GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEYS AND EXPLORATIONS. 147 



Generally speaking, the operations in Waziristan had an im- 

 portant bearing on the Kuram and Khost surveys, and formed a 

 connecting link between the triangulation in northern and southern 

 Afghanistan. 



The survey arrangements with the Zhob valley expedition were 

 originally placed in the hands of Major Holdich ; but when he was 

 suddenly called upon to join the Afghan Boundary Commission the 

 charge devolved on Lieutenant R. A. Wahab, R.E., who had a short 

 bime previously accompanied Sir R, Sandeman into south-west 

 Baluchistan and carried a series of triangles towards Panjgur. For 

 the Zhob valley operations Mr. G. B. Scott and Sub-Surveyor 

 Muliammad Yusuf Sharif were attached to Lieutenant Wahab's 

 survey party. The operations lasted two months, during which about 

 400 square miles of country were surveyed or reconnoitred on the 

 ^-inch scale, and from 5,000 to 6,000 square miles on the 

 J-inch scale. The valley was surveyed in detail from its head 

 to Mena, and the mountainous tract to the north as far as the water- 

 shed dividing it from the Kwandar valley was reconnoitred and 

 sketched. Efforts were made to extend the triangulation into the 

 Kwandar basin, but this was found impracticable. A large part 

 of the Bori valley and the country separating it from the Tal 

 valley was surveyed on the ^-inch scale, and parts of the Musa- 

 Khel country and the Nalai and Mekhtar valleys.* 



In November 1883 an expedition was organized to the Takht-i- 

 Suliman mountain, west of the town of Dera Ismail Khan. The 

 object of the survey expedition was to explore the Takht-i-SuIiman 

 mountain and complete as much of the topography as possible of the 

 Sherani country, keeping up a continuous border survey with that 

 already completed to the north, which terminated about the line of 

 the Gumal valley, and to fix points to the west. These objects were 

 generally secured, though the innumerable lines of hills traversing 

 the central Afghan plateau were much dwarfed when seen from the 

 lofty elevation of the Kaisarghar, and no peaks appeared specially 

 prominent. Many important geographical features in the Birmal 

 hills, the G-umal and Zhob valleys, and the Musakhel country of the 



* Lieutenant Wahab's reports are contained in the Proceedings of the Government 

 of India, Kevenue and Agricultural Department (Surveys), March 1885, Nos. 19 

 and 20. The Zhob valley has since been mapped by Colonel Holdich. 



K 2 



