From the Black Mountain to Waziristan / Being an account of the border countries and the more turbulent of the tribes controlled by the north-west frontier province, and of our military relations with them in the past

by H. C. Wylly

OPERATIONS.

The first time the Hassanzai clan came into notice was on the occasion of the murder by them of two officers of the Indian Customs Department.

Shortly after the annexation of the Punjab a preventive line was established along the left bank of the Indus, so far as British jurisdiction extended, to prevent trans-Indus salt being smuggled into the Punjab. In 1851 this line was extended five miles beyond Torbela to a point on the Indus where the cis-Indus territory of the Nawab of Amb commenced. In November of that year two of our customs officials, visiting this portion of the border, were murdered by a band of armed Hassanzais, when actually within the bounds of the Nawab of Amb. The Nawab was at once called to account, and delivered up such Hassanzais as happened to be within his territory, for which act the Hassanzais made war upon him, laid waste his border villages, and seized two of his forts: upon this, British interference became necessary, and orders were issued for the assembly of a punitive force.

Expedition of 1852–53

Expedition against the Black Mountain Hassanzais, 1852–53.—In December 1852 the troops, as enumerated below, were concentrated at Shergarh on the north-western border of the Hazara district under the command of Lieut.-Col. Mackeson,[^[5]] C.B., Commissioner of Peshawar.

Four guns, 5th Troop, 1st Brigade, H.A. Six guns, Mountain Train Battery. 16th Irregular Cavalry.[^[6]] 7th Company Sappers and Miners. 3rd Native Infantry.[^[7]] Kelat-i-Ghilzie Regiment.[^[8]] Four Companies Corps of Guides. 1st Sikh Infantry.[^[9]] 176 men Rawal Pindi Police. Two Regiments Kashmir Dogras. Levies (1760 men).

The force was divided into three columns with a reserve, occupying respectively Chatta, Shingli, Shoshni and Shergarh. The fort at Shingli, which was one of the two that had been captured by the Hassanzais from the Nawab of Amb, was recovered without loss, and while our troops were engaged in making it defensible, the Hassanzais and Akazais occupied the crest of the Black Mountain, and advanced their picquets close up to Chatta. The authorities had forbidden the employment of the regular troops with the force on the top of the mountain at so late a season of the year, so that they were thereby restricted to the duties of a reserve at Shergarh—where, confined in a narrow valley and incumbered with all kinds of impedimenta, they were of little or no assistance to a force engaged in mountain warfare. Col. Mackeson consequently decided to move the reserve of regular troops round to the banks of the Indus, behind the Black Mountain, and thus to turn the position on the heights; and to let each column of attack trust to a small reserve of its own, and to the fort at Shergarh in the rear, if all were beaten back.

The regular troops accordingly marched on the 24th and 25th December from Shergarh to Darband, behind the screen formed by the irregular portion of the force at Chatta, Shingli and Shoshni. On the 27th, as the result of a reconnaissance, Col. Mackeson decided to alter his plans, and to place the main part of the regular troops at Baradar, with four companies in Chamberi, to make demonstrations on the heights in front of the last-named place—for to move them to the rear of the enemy’s position would have involved them in difficult ground.

On the 29th, these dispositions having been completed, orders were issued for the advance of the remaining three columns, Panj Gali being named as their ultimate objective; in the event of a repulse they were to fall back either upon Chamberi or Baradar.

The right column, under Lieut.-Col. R. Napier, arrived, after a considerable amount of opposition, near the summit of the mountain at a point where a broad spur, forming the top of the range occupied by the Akazais, branched off at an elevation of some 9000 feet. By this ridge the enemy retired, and no further defence of the hill was made. Shortly before sunset the Guides, under Lieut. Hodson, arrived at the shoulder of the mountain above Panj Gali, which was still occupied by the tribesmen, but on the appearance of our troops they rapidly retreated, and the right column bivouacked here for the night.

The centre column, under Major J. Abbott, had ascended about halfway to Panj Gali when the troops suddenly came upon the main body of the Hassanzais, consisting of about 600 matchlock men, strongly posted upon a steep eminence in the centre of the main ravine. This position having been turned, the enemy fell back upon another equally strong at the head of the pass, but even after being joined by the left column under Captain Davidson, Lieut.-Col. Mackeson did not feel himself strong enough to attack, so awaited the appearance of Col. Napier’s force in rear of the position, when the Hassanzais retreated, as already stated.

Mackeson’s Operations

The left column was accompanied by Col. Mackeson, and marching by Agror and Pabal, was fired at from a hill overlooking Tilli, but the enemy were immediately dislodged and the column effected its junction with the centre one, as described, close to Panj Gali.

On the 30th the Hassanzai villages about here were destroyed, and the force moving on the next day to the Tilli plateau burnt all the villages between that place and Abu, while those along the Indus between Kotkai and Baradar were destroyed by the Nawab of Amb’s men.

On the 2nd January the whole force retired to Baradar, being followed up by the enemy and their allies, and the expedition was at an end. The Hassanzais had made no submission, but it was considered that they had been sufficiently punished for the murder of the two British officers by the destruction of their villages and grain, and for some time after this lesson the Hassanzais remained fairly quiet, and the raids made by them in 1863 were directed chiefly against the Nawab of Amb’s territory, and no doubt partook of the nature of reprisals for the assistance the Nawab had afforded us ten years earlier.

Our casualties in the 1853 expedition were about fifteen killed and wounded.

In November, 1867, it was determined to establish a body of police in the Agror Valley, and this was temporarily located in the village of Oghi until a fortified police post could be built. At daylight on the morning of the 30th July, 1868, this body of twenty-two policemen was attacked by some 500 men belonging to almost all the tribes, including the Pariari Saiyids, mentioned in this chapter. The enemy were driven off, but troops being called for from Abbottabad, a force composed of the Peshawar Mountain Battery and 350 of the 5th Gurkhas, under Lieut.-Col. Rothney, reached Oghi before midnight on the 31st, having marched forty-two miles in twenty-five hours, and here this force was joined on the 2nd August by the levies of the Nawab of Amb. It appearing that the attack had been instigated by the Khan of Agror, that chief was promptly arrested and sent in to Abbottabad.

During the next few days there were signs of serious unrest in the Agror Valley; the tribesmen refused to meet the Deputy-Commissioner, many villages were burnt by them, and on the 7th a general advance of the enemy took place, when all the neighbouring tribesmen joined them, while our own levies deserted in numbers to their homes. On the 12th, Col. Rothney, who had been reinforced, moved out from Oghi, and drove the enemy out of the Agror Valley. By this engagement, by the arrival of troops at Abbottabad, of further reinforcements at Oghi, and the presence of some Kashmir regiments in the Pakli Valley, the safety of the Hazara district was now secured, and Brig.-Gen. Wilde—who was now in command—only waited for more troops to carry out any punitive operations which might be ordered.

Up to this date twenty-one British villages had been burnt by the tribesmen, who had also caused us sixty-four casualties.

Expedition of 1868

Expedition against the Black Mountain Tribes, 1868.—An expedition was now sanctioned, but in view of the generally disturbed state of this portion of the frontier, it was decided to draw the required troops from cantonments further down country, leaving the garrisons of Peshawar and of other border posts as far as possible intact. Considering that some regiments had come from as far south as Cawnpore, the concentration by the 24th September of the following force at Agror, Darband and Abbottabad, may be considered a very satisfactory piece of work:

At Agror:

D. F. Royal Horse Artillery. E. 19th Royal Artillery. 2. 24th Royal Artillery. Peshawar Mountain Battery. Hazara Mountain Battery. 1st Battalion 6th Foot. 1st Battalion 19th Foot. Guides Cavalry. 16th Bengal Cavalry.[^[10]] Det. Telegraph Sappers. 1st Gurkhas. 2nd Gurkhas. 3rd Sikhs.[^[11]] 2nd Punjab Infantry.[^[12]] 4th Gurkhas. 20th Punjab Native Infantry.[^[13]] 24th Punjab Native Infantry.[^[14]] 5th Gurkhas.

At Abbottabad:

2nd and 7th Companies Sappers and Miners.

At Darband, in support of the Nawab of Amb:

38th Foot. 9th Bengal Cavalry.[^[15]] 31st Punjab Native Infantry.[^[16]]

Composition of Force

This force was divided into two brigades, under Colonels Bright and Vaughan, the whole under command of Brigadier-General Wilde, C.B., C.S.I., and numbered some 9500 of all ranks. In addition, a contingent of 1200 troops was furnished by the Maharaja of Kashmir, but these, though present on the border, did not take any active part in the operations.

The overawing effect of the assembly of so large a force was immediately apparent in the petitions to be permitted to treat which now began to come in from the Swatis, the Hassanzais and the men of Tikari and Nandihar, and these were granted in the case of those clans which had not been specially hostile, or which it was considered particularly desirable to detach from the general coalition. The force which had been concentrated in Hazara had still, however, a sufficiently formidable task before it, having to deal with the Chagarzai and Akazai clans, with the Swatis of Deshi and Thakot, with the Pariari Saiyids, and not improbably with the Hindustani fanatics (of whom more will be said hereafter), and large bodies of trans-Indus Pathans.

On the 3rd October the force moved out from the camp at Oghi; Brigadier-General Vaughan, with the Second Brigade, advancing by Bagrian, occupied with but insignificant opposition the Kiarkot Mountain, and closed up his brigade to Kilagai. Brigadier-General Bright at the same time advanced on Kungali and thence on Mana-ka-Dana, which he occupied after some little fighting, and which was found to form an excellent temporary base for operations against the Chitabat and Machai peaks. The Second Brigade was now ordered to support the further advance of the First, leaving the levies to move up the Barchar spur. On the next day—the 4th—the Chitabat position was carried with small loss—the road having, however, been found to be almost impracticable—and was put in a state of defence. The Second Brigade closed up this evening to Mana-ka-Dana. On the following day the First Brigade advanced against the enemy holding the Machai peak. This was naturally a very strong defensible position, the ascent being steep and rugged in the extreme, only to be climbed on a narrow front, as the ground on the left was precipitous, and on the right thickly wooded. The accurate and effective covering fire of the mountain batteries enabled the troops to capture the position with only eight casualties, the enemy not holding out to the last, but flying down the spurs into the Indus Valley.

Major-General Wilde was now in possession of the most commanding plateau of the range, he had ample supplies, his communications were secure, and he was able to inflict considerable damage on the mountain villages of the neighbouring Pathan tribes. Jirgahs of the clans now began to come in and make formal submission, and by the 12th the Machai peak was evacuated, the force finally reaching Oghi, via Tikari and Nandihar, on the 22nd October, with the objects of the expedition satisfactorily attained.

Our casualties totalled five killed and twenty-nine wounded.

Raids and Outrages

Raids did not, however, entirely and immediately cease, and in the autumn of 1869 a force of some 700 men had to be moved out from Abbottabad to assist in the establishment of a blockade against the Hassanzais, Akazais and others who had raided into Agror. In April of the following year a party of Akazais attacked Barchar, and burnt Sambalbat and Bholu, despite the presence in the Agror valley of a small British garrison.

During the years 1871–75 offences continued to be committed on the Agror border by the tribesmen, and another expedition seemed inevitable, when, in September 1875, a settlement was arrived at, all the Black Mountain tribes agreeing in submitting to the British Government, and for some few years this part of the frontier was free from any serious trouble.

Up to 1884 there was no real cause for complaint; it had been found necessary in this year to blockade the Chagarzais, Akazais and Pariari Saiyids, and the same punishment was extended later to the Hassanzais; but it was not until June 1888 that a serious outrage occurring on the Agror frontier necessitated the despatch of another expedition to the Black Mountain. On the 18th of this month an attack was made upon a small party of British troops within British territory by Akazais, Hassanzais and Pariari Saiyids, and two British officers and four men were killed. Immediately upon this, large bodies of these tribesmen assembled with the intention of attacking Agror, but dispersed again without taking any further offensive action; the Indian Government now once more took into consideration the question of punitive measures against the Black Mountain tribes, and on the 29th August an expedition was decided upon.

Expedition of 1888

Expedition against the Black Mountain Tribes, 1888.—The force was formed on the 7th September, 1888, and consisted of three mountain batteries, one company sappers and miners, four battalions of British, nine of Native infantry, with two battalions of Kashmir infantry and the Khyber Rifles, and was placed under command of Brigadier-General (temporary Major-General) J. McQueen, C.B., A.D.C. The total strength was 9416 of all ranks, and the force was organised in two brigades under Brigadier-Generals Channer and Galbraith, each brigade being sub-divided into two columns. There was further a reserve composed of a regiment of cavalry and two battalions of infantry. Headquarters and the first, second and third columns were directed to concentrate at Oghi in the Agror valley by the 1st October, and the fourth column at Darband on the Indus on the same date; and the object of the expedition was stated to be the coercion into submission of the Akazais and the Khan Khel division of the Hassanzais, with the punishment of any clans or divisions which might assist these tribesmen in their opposition to our troops.

The following were the orders issued for the advance of the four columns:

No. 1 Column to move on the 4th to Mana-ka-Dana, and the following day to Chitabat, leaving a sufficient force at Mana-ka-Dana to protect its line of communications.

