of spiritual penance, hardly conceals exceedingly carnal joys.
For
the more far-fetched a sort of slang dictionary would be needed
by zephyrs are
to be understood
meant devotion
guide
the tavern
is
outbursts of grace
an oratory,
The warmest
inebriation, religious abstraction.
curls
description
and
tresses
the lips inscrutable mysteries of his
and embraces the transports of devout
essence
in the
main the love that tunes the reed
ki.sses
is
keeper a spiritual
its
of beauty denotes the perfection of the Deity
are the attributes of glory
by wine
undoubtedly a great deal of the
human
in
it
of the
;
piety.
But
Pathan has
while, as
might be
PA THAN POETR Y.
303
expected from a warlike race of hardy mountaineers, with few
wants and
of
life,
chance of obtaining more than the bare necessaries
little
similes are
their
more simple, and there
is
a breath of
patriotism and freedom pervading the whole.

If
some of the writers were men who devoted themselves
lives
of
wai'riors
to
penance and religious abstraction, others again were
who wielded the sword
still
better than the pen, whose
sentiments were naturally chivalrous, whose devotion to the
fair
sex was great, and whose odes were distinctly less Sufistic than
Such
erotic.
at
any rate are the songs that commend themselves
to popular favour
'
Amal-i-jismani
on the Border.
or " corporeal
worship," without troubling himself to
discover the Amal-i-ruhani or

'
The average Pathan accepts the
" spiritual
adoration,"
if
even the poet
ever intended his writings to bear any such transcendental meaning.
For Europeans
this national poetry
was practically discovered by
Raverty, and considerable selections from the best-known writers
him and subsequently by Plowden
translated by
as text-books.
Among these writers, perhaps the most popular are the two
Mohmand Mullahs,' Abd-ur-Rahman and 'Abd-ul-Hamid, the Shaikh
S'adi of the Pathans
who both flourished on
Border about the beginning of the
the northern Peshawur
last century.
of a religious character the former wrote a
and two volumes of the
Besides effusions
number
latter bear the suggestive titles of Love's
Fascination and a Collection of Pearls and Corals.

popular, and
still
better known, was the warrior-poet
the Khattak, the ancestor of the famous old
Muhammad,
many
subjects,
Persian.
Almost equally
Khushhal Khan
Khan
chief of the Teri, or Southern Khattaks,
already referred to
of love odes,
for besides poetry
Sir
Khwajah
who has been
and history he wrote on
and translated Bidpai's excellent fables from the
Poetry, no less than the profession of arms, seems to have
run in the family.

Hijrai, " the
His eldest son Ashraf, under the name of
exile," before
he was betrayed into the hands of
Aurangzebe, and 'Abd-ul-Qadir, another son
who with ten brothers
ACROSS THE BORDER.
304
and several children were

and buried
in one grave
slain in
both
Kazim Khan,
did a grandson,
Khan
Ansari,
notorious
"
inherited their father's tastes, as
better
Among
of Shaida, " the lovelorn."

"
one day by an intriguing nephew,
known
a
nom de plume
was Mirza
the assistant of the Prophet," a descendant of the
who two and
is
sometimes claimed by
a half centuries ago lived and wrote in
among the wild highlanders
Tirah, where
descendants
h.\^
earlier series
still
apostle of light," though he
the Yusafzais,
xinAQv
Mian Khel,
of the
Afghans, even the Afridis, similarly claim bards of more or

of whose efforts fragments have been
all
nations from
creon to Moore, or Firdausi to Tasso, are so eloquent,

a subject equally popular in Pushtu.
loveliness or the
little
made
Be
is
to
may
occasionally vary
of the Occident, the Pushtu, like the Persian,
Is the western
Her glance
'tis
a flame, her eyes are like firebrands that lovers'
lotuses, the pupils black bees,
Her
at once
'Abd-ul-Qadir declares
of her beauty
but their gaze
Her
adorer's hearts, like the moths, are oblations therein.
gazelle's.
is
lover sighing like a furnace, Avith a
She hath lighted the lamp
hearts kindle.
aPathan
East or West, the ruling
of touches of nature with which the western world

kin.
Ana-
and though the Oriental standard of
woeful ballad to his mistress' eyebrow

"
it
imagery of the Eastern
somewhat from those

is full
less note,
preserved in one form or other.
Beauty, the theme on which the poets of
theme various very
his
The Yusafzais, the Bangash, the Durrani
still flourish.
and her
eyes are
as free as the
is
eyebrows are bows, her eyelashes the arrows, and
to destroy her lover she raiseth them."

"
Each
of the eyelashes of the beloved," says 'Abd-ur-Rahman,
" pierceth
ance
is
me
like the
hidden by her
two-edged sword of
curls, as
'Ali.
Her counten-
the water of immortality
is itself
concealed in darkness."
"From thy
curls,
thy ruby
lips, ;xnd
thy face
Proceed the night, the sunset's glow, the

Is
Or
it
the teeth in thy sweet
mouth
dawn
of day.
that shine so lustrously?
are those glittering dewdrops in the rosebud?"
FA TilA N POETR Y.
Romeo
made
is
immortal blessing from
to speak of stealing
but says a Kliattak bard
Juliet's lips,
"No
305
*******
one
is
capable of explaining their sweetness,

nectar of Paradise is indigenous to her lips."
The ambrosial
"A
single
And
may
Conserves
much
moment
lip to lip
so as the
not sound
The
Her
romantic, but perhaps
liiglily
" real
modern slang has coined the expression
In a long ode of a different style

"
with the belov'd
honey, milk, and conserves are alike forgot."
Rahman
face of one's mistress, the sun, the

figure, the cypress,
Honey, sugar, her
and the
lips, all
jam."
writes
moon,
all
three are the same
three are the same
all
fir,
as
is
three are the same
garden, a paradise, her dwelling, all three are the same

Of my true love bereft, fire, or the bare earth, to me are the same."
And
again
"This
is
the Adored
This
is
the
one that
rose that
is
the rival.
the thorn.
is
This is the beloved -that is the duenna.^

This the treasure that is the snake.
The
This
is
wisdom that
This
is
anguish that the
that
This
is
separation
This
is
autumn that
that
love.
consoler.
is
conjunction.
the fresh spring.

sinfulness.
This
is
devotion
This
is
refulgence, but that
This
is
Eahman that
is
the Adored.
This
is
the sick that
is
the physician."
following,
plimentary
is
is
is
fire.
though hearty, perhaps hardly sounds
so
"When I look on thy face, I am amazed at

That He hath i^reserved thee safe from its
1
See the description of a duenna in Chap.
Allah's grace,
ruddy glow."
XXXVI.
com-
'
ACROSS THE BORDER.
306
Beauty, says Pope, draws us by a single hair

" no greater liberty than
locks
this,
Rahman
that I by the chain of
my
desires
mistress
be bound," and some of the ideas in the following are
distinctly novel as well as poetic
"How
many, Joseph-like,^ iny love would from that pretty
down
If for her dimpled chin she let her tresses
pit extract
as rope.
Could they but view her rosy lips the jewellers, I ween,
For Yaman sapphires would abandon further search.
Should my love in her beauty visit the grove,
The rose of the garden all claim to its beauty would waive.
Think not that even in ])oorasday's dire confusion,
Kamgar- will let go his grasp on her skirts."
"
He jests
at scars that never felt a AA'ouud,"
not inaptly paraphrased by E-ahman
hills,
for a
is,
country of
"If thou fallest from the precipice of love thou wilt loose thy
Oh thou who gnashest them at me by way of admonition."'
Some
of the verses
sufrofestive
of
e&
Moore
"Where thou
When
When
The
by Khushhal Khua and the Khattaks are
reclineth, the place a parterre of flowers becometh.
in the
mead thou
"
My
roamest, the heart of the tulip
is scarred.
the sable locks about thy fair face zephyr disheveleth.
fragrance of
musk and amber
night's
my
is
everywhere
diffused.
show me thy
gloom, with lighted lamp, do we not seek
Since in thy tresses
For in
teeth,
heart
is lost,
face,
lost treasures
graceful mistress' beauteous form revealed
In every limb
is kindled passion's flame.

view her languishing soft eyes,
And when
With wine
of joy
my
goblet
"Stung by the serpents^
brimmeth
o'er."
of thy locks, the
man
recovers never.
tombs and shrines, useless all magic

But pain and anguish and all grief hath fled
I have to-day within my grasp the cup of joy.
Fruitless to visit
arts.
Tlie famous Eastern hern whose brothers " jiittcd him."

The name of the author, whicli is generally introduced iu the
'
Serpents are in the East guardians of treasure.
last line of the ode.
"
PA TilA N POE TR Y.
The nectar
The stream
of thy lips lias
Kawsur^ put
307
to shame,
of life in Paradise, the spring of Mecca's shrine."
"The lucky man who once his foot within her threshold plants,
He will the gates and walls of Paradise forget.
The prospect of heaven to come, is bliss to monk and priest,
But in meeting
Khushhal hath gained Paradise
thee,
Sometimes the lady
is
coy,
at once."
and Asliraf Khan compLains
" Her promised kiss she ever makes a draft to pay to-morrow
How with such promise can I my heart refresh ?
Khushhal Khan, whom Eaverty
credits with fifty-seven sons,
evidently suscejotible where the Afridi ladies were concerned
was
Adam Khel Afridi maids,

With large eyes, long drooping lashes, and arched eyebrows.
Honey lips, rosy cheeks, and moonlike faces theirs.
Small mouths like rosebuds, teeth regular and white.
Bound heads, covered with dark curls, of amber redolent.
"Fair and pretty are the
smooth and glossy like an egg.

and hips prominent.
Thin-stomached, broad-chested, and small-waisted.
In stature straight as aZi/^-and complexion fair.
Though like the falcons, I have wandered o'er the hills,
Their bodies
Their
soft
Many plump
Thorns
are,
and, quoth
and
sleek,
feet diminutive, heels round,
my
partridges have I
quarry made."
however, not unfrequently associated with the rose
Rahman
" Until a hundred thorns have pierced his heart.

How shall the Nightingale unto the rose gain pass
the rose, the more
"
puts a similar idea rather neatly
And 'Abd-ul-Hamid
"As
'\
it
is
concealed, the
more
its
perfume increaseth,
So the anguish of love from endurance becometh overpowering."
The river of Paradise, from which all the others liave their source.
The first letter of the Arabic alphabet.
"
The attachment of the nightingale for his sultana, the rose is a constant Eastern
'
'
idea
"
Tlie
maid
for
whom
his melody,
His thousand songs are heard on high."
Byron's Giaour.

