ountry stretches along the Dera Ismail Khan
border from the Gomal to the Vihoa torrent. The Largha or lower part has
been under direct administration since 1899, the Upper part belongs to
the Biluchistan Agency.

~Tribal Militias.~--In the greater part of India beyond the border there
is no British administration. Respect for our authority and the peace of
the roads are upheld, and raiding on British territory is restrained,
by irregular forces raised from among the tribesmen. There are Hunza and
Nagar levies, Chitral and Dir levies, Khaibar Rifles, Samana Rifles, and
Kurram, North Waziristan, and South Waziristan militias.

[Illustration: Fig. 137. North Waziristan Militia and Border Post.]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 16: For recent history see page 196.]

[Footnote 17: See page 196.]

CHAPTER XXVIII

KASHMIR AND JAMMU

~Kashmir.~--Some account has already been given of the topography and
scenery of the wide territory, covering an area about equal to that of
the Panjab less the Ambala division, ruled by the Maharaja of Kashmir
and Jammu. The population, races, languages, and religions have been
referred to in Chapters IX and X.

~Modern history.~--Some mention has been made of the early history of
Kashmir (pages 165, 166, 172, 173). Even the hard Sikh rule was a relief
to a country which had felt the tyranny of the Durani governors who
succeeded the Moghals. Under the latter small kingships had survived in
the Jammu hills, but the Jammuwal Rajas met at Ranjit Singh's hands the
same fate as the Kangra Rajas. Three cadets of the Jammu royal house,
the brothers Dhian Singh, Suchet Singh, and Gulab Singh, were great men
at his court. In 1820 he made the last Raja of Jammu. Gulab Singh was a
man fit for large designs. In 20 years he had made himself master of
Bhadrawah, Kishtwar, Ladakh, and Baltistan, and held the casket which
enclosed the jewel of Kashmir. He acquired the jewel itself for 75 lakhs
by treaty with the British at the close of the first Sikh war.

Excluding a large but little-known and almost uninhabited tract beyond
the Muztagh and Karakoram mountains, the drainage of which is northwards
into Central Asia, the country consists of the valleys of the Chenab,
Jhelam, and Indus, that of the last amounting to three-fourths of the
whole. There is a trifling area to the west of Jammu, which contains the
head-waters of small streams which find their way into the Ravi.

[Illustration: Fig. 138. Mahara