No. 2 Column to advance up the Barchar spur on the 4th, occupying Barchar; thence moving on the 5th to the crest of the ridge, one regiment being at once detached to the left to meet No. 3 Column.

No. 3 Column to advance up the Sambalbat spur to the village of the same name, which was to be occupied on the 4th. The advance to be continued to the crest on the 5th. The 24th Punjab Infantry and two guns Derajat Mountain Battery to move up the Chatta Spur, meeting the remainder of No. 3 Column on the morning of the 5th at the junction of the Sambalbat and Chatta spurs. The Khyber Rifles to advance up the Chajri spur between Nos. 2 and 3 Columns on the 5th.

No. 4 Column to advance on the 4th to the neighbourhood of Kotkai on the Indus.

The first three columns carried out their orders on the 4th and 5th, the 2nd and 3rd Columns practically unmolested, the 1st with but slight opposition, which chiefly took the form of firing into the bivouacs after nightfall; but the opposition experienced by the 4th, and more isolated, Column was of a considerably more serious character.

This column, under Colonel Crookshank, and accompanied by the Brigadier, crossed the frontier on the morning of the 4th and advanced to Bela on the Indus by a road which had been made practicable the previous day. The river bank was reached at 8 a.m., and a halt was made to allow the column to close up. On the advance being resumed, the village of Shingri was carried with but trifling opposition, but about a mile beyond large numbers of the enemy were found in occupation of a strong position about the villages of Towara and Kotkai, with both flanks held by skirmishers and even defended by guns. The flanks were turned by the 34th Pioneers and 4th Punjab Infantry,[^[17]] but the advance was necessarily very slow, and the line was suddenly charged by a body of ghazis who had been concealed in a nullah on the left flank of the Royal Irish Regiment; they were, however, nearly all shot down before they arrived at close quarters. The enemy now began to break, and by 3.30 p.m. were in full retreat towards Kanar, when Kotkai was occupied.

On the 6th the other three columns were engaged in collecting forage, improving their water supply, and in safeguarding their communications, and during the 7th they remained respectively at Chitabat, Nimal and Kain Gali.

Work of the Columns

From the 5th to the 10th October the 4th Column was engaged in reconnaissances to Kanar, Tilli, Kunari, Garhi and Ghazi Kot, and on the 13th the settlements and forts at Maidan, on the further bank of the Indus, of the Hindustani fanatics—many of whom had opposed us at Kotkai—were destroyed. These operations were nearly always opposed, but with the destruction of Maidan the active services of this column came to an end. Later on in the month a Hassanzai village on the right bank of the Indus was burnt, as were also Garhi, Bakrai and Kotkai, after which this clan sent in their jirgah, made submission and paid up their fine.

During this period the Agror Columns remained on the crest of the Black Mountain above the lands of the Hassanzais and Akazais, exploring the surrounding country and destroying villages of offending clans. These measures were successful; by the 19th the Akazai jirgah had come in and had unconditionally accepted our terms. The Hassanzais too, although they did not actually make submission until the 30th, had ceased to be actively hostile, and General McQueen was therefore now able to devote his attention to the coercing of the Pariari Saiyids and the Tikariwals. On the evening of the 20th October the Divisional Headquarters and No. 1 Column were at Mana-ka-Dana, No. 2 Column was in occupation of Chitabat, No. 3 was distributed between Karun, Akhund Baba, Nimal and Tilli, and No. 4 was at Ledh, Kanar, Kotkai, Shingri and Darband.

On a small force moving forward from Dilbori towards Chirmang, the Tikariwals at once came in and hurriedly paid up their fines, leaving now only the Pariari Saiyids to be dealt with; and on the 24th troops were sent into their country, Garhi was destroyed, Thakot was then entered, via Chanjal and Karg, without opposition, and preparations were now made for visiting Allai, the Khan of which had begged that his country should not be visited, but who had made no signs of submission. Allai was entered, via the Ghorapher Pass, by a force of six guns and some 2400 rifles under Brigadier-General Channer, divided into two columns. The ascent was found to be very difficult and precipitous, and the crest held in some force, but the enemy made no serious stand, and our casualties in the capture of the position were only one killed and one wounded. The crest of the Chaila Mountain was held during that night and the 2nd, and on the 3rd November the force marched to Pokal, the Khan’s headquarters, destroyed it and returned to camp, having experienced some opposition in the advance and being persistently followed up in the retirement. Late this evening the Allai jirgah came in, followed on the next day by that of the Pariari Saiyids, and by the 13th the whole of the force had been withdrawn to British territory. The British casualties during the operations amounted to twenty-five killed and fifty-seven wounded.

The objects for which the expedition had been undertaken had been attained; the offending clans had met with severe punishment, and had made their submission; hostages had been given for future good behaviour; and some roads had been made, while a large extent of hitherto unknown country had been surveyed and mapped. For a year affairs on this border remained quiet, but the Government of India considered it necessary to take measures to secure its control over the clans and to make roads into their territories. To the construction of roads, however, the Hassanzais, Akazais and Pariari Saiyids made objections, and on Major-General Sir John McQueen moving a small force along the Border to prove our rights under the treaty which had been made, a considerable amount of opposition was shown by the clans immediately concerned, and the General withdrew his troops in accordance with his instructions, and to make way for a larger expedition now projected.

Expedition of 1891

Expedition against the Hassanzais and Akazais, 1891.—The objects of these operations were to assert our right to move along the crest of the Black Mountain; to inflict punishment upon the clans which had recently shown hostility to the force under Sir John McQueen; and to occupy the country until complete submission had been made. In consequence of the experience gained in 1888 it was decided that Oghi, Tilli and Pabal Gali should be occupied, but that the advance should be made only by the Indus line, whence the Hassanzai and Akazai villages and lands could most easily be reached, and where the conditions of warfare would be more favourable to the British troops.

The force detailed was placed under command of Major-General W. K. Elles, C.B., and was directed to advance from Darband in two columns, one via Baradar and Pailam to Tilli, the other by the river via Kotkai and Kanar. The concentration was to be effected by the 1st March, 1891, as detailed below.

Left or River Column, at Darband:

Three guns No. 1 M.B.R.A. Three guns Derajat Mountain Battery. 2nd Battalion Seaforth Highlanders. Headquarters Wing 32nd Pioneers. 37th Dogras. Guides Infantry. 4th Sikhs.[^[18]]

Right or Tilli Column, at Darband:

No. 9 M.B.R.A. 1st Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers. 11th Bengal Infantry.[^[19]] Wing 32nd Pioneers. 2nd Battalion 5th Gurkhas. Khyber Rifles.

Divisional Troops at Darband:

One squadron 11th Bengal Lancers and No. 4 Company Bengal Sappers and Miners.

At Oghi:

One squadron 11th Bengal Lancers. Three guns Derajat Mountain Battery. 28th Bengal Infantry.[^[20]]

In Reserve at Rawal Pindi:

One squadron 11th Bengal Lancers. 1st Battalion King’s Royal Rifle Corps. 19th Bengal Infantry.[^[21]] 27th Bengal Infantry.[^[22]]

Advance of the Force

The weather was bad for some days after the concentration was effected, but good roads had been made to the frontier and to Bela, and both Phaldan and Bela had been occupied by our troops. General Elles proposed first to establish posts in Kanar and Tilli, and then with the Left or River Column to occupy the lower Hassanzai country on both banks and the Diliarai peninsula of the Akazais, while the Right Column, moving by Ril and Kungar, occupied the Khan Khel territory, and thus by degrees complete the occupation of the lands of both clans.

The advance commenced on the morning of the 12th, and Pailam and Kotkai were occupied by either column without any more opposition than was occasioned by some desultory firing at the River Column from across the Indus. On the next day the Right Column moved on to and halted at Tilli, while the River Column visited the Palosi plain and also Nadrai on the right bank, experiencing some opposition, but reconnoitring the road between Kotkai and Kanar. By the 15th it was reported that while the Hassanzais and Akazais were anxious to submit, other clans were gathering against us—mostly in the trans-Indus Chagarzai country.

About 3 a.m. on the 19th a weak company of the 4th Sikhs, providing an outpost at the small village of Ghazi Kot, on the left bank of the Indus, was heavily attacked by a large body of Hindustani fanatics. Reinforcements, however, furnished by the 4th Sikhs and 32nd Pioneers, were quickly on the scene, and the enemy were driven off with considerable loss. The following night there was a good deal of firing at Kanar; on the 21st the River Column had reached Palosi via Pirzada Bela; and the Right Column occupied Ril the same day, destroyed Seri on the next, and then returned to Tilli.

On the 23rd the establishment of a bridge at Bakrai was covered by a party of the 4th Sikhs, who were opposed by a large gathering of the enemy on the Diliarai Hill, overlooking Bakrai and about one mile to the north-west of that place. The enemy were driven off the hill, but on the Sikhs and Guides withdrawing to a position lower down, they were followed up so determinedly that Lieut.-Colonel Gaselee of the 4th Sikhs again advanced, and cleared and reoccupied the hill for the night. The fighting had been hand-to-hand, and the enemy—chiefly Chagarzais and Hindustanis—suffered rather heavily.

On the 24th Brigadier-General Hammond took a small force from Tilli to Palosi, and thence next day advanced up the Shal Nala against Darbanai—a village on a knoll jutting out from the main spur into the Indus Valley. The enemy were driven off this commanding position, and on the 27th General Hammond moved into lower Surmal and burnt some of the Chagarzai villages.

Gathering of the Clans

The gatherings of the tribesmen had now increased. There were a number of Bunerwals at Baio and in this neighbourhood, and in the Chagarzai country to the north there appeared to be a coalition of all the clans from Thakot to the Peshawar border—from Buner, Chamla, and from the Amazai and Gadun country. In consequence of these concentrations of clans, a regiment of cavalry and a battalion of infantry were ordered up from Nowshera to Mardan, and, with the troops already in garrison at the last-named place, were held in readiness for service against the Bunerwals; and the reserve brigade from Rawal Pindi was concentrated at Darband. At the same time representations were made to the Buner jirgah that we had no intention of invading either their country or that of the Chagarzais, but that they would be attacked if their forces did not disperse. These warnings had the desired effect, and the Bunerwals returned to their homes, while the lower Hassanzais had already made their submission. Towards the end of April the whole of the country of the Akazais, who still remained recalcitrant, was visited, and shortly after Darband was evacuated and the base transferred to Oghi; but it was not until a month later that the Akazai jirgah at last came in and tendered the unconditional submission of the tribe. The three Isazai divisions, with the Saiyids and Chagarzais of Pariari, consented to the perpetual banishment from their territories of a notorious disturber of the peace, one Hashim Ali, and promised generally to be of good behaviour and to exclude the Hindustani fanatics from their country.

Early in June the bulk of the troops composing the force returned to India, but some remained until the end of November in occupation of Seri and Oghi and of the crest of the Black Mountain.

In these operations—which cost us nine killed and thirty-nine wounded—we had a larger coalition against us than in any other expedition, with the exception of the Ambela outbreak of 1863 and the Pathan revolt of 1897.

In March 1892 the Hassanzais and Mada Khels broke the engagement into which they had entered with the British Government, by permitting Hashim Ali to return to their country and settle at Baio; and accordingly in October a force of 6250 men and two guns, organised in two brigades, advanced from Darband under Major-General Sir William Lockhart. The Indus was crossed at Marer, and on the 6th October the two brigades advanced on Baio—the First Brigade from Wale and the Second Brigade from Manjakot. Baio was found deserted, and was destroyed, as was also Doba, a Mada Khel village. Demolitions were also carried out in Manja Kot, Karor, Garhi and Nawekili, and the force was back on the 11th October at Darband, where it was broken up. None of the tribesmen offered any resistance, and there were no casualties, but the troops suffered a good deal from fever and also from cholera.

End of the Operations

Since this expedition the Black Mountain clans and their neighbours have given no serious trouble.

CHAPTER III.
YUSAFZAIS AND GADUNS.[^[23]]

The clansmen occupying the British border from the Black Mountain to the Utman Khel territory belong, with the exception of the Gaduns, to the important tribe of Yusafzai Pathans, of which the Hassanzais, Akazais and Chagarzais, already described, are also branches.

Arrival in Peshawar Valley

The Yusafzais inhabit the division of that name in the Peshawar district, as well as independent territory beyond the border. They are the descendants of the original Gandhari, who in ancient days occupied the Peshawar Valley, emigrating thence to the Helmand in the fifth century, and becoming fused with the Afghans of Ghor. In the fifteenth century, owing to pressure, the Yusafzais migrated with other tribes northwards to Kabul, and from thence in the sixteenth century into the Peshawar Valley, where they acquired the plain country north of the Kabul River and west of Mardan. Meanwhile, the Mohmands of the Ghoria Khel had followed the Yusafzais, and they in turn defeated the Dilazaks—whom the Yusafzais had already dispossessed of their lands—and forced them into the present Yusafzai plain, in the north-east corner of the Peshawar Valley. The Yusafzais then, with the help of other tribes, drove the Dilazaks across the Indus into Hazara. The Yusafzais, with the Utman Khel and Tarkanris, now settled themselves in the Yusafzai plain, and during the next few years these three tribes made themselves masters of all the hill country along that border, from the Indus to the range separating the Bajaur and Kunar Valleys. In a later division of the country the Tarkanris took Bajaur; the Utman Khel the Swat Valley up to the junction of that river with the Panjkhora; while the Yusafzais occupied all the hills to the east as far as the Indus, including Lower Swat, Buner, Chamla and the Peshawar Valley east of Hastnagar and north of the Kabul River. At the present time the Yusafzais inhabit the north-east of the Peshawar district, or the Yusafzai plain, Swat, Buner, Panjkhora, and several strips of independent territory north and east of the Peshawar Valley. They have also considerable settlements to the east of the Indus as we have seen.

