1862.] An account of Upper and Lower Suwdt. 283 



passed. At the foot of the Pass, and directly under the mountains, 

 we came to the village of Nal-banddah, the first we reached in 

 Suwat. It is said, that a husbandman of this place once found a 

 number of gold coins in a well close by ; but the other villagers, 

 hearing of it, took the treasure from him, and shared it amongst 

 themselves, after which they filled up the well, that no one should 

 get any thing out of it in future. We asked two or three parties on 

 what side of the village the well was situated, but they would not 

 point it out, and said to us : " So you are come here to discover 

 treasure, are you ! be under no concern ; for your wishes will not be 

 fulfilled." 



After proceeding two coss or three miles further on, we reached 

 the town of Tarraah, to the west of which there is a small stream ; 

 and on the banks of it, there is a fine grove of chinar or plane trees, 

 about a hundred in number, all very ancient, very large, and very 

 lofty ; and here we came to a halt, 



Mir JEalani Khan, the chief of Tarraah, came to pay his respects 

 to the Khan Sahib ; and after some conversation, the chief, who 

 had been eyeing me for some time, inquired who I was. The Khan 

 Sahib replied, " He is a Mulli, and is going on a pilgrimage to the 

 Akhund Sahib." He replied, " He is no more a Mulla than I am ; 

 but you have made him one for the nonce." On this the Khan 

 Sahib observed, " Probably Amir Ullah Khan of Pala'i may have 

 advised you of my being on my way into Suwat." He laughed, and 

 replied : " The day you left Jamal G-arrai I heard of your coming to 

 pay your respects to the Akhund Sahib. It is all well : allow no 

 matter of concern whatever to enter your mind ; but the people of 

 Suwat are so celebrated for their stupidity and thick-headedness, 

 that it is necessary you should be prudent and circumspect in every 

 thing." The Khans or Chiefs of Tarraah are descendants of Ham- 

 zah Khan,* the founder of the village of that name in the Yusufzi 

 district south of Suwat, and about eight miles north of Hoti Mardan. 

 He lived in the time of Khushhal Khan, Khattak ; for it was his 

 daughter that Khushhal mentions in his poem on Suwat, as having 

 married when there, or whom he was about to marry ; and she was 

 mother of his son, Sadi Khan. Hamzah Khan was the then ruler of 

 Suwat, and held sway over the Samali also. It was he also fixed 

 * See the extract from the poem at the end of this paper. 



2 H 2 



