(d) Bajaur.—Bajaur is a very mountainous tract lying to the north-west of the Utmán Khel country and between it and the Durand line. It includes four valleys, through which flow the Rud river and its affluents with the exception of that known as Jandol. The valley of the last is now included in Dír. The Rud, also known as the Bajaur, is a tributary of the Panjkora. The people consist mainly of Mamunds and other sections of the Tarkanrí clan, which is related to the Yúsafzais. They own a very nominal allegiance to the Khán of Nawagai, who is recognised as the hereditary head of the Tarkanrís. They manage their affairs in quasi-republican fashion through a council consisting of the particular party which for the time being has got the upper hand.

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

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

[View larger image]
Fig. 135.

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

Afrídís.—The pass and the tract lying to the south of it including the Bazár valley and part of Tirah are the home of the six sections of the Pass Afrídís, the most important being the Zakha Khel, whose winter home is in the Khaibar and the Bazár valley, a barren glen hemmed in by barren hills, the entrance to which is not far from Ali Masjid. Its elevation is 3000 to 4000 feet. The valleys in Tirah proper, where the Pass Afrídís for the most part spend the summer, are two or three thousand feet higher. When the snow melts there is excellent pasturage. The climate is pleasant in summer, but bitterly cold in winter. The Bára river with its affluents drains the glens of Tirah. The Aka Khel Afrídís, who have no share in the Pass allowances, own a good dear of land in the lower Bára valley and winter in the adjoining hills. The fighting strength of the above seven sections may be put at 21,000. When they have been able to unite they have shown themselves formidable enemies, for they are a strong and manly race, and they inhabit a very difficult country[17]. But the Afrídí clan is torn by dissensions. Blood feuds divide house from house, and the sections are constantly at feud one with another. Apart from other causes of quarrel there is the standing division into two great factions, Gar and Samil, which prevails among Afrídís and Orakzais. Afrídís enlist freely in our regiments and in the Khaibar Rifles, and have proved themselves excellent soldiers. The eighth section of the Afrídís, the Adam Khel, who hold the Kohát Pass and the adjoining hills, have very little connection with the rest of the clan. The Jowákís, against whom an expedition had to be sent in the cold weather of 1877-78, are a sub-section of the Adam Khel.