At the time of the final division of the country with the Tarkanris and the Utman Khels, the Yusafzais were divided into two great branches, the Mandanr and the Yusafzais, the whole race tracing its origin to Mandai, who had two sons, Yusaf and Umar. From Yusaf sprang the Yusafzais, and from a son of Umar called Mandan, the Mandanr took their name. On the occupation of this tract of country, an equal division of both plain and hill country was made between the Mandanr and the Yusafzais, but quarrels arising, the Yusafzais gradually became owners of the hill country, while the Mandanr were driven into the plains; it is thus actually the Mandanr who now occupy the so-called Yusafzai plain in the north-east of the Peshawar Valley, and who are generally known as Yusafzais, while the real Yusafzais, who dwell in the hill country, are usually called after the name of the territory they severally inhabit.

The Yusafzai is an agriculturist, generally a fine, well-limbed man, of good physique and appearance, with a great deal of race-pride, well-dressed and cheery, while his hospitality is proverbial. They have an established and recognised gentry, and all blue-blooded Yusafzais have a hereditary share in the land, their names appearing in the book of hereditary land-owners kept by the village patwari. The Yusafzai plain is very flat, and the soil, where properly irrigated, is very fertile, but the chief interest of this district lies in the numerous ruins of ancient Buddhist and Hindu cities, temples and inscriptions, scattered broadcast about the plain and the adjoining hills.

The Yusafzais may conveniently be divided into Cis- and Trans-frontier Yusafzais: under the former category come the

(1) Mandanr, (2) Sam Baizais,

while the following are the clans of trans-frontier Yusafzais:

(1) Akozais, (2) Amazais, (3) Bunerwals, (4) Chagarzais, (5) Chamlawals, (6) Isazais, (7) Khudu Khel, (8) Nasozais, (9) Utmanzais.

Geographical Position

First in order of the independent tribes on the British border between the Black Mountain and the Utman Khel territory, come the Mada Khel division of the Isazais and the Amazais, adjoining the lands of our feudatory the Nawab of Amb; to the south of the Amazais lie the Utmanzais, to their west the Gaduns, and beyond them the Khudu Khel. To the north of the Khudu Khel territory is the Chamla Valley, inhabited by members of different clans, and separated from Buner by the Guru range of mountains. Next come the Nurizai and Salarzai divisions of Buner, which march with our border. Between Buner and the Utman Khel limits is the district of Swat peopled by the Akozais, with the portion adjoining British territory inhabited by the Baizai and Ranizai tribesmen of Swat.

Something can here fittingly be mentioned with regard to the position of the Nawab of Amb on this border. His territory may be roughly described as a square block in the north-west corner of the Hazara district, separated on the west from the independent Pathan country by the Indus, and having the Black Mountain and Agror to the north. The Tanawal chief has also two or three villages beyond the Indus, and the largest of these is Amb. The Nawab holds his cis-Indus territory as a perpetual jaghir from the British Government, while his trans-Indus villages are independent. The existence of this little principality is, from its situation, in many ways convenient.

Cis-border Yusafzais. Mandanr.—These occupy the greater portion of the Yusafzai plain in the north-eastern part of the Peshawar Valley, bounded on the south by the Khattaks and the Kabul River, on the west by Hastnagar and the Muhammadzais, and on the east and north by the Indus River, and by the Gaduns and the independent Yusafzai tribes. The district is divided into two sub-divisions (tehsils), Swabi and Mardan. The Mandanr are divided into three divisions—the Usmanzai, Utmanzai and Razar—of which the first named has its holdings in the Mardan and the two latter in the Swabi tehsil. The family in each of the three divisions, in which the Khan-ship is hereditary, is known as the Khan Khel, and these families have a higher social standing than the others.

A number of other Pathans live among the Mandanr, as do also many persons of Indian race, some of them immigrants from the Punjab and Kashmir, and some descendants of the original inhabitants of the country. All these, however, speak Pushtu and greatly resemble Pathans in appearance.

Sam Baizai.—These are a portion of the Baizai division of the Akozai Yusafzais, who formerly occupied the whole of the northern portion of the Yusafzai plain to the foot of the hills below the Morah Pass. During the sixteenth century they called in the Khattaks and Utman Khels to assist them against the inroads of the Ranizais, and in return gave their allies land in their country as tenants. In course of time the new comers have practically ousted the Baizais, who now possess but few villages of their own. In regard to numbers they are an insignificant division.

Trans-border Yusafzais. Akozais.—These, which form the largest clan of trans-frontier Yusafzais, inhabit the whole of Swat proper, and will be found described in greater detail in Chapter V.

Amazais

Amazais.—This people forms one of the two sub-divisions of the Usmanzai division of Mandanr Yusafzais, and is sub-divided into the Daulatzais and Ismailzais. The Amazai country is situated between that of the Chamlawals and Hassanzais on the north and west, the Mada Khel and Tinaolis on the east, and the Utmanzais, Gaduns, and Khudu Khel on the south. Within British territory the Daulatzai occupy the Sudum Valley, while the Ismailzai inhabit a strip of country in the Yusafzai sub-division of the Peshawar district, south of the Karamar range and east of the road from Mardan. The trans-frontier Amazais are divided into the Saiyid Khel and Mobarak Khel, two sub-divisions which are constantly at feud with one another. The Amazai country is divided into two by a northern spur from the Mahaban Mountain; the villages lying to the east of this spur, and between it and the Indus, belong to the Saiyid Khel, and those to the west to both sub-divisions. The country is narrow, rough, well watered and wooded. The strength of the trans-frontier Amazais in fighting men is about 1500, and they have a high reputation for courage, but while a number of the cis-frontier men are enlisted, few come in for service from across the border.

The only occasion upon which we have come into direct conflict with the Amazais was in the Ambela campaign of 1863.

Bunerwals.—This clan inhabits the Buner Valley—an irregular oval—which is bounded on the north-west by Swat, on the north-east by the Puran Valley, on the south-east by the Mada Khel and Amazai territory, on the south by the Chamla Valley, and on the south-west by Yusafzai. It is a small mountain valley, and the Morah Hills and Ilam Range divide it from Swat, the Sinawar Range from Yusafzai, the Guru Mountain from the Chamla Valley, and the Duma Range from the Puran Valley. The Buner Valley is drained by the Barandu, a perennial stream which joins the Indus above Mahabara; the valley is about thirty miles in length. The term Bunerwals includes the Iliaszai division, occupying the north-western portion of the country, and the Malizais, who inhabit the south-eastern portion: these two divisions are divided into seven sub-divisions. The hereditary chiefs of the tribe are the Khans of Dagar and Bagra, but their influence is nominal, and the different clans are entirely democratic. Moreover, the Khan of Dagar does not belong to any of the Buner clans, but his family is recognised as the leading or Khan Khel family. The clan is neither so well armed nor so adept at hill fighting as other trans-frontier tribes, but can turn out some 6800 fighting men. The few who enlist with us—according to Enriquez just over 200—are well spoken of. Their land is very fertile, and the Bunerwals are purely agriculturists, the men of good physique, dark and swarthy, and distinguishable by the dark blue clothes and pugarees which they wear.

Bunerwals

Although the Bunerwals have never been specially friendly with us, they have proved themselves on the whole most satisfactory neighbours. Though poor, they are not given to thieving; they discourage raiding into our territory; and though they will give an asylum to outlaws from our side of the border, they will not join with them in the commission of outrages. Oliver says of them that “there are in many ways few finer specimens of Pathans than the Bunerwals. Simple and temperate, they are content with the plain wholesome food, the produce of their own cattle and lands; courteous and hospitable to all who claim shelter, treachery to a stranger seeking refuge among them being considered the deepest reproach that could fall upon the clansmen, and such a case is almost unknown. Upright in their dealings, with 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 the Ambela campaign.... Patriotic they certainly are, and in their way, which is a pastoral and agricultural one, industrious, though they hold all trade in the very lowest estimation; anything that savours of the shop or of trading is anathema to a Bunerwal. Therefore they are poor, but, for poor Pathans, have an exceptional regard for the law of meum and tuum. Their word, once given through the council of the tribe, may, according to Warburton, be depended on with almost certainty. Lastly, they are ‘distinguished for their ignorance,’ and ignorance being the ‘mother of devotion,’ they are deeply religious; greatly under the influence of the most bigoted of mullahs, saiyids, and pirs, and the many varieties of the priestly class, which is probably the most powerful and prosperous section of the community; while if there is any section whose heritage ought to be one of woe it is this, for it is from the priests most of the offences come throughout the whole of Yusafzai.”

The winter climate in Buner is said to be very severe, snow falling thickly on the hills and lying in the valleys, while malaria makes the country unhealthy during the hot season.

Of the seven divisions into which the clan is divided, it will probably be sufficient briefly to notice the two which are nearest to British territory; these are the Salarzais and the Nurizais. The former are a powerful community, and could bring nearly 2000 men into the field; they have more intercourse with our subjects than any other section of the Bunerwals. The Nurizais are also a strong division, and of the two sub-divisions they contain, one is as favourably disposed towards the British as the other is inimical and troublesome. The Nurizais adjoin British territory to the south-east of the Salarzais, and are separated from the Chamla Valley by the Guru Range.

From Swat three passes lead into Buner, the Kalel, the Jowarai and the Karakar, and of these the last only is practicable for mule transport. On the east, the Indus being crossed at Mahabara, it is possible to enter Buner by the Barandu defile. From our territory two passes, both practicable for pack animals, lead into Buner—the Malandri Pass and the Ambela.

Chagarzais and Chamlawals

Chagarzais.—These have already been dealt with in Chapter II. under the Black Mountain tribes. They are divided into three divisions, and one only is located in Buner, living on the western slopes of the Duma Mountains. This division can turn out about one thousand fighting men.

Chamlawals.—These are the inhabitants of the small valley of Chamla, which lies to the south-east of Buner, and they are Mandanr Yusafzais. When the Yusaf and Mandan clans, after they had subjugated the country, began fighting among themselves, the Mandanr located their families in the Chamla Valley, and retained it at the conclusion of the struggle. The valley runs east and west, and is about seventeen miles long by two and a half broad. It is bounded on the north by Buner, south by the Khudu Khel country, east by the Amazai, and west by the British district of Rustam, in Yusafzai. The Chamlawals number about 1400 fighting men, but do not enjoy as such a very high reputation. They are divided into three divisions. The valley can be approached from the north from Buner by several passes, of which the easiest is said to be the Buner Pass, leading from Barkilai to Ambela; it leads through the Guru range, and is believed to be practicable for camels. From British territory it is entered by the Ambela, Sherdara and Narinji passes, and it is also approachable from the east and through the Khudu Khel country. Any trouble which the Chamlawals may have given us in the past has usually been the result of tribal pressure.

Mada Khels.—This is a division of Isazai Yusafzais, of which the other two, the Akazais and Hassanzais, have already been described among the dwellers on the Black Mountain. The Mada Khel country is on the northern slopes of the Mahaban Mountain down to the right bank of the Indus, and is bounded on the north by the Hassanzais, on the east by the Indus, and on the south and west by the Tinaolis and Amazais. Settled in the country are a number of Dilazaks—the former occupiers of the Yusafzai country and now settled in Hazara—and Gujars, the descendants of the original Hindu population of the country. The Mada Khel have three sub-divisions, and are considered more enlightened than the other Isazai tribesmen. They can muster some 1500 men, very badly armed, and their young bloods do not readily enlist in the native army. Most of the villages are on the Mahaban Mountain, only two being on the banks of the Indus. The easiest approaches to Mada Khel territory pass through the Hassanzai country.

Khudu Khels.—These are a sub-division of the Saddozai division of the Utmanzai clan of the Mandanr Yusafzais. Their territory is bounded on the north by Chamla, on the west by Yusafzai, on the south by Utmanama, and on the east by the territory of the Gaduns and Amazai. Their country is about twenty-two miles long and about fifteen wide. The Khudu Khel contains two sections, is very much divided among its members, and could probably, if united, furnish some 1600 fighting men, of no particular value. Their country is very open to attack from British territory and to blockade, and for this reason the Khudu Khels have not given us any real trouble since 1847 and 1849, when a British force marched into their country and surprised their villages.

The Khudu Khel have settlements also in British territory in the Mardan district.

