e in this wise: a fair lasting from
five to seven days is yearly held at Ziarat, a village five miles
south-west of Nowshera, the resting-place of the saint Kaha Sahib; it
is resorted to by thousands from across our north and east frontiers,
and all comers are housed and fed by the Meahs collectively. Offerings,
it is true, are made to the shrine, but I am told the amount collected
is utilised solely for the keeping up of the shrine.

What follows is taken from my diary, which I stealthily managed to keep
up during my journey. It was not till April 13th that we were fairly
across the British frontier. The interval of four days was spent in
getting together all necessaries. The rendezvous was for the 13th at
Ganderi, and true to appointment all were present, our party then
consisting of forty, including muleteers, and fifteen baggage animals.
In the shape of provisions, we had nothing but sugar and tea. The
contents of our loads (I should say goods, only that we got very little
in return) were cloths of English manufacture, musical boxes,
binoculars, time-pieces, a spare revolver or two with a few rounds of
ammunition, salt, glass beads, shells, needles, country-made
looking-glasses, shoes, and lungis, as well as several phials and
galipots of medicines. In addition to these I had secreted a prismatic
and magnetic compass, a boiling point and aneroid thermometer, and a
plane-table which I had constructed for the occasion. The
last-mentioned instrument answered famously the purpose for which it
was intended, and was in use from the beginning to almost the end of my
journey. It answered, in case of a surprise, to pass off for a tabib
book of prescriptions; all that was necessary was to slip off the paper
that was in use inside one of the folds and expose to the gaze of the
inquisitive individual merely a book or rather the outer case of one,
in which I had written several recipes in Urdu. The instruments were
either carried by the Saiad or myself in a _gooda, i.e._, untanned skin
of goat or sheep invariably used by travellers in this region.

The Malakand Pass (elevation 3,575 feet) is well wooded with brushwood
and stunted oak; grass and a goodly supply of water from springs are
procurable all through the year. The ascent is easy, and practicable
for heavy baggage. The descent into the Swat Valley is not nearly so
easy; beasts of burden as well as foot passengers have to pick out
their way, but a company of Bengal or Mad