13 
1871.] The District of Dera Ismail Khan , Trans-Indus. 
72, and a later description lias been given by Masson. The old 
town of Dera Ismail was washed away by the river in A. D. 1823. 
It was surrounded by a large forest of date trees, which disappear¬ 
ed with the town itself. The Muhammadan histories of India though 
full of references to Afghan adventurers, do not particularize tribe 
or locality. The word 4 Boh,’ still used on the frontier to denote 
‘ hill,’ is often the only clue which these histories give. The neigh¬ 
bourhood we are describing must have had some importance in the 
days of the Delhi emperors as the highway to Qandahar, so long 
the bone of contention between India and Persia. But it is pretty 
certain that it never rose to great political supremacy. Its mate¬ 
rial prosperity is probably greater now than at any previous period. 
In former years as now, the city of Dera was wealthy as the 
entrepot of Pawindah commerce, and the trade in 1 madder 
but the rest of the district—Tank and the Khissor country 
excepted,—was then far less prosperous than now. The greater 
portion of the river land was dense jungle infested with tigers, 
which have now entirely disappeared, and the upland was only 
occupied by migratory tribes, or by vast herds of onagras, which 
have now been driven southwards to Bajanpur and the Slnim 
plain. 
Prom this sketch of the history we pass to the ethnology of the 
district. The tribes of Pathans along the frontier are strongly and 
distinctly marked, each having an individuality of its own, though 
each is split into innumerable sections and torn by interminable 
quarrels. They all speak dialects of the Afghan language differing 
in many respects from that of the Ydsafzais, as for instance in sub¬ 
stituting the ‘ ksli’ for the ‘ kkh’ sound, e.g., Pukshtu for Pukklitu. 
Pacing the district of Dera Ismail, but entirely beyond the frontier, 
are the two great tribes of the Waziris and Shiranis, both noted in 
former days for their lawless propensities, a character which the 
Waziris still retain. The Waziris are a very numerous and powerful 
tribe, who extend from Kohat southwards to Dera Ismail. Their chief 
divisions are the Utmanzais, the Ahmadzais and the Mas’uds. 
The Ahmadzais and Utmanzais live partly in the Bannu district, 
and partly in the hills beyond. A detailed and interesting account 
of them will be found in Edwardes’ book. South of these are the 
