On the 3rd October the Second Brigade, with two mountain batteries, attacked and destroyed the village of Badalai, experiencing small opposition until the retirement commenced, when the enemy came on with great boldness, and to the number of between two and three thousand.

There was now a very large body of troops at Inayat Kila, and the Mamunds began clearly to recognise the hopelessness of prolonging the resistance. They accordingly opened negotiations through the Khan of Nawagai, their jirgah finally coming in on the 11th October and agreeing to all our terms. The operations against the Mamunds, who had shown fighting qualities of a high order, now came to an end, and the troops were withdrawn from the Watelai Valley. During the period from the 14th September to the 11th October, our casualties totalled 61 killed and 218 wounded.

On his way back to the Malakand, Sir Bindon Blood halted in the Salarzai Valley and easily forced that section of the Tarkanris to submit, while the Babukarra Valley was thoroughly explored. The last of the troops crossed the Panjkora on the 23rd, and four days later the whole force returned to the Swat Valley.

Since the conclusion of the operations just described, the clans of Dir and Bajaur have given no trouble to the British Government; but the efforts which the ambitions of the local khans cause them to make in order to add to their territories, and the constant intrigues of pretenders and other claimants, combine with the natural pugnacity of the Pathan to cause some occasional anxiety as to the continued security of our communications with Chitral.

CHAPTER VIII.
CHITRALIS.[[77]]

Chitral is the largest and the most important state on the northern part of the north-western frontier. It lies immediately to the west of Gilgit, while on the other side it is divided by the Hindu Kush from the province of Kafiristan—transferred to the dominions of Afghanistan during the latter part of the reign of the late Amir Abdurrahman Khan. South of Gilgit the Shandur spur and the watershed between the Chitral and Panjkora Rivers divide the country from Yasin, Kohistan and Dir; it is bordered on the north by the Hindu Kush; while to the south the watershed of the Arnawai Stream forms the boundary between Chitral and the districts of Dir and Asmar. It is an especially mountainous country, “composed partly of gigantic snowy peaks, mostly of barren rocky mountains, and, in a very small degree, of cultivated land. The valleys are narrow and confined, the main ones in their inhabited portions running from 5000 to 8000 feet above sea-level. It is only in them that any cultivation at all is found, and even then it is not carried on very extensively.... But the whole food production is small, and barely suffices for the people of the country, leaving little to spare for outsiders. The climate varies according to the height of the valley. In the lower parts, at about 5000 feet above sea-level, it ranges from 12° or 15° in winter to 100° in summer, and higher up, at 8000 feet, it would vary from 5° or so below zero to about 90° in summer.”[[78]]

Sir George Robertson, in his Chitral, says that “food is so scarce that a fat man has never yet been seen in the country; even the upper classes look underfed, and the most effective of bribes is a full meal. The hill tracks, which form the main lines of communication, are seldom easy; they are often difficult, sometimes dangerous.”

The country is watered by the river which goes in its northern course indifferently by the names of the Yarkhun, the Mastuj or the Chitral River, and which, flowing from a glacier of the Hindu Kush, runs south-westerly to Asmar, where it becomes known as the Kunar River, and falls into the Kabul River near Jalalabad. During its course it receives the drainage of numerous valleys on either side, and is spanned by many rope bridges, by several untrustworthy native-built bridges, usually constructed on a rough cantilever principle, and by good suspension bridges at important crossings, such as Chitral, Mastuj, Drosh and other places. “Even when the rivers are moderately placid and shallow, the fords,” Sir George Robertson tells us, “are always bad, because of the boulders and stones in their beds; they are frequently devious also; and, consequently, always require a guide. It is dangerous to miss the proper line, for then one is liable to be carried into deep, heavy water, or to find oneself in a quicksand.”[[79]]

The Roads to Chitral

There are two main routes from Chitral to India: that which has been followed in the preceding chapter, from Chitral over the Lowari Pass, through Dir and Swat, and across the Malakand to railhead at Dargai; and another from Chitral across the Shandur Pass to the Gilgit road, and thence through Kashmir and the Jhelum Valley to the rail at Rawal Pindi. Those passes leading to the north or to the west are for the most part very difficult; some are impracticable for pack animals, some are only passable at all during certain brief seasons of the year; others again could only be crossed by a lightly equipped force of selected troops under unusually favourable circumstances. The Baroghil Pass (12,460 feet), which leads out of the Yarkhun Valley into Wakhan, is practicable for laden animals during eight months of the year, and climbs over what Holdich calls “the comparatively easy slopes of the flat-backed Hindu Kush.” Many passes, but all more or less difficult, lead from Chitral into Kafiristan, while that leading from Chitral to Upper Badakshan—the Dorah Pass (14,800 feet)—is much trodden, and is used by laden animals as a commercial link between the Kunar Valley and Badakshan. It is open from July to September, and has been crossed as late as early in November.