money; yet, apparently, he has no income. The offerings of those who come to visit him are applied by his servants to this purpose; and save a few buffaloes, which are gifts from others, from time to time, he possesses but few worldly goods, much less lands or revenues to plot invasion of empires. The milk, even, of the milch buffaloes is given to his guests; and the males are also slaughtered for them. He himself receives no money from chief or noble; but from the poor who visit him, he will receive their small offerings of one or two pice (farthings) to please them, and give them confidence.

The Akhúnd has a little garden attached to his dwelling, in which there are a few fruit trees, consisting of pomegranate, peach, fig, ttángú,* walnut, and a vine. As the fruits come into season they are gathered, and a small quantity is placed in the guest-chamber or reception-room, daily. To those who express a wish to taste the fruit he gives a little with his own hands. His residence lies in a most healthy and salubrious situation; and close by there is a running stream of cool and clear water. At the head of this stream a small pond has been formed, containing a few fish. There are also several plane and other shady trees about; and it is, altogether, a very pretty place.

The Akhúnd has one wife, and a little boy about eight or nine years of age, and a daughter. On one occasion he was requested, by some of his particular friends, to make some provision for his family, in order, that after his decease, they might be provided for. He replied, "If they are true unto God, all that the world contains is for them; but if they are untrue to Him, the nourishing of them is improper and unjust." Indeed he is so much occupied in his devotions, that he has little time, even to show affection and fondness for his family.t

* The name of a tree bearing a fruit like the apple in appearance.

"On our northern frontier, in the Swat valley, the laboratory of Mahommedan intrigue, the right hand of the Alchemist was paralysed at the very moment when he had seemed to have attained the grand eureka of his life. The Badshah whom the wily Akhoond of Swat had raised, in order to gather under the green banner of the prophet every Mahommedan fanatic, and to recover Peshawar over the corpses of the unbelievers,-this creature king died on the very day that the tocsin of rebellion was sounded forth from Delhi; and the fanatic fury which was to have overwhelmed Peshawar spent itself in civil war in the Swat valley." Rev. J. Cave Browne, Punjab and Delhi, in 1857. Vol. 2nd, pp. 311. The Badshah, a priest, not a king, here referred to, did not die for several months after the Delhi massacre.

Such is the true history, and such the faithful portrait of the terrible, fanatic, plotting Akhúnd of Suwát, the bugbear of Peshá

war.

That he made the mutineers of the late 55th Regt. Bengal N. E. Musalmáns is totally untrue. They fled into Suwát, and remained, as travellers generally do, for a few days, as his guests; but, at the end of this time, he advised them to make the best of their way out of Suwát, although Akbar, who is known as the Saiyid Badshah, wished them to remain. In this case the Akhúnd indeed persisted that they should not be permitted to remain in Suwát; so the rebels set out towards Kashmír, on the road to which they were cut off by the Deputy Commissioner of Hazárah. Other mutineers also came from Murree, all of whom he dismissed as quickly as possible to Kábul.

It is necessary to explain who this so called Badshah was. He was not an Afghán, but a Saiyid, named Muhammad Akbar Shah, a native of Satánah (burnt last year by General Sidney Cotton) near Pakhlí, above Attak. Some years since the Akhúnd Sáhib, as the spiritual chief, was requested to appoint a Badshah, that is to say a Saiyid, not a king, for the word means also a great lord or noble, or head man, but as a sort of high-priest, or rather legate, to whom the zakát and aæashar, certain alms, and a tithe sanctioned by the Kurán, might be legally paid; and who must be a Saiyid. He died about a year since,* on which his son, Mubárak Sháh, wished to be installed in his father's place; but as the Suwátís were not willing to pay tithes, the Akhúnd declined to do so. All Saiyids are called Sháh or Mí'án; and Sháh and Badshah signify a king also, but here it merely meant a high-priest. At Peshawar, one hears of Gul, Badshah, and there is a gate of the city called after him; but it does not follow that he was a king, for no such king ever did exist, any more than Saiyid Akbar Sháh was a king in Suwát. It was the word Sháh, no doubt, which has been magnified into Badshah, as if the words could not possibly mean anything else than a king!+

* August, 1857.

On referring to Captain Conolly's "Notes on the Eusofzye Tribes," already referred to, I find, that the king of Suwát, set up specially by the Akbúnd, for the Delhi tragedy, existed twenty years before. I copy Captain Conolly's own words" The tribes of Booneer and the neighbouring bills, may be said to

The person referred to by Captain Conolly under the name of Muríd Sáhib Zádah, was quite a different person to the Akhúnd, and was an inhabitant of the town of Ouch. The word "Ouchand," in the article you refer to* is an error; but is probably intended for the plural of Ouch-Ouchánah, as there are two villages adjoining each other, of this name, which are well known. This person, whom he referred to, has been dead some time. His descendants still live at Ouch, but none of them are any wise remarkable for piety or worth.

To return again after this long digression to the journey before us, after we had paid our respects to the Akhúnd, I wished to proceed on my journey; and as the time of the KHÁN SAHIB had expired, he made me over to the Saiyid I mentioned on a former occasion, and he also left with me one of his trusty and confidential followers. He himself returned to Peshawar.

