The Panjab, North-West Frontier Province, and Kashmir Part 20

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 129.]

~Bannu.~--The small Bannu district occupies a basin surrounded by hills and drained by the Kurram and its affluent, the Tochi. It is cut off from the Indus by the Isakhel _tahsil_ of Mianwali and by a horn of the Dera Ismail Khan district. Bannu is now connected with Kalabagh in Mianwali by a narrow gauge railway. An extension of this line from Laki to Tank in the Dera Ismail Khan district has been sanctioned. There are two _tahsils_, Bannu and Marwat. The cultivated area is about one-half of the total area. About 30 p.c. of the cultivation is protected by irrigation from small ca.n.a.ls taking out of the streams. Most of the irrigation is in the Bannu _tahsil_. The greater part of Marwat is a dry sandy tract yielding in favourable seasons large crops of gram. But the harvests on unirrigated land are precarious, for the annual rainfall is only about 12 inches. The irrigated land in Bannu is heavily manured and is often double-cropped. Wheat accounts for nearly half of the whole crops of the district. The Marwats are a frank manly race of good physique. The Bannuchis are hard-working, but centuries of plodding toil on a wet soil has spoiled their bodily development, and had its share in imparting to their character qualities the reverse of admirable. The Deputy Commissioner has also political charge of some 17,884 tribesmen living across the border. There are good metalled roads to Dera Ismail Khan and Kohat, and also one on the Tochi route.

[Sidenote: Area, 2973 sq. m.

Cultd area, 512 sq. m.

Pop. 222,690.

Land Rev.

Rs. 275,462 = 18,364.]

~Kohat~ is a large district, but most of it is unfit for tillage and only one-sixth is actually cultivated. The chief crops are wheat, 44, and _bajra_, 26 p.c. The district stretches east and west for 100 miles from Khushalgarh on the Indus to Thal at the mouth of the Kurram valley.

The two places are now connected by a railway which pa.s.ses through the district headquarters at Kohat close to the northern border. There are three _tahsils_, Kohat, Hangu, and Teri, the last a wild tract of bare hills and ravines occupying the south of the district and covering more than half its area. Two small streams, the Kohat Toi and the Teri Toi, drain into the Indus. The rainfall is fair, but very capricious. The cold weather lasts long and the chill winds that blow during part of it are very trying. The chief tribes are the Bangash Pathans of Hangu and the Khattak Pathans of Teri. The Khan of Teri is head of the Khattaks, a manly race which sends many soldiers to our army. He enjoys the revenue of the _tahsil_ subject to a quit rent of Rs. 20,000.

~Hangu~ contains in Upper and Lower Miranzai the most fertile land in the district, but the culturable area of the _tahsil_ is small and only one-tenth of it is under the plough. Perennial streams run through the Miranzai valleys, and the neighbouring hills support large flocks of sheep and goats. Kohat contains a number of salt quarries, the most important being at Bahadur Khel near the Bannu border. The Thal subdivision consisting of the Hangu _tahsil_ is in charge of an a.s.sistant Commissioner who manages our political relations with transfrontier tribes living west of Fort Lockhart on the Samana Range.

The Deputy Commissioner is in direct charge of the Pa.s.s Afridis and the Jowakis and Orakzais in the neighbourhood of Kohat. He and his a.s.sistant between them look after our relations with 144,000 trans-border Pathans.

The Samana Rifles, one of the useful irregular corps which keep the peace of the Borderland, have their headquarters at Hangu.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 130.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 131.]

[Sidenote: Area, 2611 sq. m.

Cultd area, 1398 sq. m.

Pop. 865,000 Land Rev Rs. 11,37,504 = 75,834.]

~Peshawar~ is a large basin encircled by hills. The gorge of the Indus separates it from Attock and Hazara. The basin is drained by the Kabul river, whose chief affluents in Peshawar are the Swat and the Bara. The district is divided into the five _tahsils_ of Peshawar, Charsadda, Naushahra, Mardan, and Swabi. The last two form the Mardan subdivision.

Nearly 40 p.c. of the cultivation is protected by irrigation mainly from ca.n.a.ls large and small. The most important are the Lower Swat, the Kabul River, and the Bara River, Ca.n.a.ls. The irrigated area will soon be much increased by the opening of the Upper Swat Ca.n.a.l. The cold weather climate is on the whole pleasant, though too severe in December and January. The three months from August to October are a very unhealthy time. The soil except in the stony lands near the hills is a fertile loam. The cold weather rainfall is good, and the Spring harvest is by far the more important of the two. Wheat is the chief crop. Half of the people are Pathans, the rest are known generically as Hindkis. The princ.i.p.al Hindki tribe is that of the Awans. Besides managing his own people the Deputy Commissioner has to supervise our relations with 240,000 independent tribesmen across the border. The a.s.sistant Commissioner at Mardan, where the Corps of Guides is stationed, is in charge of our dealings with the men of Buner and the Yusafzai border.