ACROSS THE BORDER.
308
the good old days the Khattaks cheered themselves
That in
with the wine-cup

in several odes
"
Khushhrd
well known, and
is
me
cup-bearer, bring thou unto
full goblet of that potent wine,
The remedy
me
for grief, the consoler in woe.
not of the riches of this worhl
They cannot compare with one cup
From
is
much
gladness and joy."
writer cover
of this
wider
a o-ank'U of flowers,"
"
more does he delight
made
the
how they have
is
"
"
when the maidens
place
how
those youths " have
"
flowerblossoms
in
summer
of
war from Karrupah
men
the deeds of his ancestors,
in
V)i)ard, l)oth
of spirit
to
Bajawah."
who
"who had
"
There
all,"
He
both the sword
courage and courtesy, whose companions were
sported with their lives,
who
in all their dealings
were true and went to their graves dyed with blood.

were they
"
;
dyed red the Valley of the Khaiber, and poured
no deliverance in anything," he says, "save the sword."
and the
it,
equally
have cheered the clansmen
in describing
heart's seared
the tumult
Sflories
all
is
their bright swords rosy with their enemy's gore, even
as the tulip
forth
He
more
bosoms and the youths in their turbans."
their
in
offer
Spring that has made the country
whose breezes
even more than the wine," the time
again
and
field
than most of the other Patlian bards.
eloquent in the praises of
Still
of wine.
the cup-b3arer then take thou the glass,
For therein
nosegays
praises
out the clear azure flask,
Tell
variety
its
From
The odes
sings
For him there
is
no
sj)ot like
Such heroes
home
it is "
of
others the spot," and he thanks Allah that Ids forbears selected
"
with
Indus."
rain,"
"
dark mountain ranges and thu blue waters of the
its
Wlio
what
"
shall toll liow beautiful
heart-ravishing
sport
it is
in the spring after the
for falcon,
hawk, and hound
PATHAN POETRY.
in tlie
woods of Kalah-paiii
the sky and the climbing
Do
not
300
its hills
shoot straight up to
them soon diminish our corpulence
Inscription round the
lip
"
?
of a Peshawur Wine-bowl.
Saqia bar kliez o dar deh'jam ra
Khak bar
sar
8aghar-i-iiiai
kim gham-i-ayam ra
bar kafum nah ta-z-sar
Bar kasham yen dalq-i-arzaq farn
ra.
Saki (wine-cup bearer), and give (me) the cup
Get up, O
Never mind for the cares of the world.
grief)
(Literally, throw dust on the head of the days of
Hand me the wine flask in order
head.
Tliat I may remove the blue heavens from my
and God.)
(Viz. That there may be nothing between me
Are not
" its
youths healthy and stout, active and
eyed, white and red,
and
tall in stature
withal
"
agile,
"
merry-
The waters
not sweeter and

of the Kabul river and the Barah stream, are they
"
310
.1
more
CROSS THE BORDER.

mouth
delicious than sherbet in the
and Abner, and
it
is
of
them
lie
power of the Mughal, compelled
to
more
than
vile
its
horrid climate
"
They
are his Pharpar
when an
thinks
"
drink
exile
in the
the waters of Hind,
" Gentle breeze of the morn, if thou Khairabad pass,
Should thy course be by Indus bank, by the Khattak Akora,

Convey thou my greetings and greetings, again and again,
Of my love and regard carry many and many expressions.
Cry out to the father of rivers ^ with sonorous voice

But unto the little Landai'^ mildly whisper, and say
Perhaps I once more may drink a cup of thy waters."
:
It
to get
write
is
satisfactory to
back
many
autl quaff
a song
know
many
that the gallant warrior-poet lived
a cuj) of his favourite stream, and
tliat still lives in
the
memory
of the Border
clansmen.
^
The iBdus.
The Kabul
river.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
THE BLACK MOUNTAIN.
The
little strip
of rugged
mountain lying
east of the Indus,
and
occupying the south-west corner formed by that river and the

British district of Hazara,
is
the last bit of country that need be
referred to in connection with any, even the most unworthy, of the

It has
Yusafzai tribes.
been recently invested with a specially
melancholy interest by the wanton murder of Major Batty e and

Captain Unnston, and the punitive expedition that followed the
Otherwise, neither
outrage.
warrant
its
its
population would
The
numerous, nor particularly warlike, and most of
are miserably poor, but they,
iiornets
and the nests of
fanatical
they shelter, have for long proved capable of inflicting an
altogether disproportionate
amount
the interests of good cultivation

to
extent nor
being ranked as of any exceptional importance.
tribes are not
them
its
smoke out
terests of
or
it
of annoyance.
occasionally
blow up the garden
pests, it
And
just as in
becomes necessary
becomes, in the in-
good Government, occasionally needful to adopt measures
that shall effectually prevent our villages from being burned, our
villagers kidnapped, their cattle raided,
murdered by pests of another
and our
officers
from being
sort.
long narrow granite ridge, rounded rather than sharp, 25 to
30 miles long, having more of the characteristics of Murree or
ACROSS THE BOEDER.
312
Thandiana than Simla or Dalhousie, but an average

8,000
lieight of
many
with peaks at intervals rising to 10,000 feet;
feet,
large precipitous and rocky spurs projecting from the sides in all
narrow glens between which
directions, in the
Along these
are the routes
the tribal villages.
which at the top occasionally widen out into
spurs,
room
plateaus, affording
lie
assembly of a considerable
for the
by which the mountain can be
the villages commanded, and
force,
easiest ascended, or
was by these that our troops ad-
it
vanced in 1852, 1868, and 1889, when the very highest peaks were
The lower
occupied.
slopes are covered with berbery
replaced by forests of the Himalayan silver
fir
and
acacia,
{Abies webhiana)
further up, whose
dark and gloomy shade has earned for the
mountain the
by which
known
to
both Europeans and
that, all the same, is varied
with the light green
title
Shade
natives.
it is
of the oak, sycamore, and horse-chestnut, and by frequent open
glades rejoicing in short rich grass.
watered
numerous along the
springs are
streams flowin<j into the
deal of hill-side
is
The
^\hole, as a rule, well
s'opes,
and some of the
Indus attain a considerable
of course rocky and stony, but
the season are fairly covered Avith Indian corn, a

barley, mustard
and
inferior grains,
climate that in spring, summer, and
size.
many
great
places in
little
wheat,
and quantities of fodder.
autumn
is
excellent but that
in winter has occasionally snow enougli to stop communication over
the
All this, and more,
crest.
bilities for
much about
it,
"
saving always
fairly described as
"
the Black Mountain, with possi-
classification,
equally delinquents
the spirit of man," that
its
though
and
in
slopes could not be brought under

it
need not be assumed they are
The
tribes
all
some cases they might plead that
their misdeeds have been the result of bad
company."
may be
divine."
Certainly the dwellers on
any such
is
a far better sanitarium than Murree, and with very
company
" villainous
on the western face are the Hassanzais and
Akazais, descendants of Isa, and the Chagarzais, descendants of
THE BLACK MOUNTAIN.

Mali
all
Yusafzais.
The Akazais
313
are the weakest, but probably
Khan Khel
the best fighting men, and, -with the
section of the
Hassanzais, have during recent years been by far the most trouble-
The Chagarzais
some.
to
war than
to trade
are the most numerous, though less born
and agriculture, their chief wealth being
Once they marched up the
their cattle.
against us at Ambeyla, where
march down, and
hill to
reception
their
the Crag-picket
caused them to
The Hassanzais were the
straight hoine again.
murderers of Messrs. Carne and Tapp, and
all
three tribes probably
share with the Sayuds and their hangers-on the responsibility for
the murder of Messrs. Battye and
with the manly and
many
west or Trans-Indus.
On
tribes,
but none are credited
fine qualities of their
all
kindred on the
other sides they are surrounded by
who, except as neighbours, are widely removed from them
in almost every way,
On
Urmston
the south
is
who do not even belong
same
race.
Tanawal, the wildest bit of Hazara, the appanage
of our feudatory the chief of
Pathans at
to the
Amb, whose
people, Tanaolis, are not
In the adjoining sub-division of Agror, which
all.
is
under the direct management of another feudatory Khan, the inhabitants are mainly Swatis and
Gnjars,
Deshi, the three valleys which next

and, with the
still
larger one of Allai,
Mountain and the Hazara

as their
lie in
Not,
to imply, connected with the
Swat
Valley, but, as already noticed

tribal distribution of the
come between the Black

Swatis.
district,
name might seem
In Tikari, Nandihar,
succession on the east
the people are
in
all
connection with the general
Peshawur Valley, the remains of a once
powerful and widely-distributed race, driven by the Dilazaks from

the plain country into the
hills,
and subsequently hunted by the
Yusafzais out of Swat and Buneyr
and a few westward into
now
mainly eastward into Hazara,
Kafiristan.
In the valleys where they
p;edominate, the term covers an exceedingly heterogeneous
people
liberal
little
dash of Greek on an ancient Aryan stock, with a
mixture of Hindu and Turk, Pathan and Gujar.
Though
ACROSS THE BORDER.
314
thoy would
many
in
cases
now
describe themselves
Pathan, the
latter would probably have to strain his vocabulary to find an ex-
They
pression sufficiently contemptuous to describe the Swatis,
have
little
common with
in
the former save his
Muhammadans.
luxuriant, and the bigotry of Sunni
vices
rankly
Inferior in
physique, and without his courage, their instincts are nevertheless
run naturally towards murder and avarice
said to
described by pretty well everybody

cruel, grasping, lazy.
"
whipped
of the
cur."
Wycliifes, preferring a whole skin, but ready to
ruffians
and they are
Replacing the bold frank manner of the
Pathan by the hang-dog look
or to get
round as cowardly, deceptive,
all
The Oswald
commit any crime
any Bertram Risinghams who may be bold enough

do
to
it
them.
for
It
is
the same
at
time always
dangerous to generahze in too sweeping a way regarding tribes by
no means well known, and spread over
So
condemnation may be too sweeping.
and adjoining Hazara, or have met them
an area, and the
so large
far as
we know them,
in expeditions, they
in
would
not, save in the matter of treachery and deceit, be formidable as
enemies.
It is improbable,
with their own internal quarrels and
feuds witli the adjoining Pathans, that they would combine against
us, unless it
were
to protect
would only be necessary
themselves from retaliation; and
to take
Mountain
position on the Black
it
up a strong and permanent
to ensure the submission of ail
the surrounding Swatis.

