258 An account of Tipper and Lower Siavdt. [No. 3. 



although we were on foot and brought no water with us ; and this 

 too on the last day of August, the hottest of the hot months in the 

 Panjab and at Peshawar. On ascending the Pass, and about two and 

 half miles from the commencement of the ascent, we came to a zia- 

 rat or shrine, with a rivulet running past it, and shaded by fine 

 zaitun or wild olive trees, an immense forest of which, the largest 

 in the whole of Suwat, and reaching to the summits of the moun- 

 tains, here commences. On reaching the crest of the Pass, and 

 looking downwards we could see the village of Garraey, which we 

 passed, and proceeded on to Khazanah, the men of which are the 

 strongest in Suwat. At this place also, we met a very pretty young 

 woman, who, I remarked to my companions, was the first good- 

 looking one I had seen in the Suwat valley. We still proceeded 

 onwards, and reached Zirah Khel, which lies just opposite to the 

 Sanddakaey mountain on the other side of the river. From thence 

 we went on to Ouch-i-Bala, and Ouch-i-Pa'in, both of which villages, 

 lying close to ettch other, are situated just inside a long narrow 

 valley, containing water, through which a road, which is always 

 open, leads into Bajawrr. There is another road by way of Lower 

 Suwat, but this one is preferred. 



Here we passed the night in company with a hafilali or caravan of 

 Khattak traders ; and in the morning, which was the 1st September, 

 we were conveyed across the river from the ferry near the village 

 of Chak-darah, where Kokal-tash, the general of the Mughal Em- 

 peror Akbar, built a fort to overcome the Yusufzis of Suwat, to Allah- 

 ddandd, thus leaving the lawndah or moist part of Suwat, and 

 entered once more the loucJiali or dry district. There were no traces 

 of ancient ruins near the former village. 



Allah-ddandd is the residence of the chief of the Barrnizi branch 

 of the Yusufzi tribe, and the residence of the chief, Sher-dil Khan, 

 son of iEinayat-ullah Khan (mentioned by Conolly in his notes on 

 the Yusufzis). He is a young man about twenty-three years of age, 

 and is a lineal descendant of Khan Kaju, or more properly Kachu, "the 

 chief of nine laks* of spear-men, in the days of Sher Shah, Ltidhi, 

 Emperor of Hindustan, and the author of a valuable history of the 

 conquest of Suwat by his tribe, some few years previously. Notwith- 

 standing his proud descent, however, and that Afghans, generally, 

 * A laic is 100,000. 