The N.W. Railway runs past the city of Peshawar to Jamrud, and there is a branch line from Naushahra to Dargai at the foot of the Malakand Pa.s.s.

[Sidenote: Area, 2858 sq. m.

Cultd area, 673 sq. m.

Pop. 603,028.

Land Rev.

Rs. 512,897 = 34,193.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 132.]

~Hazara~ is a typical montane and submontane district with a copious rainfall and a good climate. It has every kind of cultivation from narrow terraced _kalsi_ fields built laboriously up steep mountain slopes to very rich lands watered by ca.n.a.l cuts from the Dor or Haro.

Hazara is divided into three _tahsils_, Haripur, Abbottabad, and Mansehra. Between a fourth and a fifth of this area is culturable and cultivated. In this crowded district the words are synonymous. The above figure does not include the 204 square miles of Feudal Tanawal. The rainfall is copious and the crops generally speaking secure. The princ.i.p.al are maize 42 and wheat 25 p.c. Hazara was part of the territory made over to Raja Gulab Singh in 1846, but he handed it back in exchange for some districts near Jammu. The maintenance of British authority in Hazara in face of great odds by the Deputy Commissioner, Captain James Abbott, during the Second Sikh War is a bright page in Panjab history, honourable alike to himself and his faithful local allies. The population is as mixed as the soils. Pathans are numerous, but they are split up into small tribes. The Swatis of Mansehra are the most important section. After Pathans Gujars and Awans are the chief tribes. The Gakkhars, though few in number, hold much land and a dominant position in the Khanpur tract on the Rawalpindi border. The Deputy Commissioner is also responsible for our relations with 98,000 trans-border tribesmen. The district is a wedge interposed between Kashmir on the east and Peshawar and the tribal territory north of Peshawar on the west. The Indus becomes the border about eight miles to the north of Amb, and the district consists mainly of the areas drained by its tributaries the Unhar, Siran, Dor, and Haro. On the eastern side the Jhelam is the boundary with Kashmir from Kohala to a point below Domel, where the Kunhar meets it. Thence the Kunhar is the boundary to near Garhi Habibullah. To the south of Garhi the watershed of the Kunhar and Jhelam is close to these rivers and the country is very rough and poor. West of Garhi it is represented by the chain which separates the Kunhar and Siran Valleys and ends on the frontier at Musa ka Musalla (13,378 feet). This chain includes one peak over 17,000 feet, Mali ka Parvat, which is the highest in the district. The Kunhar rises at the top of the Kagan Glen, where it has a course of about 100 miles to Balakot. Here the glen ends, for the fall between Balakot and Garhi Habibullah is comparatively small. There is a good mule road from Garhi Habibullah to the Babusar Pa.s.s at the top of the Kagan Glen, and beyond it to Chilas. There are rest-houses, some very small, at each stage from Balakot to Chilas. The Kagan is a beautiful mountain glen. At places the narrow road looks sheer down on the river hundreds of feet below, rus.h.i.+ng through a narrow gorge with the logs from the _deodar_ forests tossing on the surface, and the sensation, it must be confessed, is not wholly pleasant. But again it pa.s.ses close to some quiet pretty stretch of this same Kunhar. There are side glens, one of which opposite Naran contains the beautiful Safarmulk Lake. Near the top of the main glen the Lulusar Lake at a height of 11,167 feet and with an average depth of 150 feet is pa.s.sed on the left. In the lower part of the glen much maize is grown. As one ascends almost the last crop to be seen is a coa.r.s.e barley sown in June and reaped in August. Where the trees and the crops end the rich gra.s.s pastures begin. Kagan covers between one-third and one-fourth of the whole district. The Siran flows through the beautiful Bhogarmang Glen, at the foot of which it receives from the west the drainage of the Konsh Glen. Forcing its way through the rough Tanawal hills, it leaves Feudal Tanawal and Badhnak on its right, and finally after its junction with the Dor flows round the north of the Gandgarh Range and joins the Indus below Torbela. The bare Gandgarh Hills run south from Torbela parallel with the Indus. The Dor rises in the hills to the south of Abbottabad and drains the Haripur plain. A range of rough hills divides the Dor valley from that of the Haro, which again is separated from Rawalpindi by the Khanpur Range. To the west of the Siran the Unhar flows through Agror and Feudal Tanawal, and joins the Indus a little above Amb. Irrigation cuts are taken from all these streams, and the irrigated cultivation is often of a very high character. The best cultivation of the district is in the Haripur plain and the much smaller Orash and Pakhli plains and in the Haro valley. There is much unirrigated cultivation in the first, and it is generally secure except in the dry tract in the south-west traversed by the new railway from Sarai Kala. The little Orash plain below Abbottabad is famous for its maize and the Pakhli plain for its rice.

