262 
[No. 3. 
An account of Upper and Lower Suwdt. 
three Afghans found a phial, or something of the kind, near this 
place, the mouth of which was closed with lead, and contained several 
seals regularly cut. They appear to have been glass or crystal. An 
iron oven was also found at the same time. The Suwati's say, that 
the army of the Mughals were defeated in the Shah-kott Pass ; and 
will not allow that Akbar’s army ever entered Suwat itself. I was 
equally unsuccessful regarding the other places mentioned in the 
history referred to, viz.; Iltimsh, Saranyakh, and Kandan. 1 ima¬ 
gine they must have been more to the north-west, towards Kafir- 
istan. 
On reaching the foot of the Pass we went on to Dar-gaey three 
miles distant; and thence proceeded to Shah-kott, about two miles 
further. We had now entered the British territory ; so I went on 
direct to Peshawar: and here ended my travels in Suwfrt. 
I must now attempt to describe the features of the valley. 
On descending from the Mohrey Pass, and issuing from the nar¬ 
row valley in which Nalbanddah lies, towards Tarmah, the Suwat 
valley appears to lie almost east and west. It then makes a bend 
in a north-easterly direction as far as the Pass of S hamelf; and from 
thence to Pi’a the direction is almost due north ; and beyond Pi’a 
again up to the source of the Suwat river, at the Jal-gah , it diverges 
slightly more in an easterly direction. It will therefore be seen^ 
that the Suwat valley is divided, as it were, into three natural divi¬ 
sions ; and where the three turns, above mentioned, commence, the 
valley gradually narrows by the mountains on each side converging 
together, and then opens out again by their receding. The river 
intersects the valley throughout, with occasional considerable bend¬ 
ings ; but the several maps you have are incorrect,—indeed, almost 
wholly so as regards the country beyond the Mohrey Pass. The 
map in Elphinstone Sahib’s book, is better. The mistake is, that 
the valley in all these maps, is made to run, almost in a straight line 
north-east, and south-west; and from them it would appear, that a 
person standing at tht highest part of the valley could see down 
straight through it, which is far from being the case.* The river 
receives a few considerable streams, as has been previously stated, 
together with many small rivulets, from the mountains on either 
* The accompanying rough map is based on Lieut, (now Major) J. T. 
Walker’s, as far as the Mohrey Pass, which he has so far surveyed. 
