262 An account of Upper and Lower Suw&t. [No. 3. 



three Afghans found a phial, or something of the kind, near this 

 place, the mouth of which was closed with lead, and contained several 

 seals regularly cut. They appear to have been glass or crystal. An 

 iron oven was also found at the same time. The Suwati's say, that 

 the army of the Mughals were defeated in the Shah-kott Pass ; and 

 will not allow that Akbar's army ever entered Suwat itself. I was 

 equally unsuccessful regarding the other places mentioned in the 

 history referred to, viz. ; Iltimsh, Saranyakh, and Kandari. 1 ima- 

 gine they must have been more to the north-west, towards Kafir- 

 istan. 



On reaching the foot of the Pass we went on to Dar-gaey three 

 miles distant ; and thence proceeded to Shah-kott, about two miles 

 further. We had now entered the British territory ; so I went on 

 direct to Peshawar : and here ended my travels in Suwat. 



I must now attempt to describe the features of the valley. 



On descending from the Mohrey Pass, and issuing from the nar- 

 row valley in which Nalbanddah lies, towards Tarmah, the Suwat 

 valley appears to lie almost east and west. It then makes a bend 

 in a north-easterly direction as far as the Pass of S hameli ; and from 

 thence to Pi'a the direction is almost due north ; and beyond Pi'a 

 again up to the source of the Suwat river, at the Jal-gah, it diverges 

 slightly more in an easterly direction. It will therefore be seei:^ 

 that the Suwat valley is divided, as it were, into three natural divi- 

 sions ; and where the three turns, above mentioned, commence, the 

 valley gradually narrows by the mountains on each side converging 

 together, and then opens out again by their receding. The river 

 intersects the valley throughout, with occasional considerable bend- 

 ings ; but the several maps you have are incorrect, — indeed, almost 

 wholly so as regards the country beyond the Mohrey Pass. The 

 map in Elphinstone Sahib's book, is better. The mistake is, that 

 the valley in all these maps, is made to run, almost in a straight line 

 north-east, and south-west ; and from them it would appear, that a 

 person standing at tht highest part of the valley could see down 

 straight through it, which is far from being the case.* The river 

 receives a few considerable streams, as has been previously stated, 

 together with many small rivulets, from the mountains on either 



* The accompanying rough map is based on Lieut, (now Major) J. T, 

 Walker's, as far as the Mohrey Pass, which he lias so far surveyed. 