Colonies of Sayuds, and others of the baneful order, occupy
S3veral of the glens on the
moimtain
itself.
In two on the eastern
slope,
extending from the highest peak, the Muchai, down to the
Deshi
fort of
among
Trund, are the Pariari Sayuds.
the Hussanzais, are the Sayuds of
On
Tilli
the western face,
one or two more
are scattered through the Chagarzai countiy, and a rather formid-
able religious body, the
on the
Akhund
Khels, holds the glens and spurs
extreme north-west corner down to the
Iûmerically
all
are
insignificant,
river
Indus.
but they could calculate
on
THE BLA CK MO UNTA IN.

more
receiving
31
or less assistance from kindred colonies across the
This was to some extent the case during the last expedition,
river.
and, had the operations not been prompt, and the force employed
overwhelming, these colonies would probably have become centres

to
which the disaffected from the adjacent
tribes,
both Pathan and
Swati, would naturally gravitate.
All told,
including
it is
all
doubtful
if
the ficrhtincr-men on the Black Mountain,

to
men, of which probably not half are
or 7,000
armed with matchlocks, the
rest
having nothing better than swords,
The Chagarzais might
or spears.
amount
the Pathans and the religious colonies,
more than 6,000
calculate on an extra 1,000 or
2,000 from the Trans-Indus sections of their tribe
and the ad-
joining Swatis, AUaiwais, Nandiharis, Tikariwals, Deshivvals, and
Thakotis could possibly contribute 13,000 or 14,000

indifferently armed, but the extent to
in
still
more
which they would be drawn
would necessarily be dependent on the policy declared.
The
mainly against the Akazais, Hassanzais, Pariari-Sayuds
directed
and the Hindustani Fanatics of

scale,
Palosi.
Undertaken, on a large
with a force vastly superior to anything the ill-armed and
insignificant tribesmen
field
John McQueen was
recent expedition under General Sir
it
was
were likely
short, sharp,
and
was one advance, by a band of
in its
to be able to bring into
way
the
decisive enough.
There
fanatics, brave to rashness, a
handful
of " warriors of the faith " charging regiments of breechloaders
which cost us the
life
of the gallant Major Beley, and resulted iu
the practical extermination of what, had they been Englishmen,
we should have termed a Forlorn Hope.
After this there was
nothing but a flying enemy, hiding behind rocks and

skulking for a chance at parties advancing
homesteads.
As
a lesson
it
may
be hoped
possibly
it
to judge from a standard of high policy, or of
may
fairly
outlay of
be doubted
if it
money spent upon
was
The offending
burn his
successful,
permanent
was worth the valuable

it.
to
trees, or
lives
tribes
but
results, it
and large
were severely
ACROSS THE BORDER.
31G
punished, a considerable
wiped
out, a certain
number
amount
of the fanatics
were
literally
of crops or stores of grain destroyed
or taken, perhaps not always belonging to the people actually con-
cerned in the raids and outrages, and certain of the most notorious
ringleaders were captured and their villages burnt.
marched up
most
to the tops of the highest peaks,
difficult valleys,
The troops
and encamped in the
amply showing that the fancied
inaccessible
sirongholds offered no security against our shells and our soldiers,
and the seditious colonies had

tlicir
opportunity of learning that
fall
preachers and teachers of insurrection
scattering
in all
directions from the sacred training grounds of Maidan, were of no
more value than
There was
their traditionary leather cannon.
nothing for the tribesmen
left
but to come in and tender a sub-
mission, and promise to pay any fine inflicted, Avhile their friends
and neighbours
keep
fired
upon our
retiring rear guard, hurrying
back to
time to the necessities of a State despatch that should
fit
in
with the opening of Parliament.

It is doubtful if the
expedition stayed long enough to enable
the mistakes in our majas to be corrected, or the notorious want

topographical information in the Intelligence Branch to be
of
sufficiently
supplemented, while
is
it
certain a
hurried
with-
drawal of our troops was liable to be misjudged and to leave any

disaffected tribes
more ready
more reasonable
for future
solution of the difficulty
been to have given out from the
course of years they had shown
up
it
to
we had decided once
to the Indus,
ment
first
would surely have
that our patience with the
was exhausted, and, seeing that during a long
disorderly tribes
as neiirhbours,
mischief than ever.
as subjects.
and
to bring the
be impossible to trust them
for all to
move our Border
whole under regular Govern-
The Indus forms a
natural boundary along the
North and West, although the information regarding

the
facilities for
date
of the
line
running any road along
its
its
banks had,
expedition, not been sufficient to
enable
course, or
up
it
to the
to
be
THE DLA CK MO UNTA IN.

From Derband
shown on any map.^

horsemen
for
some distance
more
country
it is
up, spurs run straight
cannot pass.
the road
beyond Kotkai,
further
difficult, as
317
our troops found to their
down
so
examination
lost.
all,
while
and the
strip of
Chagarzai
opportunity
an
for
Regarding the country above Thakot we are
absolutely without information,
till
Major Biddulph takes up
the parable of the upper Indus in his work on the
Looking at such maps as are available

Allai Valley
cost,
was made by one
flying visit of a few hours
country was not entered at
Hassanzai
steep that even mules
detachment of troops to Thakot, but the long
still
passable for
is
in the
Hindu Kush.
would seem that the
it
would make an excellent boundary
to the
North
it is
conterminous with British territory in Hazara, though separated by

a range 11,000 to 12,000 feet high.
rich, well-cultivated valley,
Indus, the Sirhan stream, which runs

river opposite
high, separates
This, or
Barkot
it
This crossed, there
some 12 miles wide,
down
its
is
a long,
straight to the
centre, joining the
while a vast range, upwards of 15,000 feet
from Kohistan on the North.
any boundary that would have included the whole of
the Black Mountain, would have insured a final settlement of a
troublesome question at the smallest
cost.
The
opposition would
not have been greater than to our temporary occupation, while
would have brought with

sults;
it
would have had an excellent
effect
on the whole of the
Yuzafzai tribes; provided a splendid sanitarium

troops, well supplied with fuel
ficient
strategic
defence along
its
position,
front,
for
cantoning
and water, and afforded a magni-
having the most
and which an
formidable natural
easily constructed railway
through the Hazara Valley, would link in with

munications behind.
it
the most permanently beneficial re-
all
our com-
few years of good government moreover
^ That a river, within twenty miles of our outposts, sliould have to be indicated
on the best maps by approximate dots, and which dots, on at least one important
occasion, were found to have
some miles of
error, requii'es
no further comment.
^$lilll!;:
CD
THE DLA CK MO UN TA IN.

would go
savages,
far to see
a set of people
converted into
ac
now but
community
removed from
well-behaved
as
prosperous as their neighbours in Hazura
little
319
and
as
and might well have
been hailed as the inauguration of a Border policy on thoroughly

sound principles,
CHAPTER XXXIX.
A BIT OF
More
is
probably
YAGHESTAN.
"
known about many
of the remote regions of
Central Asia than concerning the countries adjacent to the river
Indus within a short range of our own Border.
This, of course,
is
in a great measure due to the exceptionally inaccessible nature of
the higher Indus Valley; the immense mass of lofty mountains
through wliich the river forces
its
approached by openings affording
some
but
torrent, rushing
little
the deep valleys, often
more than a path alongside
between overhanging
cragsman
a skilled
way
any
rocks, dangerous to
with no roads, save the merest tracks
no
bridges beyond those of plaited birch twigs, swaying with every
gust of wind
and lawless
us,
and with no communications at
Not a
of the year.
tribes
little,
who
also, to
inliabit the reaches
and who bar the way to traders and
among
all for
many months
the character of the fanatical
immediately adjoining
travellers alike.
But
these mountains, and in these valleys, often very extensive
and of great
that for
fertility,
are communities,
numerous and prosperous,
many generations have remained
little
changed or
in-
fluenced by the events passing around them, and have maintained

their
own customs,
their
own
dialects,
widely differing peculiarities of race
The
limits of the
and,
to a
great extent,
and of creed.
Black Mountain practically mark the limits of

A BIT OF
the Pathan to the
left of
"
YAGHESTAN."
321
the Indus, though on the right he extends
much
further up; and in the lateral valleys above
more
or
less
Pathan blood
known
as "
who maintain
pure-blooded Yusafzais,
Then come
nections with Swat.
in their veins,
tribes with a
and of Pushtu
Neemchas," or half breeds.
Afghan blood disappears,
or
to
is
Muhammadan, beginning with
their con-
good deal of mixed
in their speech, often
Further, again,
trace of
all
be found only in scattered
For a long distance, however, the creed
colonies.
Buneyr are
nominally
is
the fierce fanaticism of Palosa
the
" Kila Mujahidin," a colony of " warriors of the faith," supported
entirely
by contributions from their sympathizers in Hindustan,
who, until they were dispersed by the recent Black Mountain

expedition, devoted their time to
in Arabic, firing salutes with
drill,
command
giving the words of
cannon made of
and blus-
leather,
tering about the destruction of the infidel power of the British,
but getting gradually diluted,

are found
till,
Muhammadans who
among
isolated spots in Kohist&n,
shave their heads, worship rude
sculptures of the horse, and are ignorant of a single word of the
Koran.
In the comparatively small but
fertile valleys of Tikari,
Nandihar,
and Deshi, the bulk of the people are Swatis, Muhammadans by

creed, classing themselves as Pathan, ethnologically
more nearly
connected with the people in the adjoining glens.
The same
the case in Allai, a larger and
still
Sayud
or other religious fraternities.
and grow considerable quantities of

eastern end of Allai
is
is
possessed by
All are plentifully irrigated,

rice
and Indian
corn.
The
described as possessing a succession of grass
and forest-covered mountain

barley,
by one
finer valley, drained
stream to the Indus, though about a fourth of this
is
and prosperous
slopes, dotted
villages.
with
The whole
fields of
valley
wheat and
is
perhaps
capable of furnishing 7,000 fighting men, and the three former are
credited with about 8,000, recognizing as leaders the
Trand and Batgram.
On
Khans
of
the opposite side of the river are the
ACROSS THE BORDER.
322
Ghorband and Kanra
Sayud
colony,
"
Kohistan,
Valleys, the latter being almost entirely a
range rising 15,000 feet separates Allai from
the land of mountains," which interposes a thousand
square miles of snowy peaks and rocky wastes between Khagan, or

the upper part of Hazilra, and the Indus
and extends again on
Among
the west of that river right away to Dir and Chitral.
Afghans the name
is
westward to Kabul, or
only partly displaced
independent country,"
often used to describe the whole country
by other races they have
districts inhabited
"
the
is
the general term for
all
Yaghestan,
as
just
or
rebellious
the
little
hill
republics, who acknowledge no suzerain or at any rate pay no
features of the Cis-Indus Kohistan
The main
attention to him.
are two valleys running east
and west from Hazara to the Indus,
the Nila Naddi, and the Chicharga, separated from each other by
a range that, by way of variety, has an elevation of nearly 17,000

