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representatives. Their country, at their own wish, was not
administered, and they had no schools, hospitals, police or
courts, and paid no taxes; instead they were paid 'allowances' by
the Government for good behaviour. Every man always went
armed, to defend his own family and its rights, and bitter blood
feuds were carried over from generation to generation. Through
all their history they have evolved no cohesive government or
hierarchy, but appear content with a common poverty, for the
pressure of population on the land is such that no man can build
up a sizeable estate. This is how they like it : and they point
out that the aim of society is to breed self-reliant men who call
no man master, and that in this they are more successful than
their neighbours.
By contrast the Durranis of Afghanistan and the Yusufzais North
of Peshawar, who are related, do have hereditary leaders and a
system of law based on the Qoran. Somehow amidst this chaos
Hindu and Sikh traders manage to survive and make a living by
keeping shops in the occasional bazaars. Indeed there is a nice
story of a Yusufzai Khan whose pride and joy was an old cannon
which, when his fury could no longer be endured, he used to fire
in the general direction of his rival's fort across the valley.
This gave him great satisfaction, and was not unwelcome to his
enemy who would then sell the only cannon-ball to the Hindu
shopkeeper to pass on at a profit to the owner of the cannon!
I feel there must be a moral in this somewhere as the arrangement
was eminently satisfactory to all three of them.
At the end of the Kohat Pass is an impressive archway - the
Handyside memorial to the memory of an intrepid Frontier
policeman killed in a skirmish - and, as one passes under it, the
plain, village and Cantonment of Kohat are spread out a thousand
feet below backed by serried ranges of lower but rugged
mountains, cutting it off from the Indus valley.
From Kohat the road runs south up a pleasant valley to Hangu, the
headguarters of the Frontier Constabulary, and then slowly drops
to Thai, the rail-head of a narrow gauge strategic railway.
Nearly all the way the Samana ridge rises sheer to 6,000 feet on
the right and behind it lies the Orakzai Tirah which is Tribal
Territory, while on the left lesser ridges comprise the land of
the Bangash and Khattack tribes, which is administered.
Thai is at the point where the valley of the Kurram river emerges
from the hills. This charming valley is inhabited by the Turi
tribe, who being Shiah, felt themselves threatened by their Sunni
neighbours, and therefore reguested British protection which they
were granted. At the head of the valley, at about 5,000 feet
lies Parachinar ("the Fairy Plane-tree"). This was the nearest
British outpost to Kabul, and a few miles beyond it lies the
Peiwar Kotal pass and the Afghan frontier. To the left, as you