Nasozais and Utmanzais

Nasozais.—This sub-division of the Iliaszai Yusafzais, though not included among the Bunerwals proper, is practically identical with them. It is located north-east of Buner in the Puran Valley on the eastern slopes of the Lilban Mountains, and is divided into two sections. The Nasozais can muster some 800 fighting men.

Utmanzais.—These are a clan of Mandanr Yusafzais. They inhabit both banks of the Indus, those on the right bank being independent and occupying a narrow strip of land between the river and the Gadun country, bounded on the north by the Tinaolis and on the south by the British. The Utmanzais on the left bank inhabit the Torbela-Khalsa tracts in British territory in the Hazara district. They contain four divisions and do not number more than 400 fighting men of good quality. About two-thirds of the original Utmanzai territory is now occupied by the Gaduns, who in old days were invited to cross the Indus as mercenaries, and were given in requital the lands they now hold on the western and southern slopes of the Mahaban Mountain.

This clan is more or less dependent upon us, and their territory can be reached by several routes.

Gaduns and Hindustanis

Gaduns.—The origin of the tribe of Gaduns or Jaduns is not very clear, but they certainly have no connection with the Yusafzais among whom they dwell. They claim descent from the family of Ghurghusht, but are more probably of Rajput origin. Many of the descendants of Jadu, the founder of a Rajput dynasty, emigrated from Gujrat, some eleven hundred years before Christ, to the hills of Kabul and Kandahar. When they moved to the Mahaban range, the southern slopes of which some of them now occupy, is uncertain, but in the sixteenth century a portion of the tribe crossed the Indus into Hazara, where, about Sultanpur, Mansehra and Abbottabad, their descendants are still to be found. These have, however, lost all connection with their trans-frontier tribesmen, have even forgotten Pushtu, and are to all intents and purposes Punjabis.

“From opposite Torbela on the Indus, and from the boundary of our border on the right bank,” says Oliver, “the Gadun country extends right up to the crest of the Mahaban Mountain, or rather that cluster of peaks and ranges which, rising 7000 feet from the Indus, extend back as a great spur of the Morah or Ilum. A thoroughly classic ground; ‘the Great Forest’ of the early Aryans; the ‘Sinai’ of Sanskrit, where Arjuna wrestled with God, and, like the Jewish Jacob, though defeated, still won his irresistible weapon, ground that, if not identical with Alexander’s Aornos, is probably not very distant, that was famous for its numerous monasteries (Mahawana) when Hwen Tsang visited it in 630 A.D., and is studded with ruins to this day.”

The tribe has three clans—the Salar, Mansur and Hassazai—of which the last is unrepresented among the trans-frontier Gaduns, while the other two are continually at feud. The trans-frontier clans contain about 2000 fighting men; they do not enlist freely nor are they much in request, being considered to be of smaller fighting value than other Pathans. The trans-Indus Gaduns are bounded on the east by the Utmanzais, on the north by the Amazais, on the west by the Khudu Khels, and on the south by British territory. The tribesmen are all cultivators or cattle-owners. They can be coerced by blockade or by means of an expedition, and their country could be overrun without other tribes being molested or too closely approached.

The Hindustani Fanatics.[^[24]]—Something has already been mentioned about the colonies of religious adventurers which are found among the hills and valleys of this part of the border; and a more detailed description must now be given of the particular colony or colonies of Hindustani fanatics, who have been responsible for, and have taken so prominent a part in, most of the operations in which British troops have here been engaged.

It was in the year 1823 that one Saiyid Ahmad Shah, of Bareilly, a religious adventurer, made his appearance on the Yusafzai frontier. He had been at one time a friend of the notorious Amir Khan Pindari—himself a Pathan born in Buner, who had fled before James Skinner and his “Yellow Boys” from Bhurtpore to the Himalayas. Saiyid Ahmad studied Arabic at Delhi, and made a pilgrimage to Mecca via Calcutta, and it was at this time that his doctrines gave him an influence over Bengali Muhammadans, which led them thenceforth to supply with recruits the colony which he founded. His doctrines at that time, whatever they may have become thereafter, were those of the Wahabi sect, and inculcated the original tenets of Islam, repudiating commentaries on the Koran and the adoration of relics. In 1823 then he appeared upon the Yusafzai border of the Peshawar district with some forty Hindustani followers, having arrived there by way of Kandahar and Kabul.

At this time the Pathans of the frontier were generally depressed by the crushing defeat which they and the Peshawar Sirdars had sustained at the hands of Ranjit Singh at the battle of Nowshera, so that when the Saiyid began to preach a jehad many people flocked to his standard, the number of his Hindustani followers grew to 900, and the Peshawar Sirdars also joined him. In the spring of 1827 Saiyid Ahmad proceeded to Nowshera with the intention of laying siege to Attock, but Ranjit Singh was ready for him. The great Sikh general, Hari Singh, with one army, awaited him on the Indus, while Budh Singh, crossing the river with another, marched to and entrenched himself at Saidu. Here Saiyid Ahmad surrounded his force, and in time reduced it to great straits, until Budh Singh, resolving to fight, warned the Peshawar Sirdars of the approach of another Sikh army under Ranjit Singh, and then joined battle. The Sirdars fled, and the Musalmans were routed with great slaughter. Saiyid Ahmad escaped with a handful of followers via Lundkhwar to Swat and thence to Buner, where the Saiyid was able to persuade the Pathans that treachery alone had been responsible for his defeat, and he was soon again joined by thousands. He then went to Panjtar, where he was cordially received by Fateh Khan, the chief of the Khudu Khels, and his position thereby greatly strengthened. Eventually he succeeded in getting the whole of Yusafzai and Peshawar under his control; he subdued the chiefs of Hund and Hoti; levied tithes; defeated a Barakzai force which had marched against him; took possession of Amb; and finally, in 1829, he occupied Peshawar.

Gaduns and Hindustanis

He had now come to the end of his tether; his exactions had made him unpopular with his Pathan following, and there was a general revolt against his authority. The Sikhs organised expeditions against him and his men, which, as Oliver says, “were exterminative rather than punitive. The villagers turned out and hunted back the fugitives into the mountains, destroying them like wild beasts. The history of the time is a record of the bitterest hatred. 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 borderer on payment to the Sikh grantees of an annual hundred heads of the Hassan Khel. The decline of Saiyid Ahmad’s fame as an apostle came after his ill-advised effort to reform the Pathan marriage customs, which was really an attempt to provide wives for his own Hindustanis. Something like the Sicilian Vespers was repeated, the fiery cross was passed round the hills as the signal for the massacre of his agents, and in one hour—the hour of evening prayer—they were murdered by the tribesmen almost to a man.”

With the men who were left, Saiyid Ahmad crossed the Indus and proceeded to Balakot, where the believers again rallied to him, and he gave battle once more to a Sikh army under Sher Singh. He was, however, signally defeated, he himself being slain, and, out of the 1600 Hindustanis who had taken the field with him, only 300 escaping to Sitana. This was a refuge for outlaws and for offenders of all kinds from Yusafzai and Hazara, and belonged to one Saiyid Akbar, who had been Ahmad’s counsellor and treasurer. Here the Hindustanis established a colony and built a fort which they called Mandi.

CHAPTER IV.
YUSAFZAIS AND GADUNS: OPERATIONS.[^[25]]

None of the dwellers in the territories described in the last chapter gave us any trouble during the first few years which followed upon the taking over of the frontier by the British. In 1853, however, it became necessary to punish the Hindustani fanatics, who had afforded some assistance to the Hassanzais during the expedition which the British Government undertook against them in the previous year, and who had seized the fort at Kotla on the right bank of the Indus, belonging to the Nawab of Amb. Early in January 1853, Lieutenant-Colonel Mackeson, C.B., moved the following force down to the Indus opposite Kotla:

Two guns, Mountain Train Battery. 1st Sikh Infantry. 3rd Sikh Infantry. Two Dogra regiments of the Kashmir Army. Six Wallpieces. Six Zamburaks.

On the 6th the force was ferried across from Kirpilian in two large boats, and the Sikh regiments and mountain guns advanced, when the Hindustanis evacuated the fort and fled, being pursued and having considerable loss inflicted upon them by the Nawab of Amb’s men. There was no more trouble in the Peshawar district until the year of the Mutiny, and it was then almost entirely due to the presence on the Yusafzai frontier of the Hindustani fanatics, who were supported by contributions of men and money from traitorous princes and private individuals in India.

The Mutineers of the 55th

The Yusafzai country was then controlled by the fort at Mardan, usually garrisoned by the Corps of Guides; in the middle of May, however, this regiment had started upon its famous march to Delhi, and its place at Mardan had been taken by part of the 55th Native Infantry. On the night of the 21st May news reached General Cotton at Peshawar that some companies of the 55th, stationed at Nowshera, had mutinied, and that some of these had joined their comrades at Mardan. On the night of the 23rd a small force, accompanied by John Nicholson as political officer, quitted Peshawar for the purpose of disarming the 55th Native Infantry at Mardan. At sunrise on the 25th the disaffected regiment saw the column approaching Mardan; “and then all but a hundred and twenty, who were restrained by the threats and persuasions of the officers, broke tumultuously from the fort, and fled. The column pressed on in pursuit; but the mutineers were far ahead; the ground was so heavy that the artillery could not get within range; and the chase was all in vain until Nicholson, taking with him a few of the police sowars, dashed to the front and rode into the fugitive masses. Breaking before his charge, they scattered themselves over the country in sections and companies; but all day long he pursued them, hunted them out of the villages in which they sought for refuge, drove them over ridges, cut down their stragglers in ravines, and never rested till, having ridden over seventy miles, slain a hundred and twenty, and wounded between three and four hundred of the traitors, taken a hundred and fifty prisoners, and recovered two hundred and fifty stand of arms and the regimental Colours, he was forced by the approach of night to draw rein, while those who had escaped him fled across the border into the hills of Swat.”[^[26]]

The virtual ruler of Swat at that time was one whom Oliver has called “A Border Pope”—an aged priest, known as the Akhund, and he decided that these fugitives should not be accorded an asylum. They were accordingly guided to the Indus and put across the stream, whence they intended to endeavour to make their way to Kashmir. The majority of them succumbed, however, to the perils of the journey by way of Hazara or Kohistan, but a few took refuge in the country of the Khudu Khels, whose Khan was hostile to us, and in whose territory a settlement of Hindustanis had been established at a place called Mangal Thana, as a branch of the parent colony at Sitana. The presence of the Hindustanis was the cause of some trouble in July 1857 at Shekh Jana, and a fortnight later the fanatics, under the leadership of one Maulvi Inayat Ali Khan, crossed the border and raised the standard of religious war at a border village called Narinji, where some 650 desperadoes had collected. A small force was moved out from Mardan and Nowshera, and, marching at first in another direction so as to conceal the object of the expedition, arrived unexpectedly before Narinji. The position of the village was very strong, and in the days of Sikh rule it had more than once been unsuccessfully attacked, but under cover of the fire of the mountain guns, it was now speedily taken and destroyed. The enemy had lost very severely, and the retirement, which now took place, was quite unopposed. Our casualties had been five killed and twenty-one wounded.

The chief object of the operations—the capture of the Maulvi—had not, however, been attained; cattle were raided from British territory; and the enemy were being daily reinforced by men from Buner, Chamla and Swat. Major J. L. Vaughan, who had charge of the operations, now received additional troops from Peshawar, and early on the 1st August he left his camp at Shewa with the following force:

2 24–pounder Howitzers. 4 guns, Peshawar Mountain Train Battery. 50 bayonets, 27th Foot. 50 bayonets, 70th Foot. 50 bayonets, 87th Foot. 150 sabres, 2nd Punjab Cavalry.[^[27]] 50 bayonets, 21st Native Infantry.[^[28]]

Expedition of 1857

Three hundred and fifty rifles were detached to take Narinji in flank and rear, and reached their position about half an hour after the main body had appeared in front of the village. The flanking party was vigorously opposed, but the frontal attack had a comparatively easy task, many of the defenders withdrawing early—among them being the Maulvi. The retreat was to some extent cut off, and many were killed, among the slain being several of the mutineers of the 55th Native Infantry. Our losses were only one killed and eight wounded.

The village was then completely destroyed and the troops retired.

The spirit of the people was not, however, by any means broken, for less than three months later the Assistant-Commissioner of Yusafzai, while encamped at Shekh Jana with a small escort, was attacked by the Hindustanis and Khudu Khels, assisted by the men of Shekh Jana and Narinji. The Assistant-Commissioner escaped with his life, but five of his party were killed, and the whole of his baggage was looted.

Expedition against the Hindustanis and Khudu Khels, 1858.—On the 22nd April, 1858, a force was assembled, for the punishment of this outrage, on the left bank of the Kabul River opposite Nowshera. It numbered 4877 of all ranks, was commanded by Major-General Sir Sydney Cotton, K.C.B., and was divided into two brigades, respectively under Lieutenant-Colonel Renny and Major Alban, both of the 81st Foot, but before crossing the frontier, was divided into three columns as under:

FIRST COLUMN.