A little higher up the valley of Saiydúgán from this, towards the east, lies the village of Islám-púr which was the residence of Mí-án Núr, the grandson of Akhúnd Darwezah, upon whom Khushhál Khán, the renowned Khattak chief and poet, launched his bitter irony in his kasidah or poem on Suwát; and here also, the tomb of the Mí-án may still be seen.

On the 26th August we set out from Saiydúgán, by ascending the kotal or Pass of Shámelí, which lies to the north-eastward of the village of Míngawarah, and nearer to the river. This village contains a great number of Hindú inhabitants; so I went there to see whether I could secure any ancient coins. I saw several, but they were not such as I required.

After proceeding a further distance of about three miles, we reached the village of Manglawar, which is situated at the entrance

have no chiefs of any importance, the only individuals possessing influence being a family of Syuds, the descendants of Peer Baba, a celebrated saint, who lived in the time of the Emperor Humaioon.

“Of this family, there are three principal branches amongst the Eusofs. The representatives of the elder and most influential branch are, Syud Azim and Syud Meeah of Tukhtabund, the capital of Booneer, who may be compared to the Abbot Boniface and Sub-friar Eustace of the novel; Syud Azim, the elder, a good-natured, indolent character, having willingly resigned his authority to his more active and talented brother. The second branch is SYUD AKBAR, Meeah, of SITANAH on the Indus; and the third, Syud Russool of Chumla.”—Bengal Asiatic Journal, for 1840, page 929.

* Bengal Asiatic Journal, for 1839, page 929.

of a small valley, of the same name, running to the N. E. At this point also, the river has approached very near to the spur from the mountains, over which lies the Shameli Pass, just referred to, so much so, that there is no passage into the central part of the Suwát valley in the hot months, when the river is at its height, by any other road; but in winter there is a practicable road along the river's bank. I examined all the Pushto books in this village which I could get hold of, but they were all on divinity, and not one with which you are not acquainted; such as Makhzan-ul-Islám, Fawá'íd-ushsharri'ah, Jannat-i-Fardous, Durr-i-Majális, &c. At this place also there are some ruins on the mountains to the east, but they are few, and can only be distinctly traced on ascending the mountains; but there are no houses or walls standing.

Manglawar, also, is very pleasantly situated, with streams from the mountains running past it, together with a great number of umbrageous plane trees like those at Tárrnah. Here also I obtained a copper coin, which I bought.

Proceeding onwards we reached the village of Chhár-bágh, and made inquiry after the principal books I had come purposely to seek, in the houses of the Míáns or Saiyids; but those I sought were not forthcoming. Continuing our journey for about four and half miles, in a direction between north and west from Chhár-bágh, on the river's bank, we reached the Kábul-grám, about four and half miles further on, and thence onwards, passing several small bánddas or hamlets, we reached Khúzah Khel, where we stayed the night; and I again made inquiries about Pushto books, but could obtain nothing new. The air at this place was very chilly; and the valley began to contract very considerably. There were no Hindús in the village; and the Paránchas were the only tradespeople and shopkeepers to be found so far towards the upper part of the valley. Here the rice fields, too, ceased; for the banks of the river began to get very high and steep. The land on which this village stands, as well as others on the left bank, facing the north, is high. Some are situated on a spur from the bills, and others on more level ground, or on small plains, at the very skirt of the hills; but the ground is not level until the river's banks are reached; for the land resembles the back of a fish. The banks of the river, on both sides, sometimes slope down to the water's edge, sometimes are steep and scarped

like a wall almost, but not often. Where steep, the height of the banks is about eighteen or twenty feet from the water; but the ground, on which the villages generally are situated, is about half a mile or so from the banks, and is generally from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet about the level of the water, but sloping gradually downwards.

On the morning of the 27th August, we again set out up the valley; and passing the villages of Sherrn-i-bálá and Sherrn-i-pá'ín, and Khúnah, we reached Petaey and Binwarrí. At Petaey we found it so excessively cold, that one could not drink the water with any degree of comfort. I ventured to enter the river for a few paces, but soon had to come out; and was glad to stand in the sun, on the rocks, to get warmth into my feet again. The people were sitting in the sun for warmth; and all slept inside at night, it being too cold to sleep outside, although this was the month of August, the hottest in the Peshawar valley. I saw snow on the mountains about ten or twelve miles off.

At this village I also, for the first time, met some of the people of the mountain districts to the north of Suwát, together with some of the Gilgitt people also, who had come here to purchase salt. They were all clothed in thick woollen garments, coats, trowsers, caps and all, but wore sandals on their feet. They were, in appearance, something like the people of Badakhshan; and although, to look at, not very powerfully built, yet they carry loads equal to that of an ox of this country (Peshawar and the Panjáb). I could not understand any of the words of their language,* save that they called salt lún which is Sanskrit . The salt is brought here by the Khattaks from their own country, for sale; and the people of the Kohistán, to the north, near which Petaey is situated, come down as far as this place to purchase it.

In the vicinity of this village the peculiar gravel called charata'í, before referred to, is found in great quantities. The people called it gítta'í, which is Pushto for gravel in general. Here too, the valley is not more than half an English mile across, even if so wide; and the banks of the river are very high. The fields are few, and the extent of cultivation insignificant.

The writer is well versed in Urdú and Pushto, and Persian is his native tongue.