The two streams fall into the Indus near Jalkot and Palas
feet.
respectively,
and
incidentally,
it
may be
noted, a good road would
be possible down either to the Indus from Hazara by opening out
At
one of the passes from Khagiin, or from Bhogarmang.

the country
is
destitute of roads as
winter the access

intervals.
else,
Of
is
only by river, crossing and
trade there
is
some
though Puttun on the Indus
place, with
much
may perhaps
we understand
roads,
present
and
in
recrossing at
in timber but little of anything

is
reputed a large and flourishing
fertile land, a population almost redundant, and
claim to be the capital of Kohistan,
if
such a collection
of mountains can be said to possess a capital.
By
the people themselves the country
is
often called Shinkari,
"the land of the Shins," Muhammadans, but
not
Pathans
probably the remains of a number of cognate tribes of Indian

origin,
They
forced
by Moslem invaders
are reported powerful, well
plexioned, quick-eyed,
to
become Muhammadans.
built, clean-limbed,
sharp-featured
people, brave
dark-combut quiet,
given to hospitality, nowhere particularly zealous for the faith of
A BIT OF
many
Islam, and in
still
preferring their
"
YAGIIESTAN."
many Hindu
valleys retaining
own
Some
particular idols.
which Biddulph, in an account
323
customs, and
of the dialects, of
of interest, describes several,
full
are founded on Sanskrit, with a pretty general admixture of
Pushtu
They, along with tribes to the north and north-west, have, by

certain authorities, been dragged in to help to build
and Dardistan; a
of the Dards
concerned,
is
up the theory
which, so far as they are
title
There are a few people on
altogether misleading.
the Indus, near Koli and Palus locally called Dards, but they are
only an insignificant tribe
speaking different
called
among
a great variety of distinct races,
frequently
dialects,
And
by the most diverse names.
languages,
In language,
inapplicable.
dress, habit,
Indus Valley communities have most in

of Astor in
and probably
common with
and
Dard
unless the word
any people of probable Aryan extraction,
to stand for
of Gilgit,
different
is
is
quite
riice,
these
it
the peoples
Kashmir, or of Ladak, as described by
Cunningham.
Chilas, another thousand square miles of
country, on
its
southern side for some
little
still
more mountainous
distance conterminous
with Hazara, comes in between Kohistan, the Indus, and Kashmir.
The Kashmir Maharajah

suzerain
by
is,
in a sort of
way acknowledged
certain of the little communities,
him a small annual
some
of
tribute of goats or of gold dust, and one sends
three hostages, or residents, changed every year, to Kashmir.

officials
as
whom pay
however, interfere, or even
of that State do not,
The
visit
Chilas, and any attempt of the Maharajah to exercise his authority
would probably be
Many
resisted.
from the
river,
Kashmir,
Gilgit
resistance
would
suffice to
keep
are so difficult of access either
Yassin, that a very
or
off
little
a considerable force, and a
former Sikh expedition sent from Kashmir against the Chilas valley
met with a
disastrous defeat.
" land of the
mountain "
naked mountain,"
The highest peaks
rise in
the case of
to over 10,700 feet.
in this hterally
Nanga
Parbat, " the
magnificent peak, but
Y 2
ACROSS THE BORDER.
324
a mere
hill
compared
to Gilgit opposite,
which within a small area
boasts of twenty peaks from 20,000 lo 24,000, and eight from 24,000
The balance
to 27,000 feet high.
of Chilus
extent snow and rock, over 11,000

ilown to 5,000
feet,
and wild vegetables
that
fields
and poorly wooded.
rhubarb,
towards the Indus, more especially in

;
but the general aspect
like the old Sanskrit description of
is
forests,
afford grazing for considerable herds of
the valleys round the village of Chilas

the country
to a great
and on the slopes below, in some half-dozen
with occasional
cattle,
is
succeeded by pine
feet,
principal valleys, a crop of grass

carrots, onions, &c.
however
Practically
it is
a single
rainless,
year being a good average, though there
is
Parbat
fair
oi
bare
fall
amount
in the
of
irri-
gation from the mountain streams.
The people
tanis
some
are
more recent converts
of their glens
to Islam than the Kohis-
seem rather a favourite
resort of
Mullahs
from Swat, and are consequently zealous and bigoted much beyond
any of their neighbours.

their own,
horse
Others again have religious systems of
and in one case the tutelary deity
named
Sunis, and any Shiahs
who
of them, are
would be put
fell into their hands
They
death without the alternative of slavery.

lutely cut off from
many
They, or
the Taibans horse.
a rudely sculptured
is
to
are not so abso-
communications as we are accustomed to think.
There are roads from the upper Swat into the extensive Kandia
valley
from Yassin
to the
Sazin and Tangir Valleys, both
and extensive, extending down
Khagan
to the
Indus
in Hazara, by the Babusar Pass,
is
fertile
and the road from
put at a seven days
journey to the Indus, and from the Kishen-Ganga Valley in
Kashmir, by the Shoto Pass, as a
five days' journey.
The
road,
moreover, which under the present Resident, the Kashmir state

has taken
in
Srinagar, by
hand, ivam
the
tlie
north
of
the
Wular Lake near
Rajdiangan Pass into the Skardo route, and
from that again by the Kanuri Pass into the Astor Valley, and
by Bunji on the Indus to
Gilgit,
some 170
miles,
which
is
to be
A BIT OF
"
YA GHESTAN."
325
military road, will do a good deal to open out better
made a good
At present
communications.
the roads are only practicable for
footmen, and are closed in winter, while
it
can be reached by way of the Indus at
all
doubtful
is
and
it
if
is,
Chilas
therefore,
not astonishing to find that this difficulty of access has contributed

to
keep the
The
different nations.
estan
is,
so
many
distinctive character of this bit of
Yagh-
communities almost as isolated as
little
in fact, the
number
what are
of
Thalich, which
is
Drew
Mr.
States, republics in miniature.
practically independent
describes one called
probably well in the running, as the very
The system
smallest existing, consisting of only eleven houses.

of
government in
these Liliputian commonwealths
advanced enough to suit the most gifted

according to Biddulph, elects
its
own
It
Home
and enjoys
has
own
its
who
all
teros"
encouraging
brave,
outsiders
give
to
There
its
neighbours.
which
quite
is
advice,
their
is,
and
eloquent,
the discussion, the
in
having heard, they seldom take.
of
" Sigas,"
called
joining
please
public,
village,
representative or " Jushteros,"
Eule, irrespective
parliament,
Each
faddist.
according as the candidates are deemed

liberal,
nevertheless,
is,
"
Jush-
which,
moreover, already a
system of Federation, a single Jushtero being deputed from each

village parliament to the federal Sigas,
The
public.
given, after
public,
having relieved
which only
The Sigas does not
"
Jushteros
which
its
" are
also
is
open
to the
mind, a loud whistle
is
allowed to talk or to vote.
deal with criminal offences
these are usually
Murder
left to
the church, tempered by ancient custom.
but
regarded as a personal matter for the nearest relative to
is
settle,
though blood feuds are not permitted
Slavery
among
kept
to stand over long.
exists in
many
valleys,
the most ancient of the institutions.
strictly apart all
spring, the
rare,
a recognized institution in most of the republics.
more singular custom
still
be
is
is
young man
summer, from May
till
and
it is
The sexes
September.
said to
are
In the
has to take his flocks to the mountain, and
A CROSS THE BORDER.
326
must wait
till
winter before he can permit
The
turn to thoughts of love."
women
old
"
his fancy to
lightly
are specially charged
with the responsibility of seeing the rule observed, and
attempt to evade
it is
punished by
Neither Kohistan nor
any
fine.
Chilas has ever given trouble to us as
neighbours, nor are they likely to do

colonies take root, or find shelter
so,
unless dangerous fanatical
among them.
The Allaiwals
and sometimes Hazara Gujars, have had occasional disputes with

the Kohistanis, arising out of trespass into the Chor glen, a bit
of good pasture in the south-east corner of Kohistan that lies
temptingly near
merchants
for
and more recently with the Khaka Khel wood
timber sent down the river; but the Kohistan /ir^ra/i
has shown a willingness to settle
Both trade with

a
little
Any
us,
all
such matters with our
officers.
mainly the produce of their flocks and herds,
gold dust, and timber cut and floated
down
to Attock.
estimate of the fighting strength of communities like these
would be obviously of the most uncertain kind and of small value.

