220 Memoranda on the Peshawur Valley. [No. 3, 
Mount Mitt near Attock, 2,500 feet, the hill at the Cher4at Pass in the 
Khattak country, 4,700 feet, and various lower spurs near Murdan, 
Abazéi and Michni. I had occasion to traverse the Kohat Pass 
repeatedly ; so that I have had fair opportunities of becoming ac- 
quainted with the Flora of the district. 
The city and cantonment of Peshawur, which lie towards the 
Western extremity of the valley of that name, are situated in Long. 
71°33! BE. and Lat. 34° N. at an elevation of nearly 1,200 feet above 
the sea, and no part of the valley is much above or below this height, 
although there is a slight rise on all sides towards its edges, and 
although the level of the Indus at Attock, near which the drainage of 
the district issues in the Cabul river, is only about 1,000 feet above 
the sea. All the inequalities of the flat part of the valley will probably 
be included in from 1,000 to 1,500 feet above the sea. 
The valley itself, which constitutes the most Northern part of the 
long strip of territory comprised in our Trans-Indus possessions and 
may be described as a broad oval, lying in a north-east and south-west 
direction, is about 60 miles long and nearly 40 broad. Its chief 
divisions, which however are more political than geographical, may 
be enumerated as follows :—Husofzdi ; the most North-eastern part 
of the district situated to the North of the junction of the Indus and 
Cabul rivers,—Ashnagar, to the West of Eusofzai, and between it and 
the Swat river,—the Doaba between the latter and the Cabul river, 
—the Daoodzdi and the Khalil to the North and West of the city of 
Peshawur, and the southern strip of the district, inhabited chiefly by 
the lower Momands and part of the Khattaks. 
There are no lakes in the district, but in many places there are 
large marshes (for instance an extensive one close to Peshawur,) and 
large tracts, particularly in the Doaba, become marshes after much 
rain. A curious phenomenon is noted on the maps at a place near 
Topi in the eastern Eusofzai, where it is stated that a lake of several 
miles in extent is formed after every eight or ten years. In 1858, I 
passed over the locality with the force under General Cotton, and 
found that such a tradition is held by the inhabitants. The part, 
where the lake is said to be formed, is low, and was then (in May) 
verdant and almost marshy, water being abundant in pits at 6 and 8 
feet from the surface. A small, sluggish stream runs through. the 
tract, and from all I can learn, the so-called “lake” is merely a 
