PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 13 



in many cases by that of the others adjacent. They are all steep and 

 rocky, rarely supporting' any plateau-like ground, and there is hardly a 

 ravine among the many by which their sides are furrowed that has not 

 at least one precipitous ( bad step/ if the way is not altogether barred. 



Valleys. — Between these ranges are broader valleys, the surfaces of 

 which have a level or sometimes terraced appearance, but which are 

 intersected by many abrupt and deep nallahs with vertical sides, or are 

 sometimes broken by small hills taking characteristic forms from the 

 stratification of the rocks. The largest of the depressions are those 

 north and south of the salt region, the former a part of the Kohat Plain, 

 the latter dividing the salt region from the lofty serrated ridges of the 

 Shin Ghar flanking the Lowa Ghar Mountains to the south. Others lie' 

 along the sides of the Tiri Taui river or its tributaries ; but one large 

 valley traversed by this river to the east, westwards towards Bahadur 

 Khel, sends its drainage to the southward to form an affluent of the 

 Kuram in the Bannii basin. 



Cross Drainage. — It is a peculiarity of the district that its drainage 

 lines preserve hardly any relation to the run of its hills. The Tiri river 

 crosses the central chain of hills, its tributary from Ismail Khel crosses 

 the Jatta hills. The streams from the north of Kaffir Kot, as well as 

 those from the Bahadur Khel valley, all cross the Siirdag ranges, and 

 waters from the Shin Ghar and Sakar Ghar mountains cross the range 

 to the north by the Lakkona, Algad, and the Mittan Pass. 



This conformation of the ground indicates that at the time when 

 these streams began to run, the present valleys were all filled with tertiary 

 sandstone and clay rocks ; other features than any of those which now 

 remain determining their courses. 



General aspect of the country. — The general aspect of the country 

 is wild, barren, and rocky, being almost bare of trees and supporting 

 nothing worthy the name of jungle ; patches of cultivation appear here 

 and there in the vallej^s, but are scarcely sufficient to conceal the naked- 



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