possible they
It is
to
us
their
foe,
but
any such combination could hardly be formidable, and
weapons are of the most primitive
strength
want
might combine against a common
is
in their natural position,
description.
Their real
which we are not
likely to
Their weakness, the fact that to a great
to interfere with.
extent they are a decadent race, liable to be either driven out or
absorbed by more vigorous races like the Pathan, whose settlements

will increase,
and whose greater energy
ground; while the
little
village parliaments, are
But from here

or
"
land
again,
republics, with their
doomed
"Jushteros" and
to go downhill.
from Hazara and the Indus, the Kohistan,
of mountains "
which
forms the
Kashmir, to the Kohistan, north of Kabul,
and secluded
ensure his gaining
will
valleys, occupied
lies
western frontier of
a series of lofty peaks
by communities, whose future
every year becoming of greater importance to India and

defence.
To the north
is
its frontier
of Chilas, and the valleys already referred to
A BIT OF
YA GBESTAN."
"
32Y
of Buneyr, Swat, Dir, Bajawar,
and Kunar, are a
familiar statesNager,
Gilgit, Yasin,
Hunza,
series of still less
and
Chitral,
others.
And, further west, the unexplored and almost unknown country
No mere
of Kafiristan.
congeries of robber tribes, but settled
and extensive agricultural communities, with rulers who in many
unbroken descent.
cases boast a long
Peoples of the most varying
Hindu, Mongol, and Tartar alternating with
Traces of
types.
Pathan, Aryan, and conjectural Greek
or,
according to a recent
Russian authority on the look out for natural subjects for the
Czar,
"
Of
incontestably Slav."
of rock-cut
Brahmins,
Buddha, customs of the most orthodox
figures of
with
creeds, that include the worship
others
the
like
Shins,
hold
that
everything
connected with the cow as the most hopelessly unclean

valleys
where
still
lingers the influence of Zoroaster
secluded
and the
of the Lingum, the tree, or incantation pure and simple

all
of
fire
again vary between the primitive Aryan to the worship
altars, or
over
which an easy-going Muhammadanism seems gradually
spreading
itself,
which the Pirs and the fervid Mulahs from Swat
and Buneyr are doing their best to extend.
Tribes and castes differ-
ing in almost every characteristic from
anything, not only on
our more immediate Border, but from India generally
languages and
valley, of
which Biddulph gives glossaries of
a skilled philologist to classify
do not consider
it
century's keeping;
is
ripe
with
amusement and
the ordeal of
requires a
fire,
man
disposal.
ethnological
speaking
whom
free
wine
cellars of clarified butter,
and
has acquired the deep red of a
dancing
polo the national
and are so
and which require
for
is
both
game who
;
sexes the
still
practise
from ordinary jealousy that custom
given to hospitality to place his wife at his guest's
Countries
as
till it
ten,
societies given to drinking
and making merry, who lay down
national
dialects often not understood out of their particular
well
and
as
peoples
political
of
the
interest,
of
greatest
whom
possible
fragments
have been sketched in accounts by Messrs. Shaw, Drew, Leitner
ACROSS THE BOMBER.
328
and Biddulph, but whicli remain
to a great extent
be
to
still
described.
Northward
Hindu Kush forms the
of the whole again, the
great
watershed between the Indus and the Oxus, the passes over which
are probably sufficiently difficult to deter any large
there.
be
for
But the more we
learn about
them the
many
a small force to effect a passage in
crossed, to rendezvous in
some
and
appears to
places, and,
sometimes
it is
having
called,
which
is
and thence work southwards towards
fertile,
The mischief would be almost
Gilgit or Jeirdabad.
it
central valley, such as Chitral, the
seat of the ruler of Kashkar, as

sufficiently large
army venturing
easier
equally great
if
the intruders stayed there, and extended their influence to Kabul

or
Kashmir
or over the fanatical tribesmen along our
a contingency
it is
obviously necessary to take
For the same reason
it is
rival states
less of
measures to prevent.
undesirable these countries should
any way under the control

and
Pathan border,
of Afghanistan.
between Kashmir and Kabul
a safeguard against treachery in either.
is
fall
in
dozen independent
at
any rate more or
Amir Abdur Rahman
known
of late years to have been casting a covetous eye in this
direction.
Their internal quarrels, which in Kafiristan are unceas-
is
ing,
not merely with their
Muhammadan
neighbours, but
various sections of the people, he has readily seized
excuse for interference, and there
supplemented
by
still
more
no doubt
is
active
intrigues.
against Kafiristan and Bajaur was stopped not
sturdy resistance of the Bajauris, as by the

nearer home, and
his promises
to
upon
this
among
as an
has been
His expedition
so
much by
the
Shinwari rebellion
return at a more convenient
season have caused a certain amount of uneasiness, for the Amir's
convenient season
It
is
oft-times a bitter one.
would be well therefore
understood
in the first place to let it be clearly
that these communities are to bo considered entirely
outside the limit of
Afghan influence
more active measures
to ensure that
and
in the next to take
British influence
shall
be
A BIT OF
established instead.
in Gilgit.
Kashmir
Gilgit
construction
of
Chitral,
It will
road,
the
this has
be assisted
by the opening
of the
Dhaka which would enable

The states are
notice in Jelalabad.
railway
to
officers,
Kafiristan
more
country whose tendencies and sympathy have
common
with the Aryan stock than any single community
especially
so
more
in
alonff
our entire north-western border.
If the
if
been begun already
and by the establishment of a
a rule ready to welcome English
good,
329
and would be materially increased by the
regiments to move at a short

as
yaghestan:'
To some extent
by the Lockhart mission to

resident
"
Yaghestan
states can retain their independence, well
and
not British influence must be paramount, and the sooner
direct measures are taken to accomplish this the better.
Pathan Fiddle {rabal) and Knife (chhum).
CHAPTER
XL.
THE HAZARA VALLEY.
What
Shakespeare makes Bolingbroke say of English
would apply
to
any account of the Border that should
make
" the daintiest last, to
Hazara,
finish
the
that, for
grandeur of
Valley
And
mountains,
variety,
plentiful
its
is
nothing
streams,
can touch the Hazara
and probably few can boast a more interesting diversity
of people,
viously
its
and charming
with
the end most sweet."
along the whole frontier, from Karachi to Kashmir, there
jiicturesque scenery,
feasts,
more thriving
marks the
territory, of
villages,
where prosperity more ob-
or
security of British rule.
long
thoroughly alpine character, with a ring fence of lofty
mountains that separate
it
from the rich valleys of Kashmir, and
the vast waste of rocky and snowy peaks that go to
Kohistan
tongue of
between the impetuous Jhelum with
the more solemn and severe Indus.
To
To
and
the north are the distant
snow-clad ranges of Chilas, with the mighty

central figure.
make up
its feeders,
the east the high rounded
Nanga Parbat
Khagan
as a
peaks, afford-
ing excellent grazing almost to their tops, and whose sides, where
not clothed with grass, are covered with forests,
tains, that
from the perpetual snow of
a series of lovely
hills
Gullies, to Murreo.
and charming
Westward
"
vista of
moun-
Moses's seat," run south by
little stations,
known
as the
beautifid wooded peaks, glens, and
THE HAZARA VALLEY.

ranges, hardly less lofty,
and not
331
from the
less attractive, separate it
independent Swati valleys that drain into the Indus, while the Black
Mountain
rises
beyond the luxuriant glades of Agror.
Cultivation
covers every bit of level ground, from the prolific fields of Harripur
and Pakhli, to the narrow

hill sides in
tion
the most distant glens
and everywhere, that cultiva-
Water, the one thing the Border so
plentifully irrigated.
is
much
strips industriously terraced out of the
much
wants, and the absence of which deprives so
mountain fringe of half
its
deep blue
Khagan, the raging
silent lakes of
beauty,
and the Jhelum, the almost
is
of our
The
here in every form.
fiercer torrents
forces of the
Indus
of the narrow little
Kunhar, the minor tributary streams that run in
all directions,
channels from which carry the water to every
field,
mills to grind the corn,
are
husk the
what the Swatiscall the
"
rice,
and
the
or clean the cotton, and
female slaves
"
of the cultivator.
specked with thriving villages and prosperous homesteads:
witness that, in Hazara at any rate, the

in the
centre
Empire
is
marked by the
The most favoured
seems
to
freedom
of the
station
of
peace
the
and vegetables
Border
stations,
Abbottabad
And where
it
may
be said
by
side with the
pine, the chestnut
not in order
to
in an idyllic fashion, but as matter of history
and English administration have brought
m3ans the best types
district
run
most beautiful
and the chenar.
round
off a
sentence
English civilization
to a
number
of
by no
of Border races, a freedom from strife,and an
of prosperity they could never have developed
The
lanes
with
where a wealth of superb English roses
and the
also
hills,
with a profusion of tropical and temperate
flourish side
varieties of the cedar
while
and cantonment of Abbott-
Where English green
plains.
filled
and English shrubs,
amount
is
combine the views and the climate of the
through gardens
fruits
Empire
the practical embodiment of that
of the valley
abad.
way.
all
wealth of wood and water, luxuriant grass and innumerable
flowers,
the
turn
was taken over by the
any other
British, as a too turbulent
ACROSS THE BORDER.
332
country for
bit of
Sikh Governor's
its
Jammu,
of territory on the southern frontier of
1848, ahnost for the
The
fectly tranquil."
since then,
is
first
time in
story of
exchange
taste, in
for
in 1847,
a strip
and in
was reported as "per-
its history,
prosperity and development
its
written at length in the
records of the district,
official
the Settlement Report of Major Wace, and the statistics of the
Gazetteer
country
but
still
more
obviously, over the whole face of the
Twenty years
itself.
saw the population
of British rule
increased fifty per cent., doubled the area of cultivation, more than
doubled the value of the cattle and agricultural produce.
Thirty
years practically doubled the revenue, even with light assessments

increased the imports six-fold
and raised
to important branches
of trade,
that in former times had no value at
all.
of yore received his food or one
many commodities
The day labourer, who
a day,
now
earns not less than two in the villages, and four in the
sheets for a rupee, and a fancy
The weaver who wove seven
towns.
anna
turban for fourteen annas, now gets a rupee for four sheets, and two
rupees for the turban
instead of four.
and the printer who dyes
it,
eight annas
According to the statistical story, the labourer
much more
in the
way
of hire
he
eats, drinks,
all
round gets
is
merry, though even he has to pay something more for
whole stands as a striking example

strong
of
what
it,
difference a good
Government has made, and might make elsewhere,
for
and
The
and
any
bit of the Border.
Nor can
people
it
be said that the result
rather
in spite of
it is
their disfavour, for,

trast in regard to
is
what
due
in
to the superiority of the
many
respects are points in
to other parts of the Border, the con-
compared
them
is
markedly unfavourable.
Notwithstand-
ing their former character for turbulence and rebellion, they have
neither the energy nor
and though they are

of war,"
is
manly
qualities of the
litigious
enough,
"
Pathan
or the Biloch,
the flinty and steel couch
by no means the average Hazara's idea of repose, nor
does he yearn
f(jr
honour and
glory.
Ho
is
quite willing to leave
THE IIAZARA VALLEY.
333
His valley seems
that to the Afridi or Yusafzai.
to
have been the
corner to which the less warlike races were gradually driven, and
he
the modern representative of those races.
is
valley was occupied
When
Originally the
by a mixed people of Indian or Aryan
origin.
the inferior Pathan Dilazaks got pushed out of the Pesha-
wur Valley,
in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries, they
fled across
the Indus to Hazara. The Tanaolis followed suit in the seventeenth.
Then
the Jaduus, from the slopes of Mahaban,
with Timur,
if
pos-
not with Chengiz Khan, annexed a bit of the Pakhl
The Sayuds under
plain.
came and took
The Karlagh Turks, who came
session of a strip for themselves.
Jalal
Baba did the same
in
Khagaa,
the Tarins lower down, and finally the Yusafzais crossed the Indus,
pushed everybody back a
When
the variety that
sidered,
it
bit,
went
and took up the Black Mountain.
to
make up
the original stock
must be admitted the population
Broadly, the present distribution
mixed.
is
is
likely to
somewhat
is
be a
conlittle
as follows
North of Manserah the Swatis hold pretty well the whole, about
one-third of the district; descendants from tribes of Indian origin,
like Gujars, Ghakkars,
Dunds, and Karals, with the admixture
iust referred to. the south
in the centre
cf
Amb
and south-east Jadunsinthe Dor Valley

