GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEYS AND EXPLORATIONS. 149 



Marai and ascended a lofty peak commanding the Urakzai Tirah. 

 Fraternising with, the people, he obtained all the opportunities he 

 required, and retraced his steps across the border. He then set 

 out on a second expedition up the Bizoti and Bara valleys, but his 

 disguise was detected and he was turned back by armed tribes. 

 The topography of the border was however extended as far south as 

 Bannu. The tract extending to the Grumal valley was taken in hand 

 by Mr. McNair, who sketched the valleys of the Kai fcu Kuram, the 

 Baran, the Tochi, and the Khaisar, the high lands of the Batanis, &c. 

 This work was rendered especially trying by the orders given that 

 surveyors were never to camp outside the border ; thus men were 

 often tired out with a long march before the clay's work began. 

 Behind this strip of frontier survey continuous maps were produced 

 by native explorers working bit by bit on one half the scale of the 

 other surveys. The " Hakim " brought in a reconnaissance of the 

 To'chi valley and fixed the position of the Kotanni pass which leads 

 into the Ghazni basin. The " Syud," a well-known explorer, 

 traversed the direct route between Bannu and Ghazni, but at the 

 latter place his disguise was detected, and he was seized and 

 imprisoned, but eventually was sent to Kabul and taken before the 

 Amir, who allowed him to return to British territory by the Khyber 

 route. Unfortunately some of his original documents were lost, but 

 he brought valuable information regarding the direct route from 

 India to Ghazni. The veteran the " Bozdar" was not actively 

 employed during the season 1882-83, but various opportunities 

 enabled the accuracy of his work during the previous season, when 

 he explored the affluents of the Gumal, the Sharan, and the Kandil 

 rivers, to be confirmed. 



In March 1883 Mr. McNair and the " Syud " started on a most 

 adventurous journey into Kafiristan, the former assuming the dress 

 and disguise of a Jiahim or native doctor, for which purpose he shaved 

 his head and stained his face and hands and wore the dress peculiar to 

 the Mians or Kaka Khels, a clan who possess influence throughout 

 this part of Afghanistan and Badakshan. The party consisted of 

 40 people in all, including muleteers, and 15 baggage animals, and 

 among the goods a prismatic and magnetic compass, a boiling-point 

 and aneroid thermometer, and a specially constructed plane-table 

 were secretly stowed. The latter article was in constant use 

 throughout and answered capitally, as in case of surprise the paper 

 in use was slipped inside and the plane-table became a doctor's pre- 



