astonished, and asked, "Why ?" He replied: "My eyes turn dim, dim." I comforted him as well as I could, and took off my shoes ; and with my face to the river and back to the mountain, I crawled along, and he followed after me; and so afraid was he, that he looked at the river every moment, although I forbade him; but he was so overcome with horrid fancies, that he had not the power to restrain his eyes. This difficult path is not quite a yard broad, and is, at least, two hundred yards above the river, which foams beneath. After we had escaped from this place in safety, the KHÁN SÁHIB came to himself again, in some measure; for he put on his shoes, and began to walk upright. I could not discover who had made this road, although I afterwards made inquiry. There is another road to the east of the one we had passed, which leads over the crest of Landdakaey itself, and by it animals are brought, when the water is at its height, but I did not examine it. We noticed that on the opposite side of the river, the mountains forming the north-western boundary of the Suwát valley approach within about three miles of this point. The river is said now to have entered that part of Suwát termed wuchah or the dry, which will be referred to in its proper place. Landdakaey is about three miles distant from Tárrnah, to the north.

After getting clear of our difficulties, and out of our dangers, wę reached the small village of Kottah, to the south of which, on the very summit of the mountains, there are extensive ruins of buildings, so numerous indeed, that I had never seen the like anywhere else, Two of these buildings were large and lofty, something as European barracks appear from a distance. They are still in excellent preservation, and indeed seem quite perfect and entire ; so much so, that during very heavy rains, the villagers take shelter in them. The houses of this ruined city are not built near each other as we see in the present day, but are detached similar to the bungalows of officers in India. I could not discover any thing in the shape of carvings, or idols any where about. The ruins of these dwellings are square, and are built of hewn blocks of stone; and are very shapely in appearance, but not very lofty, not being more than six, or under four yards in height. The walls were about half a yard in thickness, and in some places less. Each house contained an area of about six yards. The cement used in joining the stones together is of a black

colour, but I could not tell whether it was lime, mud, or anything else. Every house has a door, as have the two larger buildings also. These ruins are of Buddhist, not of Grecian architecture; but are like those at Bihí near Peshawar, which we visited together in December, 1849; and are altogether without verandahs. The large buildings I refer to, as situated on the very brow of the mountains are said to have been built by Suwátís of former times as watchtowers; but in my opinion they are the remains of idol temples, which Hindús often build in such places, as at Purandhar near Poonah in the Dekhan, which I accompanied you to, in 1852. There is no made road leading to these buildings, for they are very near to the open ground of the valley; but, probably, there was once a made road, which has now disappeared. This ruined city is close to the Landdakaey mountain, but the village of Kottah is nearer, and Baríkott is still further off; for this reason I have written 66 near Kottah instead of Baríkott." This is, no doubt, the ruined city mentioned by the French Colonel Court† as near the last named place, which is a large place, whilst Kottah is but a small village. The ancient ruins in Suwát are situated in such difficult and out-ofthe-way places, that it becomes a matter of astonishment to conceive how the inhabitants of them managed to exist, where they obtained water, what they employed themselves on, and how they managed to go in and out; for several of the houses are situated every here and there, on the very peaks of hills; but Suwát does not contain so many ruined sites as writers would lead us to believe.

Proceeding on our route from Kottah, we saw the villages of Nowaey-Kalaey, Abú-wah, Gurataey, Barí-kott, and Shankar-darah. Close to this latter place, there is a tower called Shankar-dár. Shankar, in the Sanskrit language, is one of the names of Siva. It stands on a square base of stone and earth, seven yards in height, and just forty yards in length and breadth, which I myself measured. On this square platform, the tower, which is of stone, joined by the dark coloured cement I before mentioned, stands. I computed the height, from the base, which I had measured, to be about thirty yards, or ninety feet; and I also measured the base, which was twenty-five yards or seventy-five feet in circumference. It is egg

*Probably bitumen.

† Asiatic Journal of Bengal, for 1839, page 307.

shaped, as in the annexed sketch; and there is no road by which the summit may be gained, nor did it appear to be hollow inside; but there are small holes just large enough, to all appearance, to admit the hand, every here and there, which seem to have been indented to give light or air. From top to bottom the tower is vaulted like that of the mihráb of a mosque, but not so deeply indented or niched that one might place the foot thereon, but about a finger's breadth only; still the vaulted shape could be distinctly traced to the summit. Each niche or recess is about a yard or more in length and breadth; and between each of these there is the hole, before mentioned. As the height increases, the táks or niches diminish in proportion. The Afgháns of the neighbouring villages have been removing stones for building purposes from the northern side of the tower, and have built several houses therefrom, hence it ⚫ has sustained considerable injury on that side. The people tell all sorts of tales about the tower; and all agree that Akhúnd Darwezah, the celebrated saint of the Afgháns, who flourished from the year A. D. 1550 to 1600, gave out, in his lifetime, that this tower contained seven idols, one large, and six smaller ones.

After leaving the village of Shankar-dár we passed Ghálí-gaey, which from some accounts, is said to have been the native village of Durkhána'í, and that her people had taken their flocks to graze in the Báz-darah valley, where Adam Khán met her; and that Adam Khán himself dwelt at Barí-kott. The clan to which Adam belonged is still to be found in Suwát, but Durkhána'í's cannot be so easily determined; for on account of the notoriety of her love for Adam, which these stupid people deem a disgrace, no one would acknowledge her as having belonged to his clan, even were such the case. Some say she was of the Khá'íst-khel, others say it was the Khází-khel, and some say she was of the Rárrnízí tribe. However, there is no doubt but that her husband, Piawaey, was of the Kházíkhel, and doubtless Durkhána'í was of the same clan also.

We now reached the village of Mányar, where there are two small ancient towers or topes facing each other; and then passed on to Gog-darah, Panjí-grám, and Waddí-grám, which latter place is nine coss, or thirteen and half miles from Tárrnah; and here we halted for the remainder of the day.

To the east of this village, on the central summit of a mountain,