;
Tanaolis west in the semi-independent appanage
Swatis and Gujars again in Agror and up to the Yusafzai
of the Black Mountain, with
Sayud
families scattered through the
whole.
The
unsatisfactory nature of the Swati has already been com-
mented
on.
His deceit
is
The
a proverb.
story of his agricultural
partnership with the devil, a legend, with
many
countries.
was to have
all
How
under the
first
that grew above, and
the OTOund, he sowed Indian corn
many
contract,
counterparts in
when
the devil all that
the Swati
grew below,
and when at harvest time his
partner complained of his share, the Swati, protesting his desire to

play
fair,
agreed to reverse the bargain.
This arranged, the next
season he sowed carrots, and got the belter of his Satanic majesty
ACROSS THE BORDER.
334
who
again,
is
now
bad
in respect of
with the Swati.
faith
and other
far inferior to his
both
Hindu
faithless, crafty,
cannot be said of him
doings, he
ill
Mahaban
is
naught
The Jadun, whatever
"
his
is
The Dunds and the
relative.
perverts to Islam
are
credited with being
Treachery among themselves dis-
and cowardly.
Murree
covered their plot to attack
on a level
is
he crossed the Indus, and
origin, has clearly deteriorated since
Kurals
it
The saying that "aTanaoli's word
sums up the opinion held about him.
now
The Tanaoli
forthwith agreed to dissolve partnership.
reported to have once been warHke, but
in 1857,
and they are now
Far the best of the bunch are
suspected of a taint of Wahabism.
the Gujars and Gakkhars. Industrious cultivators, skilful husband-
men, with good physique,
fair to
though not very courageous,

they would
In creed
and peaceful,
soldiers,
although but
citizens,
for
our rule
probably barely hold their own.
all
are essentially Mussalmans
more
little
middling as
than
Muhammadans.
five
per
cent.
Hindus of
but
The average physique
is
all
none
sorts,muster
are
fanatical
decidedly below the
average of the Peshawur Valley, not to speak of the finer specimens

of the
Pathan highlanders.
The Dunds and Kurals
Jadus and TanaoHs not very robust
are small
the
the Swatis of Agror are feeble
and enervated, though very fine men are found among the Swatis of
Khagan
and
lots of the inhabitants of
not almost, classic features.
same
among Pathans
light as
the valley have pleasing,
The women
generally
are regarded
so
much
much
if
in the
valuable property,
but as drudges rather than wives, especially among the Swatis
though both they and the Utmanzai

good looks, and
many
local proverb describes
women have
their share of
of the Gujar race arc decidedly pretty.
them
as " the Swati's
toil,
the Jadun's mil],
the Dilazak's whore, the Turk's trance, and the Turin's
summary
of the tribal habits.
and
is
curious as a
Swati's wife
is
indicated as a field drudge
Kule"
too
often
to
the mill, and
stays
all
The
Home
The
the Jadun's lady goes
night while the grain
is
THE TIAZARA VALLEY.

grinding, with fatal results to her virtue;
with them many
Turk
is
the Dilazaks brought
the tendency of the
ladies of too easy virtue;
to laziness
and indulgence
335
and the Turin
is
greatly under
petticoat influence.
Any
outline
of the
social
habits
and
tribal
customs of
so
Dress of the Banawi Fakirs, Hazara.
diversely
amount
disproportionate
liarity of being fairly
violence
community would occupy an altogether
constituted a
is
rare
of space.
They agree
submissive subjects.
in the one pecu-
Anything
like
open
the bullet and knife of the assassin are more
generally replaced by the weapons of fraud or intrigue;
and the
ACROSS THE BORDER.
330
bulk of the people seem to have a greater inclination towards

patient
toil,
than
for
letting
their neighbours' blood.
same, that most beautiful of mountain glens
a perfect hot-bed of intrigue,

possible trouble.
The Khan was removed under
a time all went well.
There
suppose that the recent
that direction
is
is,
surveillance to
to his authority,
and
for
however, unfortunately reason to
Agror intrigues
with the Black Moun-
been at the bottom of many of our troubles in
and
ofuarded agfainst.
Agror Valley,
and always contains the elements of
Lahore in 1868, but subsequently restored
tain tribes have
the
All the
it is
a matter always requiring to be carefully
INDEX.
i:n^dex.
A.
B.
Abbotabad, cantonment of, 331

the Akhund of Swat,
Abdul Gafur,
280
Abd-ul-Hamid, the Pathan Shaikh
S'adi,
303
Bajaur, valley of, 271 iron

by Barber, 219
Bangash Pathans, 143
poet,
Bannu,
303
Adam Khan
and Durkhaiii^ 294

Afghan, distinction between Pathan and,
;
to Jews, 96
likeness
traditions,
civil district of,
271
of,
Abdul Haq, son of ditto, 285

Pathan
Abd ur - Rahman,
a
102
96
Babusar Pass, Hazara border, 324

Badraga, or "safe conduct," 146
Bahadurkhel, salt beds of, 150
Bain Pass, Dera Ismail district, 28
126
taken
importance
of strategical position, 130; new military

road to, 131; proposed railway to, 131;
want of water supply for, 132
Bannu, chief passes on border of Shakdu,
104 Kaisor, 104 Tochi, 119 Baran,
119 Khas )ra, 119; Gumati, 132 ; Barganattu, 132
Afridi Pathans, main divisions, 188

Aka Khels, 188
Adana Khels, 188Jowakis,
189,
Zakha Khels
Kukis
Malikdin Khels
Quniba Khels
of the Khaiber,
202
Bannuchis, mongrel Pathans, 129

Barau Pass, Bannu district, 119
Baravval, valley of, 271
Barganattu Pass, 13annu district, 132
Barber, frontier tour
of,
219
foray
against hill tribes of, 219 in the Peshawur Valley, 216; marries a Pathaulady,
219
Bazdara Pass into Buneyr, 276
Beka, the hermit of, 28i
Bellew, Dr., work on Yusafzai, 266
Biloch division into tribes {tumdnt), clans
(paras), sections (pall is), &c. 54
Biloches, early distribution of, 33 general
description of, 23 original home of, 28
principal border tribes, 56
two great
sections of, 30
raids and forays by, 50
romantic vendettas of, 50 traditions of,
27
Bilochistan, former chronic rebellion in, 21
limits of, 18
our present position in, 5;
;
Afridis general characteristics of, 183 ;

origin of, 188
country of, 187 ; feuds,
186
story of an Afridi feud, 191
small reverence for mwZâ/is, 184; readily
enlist, 187
jirgahs, 254
Agror, sub-division of Hazara, 313 ; intrigues in, 336
Akbar, in the Peshawur valley, 221
Akhund Darwaza of Peshawur, 135,
;
288
Akhund
Gallais, 189
)
Khels,
religious
colony
of,
314
Akhtmds, Border Popes, 139
of Swat,
280
Akra, ancient mounds of, 127
Allai Valley, 313, 321
Amb, chief of, 313
Ambeya, pass into Buneyr, 276; campaign
of the, 278
Amir
of Afghanistan, prohibitory duties

imposed by, 205
power of defence
against Russia, 208
Apostles of insurrection, 286
Ashraf, a Pathan poet, 303
Afitdnaddrs, holy place possessors, 136
Authorities used in book, 9
;
_^
physical characteristics of, 19

chief
divisions of, 18
Gundava, Jalawan, Lus
;
(Beyla),
Makran, Sarawan
Bir Bal the Mughal, killed by Yusafzais,

221
Birmal Highlands, 120
Bitanni Pathans, account of, 94
Black Mountain, the, 291, 311 a final
settlement for, 317
tribes on, 262
Blood-money, Pathan idea of, 114
;
jyuEX.
340
Dir, valley of, 271

Pass, Dera Ismail district, 76
Biloches, 56
Blush-money, a Pntlian term, 243

Bonier, cannot be defended by forts within,
close system on, condemned, 2
11
courtships
communications on the, 3
on, 293 festive gatherings on, 292 im-
Draband
Dreshak
Duniars, Kakar Pathans, 59
jiortance
Dumkis, Rind
of information
regarding,
Dund
Judas, a, 299 must come more under

British influence, 10 masterly inactivity
outlaw, a,
militia, 180
in regard to, 1
177 romance, 292 Pathans in a chronic
Pope, a, 280 serious
state of war, 230
want of topographical knowledge regardand
tribes, strength of, 182
ing, 6
thieves, expertucss
characteristics of, 9
Biloches, 34
333
tribe iu Hazara,
E.
;"
Expeditions against the Bahlolzai "VVaziris,

the
the Black Mountain, 315
108
the Hindustani fanatics,
Davvaris, 124
the Jowaki Afridis, 189 the Kabul- Khel
the Mohmauds, 249
Waziiis, 106
the Shiranis, 88
the Ornkzais, 168
the Takht tribes, 88 the Zaimukhts,
161
174
Borderer, a domestic, 232
of,
173
sentries,
Bo/.dar Biloches, 57
Brahui
Bughti
ditto,
23
traditions
of,
33
ditto, 57
274 passes into, 276

lUinevrwal Pa\hans, 276 difficulties with,
in 1885, 291
Igarka, or numtilla, 210, 296
P.niieyr Valley,
Fnkir, or mendicant
Fends of the Pathan
an Afridi, 191
friar,
138
177
soldier,
story of
Frontier Force, composition of the, 175

strength of,
likely to be modilied, 181
181
Frontier garrisons, the chief, 180
Frontier railway extension and military
C.
Catch-cm-aliveO's, 180
Chachar Pass, Dera Ghazi district, 48
Chandiannies, settlements of, 102; love
feasts of, 162
Chapdos, or Biloch raids, 61
Cliilas, country of, 323
routes to, 197
Chitral, State of, 327
Colonies of fanatics, 261,^^ 290, 321
Crime in the Peshawur Valley, 228
reads, 2
Gambila or Tochi river, 119

