96 Major H. A. F. Magrath on the 
(barren bills inhabited by independent Orakzai and Afridi 
tribes) and the Safed-Koh Range. This rugged barrier of 
hills is on the east as low as 3000 feet above sea-level, but 
gradually increases in height westward till it culminates in 
the imposing snow-clad ramparts of the Safed-Koh Range, 
the highest peak of which, Sikaram (15,600 feet), lies at its 
western extremity. To the west it is bounded by Afghan¬ 
istan and Waziristan, to the south by the districts of Bannu 
and Mianwali, and to the east by the R. Indus. 
The general aspect of Kohat is a confused mass of low 
bare rocky hills, nullahs, and ravines, intersected by two 
main depressions running parallel and with a general trend 
from west to east. These depressions are formed, in the 
first case, by the Miranzai and Kohat Valleys running in 
prolongation of each other, and in the second by the Teri 
Valley. Two alluvial plains are also noticeable, namely that 
around and east of Kohat Station, and the oasis of Lachi. 
The Kurram is a long valley, averaging some 2 miles in 
width at its lower end and broadening into a stony plain 8 
or 10 miles wide at its upper extremity and rising in the 
70 miles from Thall 4000 feet. Down its centre rushes, 
over a bed of stones and boulders, the river that gives its 
name to the valley, which rises in Afghanistan some 20 
miles beyond the valley-head. Consisting, as the district 
does, for the most part of desert, the flora, compared with 
that of the Himalayas, is not luxurious. Coarse grass, 
Olives, thorn-scrub, and Dwarf Palms sparsely cover the hills, 
and in parts of the Miranzai Valley and around Thall the 
two latter form thick scrub-jungle. Ilex-Oaks, where their 
branches are not ruthlessly lopped and the trees are permitted 
to grow, attain a considerable size on the Samana, and here 
and there on this hill some fine Ash-trees flourish. In the 
Safed Koh Range, however, forests of Fir, Pine, and Cedar 
clothe the mountain-sides from about 8000 to 12,000 feet, 
and cover the top of the spur over which the Peiwar Pass 
runs. Below, these forests are gradually replaced by Ilex 
trees, which again, as one descends to the low foot-hills, are 
replaced by dense Ilex-scrub. 