4 guns, Peshawar Light Field Battery.[^[32]] 2 guns, Peshawar Mountain Train Battery.[^[33]] 260 bayonets, 98th Foot. 100 sabres, 7th Irregular Cavalry.[^[34]] 200 sabres, Guides Cavalry. 30 sabres, Peshawar Light Horse.[^[35]] 100 bayonets, Sappers and Miners. 300 bayonets, 21st Native Infantry.[^[36]] 300 bayonets, Guides Infantry. 400 bayonets, 9th Punjab Infantry.[^[37]] 400 bayonets, 18th Punjab Infantry.[^[38]]

SECOND COLUMN.

200 bayonets, 81st Foot. 100 sabres, 18th Irregular Cavalry.[^[39]] 47 bayonets, Sappers and Miners. 200 bayonets, Kelat-i-Ghilzie Regiment. 450 bayonets, 8th Punjab Infantry.[^[40]]

THIRD COLUMN.

105 bayonets, 81st Foot. 10 bayonets, 98th Foot. 25 sabres, 7th Irregular Cavalry. 25 sabres, 18th Irregular Cavalry.[^[39]] 60 sabres, Guides Cavalry. 254 bayonets, Kelat-i-Ghilzie Regiment. 155 bayonets, 21st Native Infantry. 76 bayonets, Guides Infantry. 54 bayonets, 8th Punjab Infantry.[^[40]] 137 bayonets, 9th Punjab Infantry. 185 bayonets, 18th Punjab Infantry.

Expedition of 1858

The force assembled at the frontier village of Salim Khan, which was made the base of operations, and on the 25th April the people of Totalai, who had long been oppressed by the chief of the Khudu Khels, now, encouraged by the proximity of the troops, made a rush upon Panjtar, intending to seize the chief, Mukarrab Khan, but he escaped to Chinglai, when his village was burnt before the troops arrived upon the scene. The first object of the expedition was thus unexpectedly and easily attained.

The following arrangements were now made: the First Column, under the Major-General commanding, marching by Chinglai, was to enter Khudu Khel territory by the Darhan Pass; the Second Column was to move directly on Panjtar; while the Third remained in charge of the camp at Salim Khan. The Darhan Pass was found to be a very narrow defile, about two miles in length, the passage of which might easily have been disputed; no opposition was, however, encountered, and the troops reached Chinglai, which was destroyed under a slight and ineffectual fire from the enemy holding the heights. The column returned on the 27th to Salim Khan via Panjtar and the Jehangirra Darra. This route was found to form a very much more difficult approach to Chinglai than the Darhan Pass route, the track being chiefly through broken country, at one point passing through a rocky defile called Taralai—a very formidable obstacle if disputed. Although some of Mukarrab Khan’s men, mounted and on foot, were seen, no attack was made upon the column. The Second Column had meanwhile thoroughly destroyed Panjtar and returned to Salim Khan.

The General now determined to attack a stronghold of the Khan’s, called Mangal Thana, situated on one of the main spurs of the Mahaban Mountain. This place had also been the resort of Maulvi Inayat Ali Khan, who had so perseveringly endeavoured, at Narinji and other places, to raise Yusafzai in rebellion in 1857.

The force was again divided into three columns, which were now, however, somewhat differently constituted—the First to act against Mangal Thana, the Second to proceed as a support to Panjtar, the Third remaining in reserve at Salim Khan. On the 28th April the First Column left camp while it was moonlight; the ascent of the hills was found to be very difficult, and it was necessary to leave half the column at Dukarai. No opposition was, however, met with, and Mangal Thana was found to be abandoned.

Mangal Thana consisted of two villages, one above the other, the upper containing the citadel of the leader of the fanatics with enclosures for his followers, and the whole surrounded by strong fortifications of stones and timber. The position was about 5000 feet above sea-level, and the neighbourhood was densely wooded. The troops bivouacked here for the night, blew up the fort next day, and returned on the 30th to camp at Salim Khan.

Operations against the Fanatics

The colony of fanatics at Sitana had now to be dealt with, and accordingly, on the 2nd May, the force marched to Khabal, about four miles from Sitana. Between Amb, on the right bank of the Indus, and our frontier village of Topi, is a narrow strip of land forming part of the Utmanzai territory. It contains, in addition to the two or three small hamlets of Topi, the villages of Upper and Lower Khabal (exactly opposite Torbela), Upper and Lower Kai, and Lower Sitana, Mandi and Upper Sitana. The Utmanzais of this strip had, previous to this date, had feuds with the Saiyids and Hindustanis of Sitana, and consequently welcomed our troops as allies against a common foe.

Early on the 4th May a force of five guns and 1050 rifles was sent to the left bank of the Indus, and advanced against the villages from the east; the main column moved against them from the south; while the men of our ally, the Nawab of Amb, occupied the hills to the north. On approaching Lower Sitana, two regiments were detached to move up the mountain in rear, the position was attacked in front, and the enemy were driven with considerable loss to their second position. Here they were met by one of the regiments coming up in their rear, and driven back on the bayonets of the troops in front. Hand-to-hand fighting now ensued until every Hindustani in the position was either killed or captured. Some Gadun allies of the fanatics made no stand, retiring precipitately. The enemy’s position having been carried at all points and their villages destroyed, the force retired, being closely followed up. This was the first time the Enfield rifle had been used against the tribesmen, and the effectiveness of its fire made a great impression. Our losses had been six killed and twenty-nine wounded.

That night the force encamped on the Sitana Plain by the Indus bank, whence it proceeded next day to Khabal.

The Hindustanis, expelled from Sitana by the Utmanzais, had taken refuge with the Upper Gaduns, and to prevent the Utmanzais being compelled, on our retirement, to readmit them, the Gadun villages immediately on the Yusafzai border were surrounded by our troops, and coercive measures were threatened. This had an immediate effect, the Upper and Lower Gaduns sending in their representatives and binding themselves, equally with the Utmanzais, to expel and keep out the Saiyids and Hindustanis, and to resist any other tribe which should try to readmit them.

The force then marched back to Nowshera, where it was broken up.

The Gaduns Troublesome

The Hindustani fanatics, now ejected from Sitana, settled at Malka, on the north side of the Mahaban Mountain, but in 1861 they came down to a place called Siri, close to their old haunts, and began abducting Hindu traders from across the Hazara border. The only way whereby it seemed possible to check these crimes was to punish the tribes which allowed these robbers passage through their territories. The Utmanzais and Gaduns were accordingly placed under blockade, and towards the end of 1861 these came in, made submission, and again agreed to exclude the Hindustanis. For a brief period the kidnapping ceased; then in the spring of 1863 came reports of two murders, followed in the summer by the news that the Hindustanis had suddenly reoccupied Sitana. Not only had the tribes above mentioned done nothing to prevent this, according to agreement, but some of the tribesmen had actually invited this occupation. A blockade of the Gaduns and Utmanzais was therefore reimposed, and a large number of troops and levies were disposed on either bank of the Indus, while the 101st Fusiliers were ordered up to Hazara.

The Hindustanis were now showing a very bitter spirit against the British Government, their leaders were preaching something of a jehad, and attacks on our posts and villages were now projected or undertaken. On the night of the 3rd September a party of Hindustanis attempted to attack the camp of the Guides engaged on blockade duty at Topi, but were driven off in panic; the Hassanzais, instigated by the Maulvi of Sitana, made an unprovoked attack upon and destroyed several outlying villages in Amb territory; later the same clan threatened Chamberi, and attacked and killed several of the Amb levies on the Black Mountain. By this time it seemed clear that most of the Hazara tribes had now thrown in their lot against the British, and an expedition against them appeared inevitable; it was therefore decided that the force employed should be a large one, and that Brigadier-General Sir Neville Chamberlain should command it.

Two columns were to be employed, the one operating from the Peshawar Valley, the other from Hazara, and the movements proposed for each were as under: the Peshawar Column was to assemble at Nawa Kala and Swabi, with the apparent intention of moving on Mangal Thana, but when ready to move was to march through the Ambela Pass, occupy Koga in the Chamla Valley, and thence march on Sitana by Chirori; the Hazara Column remaining stationary at Darband to overawe the riverain tribes and protect the Hazara border. Additional troops were detailed to hold the line of the Indus, Hazara and Yusafzai at Darband, Torbela, Topi, Abbottabad, Rustam Bazar and Mardan. Hostilities were not anticipated from the Bunerwals, with whom we had no quarrel, and who were known to have no sympathy with the Hindustanis; but it was unfortunate that the absolute necessity for keeping the line of operations secret prevented the Bunerwals being informed that their frontier would be approached by our troops. Consequently they not unnaturally believed that an invasion of their country was intended, and eventually joined the coalition against us.

Ambela Expedition

Ambela Expedition, 1863.—The preliminary arrangements for the expedition appear to have suffered to no inconsiderable extent from the fact that, in order not to alarm the frontier tribes, General Chamberlain had been asked not to join his command until the last moment. On the 19th October he wrote to his brother: “I never before had such trouble or things in so unsatisfactory a state. Carriage, supplies, grain-bags, all deficient. Some of our guns and the five and a half inch mortars have to be sent back as useless, after having taken the pick of men and animals to equip a half-inch battery of R.A. Our 1st L.F. batteries have to be stripped to make the Half Battery R.A. efficient.”[^[41]]

General Chamberlain reached Swabi on the 13th October, and marched on the 18th to the mouth of the Darhan Pass with the following troops:

Peshawar Mountain Train Battery. Hazara Mountain Train Battery.[^[42]] 1st Punjab Infantry.[^[43]] 5th Gurkhas.

The other troops of the expeditionary force closed up at the same time to Nawa Kala from their camps in rear, and a proclamation was now issued to all the tribes concerned, stating the object of the operations and the reason for following this particular route. Then on the night of the 19th the following troops marched from Nawa Kala and joined at Parmalao the advanced column:

100 sabres, Guides Cavalry. 100 sabres, 11th Bengal Cavalry.[^[44]] Guides Infantry. 5th Punjab Infantry. 27th Punjab Native Infantry.[^[45]]

The junction effected, the whole moved on, under Colonel Wilde, to the mouth of the Ambela Pass, which was reached at sunrise on the 20th.

On the 20th the pass was entered and traversed, the head of the pass being held by some 250 Bunerwals, who were, however, dislodged without any great difficulty, and Colonel Wilde’s column encamped on and beyond the pass on tolerably open and level ground; he posted picquets to hold the most important points, but was not strong enough to do more. The main column had left Nawa Kala at 1 a.m. on the 20th October, and, after a short halt at Rustam, closed up to the rear of the advanced troops late in the afternoon. Both parties had found the road extraordinarily difficult; the track was tolerably good up to the village of Surkhabi, in our own territory, but thereafter deteriorated, in the pass often lying in the bed of a stream, and in other places being overgrown with jungle. In most parts it was possible to move only in single file; the rear guard did not get beyond Surkhabi; and though the ammunition mules managed, with difficulty, to keep up with their units, not a single baggage animal reached camp during the night of the 20th–21st, and only few had arrived there twenty-four hours later. It had been intended that Colonel Wilde should push forward the few cavalry with him, supported by the other arms, to reconnoitre the road down the further side of the pass and the head of the Chamla Valley, but in view of the difficulties of the road, it was deemed best to postpone any forward movement.

The Advance Commences

While halted on the pass, representatives came in from the people of Chamla and Buner expressing feelings of friendship, and no opposition seems therefore to have been anticipated from these tribes when the force again moved forward on the morning of the 22nd. To prevent any misunderstanding, a full explanation of our intentions was sent to the Buner maliks, and careful instructions were given to our reconnoitring party of cavalry and infantry, now sent on, to follow a road avoiding Buner territory as far as possible. The descent from the top of the Kotal was found to be tolerably good going, and the rest of the pass was unoccupied by any of the tribesmen.

From the foot of the range on the northern side, two roads passed through the Chamla Valley; one skirted the village of Ambela and lay under the hills dividing Chamla from Buner on the north side of the valley, while the other went by Koga on the south; and as Ambela, though actually in Chamla, was regarded by the Bunerwals as one of their own villages, the advance guard was ordered to proceed by the Koga road so as to avoid all possibility of offence or misunderstanding.

Passing the kotal leading into Buner it was seen to be crowded by Bunerwals, but they did not come down into the valley, which appeared to be quite unoccupied. The reconnoitring party pushed on through Koga to Kuria and then returned towards the Ambela; by this time it was seen that numbers of Bunerwals had come down from the hills with the evident intention of cutting off the retreat of the party. The tribesmen were charged by the cavalry and driven back, and the infantry—the 20th Punjab Infantry[^[46]] under Major Brownlow—then formed the rearguard. Daylight had now gone, the enemy came on again and pressed the 20th very closely, rushing in among them sword in hand. As the retiring troops drew near camp, the picquets became engaged, and there was a general attack upon them in the front and on the flanks of the camp, which was kept up until midnight.

Hostility of the Bunerwals

That the Bunerwals should thus have taken a decidedly hostile part against us was very serious, and our position now required to be strengthened and the plan of operations to be changed. The line of communications was secured by calling up additional infantry and levies, but it was evident that the Hindustani settlements on the Mahaban Mountain could not now be reached by the Chamla Valley, with a powerful and hostile tribe on the left flank of the line of march.

