240 An account of Tipper and Lower Suited. [No. 3, 



there are a great many ruins, consisting of dwellings, and a very 

 large range of buildings like a fortress, enormously lofty, which can 

 be distinctly seen from a long distance. I did not go myself to 

 examine these ruins, because it would have been necessary to have 

 remained at the village for two or three days for the purpose ; and to 

 do so, in a country like Suwat, would have raised suspicion, therefore 

 the Khan Sahib would not consent. I was told, however, that the 

 children of the village, as mischievous in Suwat as in other countries,* 

 had left nothing in the shape of carvings or images within it. There 

 is also an immense cave in the side of one of the mountains, which 

 cannot be entered from below ; and from above, even by the aid of 

 ropes, it cannot be reached, or at least, those who have attempted it 

 have not succeeded. I was told by some of the Waddi-gram people? 

 that several persons did once set out to make the attempt, and lowered 

 down a rope, so as to reach the mouth of the cave ; but it was not 

 long enough, and they returned. No other attempt appears to have 

 been made. The tale goes, that the cave belonged to the Kafirs 

 of old, who had a secret path or entrance ; and having deposited 

 treasures within it, concealed the path and shut it up altogether. 

 Whoever finds that path, will get the treasure. 



I saw a few ancient copper coins here, but they were not worth 

 purchasing; and moreover, the Suwatis, particularly the Hindus, say 

 that from every copper coin of the ordinary size, two tndshas of pure 

 gold can be extracted, worth three rupees or six shillings, which was 

 the price they asked for them. Throughout the whole of Suwat, at 

 present, whenever any old coins are discovered, they are immediately 

 sold to the Hindus or Paranchah traders, who transmit them to their 

 agents at Peshawar ; and on this account, old coins are not easily 

 obtainable, unless a person remain some time. The people of the 

 village also told me, that there had been idols found in the neigh- 

 bourhood ; but they had, as a religious duty, broken them to atoms, 

 and not a remnant of them now remains. Between the village of 

 Man-yar and Waddi-gram, there is a rudely carved idol by the side 

 of the road, cut out of the white stone of the cliff itself, and in 

 the figure of an old man in a sitting posture. Every one that passes 

 by throws a stone at it ; so there is an immense heap of them near. 



I examined the whole of the Pushto books of the villages between 

 [* Of. supra, p. 128. Eps.] 



