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128. Map of Dera Ismail Khán
with trans-border territory of Largha Sheránis and Ustaránas.

Patháns predominate in the Dáman and Jats in the Kachchhí. The Bhittannís in the north of the district are an interesting little tribe. The hill section lies outside our administrative border, but like the Lárgha Sheránís in the south are under the political control of the Deputy Commissioner. A good metalled road, on which there is a tonga service, runs northwards from Dera Ismail Khán to Bannu.

Area, 1641 sq. m. Cultd area, 818 sq. m. Pop. 250,086. Land Rev. Rs. 304,004 = £20,267.

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Fig. 129.

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

Area, 2973 sq. m. Cultd area, 512 sq. m. Pop. 222,690. Land Rev. Rs. 275,462 = £18,364.

Kohát is a large district, but most of it is unfit for tillage and only one-sixth is actually cultivated. The chief crops are wheat, 44, and bájra, 26 p.c. The district stretches east and west for 100 miles from Khushálgarh on the Indus to Thal at the mouth of the Kurram valley. The two places are now connected by a railway which passes through the district headquarters at Kohát close to the northern border. There are three tahsíls, Kohát, Hangu, and Terí, the last a wild tract of bare hills and ravines occupying the south of the district and covering more than half its area. Two small streams, the Kohát Toi and the Terí Toi, drain into the Indus. The rainfall is fair, but very capricious. The cold weather lasts long and the chill winds that blow during part of it are very trying. The chief tribes are the Bangash Patháns of Hangu and the Khattak Patháns of Terí. The Khán of Terí is head of the Khattaks, a manly race which sends many soldiers to our army. He enjoys the revenue of the tahsíl subject to a quit rent of Rs. 20,000.