On the 24th all sick, superfluous baggage and spare transport were passed down the pass to the rear, and the troops—on this date about 6000 in number—were employed in improving the communications. The Bunerwals remained quiet, but it was noticed that they were joined by large bodies of the Hassanzais, Chagarzais, Mada Khels and Hindustanis.

Shortly after daylight next morning the enemy were observed on a ridge opposite and close to the advanced picquets of the right defence, and Major Keyes, who was there in command, advanced and dislodged them. He took up a position on a ridge commanding the plain over which the enemy had retired, and found he was then himself commanded, at a range of 700 yards, from a conical hill on which the tribesmen were collecting. He sent into camp for reinforcements, but these did not reach him until 2 p.m., when the hill was attacked and captured. It afterwards transpired that the enemy had intended to attack both sides of the camp, but one force did not come on.

The attention of the General commanding was now drawn to the left side of the camp, where was the Guru Mountain separating the Ambela Pass from Buner. The enemy had collected here in large bodies, and it was necessary to meet any attack from that quarter, and to provide for the security of a sick convoy which it was proposed to send to the rear. On the morning of the 26th, therefore, the left picquets, under Lieutenant-Colonel Vaughan, were reinforced with the following:

Hazara Mountain Battery. 30 marksmen, 71st and 101st Regiments. 200 rifles, 71st Regiment. 5th Punjab Infantry. 6th Punjab Infantry.

The “Eagle’s Nest”

These troops proceeded to the vicinity of the “Eagle’s Nest” picquet, situated a full mile from the camp, and occupying the top of a very steep, rocky knoll rising out of the southern face of the mountain, and forming the apex of that portion overlooking the left side of the camp. This picquet had hitherto only been held during the day. Colonel Vaughan now placed the thirty marksmen with eighty men of the 20th Punjab Infantry in the “Eagle’s Nest”—as many as it was capable of holding—and stationed another 120 men of the 3rd[^[47]] and 20th Punjab Infantry among some large rocks at the base of the knoll. The rest of the force with Colonel Vaughan was disposed about a small underfeature, 400 yards west of the picquet.

On the crest of the hill opposite to and distant 500 yards from our picquet, was a breastwork occupied by about 2000 of the enemy, and shortly after noon these made two fierce assaults upon the “Eagle’s Nest,” and also attacked the rest of the troops immediately under Colonel Vaughan. All these attacks were gallantly repulsed, but our casualties were heavy, amounting to twenty-nine killed and ninety-two wounded; the enemy also lost seriously, and though no further attack was made, a heavy fire was kept up during the rest of the day. The picquet was not, as usual, withdrawn at sunset, and Colonel Vaughan’s party maintained its positions all night; next day it was determined to hold permanently the “Eagle’s Nest” with forty British and 300 Native soldiers, and another post on an adjoining height, called “Vaughan’s Picquet,” with the Hazara Mountain Battery, fifty British and 300 Native soldiers. Of the enemy’s killed and wounded many were Hindustanis, and some were apparently ex-soldiers of the late 55th Native Infantry.

News was now received that the Akhund of Swat, the Border Pope, had thrown in his lot with the Bunerwals, and had summoned also the people of Bajaur and Dir; Chamla sent its quota; the Utman Khels, Afridis from Lundkhwar, also took the field; and it was evident that there was now a general combination against us of almost all the tribes from the Indus to the boundary of Afghanistan. Old feuds seemed to be forgotten, for tribes and chiefs, usually bitter enemies, were now ready to fight side by side against us; and it was clear how greatly the situation had changed for the worse since the force had first entered the Ambela Pass. Then the troops had merely to deal with the tribes on the Mahaban Mountain, to expel the Hindustanis from that tract, and march to its borders through a friendly, or at least a not actively hostile, country. General Chamberlain recognised that it would be inadvisable to make any advance, such as had been contemplated, with his present force against so large a combination. He therefore decided to remain on the defensive in the position he now occupied, which was secure, where at any rate his communications were safeguarded, and where supplies and reinforcements could easily reach him, trusting that the discouragement of repeated unsuccessful attacks would gradually weaken the enemy’s numbers and break up the coalition.

Between the 27th and 29th the force was strengthened by the arrival of two guns of the 3rd Punjab Light Field Battery,[^[48]] the 14th Sikhs, and the 4th Gurkhas, but it was known that the tribesmen too had received reinforcements, and that an attack was shortly to be made upon the camp defences.

The “Crag Picquet”

On the night of the 29th–30th the advanced picquets of the right defence were furnished by the 1st Punjab Infantry and a company of the Guides, under Major Keyes. Above the main picquets and commanding them was “the Crag”—a high rock, the ascent to which was most precipitous, and the summit of which was incapable of containing more than a very few men. Shortly before daybreak this position was heavily attacked, and it soon became apparent that its garrison was hard pressed. Reinforcements were at once sent forward from the lower picquets, but, before “the Crag” could be reached, the small garrison was overpowered and driven off the rock, though the men held the ground lower down. Major Keyes decided to hold his ground until daylight among the rocks immediately below the summit and sent for help. As day broke the picquets were here reinforced by the 20th Punjab Infantry under Major Brownlow, and this officer advanced by a ridge which ran to the right of “the Crag” and threatened the enemy in rear, while Major Keyes attacked in front. The assault thus carried out and supported was entirely successful; a hand-to-hand fight ensued when the summit of the rock was reached, but the enemy were driven out at the point of the bayonet and the position was recovered. No sooner had “the Crag” been recaptured than the right attack fell to pieces and the tribesmen fled in panic. Lieutenants Fosbery, 104th Fusiliers, and Pitcher, 1st Punjab Infantry, were awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry on this occasion.

While this attack on the right was in progress, another by men from Swat was delivered on the front of the camp, but this was easily repulsed; a demonstration was also made against the upper left flank picquets. Our losses on this day amounted to fifty-five killed and wounded, but those of the enemy had been so heavy, and the effect of the defeat so great, that many of the tribesmen returned to their homes.

The General commanding now decided to arrange for a new line of communications which should not be exposed to attack from the direction of the Guru Mountain. A line of road was therefore selected between the villages of Khanpur and Sherdara, and the base of operations was changed from Rustam to Parmalao. On the 28th October and 5th November the 7th Fusiliers, 93rd Highlanders, 23rd[^[49]] and 24th[^[50]] Punjab Native Infantry were ordered up to this frontier; a body of 275 police, horse and foot, was sent up to Nawa Kala to assist in the protection of the rearward communications; and later on 4200 camels and 2100 mules were collected at Nowshera, in view of the demand for pack transport which might have to be met when the force eventually moved forward. Working parties were also employed in making a road, to facilitate the forward march on Ambela, along the western slopes of the right ridge, and thus covered from any fire from the Guru Mountain. On the 6th November the operations on this road caused us considerable loss. The working parties had been sent forward as usual, covered by picquets beyond and above them, and all had gone well until the time came to withdraw. The working parties were successfully retired, but the forward covering parties seem to have, for some unknown reason, remained too long on their ground, and were surrounded by the enemy, who moved up in large numbers. The light was failing, and the enemy seem to have broken in between some of the picquets: many of the covering party fought their way back to camp, but our losses this day amounted to seventy-eight of all ranks killed and wounded; the bodies of some of the former had temporarily to be left behind, but were recovered next day.

On the 8th the new road to the rear was taken into use, and a commencement was made in removing supplies, etc., to the south side of the pass, where it was proposed to form a new camp, thereby saving much picquet duty and affording an actually stronger position.

“Crag Picquet” Attacked

On the 11th the enemy ascended the hills about Lalu, on our right front, in large numbers, evidently with the intention of attacking the picquets on that side of the camp. These were accordingly reinforced and their defences strengthened. “The Crag” had recently been much enlarged and improved, and was now capable of accommodating a garrison of 160 men, while it was supported by the mountain guns of the Peshawar Battery from the main picquet. At 4 p.m. on the 11th Major Brownlow assumed command of “the Crag,” having under him fifteen of the 101st Fusiliers, thirty of the 14th Sikhs, and 115 of the 20th Punjab Native Infantry. Two of the four mountain guns commanded the left shoulder of “the Crag” hill and the front of the “Centre” picquet below. The enemy occupied a position about half a mile in length on a ridge facing and within 250 yards of “the Crag” picquet. Between the two positions was a hollow intersected by a ravine. The right and rear of “the Crag” were precipitous and practically unassailable; the left face was the weak point, there being cover for an attacker to within a few yards of the position. Anticipating an attack, every effort was this day made to improve the defences. About 10 p.m. the enemy moved down in large numbers to the hollow in front of the picquet, and shortly after made repeated desperate attacks until daybreak upon the front and left of the picquet, but were beaten back with loss, although at one time they nearly penetrated the position at its left front angle; the situation was saved by the gallantry and devotion of Major Brownlow and five men of his regiment. By morning but very few of the enemy were anywhere visible, and as Major Brownlow’s men had been for forty-eight hours on duty, they were relieved at 8 a.m. on the 30th by ninety men of the 1st Punjab Infantry under Lieutenant Davidson.

This officer soon after asked Major Keyes for reinforcements, as he did not consider his ninety men sufficient garrison for the position, and thirty additional men were sent him, all that could at the moment be spared, as serious attacks were anticipated upon other portions of the defence. These reinforcements had only just reached “the Crag,” when the men of the picquet were seen to be vacating it and rushing down the hill in confusion. Major Keyes at once proceeded to and occupied a breastwork on the road between “the Crag” and the main picquet, and there rallied the retreating men and checked the advance of the enemy. Feeling the urgent need of the moral effect of a counter attack and the necessity for giving time for the arrival of support, he ordered an assault upon “the Crag.” This, though bravely led and executed, was unsuccessful, owing to the paucity of men available, and the detachments fell back. The enemy occupying “the Crag” were now pouring a heavy fire into the camp, and its continued possession by them would render the lower picquets untenable. Lieutenant-Colonel Wilde, commanding the right defences, now asked for the 101st Regiment, and taking also three companies of the Guides, made for the advanced picquets, where the state of affairs was as follows: Major Ross, with some of the 14th Sikhs and men of other corps, was holding on halfway up “the Crag” hill, but unable to advance any further; parties of the enemy, attacking the lower picquets, were only kept back by the well-directed fire of the mountain guns; while the 1st, 20th, and two companies of the Guides with Major Keyes still held the breastwork, but could not hope to do so for long.

Re-Capture of the “Crag”

The 101st now at once advanced direct upon “the Crag,” and never halted or broke until they had gallantly stormed the heights and secured the picquet, driving the enemy over the hills beyond, while the three companies of Guides swept the enemy from the right of the position. All opposition now ceased along the whole line, the enemy having lost very heavily, their casualties being 89 killed and 140 wounded. The defenders of “the Crag” seem to have been seized with an unaccountable panic, owing to the enemy concentrating a large force, unobserved, upon a weak picquet: Lieutenant Davidson was killed at his post.

During the next four or five days no attacks of a serious character were made by the enemy. Early on the morning of the 18th, the new camp being ready for occupation, the whole of the troops occupying the Guru Mountain were withdrawn, and the entire camp and troops transferred to the heights on the south of the pass, while steps were also taken to extend the position so as more effectually to command the water supply. Imagining from the evacuation of the Guru position that the force was retreating, the new left front of the camp was this day fiercely attacked, but the enemy were repulsed with heavy losses on both sides.

“Crag” Lost and Re-Captured

On the 20th November “the Crag” picquet was garrisoned by 100 bayonets from the 101st Fusiliers and an equal number from the 20th Punjab Native Infantry; the “Water” picquet, within 450 yards of it, by 100 bayonets of the 71st Foot and 100 men of the 3rd Punjab Infantry. About 9 a.m. the enemy began to collect in large numbers near these picquets, principally threatening “the Crag,” but were to some extent checked by the fire of the Peshawar mountain battery. Up to late in the afternoon the tribesmen had made no impression, though they had succeeded in establishing themselves within a few yards of the breastworks. About 3 p.m., however, the unaccountable conduct of an officer on the left of the picquet, who suddenly ordered the troops immediately under his command to retire, gave the enemy possession of the post—though not without a desperate resistance from the remainder of the garrison. On the fall of “the Crag” being reported, General Chamberlain ordered up the 71st Foot and the 5th Gurkhas to retake it; the 71st stormed the position in front, the Gurkhas and 5th Punjab Infantry attacking the lower portion in flank, and the work was retaken without much loss on our side. Among the wounded, however, was the General commanding, who had accompanied the storming party. Thus for the third time was “the Crag” lost and won—a spot which, from the heavy casualties there sustained on either side, had become known in the country side as the katlgar, or place of slaughter.

This action, despite the temporary success gained, seemed to have a depressing effect on the enemy; their numbers dwindled down, and from this date until the 15th December they made no further attack in any force. Sir Nevill Chamberlain’s wound proving more serious than was at first expected, he asked to be relieved of the command, and on the 30th November his place was taken by Major-General Garvock.

