1898] M. A. Stein — Archaeological tour with the Buner Field Force. 109 



When returning from my short Christmas tour into Lower Swat I 

 Raw Sir Bindon Blood, the General Commanding the Malakand Field 

 Force, wlio informed me of the early date fixed for the expedition, and 

 very kindly promised me his assistance. I had just time to go down to 

 Lahore and conduct the annual Convocation of the University. Then I 

 hurried back and caught up the division on the 6th instant at Katlang 

 while it was on the march to the Buner border. 



On tlie 6th we reached Sanghao, at the entrance of the Tang 

 Pass, where there are several old sites from which interesting Graeco- 

 Buddhist Sculptures have at various times been obtained. Accompany- 

 ing the General's reconnaissance up the defile I was able to trace the 

 remains of an ancient road leading to the pass, though not so well 

 preserved as those of the old roads over the Malakand and Shahkot 

 Passes. On the following day the Tange Pass was taken after some 

 fighting, tlie main honors of which fell to my friends of the 20th Regi- 

 ment Punjab Infantry whose Pathans and Dogras climbed in splendid 

 style the steep hills commanding the pass on the west. I watched 

 the interesting engagement from the position taken up by the mountain 

 batteries in action and climbed up to the pass soon after it was carried. 

 With the troops of General Meiklejohn's Brigade I reached that evening 

 the village of Kingargalai to the north of the pass. 



From that place I was able to survey during the following two days 

 numerous ruins of evidently old date. They cover a series of rocky spurs 

 which descend from the higher ranges into the Nawedand Valley on 

 the west and into the valley leading down to the east towards Bam- 

 pokha. The ruins consist chiefly of strongly built dwelling-places 

 raised on high masonry terraces. Their position on narrow ridges 

 difficult of access and their massive construction make it clear that 

 they were erected with a view to defence. Some groups of ruins 

 resemble in fact small castles. Certain details of the construction 

 leave no doubt as to these remains going back to pre-Muhammadan 

 times. 



Ruins of similar description I found in great number on various 

 hill spurs visited from the next camp of the Brigade at Juwar. They 

 point to the presence in earlier times of a large and well-to-do population 

 a fact easily accounted for by the fertile character of the tract. 



The resignation with which the Buner tribes accepted their defeat 

 and their ready submission to the terms of Government made the 

 progress of the expedition through the country far more rapid than I 

 might have w^ished for the purposes of my search. But this made it 

 at least possible for me to move with a small escort to considerable 

 distances from the camps, — a thing which among other border tribes 