Gandamak, treaty of, 141, 147, 203
Gar and Sdriiil, Pathan political divisions,
144
divisions of (see
Ghilzais, origin of, 79
Poioi7idahs), along the Khaiber route,
D.
Dalazaks, doubtful Pathans, 216 driven

across the Indus, 220
I)alull;u, an early tyrant, 44
Dards and Dardistan, 323
Darwesh Khel Waziri Pathans, lOo
Daudzais, sub-division of the Ghoria Khel
Pathans, 219
Dawar Valley, account of the, 118 entrances to the, 119
request
Dawaris, <legraded Pathans, 121
ff.r British protection, 133
Duhgans of the Lughmun Valley, 250
Dera Ghazi Khan, civil district of, 46 ;
town founded, 55
liill streams of, 47
Suri,
])rincipal passes on border of, 48
Zangi, Cliaehar, Kaha, Piaki, Sakhi
Sarwar, Viilore, Sowari, Shori, Malioi,
Sangarh, Kawan, 49
Dera Ismail Khan, civil district of, 75
)irinci[)al passes on border of, 77, 78
Draband, Vahoa, Shaikh Haidar or Zao,
Gumal, Tank, Shuza, Bain, Peyzu
Dcshi Valley, 313, 321
;
199
Ghoria Khel, an original division of Pathans, 217
Ghoria Khel, sub-divisions of, 219 Mohmauds, Khalils, Daudzais
Gigianis, original division of Pathans, 217
new road
Gilgit, state of, 327-;
324
Guides, corps of, 175
of, 178
Gujars and Gakkhars
mountains
Gumal
Pass,
opening of,
92
Gumati
Pass,
to,
324;
of,
a really
in
happy man
Hazara, 334
Dira Ismail district, 78, 91

91 wants in connection with,
Bannu
district,
Gundara, a division of
Gurchani Piiloches, 56
132
Bilochistiin, 18
H.
ITamayun
in the
Peshawur Valley, 219
Hamzazais, Kakar Pathans, 60
U\
INDEX.
development
Hassanzai Pathans, murders by, 261

past aud
Hazara, civil district of, 330
present tribes of, 332
Hindkis iu Bajawar, 272
Hindu Kusb, small States south of the
chief passes over, 328
range, 326
Hindustani fanatics of Palosi, 315
Honais, early Pathan family of, 154
Hujrahs, or Pathan village clubs, 150, 216
Hunza, State of, 327
Gigiauis,
into Yusafzai,
split
Turkilauis, 217
Khalils, sub division of the Ghoria Khel
217
44
I.
river
of,
saints, 71
of,
Kawaii Pass, Dera Ghazi district, 48

Kazira Khan, a Pathan poet, 304
IChagan, valley in Hazara, 322
Khaiber Pass, 195 ; routes forming, 196
diminished
description of defile, 197
historic route to
trade through, 205
importance of possession,
India, 206
209 tiibes along, 199 ; agreement with
jirgah of, 203
Khnkhai, original division of Pathans,
Indus
name
ancient
17
Kasrani Biloches, 57
Karachi, port, 17
JTangti breeze, 172

Haiipal, tribe of fakirs, 91
Pathans, 219
banks, favourite resort of

legend of diversion of, 43
Kharoties, Poivindah Pathans, 83

Khasora Pass, Bannu district, 119
Indus Valley, characteristics of higher, 320

Isots, Pathau tribe of, 91
Khattak Pathans, account of, 149 early

settlements of, 154; hereditary Khans
among, 153 origin of name, 153 loca;
tion
of,
220
distribution of,
national dance,
present
quarrels of, 150

157
151 pipes, 292
Khattaks, chief divisions of Northern and
Soutbern, 220 Kaka Khels, 152 Fakir
Khels, 152 Sagris, 157
history of
Khelat, Brahui Khans of, 20
British relations with
dynasties in, 20
Khans of, 22
Klietran Pathans, 58
Khosa Biloches, 57
Kliost, valley of, 159
Khostwal Pathans, 159
Khugiani Pathans of the Khaiber, 200
Khushhal Khan, Khattak, a warrior poet,
156, 303 dying request of, 156
Khwajah Muhammad Khan, Khattak,
;
Jadrau highlands, 120
strategic value of
position, 124
Jadrani Pathans, 124, 160
Jaduns or Gaduus, tribe of, 219, 275

Hazara, 333
Jagdalak defile, 198
Jagi Pathans of the Paiwar, 147
in
Jalawan, division of Bilochistan, 18

Jehad, or "religious war," against the
Sikhs, 289
Jelalaliad, country surrounding, 198
Jews, likeness to Afghans, 96 to Pathans,
258 similarity of names, 258
notion of
Jirgahs, or tribal councils, 252
justice, 257
Jushtcros, or village representatives, 325
;
157
Klrris, fixed camps, 81
Kohat, town and district of, 172 Pass of,

188 Pass allowances paid, 190 chief
Ubiau, Kohat,
passes on Border, 165
;
K.
approaches
Kabul, a centre of trade, 211
position, the, 206
from India, 198
resources of valleys round, 209 Russia's
probable objec^tive, 207
Kabul Khel Waziri Pathans, 106 characteristic agreement with, 116
Kaclics, or small valleys, 104
;
Kufilas, or caravans, 81
Katiristau, country of, 327
Kaha Pass, Dera Gh;izi district, 48
Kaisor Pass, Bannu district, 104
Kakar Pathan, 59
Kamaliya aud Jalaliya, rocks
nnnor passes
Kohistan, Cis-Indus, 322 capital of, 322";
of Kashmir, 326 of Kabul, 326
Kohistanis, 324
Kohnok Hills, the, 120
Kunar Pdvcr, 272
Kurals, tribe iu Hazara, 334
Kurmarna Valley, 165
Kurram 'Valley, the, 141
;
at Attock,
288
Kamran, the son of Barber, a fugitive, 219

Kandahar, our position adjoining, 207
Kanigurum, the capital of Waziristan. 103
a Mullah of, 287
Laghari Biloches, 57
Liirani Pass from the Swat Valley, 268
Lasharis, former great division of Biloches,
30
Lataband Pass to Kabul, 198
INDEX.
342
of, r.aliawal Hakk, 67

Chelial
Tau, 69 Indus river saints, 65
Khwiijah Khizr, 71
Mian Jlaliik Sliah, 68
.Mians Mitlio and Ratlio, 69
Pir 'Adil,
Pir Murad, 07
73
Saidi Alimad of
SakhiSavwar, 70 tin; Saint of Draband,
Saint of Kandahar, 73
78
Saint of
Kohistan, 73
Rukn-ud-din, 67 ; Sadrnd-din, 67
Saint of Teree, 70
Sassui
and Panhu, 35
Slmikli Dana, 65
Shaikh Ismail Sarbanni, 64
Shaikh
Miillii-Katta], 64
Shams-i-Tabrez, 66
Shaikh Bakhtiar Dunkar, 73 ; King
Solomon, 87 the drowned Beauty, 42
the Indus diversion, 43
the toothache stone, 74
Usman-i-Merwandi or
Lai Shah-Baz, 69 Uddhero Lall, 71 ;
Yahya Bakhtiar, 65
Lund Biloches, 57
Lundi-Khana, arrangements for traders at,
204
Luni Pathans, 58
Lus, Beyla, division of Bilochistan, 18
Lep:eud
Mullagori Patlians of the Khaiber, 201

MuWilis, or Pathan priests, 188
Multan as described by Siud historians,
44 famous saints of, 66
Murder from the Pathan point of view, 179
Musa Khel Patlians, 58
Muzzeoghar Range, 165
;
N".
Nager, State of, 327

Nâkshbandia, sect of, 281
Nandihar Valley, 313, 321
Nanga Parbat mountain, 323
Nangraha, northern slopa of the Sufed
Koh, 200
Nao-gajds, or " nine-yarders," 136
Nasars, Powindah Pathans, 82
Nasr the First, of Khelat, 21
Nasr the Second, 22
North-West Frontier, our relations with, 1
0.
M.
Orakzai Pathans, main divisions of, 162

Daulatzai, 163
Bizoti, 163
trouble
given bj', 168 Rubia Khels, 163
Orakzais, account of, 162
defective information regarding couutrj', 166 raids
of, 167
;
Mahoi Pass, Dera Ghazi district, 49

Mahsud Waziri Pathans, 107 blood-money
;
customs among the, 114

Valley, the, 165
Makran, a division of Bilochistan, 18
Malandri Pass into Bnneyr, 276
Malik Ako the Khattak, 155
JIandu-Khels, Kakar Patlians, 91
Mangals, Pathans of the Paiwar, 160
Mangalais, early Pathan family, 154
Marris, doubtful Biloches, 57
Marwat Pathans, 128, 130
Massacre of the Hindustani fanatics, 290
Maiilvi, a Muhammadan D.D., 138
Mazari Biloches, 56
Mian Gul, son of the Akhund, 285
PacJidd, physical character of tract, 47

Palosi, fanatical colony of, 291, 321
Kakar Pathans, 60
Panjkora Valley, 270
Panni Pathans of the Sangan Valley, 59
Pariari Sayuds, colony of, 314
Panizai
Mian Khels, Powindah Pathans, 83

Minns, Pathan Rural Deans, 138
jMiclini Pass from Pcshawur, 210
Military roads to Banna, 131
to Peshin,
48 to Giigit, 324 from Bannu to Thai,
need of, 132
Miniature Rcpuljlics, 325
Mir Bami, a 13order Judas, 299
Mir Cliakar, a Biloch hero, 31
Miranz.ii Valley, the, 142
Mirza Khan Ansari, Pathan poet, 304
;
Mohmand
Pathans, chief divisions of, 2 18

Baizai, 248
Dawezai, 250
Utmanzai,
250 Halimzai, 248 Utman Khels, 250
Mohraands, account of, 245 blood-money
customs, 114 ; constant raids by, 249
Maidan
early locations of, 219; valleys adjoining our Border, 246

Miiliaiiiifiadzais,
original
division
of
I'athans, 217
Passes to India, difficulty often exaggerated, 51

