564 REPORT OF EXPEDITIOX 



that the interruption which we had met with was owino- to 

 secret orders to the purpose given by Maun Sing, the Sikh 

 Sirdar of Huzara. Recent events had created a ferment 

 among all the Pathan tribes then at enmity with the Sikhs, 

 and it did not appear to him desirable that a Eui'opean 

 should be permitted to pass through so unsettled a tract of 

 country at siich a juncture. 



10. Poynda Khan is the only chief who has been able to 

 maintain his ground against the Sikhs, in the Hill States be- 

 tween the Indus and Cashmeer, and he has, in consequence, 

 a great local celebrity. His father, [Nawab Xhan, was famous 

 for infesting the lower part of the Cashmeer road, which his 

 country of Thanaolee commanded. On the return of Mo- 

 hamed Azeem Khan from Cashmeer, after repelling the 

 first unsuccessful attack made upon the valley by the Sikhs, 

 he followed the Thanaolee road to Derbend, and inveigled 

 the chief to an interview, l^awab Khan was received with 

 distinction, but on a signal from the Afghan Sirdar he was 

 treacherously seized, and thrown, with a stone round his 

 neck, into the Indus. His son Poynda Khan, then a strip- 

 ling, who accomj)anied him to the interview, rushed out, 

 threw himself into the river, swam across, and escaped. He 

 soon after came into collision with the Sikhs, whom he suc- 

 cessfully resisted for a long time; but he was gradually 

 driven back, and lost the lower part of Thanaolee and the 

 fort of Derbend. The rest of the country he still holds, 

 keeping the Sikhs near him in a constant state of alarm, 

 Thanaolee is the highest Pathan country upon the east 

 bank of the Indus, the tract between it and Little Tibet 

 being occupied by numerous tribes of Dardohs, a distinct 

 race, who have a peculiar language called Dangree, and do 

 not sjjeak Pushtoo. 



11. On the morning of the 10th we parted from the hos- 

 pitable Seyads, and descended into the valley of Huzara, 

 where our guide was dismissed. We came ujion the high road 

 to Cashmeer at Haripoor, whence we moved to Chumba, 

 and rejoined Lieutenant Mackeson there. From Chumba our 

 road lay through Drumtour, Mohunsa, and Saadut Khan Ke 

 Ghuree to Mazufurabad, where we entered the country of the 

 tribes called ' Kukas ' and ' Bhumbas.' Here the jtrovince of 

 the Governor of Cashmeer commences, and we foimd an officer 

 with an escort waiting by his orders to receive us. From Ma- 

 zufurabad there are three roads leading to Cashmeer — 1st, 

 the eastern or Doarbid road, in the valley of the Jhelum 

 river, by which commerce is conducted ; 2nd, the Sungur or 

 middle road along the ridge which separates the Kishen 

 Gunga from the Jhelum ; 3rd, the Luchraut or western road, 



