260 
An account of Upper and Lower Suwat. 
[No. 3. 
Mali, or his descendants. I here heard, however, that the hook 
I was in search of, and for which I had chiefly undertaken this 
journey—“ The History of the Conquest of Suwat,” by Shaykh 
Mali—was in the possession of Mf-an Ghulam Muhammad of Tsana- 
kott, and that whenever there is any dispute between families, re¬ 
specting the right to lands, they get the book, which contains an 
account of the distribution of the whole of Suwat by the Shaykh 
and Malik Ahmad, at the conquest ; and as the book shows they 
agree to without further dispute. I was quite elated at this piece of 
good news, and wished to set out forthwith for Lower Suwat; but 
those who accompanied me did not agree, as they had no acquaint¬ 
ances there; and, moreover, that part of the country was in a dis¬ 
turbed state. I urged upon them that we had but eight or nine miles 
remaining, which we could get over in a few hours ; but, all I could 
do, I could not induce them to go. Having no help for it, I dismissed 
the Suwatis who had accompanied us so far, and set out with Nek 
Muhammad, the confidential clansman whom the Kiian Sahib left 
with me, and proceeded towards Butt Khel, and thence passed on to 
the village of Sliair. Here I took counsel of my trusty companion, 
and proposed that we should proceed alone, to Tsana-kott. He said 
he would go wherever I wished, but he had one thing to mention, 
and that was, as follows. “ In the first place, we have no excuse 
to make for this journey, if obstructed or annoyed. We could not 
state that we are going to pay our respects to the Akhund, or that 
we are students going to read with some teacher in his vicinity. 
Here such excuses are not likely to be listened to, and trading would 
be the only plea available ; whilst, at the same time, we have no 
goods to trade with. The best way to put off this new journey for 
another opportunity, when the Kiian Saiiib has promised to accom¬ 
pany you for a period of two months, and then we can see all the 
country.” This advice of my companion was sound, and I acted 
accordingly; so we set out on our return to Peshawar by the 
Mala-kand Pass. 
This Pass is much less difficult than that of Morah, by which we 
entered Suwat. About half way up the northern side of the Pass 
there is a spring of cool and pure water, round which the spikenard 
plants flourish most luxuriantly ; indeed, throughout Suwat, wherever 
there were springs or rivulets, I observed they were surrounded by 
