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Fig. 130.

Hangu contains in Upper and Lower Miranzai the most fertile land in the district, but the culturable area of the tahsíl is small and only one-tenth of it is under the plough. Perennial streams run through the Miranzai valleys, and the neighbouring hills support large flocks of sheep and goats. Kohát contains a number of salt quarries, the most important being at Bahádur Khel near the Bannu border. The Thal subdivision consisting of the Hangu tahsíl is in charge of an Assistant Commissioner who manages our political relations with transfrontier tribes living west of Fort Lockhart on the Samána Range. The Deputy Commissioner is in direct charge of the Pass Afrídís and the Jowákís and Orakzais in the neighbourhood of Kohát. He and his Assistant between them look after our relations with 144,000 trans-border Patháns. The Samána Rifles, one of the useful irregular corps which keep the peace of the Borderland, have their headquarters at Hangu.

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Fig. 131.

Area, 2611 sq. m. Cultd area, 1398 sq. m. Pop. 865,000 Land Rev Rs. 11,37,504 = £75,834.

Pesháwar is a large basin encircled by hills. The gorge of the Indus separates it from Attock and Hazára. The basin is drained by the Kábul river, whose chief affluents in Pesháwar are the Swát and the Bára. The district is divided into the five tahsíls of Pesháwar, Charsadda, Naushahra, Mardán, and Swábí. The last two form the Mardán subdivision. Nearly 40 p.c. of the cultivation is protected by irrigation mainly from canals large and small. The most important are the Lower Swát, the Kábul River, and the Bára River, Canals. The irrigated area will soon be much increased by the opening of the Upper Swát Canal. The cold weather climate is on the whole pleasant, though too severe in December and January. The three months from August to October are a very unhealthy time. The soil except in the stony lands near the hills is a fertile loam. The cold weather rainfall is good, and the Spring harvest is by far the more important of the two. Wheat is the chief crop. Half of the people are Patháns, the rest are known generically as Hindkís. The principal Hindkí tribe is that of the Awáns. Besides managing his own people the Deputy Commissioner has to supervise our relations with 240,000 independent tribesmen across the border. The Assistant Commissioner at Mardán, where the Corps of Guides is stationed, is in charge of our dealings with the men of Buner and the Yúsafzai border. The N.W. Railway runs past the city of Pesháwar to Jamrúd, and there is a branch line from Naushahra to Dargai at the foot of the Malakand Pass.