Feudal Tanawal is a very rough hilly country between the Siran on the east and the Black Mountain and the river Indus on the west. It is the appanage of the Khans of Amb and Phulra.

North of Feudal Tanawal is Agror. In 1891 the rights of the last Khan were declared forfeit for abetment of raids by trans-bordermen.

There are fine forests in Hazara, but unfortunately the _deodar_ is confined to the Kagan Glen and the Upper Siran. Nathiagali, the summer headquarters of the Chief Commissioner, is in the Dungagali Range. The Serai Kala-Srinagar railway will run through Hazara. There is a good mule road from Murree to Abbottabad through the Galis.

2. _Tribal Territory_

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 133. Sir George Roos Keppel.]

Feudal Tanawal mentioned above occupies the southern corner of the tract of independent tribal territory lying between the Hazara border and the Indus. North of Tanawal on the left bank of the river a long narrow chain known as the Black Mountain rises in its highest peaks to a height of nearly 10,000 feet. The western slopes are occupied by Hasanzais, Akazais, and Chagarzais, who are Pathans belonging to the great Yusafzai clan, and these three sections also own lands on the right bank of the Indus. They have been very troublesome neighbours to the British Government. The eastern slopes of the Black Mountain are occupied by Saiyyids and Swatis, and the latter also hold the glens lying further north, the chief of which is Allai.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 134.]

The mountainous tract on the Peshawar border lying to the west of Tanawal and the territory of the Black Mountain tribes formed part of the ancient Udyana, and its archaeological remains are of much interest.

It is drained by the Barandu, a tributary of the Indus. Its people are mainly Yusafzai Pathans, the princ.i.p.al section being the Bunerwals.

These last bear a good character for honesty and courage, but are slaves to the teachings of their _mullas_. The Yusafzais have been bad neighbours. The origin of the trouble is of old standing, dating back to the welcome given by the tribesmen in 1824 to a band of Hindustani fanatics, whose leader was Saiyyid Ahmad Shah of Bareilly. Their headquarters, first at Sitana and afterwards at Malka, became Caves of Adullam for political refugees and escaped criminals, and their favourite pastime was the kidnapping of Hindu shopkeepers. In 1863 a strong punitive expedition under Sir Neville Chamberlain suffered heavy losses before it succeeded in occupying the Ambela Pa.s.s. The door being forced the Yusafzais themselves destroyed Malka as a pledge of their submission. Our political relations with the Yusafzais are managed by the a.s.sistant Commissioner at Mardan.

The rest of the tribal territory between the Peshawar district and the Hindu Kush is included in the Dir, Swat, and Chitral political agency.

It is a region of mountains and valleys drained by the Swat, Panjkora, and Chitral or Yarkhun rivers, all three affluents of the Kabul river.

Six tracts are included in the Agency.

(_a_) ~Swat.~--A railway now runs from Naushahra in the Peshawar district to Dargai, which lies at the foot of the Malakand, a little beyond our administrative boundary. An old Buddhist road crosses the pa.s.s and descends on the far side into Swat. We have a military post at Chakdarra on the Swat river, and a military road pa.s.sing through Dir connects Chakdarra with Kila Drosh in Chitral. Most of the Swatis, who are Yusafzais of the Akozai section, occupy a rich valley above 70 miles in length watered by the Swat river above its junction with the Panjkora.

Rice is extensively grown, and a malarious environment has affected the physique and the character of the people. The Swati is priest-ridden and treacherous. Even his courage has been denied, probably unjustly. Swati fanaticism has been a source of much trouble on the Peshawar border. The last serious outbreak was in 1897, when a determined, but unsuccessful, attack was made on our posts at Chakdarra and the Malakand Pa.s.s. The Swatis are Yusafzai Pathans of the Akozai clan, and are divided into five sections, one of which is known as Ranizai.

(_b_) ~Sam Ranizai.~--A small tract between the Peshawar border and the hills is occupied by the Sam Ranizais, who were formerly servants and tenants of the Ranizais, but are now independent.