Meanwhile the political officers had had some success in their attempts to detach certain clans from the coalition. Two divisions of the Bunerwals had thus seceded; 2000 Swatis had been induced to return to their homes; one or two influential chiefs had drawn off their followers; while amongst the men who remained in the field a general mistrust prevailed. The gathering, in fact, seemed to be only now held together by the influence of the Akhund of Swat and of the Maulvi. Still reinforcements reached the tribesmen from Kunar and Bajaur, while our force was strengthened by the arrival of the 7th Fusiliers, the 93rd Highlanders, the 3rd Sikhs and 23rd Punjab Native Infantry.

It was becoming increasingly evident that the Buner and Chamla tribes were weary of the war, and were beginning to realise that we had never harboured any idea of invading their country; and on the 10th December they sent a deputation into our camp and agreed to accompany a force sent to destroy the Hindustani settlement at Malka, and to expel the Hindustanis from their country. On the 14th, however, they found themselves obliged to admit that they had promised more than they could perform; that their proposals had been over-ruled; and they advised us that an attack would be made on the camp on the 16th, and promised that, in the event of our taking the initiative, they, the Bunerwals, would not actively oppose us.

The Force Moves Forward

General Garvock accordingly determined to attack the village of Lalu, where there was a force of about 4000 of the enemy, and for this purpose he moved out on the 15th with some 4800 men, unencumbered by tents or baggage, formed into two columns. The first column assembled at the base of “the Crag” picquet and drove the enemy before it to the “Conical” hill. The second column now emerged from the camp, and deploying in prolongation of the line formed by the other column, both prepared to assault the “Conical” hill—a most formidable position, extraordinarily precipitous, rocky, and scarped by nature. Covered by the mountain guns, both columns descended the hill, crossed the valley, drove the enemy from the heights, and captured the position. Colonel Wilde secured the line of hills overlooking the Chamla Valley, while the rest of the force, pushing on after the enemy, captured the villages of Banda and Lalu. The enemy made a vigorous assault upon Colonel Wilde’s position, but were driven off with great slaughter, and a desultory attack was also made upon the front and left of the camp, now held by some 3000 men under Colonel Vaughan. That night the first column occupied the ground it had gained about Lalu; Colonel Wilde that between the camp and “Conical” hill. Not a shot was fired that night. Early next morning the cavalry—some 400 sabres under Lieutenant-Colonel Probyn—were brought from camp, and the advance of the two columns was resumed, Colonel Wilde leading. Advancing across the valley towards the Buner Pass, as the column debouched into the open country the enemy appeared in great force on the hills covering the approach to Ambela—a well-chosen position, of great strength, and peculiarly capable of defence; but fearing that their left would be turned by the cavalry and the other column, the tribesmen abandoned the position and retreated slowly towards the pass leading to Buner. The force pressed on, captured and burnt the village of Ambela, and the first column endeavoured to cut off the enemy’s retreat from the pass towards which they were retiring. Here the tribesmen stood, and made a furious onset on the left of the line, entangled in broken and wooded ground. But the attackers were destroyed almost to a man, and the force pushed forward into the pass, driving the enemy before it. It was now getting late, there was no wish to invade Buner, and the enemy further was in great strength. General Garvock therefore withdrew his troops, and bivouacked that night in the vicinity of Ambela. During these two days the tribesmen present in the field were estimated at 15,000, chiefly Hindustanis, Bajauris, and men from Dir and Swat—none of the Bunerwals had taken any prominent part in the fighting.

That night the men of Bajaur and Dir fled to their homes, and the Swatis alone remained in the field; on the morning of the 17th the Buner jirgah came once more into camp, actually asking for orders. It was wisely decided to require the Bunerwals themselves to destroy Malka without any aid from our troops, and to this the Buner jirgah unanimously consented. Accordingly, on the 19th, a party of six British officers, escorted by the Guides and accompanied by part of the Buner jirgah, left Ambela, and marched through Chamla and Amazai territory—by Kuria and Nagrai—to Malka, which was reached on the 21st. On the following day the settlement was burnt to the ground by the Bunerwals and Amazais, and the party rejoined the force on the 23rd in the Ambela Pass. During these four days matters once or twice looked uncertain, and indeed threatening, but throughout the Bunerwals maintained their reputation for keeping their engagements, while the sight of so powerful a clan carrying out our orders upon their own allies, afforded a salutary lesson to the surrounding tribesmen.

End of Ambela Expedition

General Garvock’s force now began to withdraw to the plains, and the whole had reached Nawa Kala by Christmas Day. Our casualties during the whole of these operations had been 238 killed and 670 wounded, while the estimated total loss of the enemy was 3000.

During the next few years the behaviour of the Bunerwals may, in comparison with that of many other frontier tribes, be described as “good.” Raids were committed upon our border villages in 1868 and 1877, and in 1878 and 1879 there was a certain amount of unrest in Buner, due to the inflammatory preachings of certain mullahs. In 1884 renewed outrages had to be punished by a blockade of the Salarzai Bunerwals; and in 1887 a small column composed of cavalry and infantry was sent to destroy the village of Surai Malandri in punishment for the incursions of raiding parties across the Malandri Pass, but at the end of the year, the Bunerwals submitting, the long-continued blockade was removed. During the Black Mountain expedition of 1888 the Bunerwals evinced a disposition to take part against us, but refrained from doing so; while in 1895 they sent a contingent to help hold the passes against General Low’s force, but arriving too late for the Malakand fighting, this party returned home again. In 1897, however, the Bunerwals were well to the fore in much of the fighting at the Malakand and in Upper Swat, but when called to account at the end of 1897 they merely sent defiant answers to the ultimatum of the political officers, and it therefore became necessary to despatch an expedition into their country.

Expedition against the Bunerwals and Chamlawals, January 1898.—The Buner Field Force was placed under the command of Major-General Sir Bindon Blood, and the greater part of it concentrated at Sanghao: it was composed as under:

FIRST BRIGADE.

Brigadier-General Meiklejohn, C.B., C.M.G.

1st Battalion Royal West Kent Regiment. 16th Bengal Infantry.[^[51]] 20th Punjab Infantry. 31st Punjab Infantry.

SECOND BRIGADE.

Brigadier-General Jeffreys, C.B.

1st Battalion The Buffs. 21st Punjab Infantry.[^[52]] Guides Infantry.

DIVISIONAL TROOPS.

10th Field Battery R.A. No. 7 Mountain Battery R.A. No. 8 Bengal Mountain Battery R.A.[^[53]] 1 Squadron 10th Bengal Lancers.[^[54]] Guides Cavalry. 2nd Battalion Highland Light Infantry. 6 Companies 3rd Bombay Light Infantry.[^[55]] No. 4 Company Bengal Sappers and Miners. No. 5 Company Madras Sappers and Miners.

Buner Expedition of 1898

Sir Bindon Blood, with the bulk of his troops at Sanghao, intended to force the Tanga Pass, about a mile to the northward, while a small column composed of the 31st Punjab Infantry, the Guides Infantry and a section of No. 4 Company Bengal Sappers and Miners, was to capture the Pirsai Pass, when the cavalry, moving from Rustam, was to cross over the Pirsai Pass and cut the enemy’s line of retreat from the Tanga. This last-named pass was known to be held by about a thousand of the enemy, as were the Ambela and Malandri, but only forty or fifty men had collected for the defence of the Pirsai. The 2nd Brigade advanced on the morning of the 7th January and found the position defended by at least 2000 men, and from a parallel ridge facing the pass the Buffs and mountain guns opened fire at 1500 yards, under cover of which the rest of the troops pushed forward through the ravine, while the 20th Punjab Infantry had ascended a steep spur to the east, leading to a high peak overlooking the position. When the 20th were seen to be approaching their objective, the frontal attack commenced. The enemy, however, demoralised by the heavy gun and rifle fire, made no real stand, and, pressed by the 20th on their right, early began to abandon their position, and finally fled down the valley towards Kingargali and the hills beyond. Three battalions of the 1st Brigade pushed on to Kingargali, which was found deserted. Meanwhile the cavalry and infantry from Rustam and Pirsai had captured the Pirsai Pass without meeting with but slight resistance, and the cavalry pushed on up the narrow valley as far as Kuhai, returning to Chorbanda, two miles north of the pass, where the night was spent. On the 10th this column joined the 1st Brigade at Bampokha.

Two divisions of Bunerwals now at once came in and tendered their submission, but it was decided to visit the territory of every division, and General Meiklejohn’s column accordingly marched to Jawar Bai, Hildai, Rega, where the house of the Mad Fakir (of whom more will be heard later) was destroyed, and Barkeli. The 2nd Brigade, which had returned to Sanghao after the capture of the Tanga Pass, entered Buner by the Ambela Pass and occupied Koga and Nawagai, the cavalry reconnoitring the Chamla Valley. These measures led to the prompt and complete submission of all divisions of the Bunerwals and of the men of Chamla, and the force was withdrawn by the Ambela Pass, and reached Mardan on the 20th January.

Operations against the Gaduns

During the Ambela expedition of 1863 the behaviour of the Gadun tribe had not been uniformly satisfactory, and consequently on the break up of the force Colonel Wilde took a strong brigade into their country, visited Meni, and also Khabal in the territory of the Utmanzais, whose conduct had been of an equally hostile character. No opposition was experienced, but it was decided to require the two tribes to perform a similar service to that demanded of the Bunerwals, viz. to destroy a Hindustani fort and settlement called Mandi adjacent to Sitana. This was carried out and the force was then broken up; the effect of these measures was immediately apparent, for within the next few weeks the Mada Khels, the Amazais and the remaining sections of the Hassanzais all sent deputations to our political officers and made their submission. For some years, however, the Gaduns continued to give trouble, committing outrages of all kinds and raiding on the border. They were blockaded, coerced and fined, but continued to be troublesome; in 1897, too, they were implicated in the attacks on the Malakand and Chakdara posts, but in the end of that year they finally made submission and paid up the fines demanded of them.

This chapter commenced with some account of our dealings with the Hindustani fanatics, and may fittingly end with a few final words about them. Expelled in 1864 from Malka, they retreated into the Chagarzai country north of the Barandu River, but were not very comfortable there, their hosts frequently threatening them with expulsion. In 1868 they appear to have moved from their settlements in the Chagarzai territory to Bajkatta in Buner, and here in April they were joined by Feroz Shah, the son of the last king of Delhi. The presence of the Hindustanis in Buner was abhorrent to the Akhund, who induced his co-religionists to decide to expel them. In consequence of this resolve, the fanatics, now some 700 strong, hurriedly retreated to Malka, where they commenced re-building their houses. Some of them eventually got permission to return to Buner, but, intriguing against the Akhund, the order of expulsion was again put in force, and they were hunted out of the country, suffering heavy losses, and took refuge, first with the Chagarzais, then at Palosi—moving again to Thakot, and eventually back again to the country of the Hassanzais who rented them some land at Maidan near Palosi, where they remained until 1888. After their dramatic appearance at Kotkai in the Black Mountain operations of 1888, they resought an asylum among the Chagarzais, but are now, to the number of 700, living among the Amazais, neither occupying themselves greatly with local feuds nor being seriously implicated in other disturbances. But of late years there have not been wanting signs—faint, perhaps, but discernible—of a slight revival of their former activity.

CHAPTER V.
AKOZAIS. (SWAT.)[^[56]]

The district of Swat proper—as distinct from the tracts of country south of the Malakand and Morah Mountains, and inhabited by the same clans—comprises the valley of the Swat River, from its junction with the Panjkora northwards to the village of Ain, above which the country is known as Swat Kohistan. From Ain to the Landakai spur, five miles above Chakdara, the valley is called Bar, or Upper Swat, while Kuz, or Lower Swat, is the name given to the portion from Landakai downwards to the village of Kalangai. The valley is about seventy miles long and some twelve miles wide from crest to crest of its watersheds. The river, fed by glaciers and snow, begins to rise in the middle of April, and rapidly becomes unfordable, falling again in the middle of September, and being passable almost anywhere by midwinter. The climate is much the same as that of Buner, and the valley is unhealthy and malarious in summer.

