152 E. C. Temple— oftlte Tal ChotiaU Field Force. [No. 4, 



from the Do'f Bailey an I'sa' Khe'l, showed the liveliest anxiety to get 

 back again from Ispiea Ea'gha and would not venture into the Zakhpe'l 

 Territory and an old Utma'n Khe'l guide told me he had never ventured 

 beyond the territories of his section of the Kakars. 



The structure of the houses in the more civilized parts, which in the 

 hills consist of nothing more than rough mud and thatch, is a further proof 

 of the general lawlessness of the population. In the Ghazgai, Bo'eai 

 and Ltj'ni Valleys, among the Utma'n, Sandae and Lu's"! Khe'ls a house 

 is nothing less than a fort round which, frequently within walls, is the 

 cultivation necessary to support life, and when the crops are gathered they 

 are stored in little round mud towers which I have shown elsewhere to 

 contain just enough grain for one family for a year. In the Do'r Valley, 

 however, I only saw one fort in a village called Kha'nizai Ka'ee'z and in 

 the Pishin the villages were all open. Life in the Pishin among the Tabins 

 and Satads seems to have been much more settled than elsewhere, but the 

 AcHAKZAis have a bad name as thieves and robbers. 



Government among the Duranis differs considerabl}'' from that of the 

 other tribes, noticeable chiefly in its regularity and order. Each section \ 

 of the Duranis is governed by a sirdar and each subsection by a Malik or 1 

 MusHiE. The principle is election qualified by hereditary claims, i. e., the ' 

 sirdar is elected from the chief family of the clan or section, and the malik 

 from the chief family of the subsection. The sirdar has a deputy or naib 

 always a near relative appointed by himself. Tlieir occupation of the land 

 is directly from the Amir on the condition of military service. Among 

 themselves the Duranis do not as a rule resort to private revenge, hence 

 internal blood-feuds do not exist among them as among other tribes. Their 

 disputes are settled by the " Jiega" backed up by the sirdar, by the inter- 

 position of the elders, by friends of the parties, by the priests (Mpllas), 

 or by the civil and ecclesiastical judges (Ka'zi's). The Achakzais, the 

 section of the Duranis met with en route, are the wildest of those inhabit- 

 ing South Afghanistan and are entirely a nomad race, hardly ever living in a 

 house. They inhabit the To'ba Plateau and during the summer roam over ' 

 it with their flocks and spread themselves over the lower slopes of the j 

 Kho'ja Amea'n Eange about the Kadanei and Pisliin Vallej'-s during the I 

 ■winter, vyhere their black tents or Kizhdais are to be seen everywhere, j 

 Their Sirdar is at present Mie Aslam Kha'n, son of Mie Abdttlla Kha'it j 

 %vho built the well known fort or village of that name at the Pishiu 1 

 entrance of the Kno'jAK Pass. j 



The Kakars and Independent Pathans do not apparently recognise j 

 any particular sirdar or chief, and probably any man rules who has the | 

 requisite force of character, though birth, on which an Afghan always sets ' 

 such an extravagant value, is pretty sure to exercise considerable weight in j 