(_c_) ~Utman Khel.~--The country of the Utman Khels begins where the Peshawar boundary turns to the south. This tribe occupies the tract on both sides of the Swat river to the west of Swat and Sam Ranizai. On the south-west the Swat river divides the Utman Khels from the Mohmands.

Their country is very barren, but a good many of them cultivate land in the Peshawar district. The Utman Khels are quite independent of the surrounding tribes and have been troublesome neighbours to ourselves.

(_d_) ~Bajaur.~--Bajaur is a very mountainous tract lying to the north-west of the Utman Khel country and between it and the Durand line.

It includes four valleys, through which flow the Rud river and its affluents with the exception of that known as Jandol. The valley of the last is now included in Dir. The Rud, also known as the Bajaur, is a tributary of the Panjkora. The people consist mainly of Mamunds and other sections of the Tarkanri clan, which is related to the Yusafzais.

They own a very nominal allegiance to the Khan of Nawagai, who is recognised as the hereditary head of the Tarkanris. They manage their affairs in quasi-republican fas.h.i.+on through a council consisting of the particular party which for the time being has got the upper hand.

(_e_) ~Dir.~--Dir is the mountainous country drained by the Panjkora and its tributaries, to the north of its junction with the Rud river in Bajaur. It is separated from Chitral by the Uchiri Range, which forms the watershed of the Panjkora and Kunar rivers. The military road to Kila Drosh crosses this chain by the Lowari Pa.s.s at a height of 10,200 feet. The people of Dir are mostly Yusafzais, relations of the Swatis, whom they much resemble in character. They pay one-tenth of their produce to their overlord, the Khan of Dir, when he is strong enough to take it. The higher parts of the country have a good climate and contain fine _deodar_ forests. The Khan derives much of his income from the export of timber, which is floated down the Panjkora and Swat rivers.

(_f_) ~Chitral.~--The Pathan country ends at the Lowari Pa.s.s. Beyond, right up to the main axis of the Hindu Kush, is Chitral. It comprises the basin of the Yarkhun or Chitral river from its distant source in the Shawar Shur glacier to Arnawai, where it receives from the west the waters of the Bashgul, and is thenceforth known as the Kunar. Its western boundary is the Durand line, which follows a lofty chain sometimes called the Kafiristan range. Another great spur of the Hindu Kush known as the Shandur range divides Chitral on the east from the basin of the Yasin river and the territories included in the Gilgit Agency (see Chapter XXVIII). Chitral is a fine country with a few fertile valleys, good forests below 11,000 feet, and splendid, if desolate, mountains in the higher ranges. The Chitralis are a quiet pleasure-loving people, fond of children and of dancing, hawking, and polo. They are no cowards and no fanatics, but have little regard for truth or good faith. The common language is Khowar (see page 112). The chief, known as the Mehtar, has his headquarters at Chitral, a large village on the river of the same name. It is dominated at a distance by the great snow peak of Tirach Mir (see page 22). The British garrison is stationed at Kila Drosh on the river bank about halfway between Chitral and the Lowari Pa.s.s[16].

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 135.]

~Mohmands and Mallagoris.~--South of the Utman Khel country and north of the Khaibar are the rugged and barren hills held by that part of the Mohmand tribe which lives inside the Durand line. The clan can muster about 20,000 fighting men and is as convenient a neighbour as a nest of hornets. The southern edge of the tract, where it abuts on the Khaibar, is held by the little Mallagori tribe, which is independent of the Mohmands. Their country is important strategically because a route pa.s.ses through it by which the Khaibar can be outflanked. It is included in the charge of the Political Agent for the Khaibar.

~Afridis.~--The pa.s.s and the tract lying to the south of it including the Bazar valley and part of Tirah are the home of the six sections of the Pa.s.s Afridis, the most important being the Zakha Khel, whose winter home is in the Khaibar and the Bazar valley, a barren glen hemmed in by barren hills, the entrance to which is not far from Ali Masjid. Its elevation is 3000 to 4000 feet. The valleys in Tirah proper, where the Pa.s.s Afridis for the most part spend the summer, are two or three thousand feet higher. When the snow melts there is excellent pasturage.