Of the country of Swat, Oliver, in Across the Border, writes: “Its hill tops are clothed with rich forests, giving place to a variety of excellent fruit trees in its well-watered valleys. Its climate is temperate even in summer, and its capabilities great. Many parts of it are known to be rich in ancient remains; the frequent ruins in Swat and Bajaur indicate the former presence of Greek, Buddhist and Hindu, and innumerable inscribed tablets in Greek and Pali—probably becoming fewer and less valuable every year—only await scientific investigation to throw much light on the ancient history of this part of the world.... The river from which the district takes its name, probably the Suastos of Arrian, debouches on British territory near the fort of Abazai, whence, up to its junction with the Panjkora—the ancient Gauraios—it is a swift, deep torrent, rushing between precipitous banks; the surrounding hills impracticable for any except foot passengers, and not easy for them, being in the hands of the Utman Khels.... The whole valley is highly cultivated and densely populated, each glen or gorge has its village or hamlet, and the total population has been estimated at not far short of 100,000 souls. The fields are in terraces one above another, extensively irrigated by channels diverted from the river or the torrents flowing into it. The course of the river itself, working from side to side of the valley, is marked by more numerous villages, groves of trees, and almost unbroken cultivation. The very burying-grounds, usually especially sacred to Pathans, are regularly ploughed up, and the dead buried in the fallow lands; hardly a single yard of tillable ground is neglected. Wheat and most grains, sugar-cane, lucerne, tobacco, and vegetables are extensively grown, and Upper Swat yields excellent fruits. 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 valley. Picturesque it is in the extreme; the upper slopes of the mountains are well clothed with forests of pine and deodar; below lies a beautiful velvet-like turf, and again stretches of cultivation, dotted with houses—wretched hovels enough, but artistically half-hidden among rich clusters of plane or poplar; and bright clear streams everywhere rushing down to the brisk noisy Swat, dashing over its boulder-strewn bed, like a Scotch salmon river. All the same, the notorious insalubrity of the valley is a very serious drawback to all this beauty.... The men especially are weak, thin and feeble, hardly resembling Pathans in form or feature, and more like the Gujars of the Lower Punjab. The women, on the other hand, seem curiously much less affected, for they are described as stout and buxom, and though by no means good-looking, retain far more of the Pathan appearance. They have, moreover, entirely reversed the position of the sexes prevailing in ordinary Pathan communities. Not only do they go unveiled, and enjoy more liberty, but rule the men to a greater extent than is known among Pathans elsewhere. The men of the Swat Valley, are, in fact, credited with living to a great extent under petticoat government.”

The Swat Valley

In character the people appear to differ but little from other Pathans. They possess all the vices common to that race, and are not behind them in pride, cupidity, revengefulness or treachery. In the last-named vice, indeed, they may indisputably be given the first place among Pathan tribes. At one time their courage was not held in very high esteem, but the fighting in 1895 and 1897 seems to prove that in this respect they have been by us and others curiously misjudged. Beyond a few individuals, however, none of the Swat tribes are represented in the Indian regular army, although some 400 are serving in the Dir and Swat levies; this service is popular with them, as it is close to their homes, and as they are generally prosperous, they prefer not to wander far afield in search of military service.

The Swat Valley, and those to the west and south-west of it, form classic ground, for it was through them that Alexander himself marched on his way to the invasion of India. It was in the winter of 327 B.C. that he left the city he had founded to the north of Kabul, and somewhere west of Jagdallak he divided his force into two parts. Hephæstion, with the heavy troops forming the main body, followed the direct route through the Khyber, marching on an ancient city, the capital of Gandhara, and to the north-east of Peshawar. Alexander, with the light troops, entered the Kunar Valley and crossed the Kunar watershed by the Spinasuka Pass, which leads direct from Pashat, the present capital of Kunar, into Bajaur, and there found himself close to Nawagai, the present chief town of Bajaur. Thence he passed over the Gauraios or Panjkora River some few miles below its junction with the Swat, and so came to the siege and capture of Massaga, identified as Matkanai, near the Malakand Pass, by which Alexander must have crossed from the Swat Valley to the plain country bordering the Indus.

The language spoken in Swat is Pushtu, except in Swat Kohistan, where Torwali and Garhwi are used.

The best road into Swat from the south is over the Malakand Pass; the Shakot, further to the east, is shorter, but the ascent is steeper, while the Morah Pass entrance is still more difficult.

The Government of Swat

The Government of Swat, like that of all Pathan tribes, is an almost complete democracy. The country is split up into nearly as many factions as there are villages. Each sub-division of each division of each clan has its separate quarrels, and supports its own chief, who is generally at mortal feud with either his own relations or his neighbours, and who is seldom obeyed one instant longer than is convenient; so that nothing short of pressing danger to the whole community from without could ever bring together all the divisions into which Swat is separated. But that which could not be effected by ordinary means has, in a measure, been brought about by the influence of one individual, working on the religious feelings of a mass of grossly ignorant and proportionately bigoted people, such as are the inhabitants of Swat; this man was the late Akhund of Swat. The Akhund exerted such a powerful influence, as already seen in the Ambela campaign, not only over the district of Swat, but over the whole of the Yusafzai border, that an account of him somewhat in detail may not be out of place.

Abdul Ghafur, as was his original name, was born of poor and obscure parents, probably Gujars, at the village of Jabrai, in Upper Swat, and passed his early boyhood tending sheep and cattle. He was even then distinguished for his religious proclivities, and at the age of eighteen he decided to adopt the life of an ascetic, and proceeded to Barangola to learn to read and write, and master the rudiments of his religion. Thence, after a time, he set out as an “inquirer after wisdom,” and at first took up his abode in or near a mosque about three miles from Mardan; but moving on again after a stay of a few months, he became, at Tordhair, the disciple of a fakir who enjoyed in those parts a reputation for peculiar sanctity. Here the Akhund resolved to exchange the mosque for the hermitage, and became a recluse.

About the year 1816 he accordingly settled down, as a young man of barely twenty, to a life of the greatest austerity, at a lonely spot on the banks of the Indus, below the village of Beka, ten miles above Attock, where for twelve years he followed the Nakshbandia form of religious devotion—sitting silent and motionless, his head bowed on his chest, and his eyes fixed on the ground. His food was an inferior kind of millet moistened with water, and throughout his life—he died at the age of eightythree—his diet was equally simple, milk being, however, subsequently substituted for water. His fame as a saint dates from his sojourn at Beka, and even to this day, in the most distant parts of Persia, he is still remembered as “the Hermit of Beka.”

A Militant Priest

In an evil moment he unwisely allowed himself to be drawn into a quarrel between the Khan of Hund and Saiyid Ahmad of Bareilly, and found himself obliged to abandon his retreat at Beka, and wander forth unknown and of no account; but after some years he settled down in a ziarat at Ghulaman, in British Yusafzai, and recovering his old reputation for sanctity and piety, his advice and prayers were again in great request. Thence in time he removed to the village of Salim Khan, in the south-east of British Yusafzai and on the border of the Khudu Khels, and, being generally regarded as a saint, was given the title of Akhund by the learned Moslem doctors of the day.

On two occasions was the Akhund beguiled—possibly from some dread of loss of ascendancy among his co-religionists should he refuse—into taking up arms for “the Faith.” In the year 1835, Dost Muhammad Khan, Amir of Kabul, invited him to join his force near Peshawar, with as large a body of his disciples as he could persuade to accompany him, and attack the camp of the Sikhs. This the Akhund did, and he and his following had some trifling success against the soldiers of the Khalsa. But the arrival of Ranjit Singh to command the Sikh armies in person was enough to send the Amir flying precipitately through the Khyber, and to scatter the Akhund’s fanatical rabble in all directions. The Akhund himself made for Buner with a few followers, who quickly deserted him, and then, returning to his ascetic and secluded life, he settled for a time in Ranizai territory. From here he moved a few years later to the village of Saidu Mandz, in the Baizai district of Swat, where he lived surrounded by numerous disciples and visited by crowds of devotees. The Akhund gained such an ascendancy over the minds of his co-religionists that they believed all kinds of stories about him; that he was supplied by supernatural means with the necessities of life, and that every morning a sum of money, sufficient for his own needs and for the entertainment of the pilgrims who flocked to consult him, was found under his praying carpet. But most wonderful of all—he was never known to accept any present offered to him.

“His ascendancy over the Muhammadans of the Border and Eastern Afghanistan,” says Oliver, “was as great as that of Loyola in Rome or Luther in Saxony; his edicts regarding religious customs and secular observances were as unquestioned as the Papal Bulls in Spain. When the chiefs of Swat recognised the possibility of British military operations extending to their valley and the necessity for federation, it was to the Akhund they turned to select them a king. His selection was a Saiyid of Sitana, who for some years carried on an organised government under the patronage of the Border Pope. Putting aside the incredulous stories about him as priest, his life seems to have been one of devotion, humility, abstinence and chastity; the doctrines he taught were as tolerant and liberal as those of his Wahabi opponents were intolerant and puritanical. Judged by 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 precepts of Muhammadan law as far as ineradicable Pathan custom would permit him.”

His Ascendancy

For many years after settling at Saidu Mandz, he held himself aloof from secular affairs, preached peace towards all men, and counselled the tribesmen to cultivate friendly relations with the British Government. In 1847 he did his best to prevent the Swatis from assisting the Baizais, whom we were engaged in punishing. When the mutineers of the 55th Native Infantry, flying from Mardan before Nicholson, crossed the boundary into Swat, he caused them to be deported beyond the Indus; and he supported our government so far as lay in his power during the anxious days of the Mutiny. He had always opposed the colonies of Hindustani fanatics, so that his conduct in 1863, when during the Ambela expedition he sided with them, seems difficult to explain. Colonel Reynell Taylor believed, and his belief was shared by those at the time best able to judge, that the Akhund had taken the line he did in fear that if he did not show sympathy with Buner on this occasion, his influence might pass to some more compliant leader. The pressure brought to bear on him was practically irresistible; the adjurations of the Buner chiefs and people had been most passionate, all the mullahs of the country, with many of the women, having been deputed to beseech him to adopt their cause.

The expedition having come to an end, he went back to his former life, and never again took the field. He was then already seventy years of age, and thenceforth until his death in January, 1877, he did his best to hold in check the wild spirits of the border.

During his residence in Saidu Mandz the Akhund married a woman of a neighbouring village; she bore him two sons and a daughter. The elder of the sons was Abdul Manan, alias Mian Gul, who, after the death of the Akhund, became involved in a struggle for supremacy in Swat with the Khan of Dir, and in 1883, aided by the chief of Bajaur and the name of his father, he established himself for a brief period before his death. The younger son, Abdul Khalik, was, as his father before him, an ascetic and a hermit, but he had no influence whatever, and was unknown beyond the boundaries of his own valley.

“No Border Pontiff has yet arisen,” writes the author of Across the Border, “who can successfully fill the chair of his eminence Abdul Ghafur, the Akhund of Swat.”

The Akozais, the inhabitants of Swat, are separated into five divisions:

1. Baizai. 2. Ranizai. 3. Khadakzai. 4. Abazai. 5. Khwazozai.

Divisions of the Akozais

The Baizais inhabit the country on the left bank of the Swat River from the borders of Kohistan as far as and including Thana; the division contains three sub-divisions, and of these certain sections live beyond the limits of the Swat Valley, in the Ghurban, Kana, Puran and Chakesar Valleys, the drainage of which finds its way into the Indus. In addition to the Baizai there are also the Sam, or lowland, Baizai, who occupy the land from our border to the foot of the hills below the Morah Pass. The villages in this territory formerly belonged to the Baizai maliks, and were occupied by their tenants and servants, but have now become independent.

The Ranizais occupy the left bank of the Swat River from the district of the most southerly sub-division of the Baizais at Thana to the Utman Khel boundary, which is about three miles above the junction of the Swat with the Panjkora. To the north their territory extends to the river, and includes the islands between the different channels, while the southern boundary is formed by the watershed of the hills on that side. The importance of the division lies mainly in their possession of the Malakand and Shakot Passes; the Digar Pass, which is further to the west, also leads into the Ranizai country, but the pass itself is partly in the hands of the Utman Khels.

Formerly the whole of the country from the hills to the British border, now held by the Sam Ranizais, belonged to the Ranizai division, as the people known as Sam Ranizais, and who are now independent, were originally servants and tenants of the Ranizais.

The Ranizais contain five sub-divisions, and their principal village is Aladand, at the mouth of the Shakot Pass.

The Khadakzais are on the right bank of the Swat River, extending from Abazai territory to the country of the Dusha Khel; the principal village is Barangola.

The Abazais inhabit a small valley on the right bank of the Swat River immediately below the Adinzai sub-division of the Khwazozais. Both the Abazais and the Khadakzais are insignificant divisions of the Akozai tribe, numbering between them no more than 750 fighting men, and within recent years these divisions and the Adinzai sub-division of the Khwazozai, which is stronger than the two combined, have been handed over to the Khan of Dir. The importance of the Adinzai sub-division consists in their possession of the village of Chakdara, where the river is bridged, and which is on the main route from India to Bajaur and Chitral. The Swat River runs here in six channels, covering about three-quarters of a mile of ground; the village is on a bank 60 feet high, and some 600 yards from the nearest branch of the river. An iron girder bridge crosses the river three-quarters of a mile below the village, and there is a fort on the right bank.

The Khwazozais are, next to the Baizais, the strongest division of the Swat clan; they are separated into five sub-divisions, and occupy the valley on the right bank of the river from Kohistan to Chakdara.

Besides the above five divisions of the Akozai clan, mention must be made of some others who inhabit territory adjacent to the country of Swat. The Dusha Khels are Yusafzais, whose territory lies south of the Talash Valley and east of the Panjkora, running down in a narrow wedge between that river and the Khadakzai country to the banks of the Swat River. Their country is very mountainous, they themselves are very independent in character, and bear a reputation for thieving. They have been handed over to the Khan of Dir.

North of Swat proper, in Swat Kohistan, live the Torwals and the Garhwis, and in the Panjkora Kohistan are the Bashkaris. Little is known of these tribes, but they are not Pathans, and are probably the descendants of the races occupying Dir and Swat prior to the arrival upon the scene of the Pathans. The Roganis, Katnis and Gurohs, who are supposed to be of Kafir descent, are also located in Dir.