1862.] 
An account of Tipper and Lower Suwat . 
227 
An account of Tipper and Lower Suwat, and the Kohistdn , to the 
source of the Suwat Liver; with an account of the tribes inhabit¬ 
ing those valleys.—By Captain H. Gr. Raverty, 3rd Regiment, 
Bombay N. I. 
In August, 1858, I sent an intelligent man, a native of Kandahar, 
who had been for many years in my service, and who spoke and 
understood the Pushto language well, for the purpose of obtaining a 
scarce work in the Pushto language “ the history of the Yusufzi 
tribe, and their conquests in Suwat and other districts near Peshawar, 
by Shaykh mail, Yusufzi,” a copy of which, I was informed, was in. 
the possession of the chiefs of Tarrwah, one of the divisions of Suwat. 
That valley, although so close to Peshawar, is almost a terra incog¬ 
nita to us ; and various incredible reports have been circulated about 
the fanaticism of its people and their Akhiind,* who is made out to 
be employed, the whole of his time, in plotting against the Eng¬ 
lish ; and has had the credit of every disturbance that has taken 
place on the frontier since the annexation of the Panjab. Such is 
his power, so they would make out, that armies of Ghazfs arise at 
his bidding, and that he makes and unmakes kings at his will. On 
this account, now that an opportunity offered, I was anxious to gain 
as much information as possible on this subject. The person I sent 
had on previous occasions collected information for me, on such 
matters, and was acquainted with the chief points on which inquiry 
should be made; but I also furnished him with a number of ques¬ 
tions, the replies to which have been embodied in the following 
pages, and will account for the rambling style in which, I fear, it 
has been written. At the end will be found a description of Suwat, 
taken from a poem in the Pushto language, written about two 
hundred years since, by the renowned warrier and poet, Khushlial 
Khan, chief of the Ivhattak tribe of Afghans. 
“ On the 14th August of the year 1858, agreeably to your orders, 
I set out from Peshawar, in company with the Kiian Saiiib,! 
towards Suwat, Our first journey was to Hashtnagar ; and in the 
* A Persian word signifying, a tutor, a preceptor. 
t The name of this chief 1 have not given, as he would not liko it to be 
known, lest it might create heart-burning against him. 
