1862.] An account of Upper and Lower Suwat. 227 



An account of Upper and Lower Suwat, and the KoMstdn, to the 

 source of the Suwdt River ; with an account of the tribes inhabit- 

 ing those valleys. — By Captain H. G. Rayertt, 2>rd Regiment, 

 Bombay N. I. 



In August, 1858, I sent an intelligent man, a native of Kandahar, 

 who had heen for many years in my service, and who spoke and 

 understood the Pushto language well, for the purpose of obtaining a 

 scarce work in the Pushto language " the history of the Yusufzi 

 tribe, and their conquests in Suwat and other districts near Peshawar, 

 by Shaykh mail, Yusufzi," a copy of which, I was informed, was in 

 the possession of the chiefs of Tarrwah, one of the divisions of Suwat. 

 That valley, although so close to Peshawar, is almost a terra incog- 

 nita to us ; and various incredible reports have been circulated about 

 the fanaticism of its people and their Akhund,* who is made out to 

 be employed, the whole of his time, in plotting against the Eng- 

 lish ; and has had the credit of every disturbance that has taken 

 place on the frontier since the annexation of the Panjab. Such is 

 his power, so they would make out, that armies of Ghazi's arise at 

 his bidding, and that he makes and unmakes kings at his will. On 

 this account, now that an opportunity offered, I was anxious to gain 

 as much information as possible on this subject. The person I sent 

 had on previous occasions collected information for me, on such 

 matters, and was acquainted with the chief points on which inquiry 

 should be made ; but I also furnished him with a number of ques- 

 tions, the replies to which have been embodied in the following 

 pages, and will account for the rambling style in which, I fear, it 

 has been written. At the end will be found a description of Suwat, 

 taken from a poem in the Pushto language, written about two 

 hundred years since, by the renowned warrier and poet, Khushhal 

 Khan, chief of the Khattak tribe of Afghans. 



" On the 14th August of the year 1858, agreeably to your orders, 

 I set out from Peshawar, in company with the KhIn SAHiB,f 

 towards Suwat, Our first journey was to Hashtnagar ; and in the 



* A Persian word signifying, a tutor, a preceptor. 



t The name of this chief I have not given, as he would not like it to be 

 known, lest it might create heart- burning against him. 



