260 An account of Upper and Lower Suwat. [No. 3. 



Mali, or his descendants. I here heard, however, that the book 

 I was in search of, and for which I had chiefly undertaken this 

 journey — " The History of the Conquest of Suwat," by Shaykh 

 Mali — was in the possession of Mi-an Ghulam Muhammad of Tsana- 

 kott, and that whenever there is any dispute between families, re- 

 specting the right to lands, they get the book, which contains an 

 account of the distribution of the whole of Suwat by the Shaykh 

 and Malik Ahmad, at the conquest ; and as the book shows they 

 agree to without further dispute. I was quite elated at this piece of 

 good news, and wished to set out forthwith for Lower Suwat ; but 

 those who accompanied me did not agree, as they had no acquaint- 

 ances there ; and, moreover, that part of the country was in a dis- 

 turbed state. I urged upon them that we had but eight or nine miles 

 remaining, which we could get over in a few hours ; but, all I could 

 do, I could not induce them to go. Having no help for it, I dismissed 

 the Suwatis who had accompanied us so far, and set out with Nek 

 Muhammad, the confidential clansman whom the Khan Sahib left 

 with me, and proceeded towards Butt Ivhel, and thence passed on to 

 the village of Shair. Here I took counsel of my trusty companion, 

 and proposed that we should proceed alone, to Tsana-kott. He said 

 he would go wherever I wished, but he had one thing to mention, 

 and that was, as follows. " In the first place, we have no excuse 

 to make for this journey, if obstructed or annoyed. We could not 

 state that we are going to pay our respects to the Akhund, or that 

 we are students going to read with some teacher in his vicinity. 

 Here such excuses are not likely to be listened to, and trading would 

 be the only plea available ; whilst, at the same time, we have no 

 goods to trade with. The best way to put off this new journey for 

 another opportunity, when the Khan Sahib has promised to accom- 

 pany you for a period of two months, and then we can see all the 

 country." This advice of my companion was sound, and I acted 

 accordingly; so we set out on our return to Peshawar by the 

 Mala-kand Pass. 



This Pass is much less difficult than that of Morah, by which we 

 entered Suwat. About half way up the northern side of the Pass 

 there is a spring of cool and pure water, round which the spikenard 

 plants flourish most luxuriantly ; indeed, throughout Suwat, wherever 

 there were springs or rivulets, I observed they were surrounded by 