The climate is pleasant in summer, but bitterly cold in winter. The Bara river with its affluents drains the glens of Tirah. The Aka Khel Afridis, who have no share in the Pa.s.s allowances, own a good dear of land in the lower Bara valley and winter in the adjoining hills. The fighting strength of the above seven sections may be put at 21,000. When they have been able to unite they have shown themselves formidable enemies, for they are a strong and manly race, and they inhabit a very difficult country[17]. But the Afridi clan is torn by dissensions. Blood feuds divide house from house, and the sections are constantly at feud one with another. Apart from other causes of quarrel there is the standing division into two great factions, Gar and Samil, which prevails among Afridis and Orakzais. Afridis enlist freely in our regiments and in the Khaibar Rifles, and have proved themselves excellent soldiers.

The eighth section of the Afridis, the Adam Khel, who hold the Kohat Pa.s.s and the adjoining hills, have very little connection with the rest of the clan. The Jowakis, against whom an expedition had to be sent in the cold weather of 1877-78, are a sub-section of the Adam Khel.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 136. Khaibar Rifles.]

~Orakzais, Chamkannis, and Zaimukhts.~--The Orakzais, who in numbers are even stronger than the Pa.s.s and Aka Khel Afridis, occupy the south of Tirah, the Samana Range on the border of Kohat, and the valley of the Khanki river. The tribal territory extends westwards as far as the Khurmana, a tributary of the Kurram. The Orakzais do some trade and Sikh _banias_ and artizans are to be found in some of their villages. The clan is honey-combed with feuds. North-west of the Orakzais beyond the Khurmana are the Chamkannis, and on the south is a small tribe of vigorous mountaineers called Zaimukhts. One of these Zaimukhts, Sarwar Khan, nicknamed Chikai, was a notorious frontier robber, and a person of considerable importance on the border till his death in 1903.

~The Kurram Valley.~--The Kurram Valley, which is drained by the Kurram river and its affluents, lies to the south of the lofty Safed Koh range, and reaches from Thal in Kohat to the Peiwar Kotal on the borders of Afghan Khost. It has an area of nearly 1300 square miles and in 1911 the population was estimated at 60,941 souls. Though under British administration, it does not form a part of any British district. The people are Pathans of various clans, the predominant element being the Turis, who are s.h.i.+as by religion and probably of Turkish origin. It was at their request that the valley was annexed in 1892. The political agent has his headquarters at Parachinar in Upper Kurram, which is divided from Lower Kurram by a spur of the Khost hills, through which the river has cut a pa.s.sage. Such part of the Indian penal law as is suitable has been introduced, and civil rights are governed by the customary law of the Turis. A complete record of rights in land and water has been framed, and the land revenue demand is 88,000 rupees (5889). Upper Kurram is a wide and fertile valley set in a frame of pine-clad hills. It is not fully cultivated, but has great possibilities, especially in the matter of fruit growing. The snowfall is heavy in winter, but the summer climate is excellent. Lower Kurram is a poor and narrow glen unpleasantly hot and cold according to the season of the year. Parachinar is connected with the railhead at Thal by a good _tonga_ road.

~Waziristan.~--The country of the Darwesh Khel and Mahsud Wazirs extends from the Kurram valley to the Gomal river. It is divided into the North Waziristan (2300 square miles) and the South Waziristan (2700 square miles) Agencies. North Waziristan consists of four valleys and some barren plateaux. The princ.i.p.al valley is that of Daur (700 square miles) drained by the Tochi. In 1894 the Dauris sought refuge from Darwesh Khel inroads by asking for British administration. In the eyes of the Darwesh Khel they are a race of clodhoppers. Their sole virtue consists in patient spade industry in the stiff rich soil of their valley, their vices are gross, and their fanaticism is extreme. The political agent's headquarters are at Miram Shah. South Waziristan is the home of the troublesome Mahsuds, who can muster 11,000 fighting men. But parts of the country, e.g. the Wana plain, are held by the Darwesh Khel. Much of South Waziristan consists of bare hills and valleys and stony plains scored with torrents, which are dry most of the year. The streams are salt. Part of the hinterland is however a more inviting tract with gra.s.sy uplands and hills clad with oak, pine, and _deodar_. Wana, where the political agent has his headquarters, was occupied on the invitation of the Darwesh Khel in 1894.

~Sheranis.~--The Sherani country stretches along the Dera Ismail Khan border from the Gomal to the Vihoa torrent. The Largha or lower part has been under direct administration since 1899, the Upper part belongs to the Biluchistan Agency.

~Tribal Militias.~--In the greater part of India beyond the border there is no British administration. Respect for our authority and the peace of the roads are upheld, and raiding on British territory is restrained, by irregular forces raised from among the tribesmen. There are Hunza and Nagar levies, Chitral and Dir levies, Khaibar Rifles, Samana Rifles, and Kurram, North Waziristan, and South Waziristan militias.