own the Panjkora and Swat rivers.

(_f_) ~Chitral.~--The Pathan country ends at the Lowari Pass. Beyond,
right up to the main axis of the Hindu Kush, is Chitral. It comprises
the basin of the Yarkhun or Chitral river from its distant source in the
Shawar Shur glacier to Arnawai, where it receives from the west the
waters of the Bashgul, and is thenceforth known as the Kunar. Its
western boundary is the Durand line, which follows a lofty chain
sometimes called the Kafiristan range. Another great spur of the Hindu
Kush known as the Shandur range divides Chitral on the east from the
basin of the Yasin river and the territories included in the Gilgit
Agency (see Chapter XXVIII). Chitral is a fine country with a few
fertile valleys, good forests below 11,000 feet, and splendid, if
desolate, mountains in the higher ranges. The Chitralis are a quiet
pleasure-loving people, fond of children and of dancing, hawking, and
polo. They are no cowards and no fanatics, but have little regard for
truth or good faith. The common language is Khowar (see page 112). The
chief, known as the Mehtar, has his headquarters at Chitral, a large
village on the river of the same name. It is dominated at a distance by
the great snow peak of Tirach Mir (see page 22). The British garrison is
stationed at Kila Drosh on the river bank about halfway between Chitral
and the Lowari Pass[16].

[Illustration: Fig. 135.]

~Mohmands and Mallagoris.~--South of the Utman Khel country and north of
the Khaibar are the rugged and barren hills held by that part of the
Mohmand tribe which lives inside the Durand line. The clan can muster
about 20,000 fighting men and is as convenient a neighbour as a nest of
hornets. The southern edge of the tract, where it abuts on the Khaibar,
is held by the little Mallagori tribe, which is independent of the
Mohmands. Their country is important strategically because a route
passes through it by which the Khaibar can be outflanked. It is included
in the charge of the Political Agent for the Khaibar.

~Afridis.~--The pass and the tract lying to the south of it including the
Bazar valley and part of Tirah are the home of the six sections of the
Pass Afridis, the most important being the Zakha Khel, whose winter home
is in the Khaibar and the Bazar valley, a barren glen hemmed in by
barren hills, the entrance to which is not far from Ali Masjid. Its
elevation is 3000 to 4000 feet. The valleys in Tirah proper, where the
Pass Afridis