Pat, the, of Dera Ismail Khan, 75
Pathan church and clergy list, 134 ; code
of honour, 225 ; customs in common
with Jews, 258
education of a, 227
fondness for music, 293
poetry, 302
;
224
pride,
reverence for
Romeo and
139
and his way, 175

saints, 134 romance, 292
Piifer
Juliet,
a,
superstition, 227
294
;
martyr,
a,
wives, 237
Pathan Saints
Akhund Darwaza of
Peshawur, 135, 288
Akhund Musa of
Jelalabad, 135
]5azid Answari of Kaniguram, 287
Ilazrat Lut of Nangraha,
135 Ihdad of Tirah, 288 Mian 'Aliof
MehtarLam of Lagh'Ali Boghan, 135
man, 135; Raliimkai of Nanshera, 152
:
Pathans, traditions of descent, 101

nification of
of,
215
101
;
first
of the
sig-
name, 100; main divisions

aj.pearance in India
Peshawur Valley, 221
ol',
INDEX.
Shakdu
Peshawur Valley, approaches
to the, from
Kabul, 196 Biuldliists in, 215; crime in,
228 history of, 214 place of arms for
Barber, 216 Pathans in, 223 scenery of,
245 tribes now located in, 215 undei
;
13
:n,
104
Peyzu
Pass. Dera Ismaii distric't. 78

Piffers, frontier stations of the, 180
vance guard of the army, 175
ad-
Pir Roklian, Pir Tarik, PirKamil, various

names for a celebrated Pathan saint,
287
Pirs, or
Pathan deans, 136
Powindah merchants, 79
of,
district,
the Sikhs, 221

Peshin, British position
Bannu
fertile Biloch valleys, 51

Shinkari, the land of the Shins, 322
Shinwaris, Pathans of Nangraha, 200
Shinwaris, chief divisions of, 201 Sangn
Khels, Alisherzais, Loargais
Shirani Pathans, 88
customs among, 237
Shitaks, a family of Pathans, 154
Shori Pass, Dera Ghazi district, 49
Slioto Pass from Kashmir, 324
Shuza Pass, Dera Ismail district, 77
Signs, or village parliaments, 325
Sind, description of, 16
frontier of, 13
Border legends of, 35 ; Saints of, 63
Sindis, the, 17
Pass,
Shams,
343
trade statistics,
86
colony of, 278

Slavery in Yaghestan, 325
Sohni, the drowned beauty, 42
Solomon, legends of, 87
Sit tana,
Powindah Pathans, main divisions

85 Nasars, Sulaiman
Khels,
of,
82-
Mian
Dautanis, Tokhis, Tarrakkis,

Andars, Daulatzais, Kharoties
Khels,
Sowari Pass, Dera Ghazi district, 49

Spin Tarins, Kakar Pathans, 59
Sufed Koh Range, 142 tribes along the
base of, 143
Sufi poetry, 302
Sulaiman Khels, roivindah Pathans, 83
divisions of, 199
Babakar Khels, 199
Jabbar Khels, 199
Sulaiman Range, chief peaks of, 47 physical featui'es of, 48
Saints of, 63
Suri Pass, Dera Ghazi district, 48
Swat, valley of, 267
customs regai'ding
theft in, 113
divisions of, 268
Kohitan of, 268
King of, 284 passes into,
roads from upper, 324
268
trade
routes in, 270
tribes in, 268
Swatis, driven out of Swat, 218
deceit
proverbial, 333
present location of, 313
;
R.
Raki Pass, Dera Ghazi
district, 48
Eaigal Valley, 164
R;ilway ext nsion to Kabul, 209
Religious adventurers, colonies of, 261
mischief caused by, 277
Rind, great Biloch division, 30 national
hero of, 30
Rcri, ancient name of, 44
Russian railway extension, 207 position
cm the Oxas, 207 occupation of Herat,
consequence of any, 208 effects on India
of an occupation of Kabul, 209
;
S.
T.
north of Jelalabad, 250

Snhihzddas, sons of holy men, 138
Saidu in Swat, residence of the Akhund,
Safis, tribe
284
Sakhi Sarwar Pass, Dera Ghazi district, 49
shrine of, 49
legends of, 70
Sammanoghar Range, 165
Sangarh Pass, Dera Ghazi district, 49
Sarangzai Kakar Pathans, 60
Saraw^n, a division of Bilochistan, 18
Sassui and Panhu, story of, 35
Sayud Ahmad of Bareilly, 282, 289
Saytids, or primates of the church, 136
colonies of, 313
of Pariari, 262, 314
of Tilli, 314
Shahbaz, a Khattak Khan, 156
Shaikh, a lay brother, 138
Shaikh Haidar Pass, Dera Ismail district,
77
Shaikh Mali apportions the Yusafzai
country, 259
;
Takht-i-Sulaiman, 38
Talash Valley, 271
Talib-ul-ilm, wisdom seekers, 139
Tanaolis of Amb, 333 of Hazara, 334
Tanawal in Hazara, 313
Tangi, or waist, "a tight place," 104
Tank, town of, 76 ; pass in Dera Ismail
;
district, 77, 94
Tartara Mountain, value of position, 202
Tattah, saints of, 68
Thakot, town on the Indus, 317
Thai in the Kurram, 132
Tikari, valley of, 213, 321
Tirah, valleys of, 164
highlands of, 164 ;
road taken by Nadir through, 196
Tochi Pass, Bannu district, 119
Tribal levies, organization of, 182
Tmnandar, or Biloch tribal chief, 30
Turi, Pathans of the Kui'ram, 145
Turkolanis, present location of, 272
;
INDEX.
344
Waziristan, country of, 103

price
Waziri, 235
Wives, Pathan, 237
of, 240
Women, Afridi, 187 hnxom, of Swat, 270
frequent elopement of, 243 life of transShiraui,
Border, 242 in Hazara, 334
trade in, 242, 247
237
;
Vblaii Pass, Koliut
165; surprise
ilistrict,
167
TJrinan Pass from the Giimai, 94
Usmau Khels, original division of Pathruis,
217
Usteranas, Patlian tribe, 90
Utniun Klicl Pathans, on the Swat River,
the sons of Utman Baba, 278
267
of,
Y.
V.
Vahoa
Pass, Dera Ismail district, 77

Yidore Pass, Dera Ghazi district, 49
AY.
Wahabis, 289
Warden
Marches, instituted by
of th
Akbar, 155
Waziri Patliuns, main divisions of, 105
Darwesh Khels, 100
Utmanzais
Balilolzais
ilahsuds, 107
Ahmadzais
Yaghestan, the independent country, 320

Yahiva, a Khattak Khan, 156
Yasin, State of, 327
Yusafzai, character of main valleys, 266
country rich in ancient remains, 267;
retaliatory justice in, 112
Yusafzais, chihlrea of Joseph, grandsons of
Khakhai, 258 gradual advance of, 218
distribution of
extend to Swat, 218
trilies, 259
numbers of, 264 relations
matrimonial negoto foreigners, 265
Bellew, best authority
tiations in, 239
on, 266
;
Alizais
Shaman
Khels
Kabul Khels, 106
Lalais, 106
Zaimukht Pathans, 161
courtship,
Waziris, description of, 108
inveterate
238 criminal code of, 115
marriage ceremonies of,
robbers, 105
peculiar customs of, 109
238
;
Zamari Patlians, 91
Zangi Pass, Dera Ghazi
Zawaghar Range, 1G5
Zhob Yalley, 92
Yusafzai Pathans, chief divisions of

I Kamalzai, 259, 260
Usman
Am.azai, 259
Alazai, 259
Mandanr,
.stepson, clans
of,
259, 260
Utman
/ Rustam
\ Chargholai
Kamazai, 259
259
Saddazai (Khudukhels, 259)
Ak.izai,
Razai,
260
Uriah (Badi) the Badikhels, 261

Hassanzai, 261, 312 (Khan Khels)
Akazai, 201, 312
Isazai, 261
(
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Madakhels
Salarzai
Gadaizai
Musa
Iliaszai,
262
Ashazai
Nasozai
Buneyrvvals
Makhozai
Yusaf
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Mali, ^62
Daulatzai
Buneyrwals
Nurazai
(Chagarzai, 312
-|
Khwazozai, 268 (Malizai)

268
(Kanizai, 268
(
Akozai, 263
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ACROSS THE BORDER

ACEOSS THE BORDER

PATHAN AND BILOCH

M.Inst.O.E., M.R.A.S., &c.

WITH A MAP SHOWING THE LOCATION OF ALL THE TRIBES

LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL,

RiCHAED Clay and Sons, Limited,

Retrospect and Prospect

I. SiND AND THE LoWER INDUS

AND THE BiLOCHES

Reliques of Riloch History

Three Legends of the Sind Border

Sides of the Sulaimans

The " Fhairshon and McTavish

VII.^SlILATMAN AND SiND SaINTS

The Powindah and the Pat

Solomon's Throne and the Gumai

The Frontier Switzerland

*^XII.The Price of Blood

The Dawar or Tochi Valley

XV. B01U)EU ECCLESIOLOGY

DiSCOUKSE ON THE PaTHAN

The Base of the Sufed Kou

XVII. The Khattaks

Highland.s and Highlanders

AND THE FUONTIEU FOUCE

The Khaiber and the Khaiberis

The Peshawur Valley of the

The Pe.shawuk Pathan of the Present

AFKIDIS AND THE KoHAT FaSS

XXIV. The Kabul

J XXVI II. Pathan Wives

XXIX. The Mohmands

The Children of Joseph

Pan.tkora, and Ba.jawar

XXXIIl. r.UNEYK AND IHE BUNEVRWALS

XXXVI. Border Romance

Tathan Romeo and Juliet

XXXVIII. The Black Mountain

XL. The Hazaua Valley

" From Kandahar."'

The leading camel

Khwajah Khizr aii Indus

Mir Alam Khan.

Sulaim&n Khel (Ghilzai) horse-dealers.

flying throne of star-taught Sulaiman.

the road to Quetta.

Uchakzai Pathan (Peshin Valley).

" One of the donkeys that made the Pshin Road,"

From photographs taken

Sohni swimming the Indus.

Tunnelling for the railway through the Khojak.

" The best trade on the stony

Sassui and Panhu.

Darwesli Khel "Waziiis.

Knife, shiekl, jezail, auJ belt

Nao-Gaja, near Pesliawur

Leather and horn powder

Khaiber Pass Afridi.

In the service of one of

Khattak horsemen in chain armour.