GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEYS AND EXPLORATIONS. 141 



survey, named "the Mullah," ascended the Indus river from the 

 point where it enters the plains of the Punjab at Attock to the point 

 where it is joined by the Gilgit river. Other portions, of course, 

 of the Indus from the table lands of Tibet, where it takes its rise, 

 down to the ocean had long since been surveyed , but the part referred 

 to had been always shown by a dotted line on the maps. The great 

 river here traverses a tract about 220 miles in length, descending 

 from a height of about 5,000 to 1,200 feet above sea-level. It flows 

 tortuously, in a deep narrow-cut gorge, through great mountain 

 ranges with peaks rising from 15,000 to 26,000 feet in height. 

 The positions and heights of all the most commanding peaks had 

 been fixed by Captain Carter's triangulation, but no European had 

 penetrated into the region. Very difficult of access from all quarters 

 it is inhabited by a number of hill tribes, each living independently 

 in secluded valleys, and suspicious of its neighbours. Each 

 community elects its own ruler, and communicates with the outer 

 world only through the medium of a few privileged traders. The 

 Mullah happened to possess the privilege and was thus enabled 

 to explore the Indus and some of the lateral valleys. This work 

 done, he proceeded in accordance with his instructions to Yassin, 

 marching through the Gilgit valley but not surveying it, as the late 

 Mr. Hay ward (who was there murdered) had furnished a good map 

 of those parts. From Yasin he surveyed the southern road to Mastuj, 

 through the Grhizar and Sar Laspur valleys, supplying an important 

 rectification of the topography. At Mastuj he struck upon his 

 old route from Jalalabad over the Hindu Kush to Wakhan in 1873, 

 and proceeded in a north-easterly direction back to Yasin, crossing 

 the Tui or Moshabar pass, which is conjectured to be 16,000 feet in 

 height. On his return journey he again passed through Sar Laspur, 

 explored the Tal pass, and traversed the length of the Panjkora 

 valley, the whole journey having added much to our knowledge 

 of the Trans-Indus frontier regions. 



During the course of his travels in 1876 the Mullah had acquired 

 much information respecting the regions surrounding the Swat 

 valley ; the exploration of the valley itself was undertaken in 1878, 

 and to facilitate matters and disarm the suspicion of his being in 

 Government employ, which had arisen during the former journey, 

 the Mullah placed himself in communication with a trader from 

 Swat and assumed the part of a timber merchant anxious to make 

 purchases at Lamuti and Eandia, whence large quantities are annually 

 floated down to Peshawar and Attock. The Mullah entered the 



