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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
(JUNE, 1917
irrigation from snow beds and springs, and re-occupation of these fertile lands is retarded only by the great scantiness of population. Before Pakhtun Wali's conquest the Darelis had contented themselves with using the extensive grazing-grounds at the very head of the valleys, and only since the advent of more peaceful conditions has the slow immigration of Gujar settlers cominenced. Whatever the cause of the original abandonment of these valleys may have been, it soon became obvious that they, like Darel and Tangir, enjoyed climatic conditions far more favourable in the matter of adequate rainfall than those prevailing higher up on the Indus or elsewhere between the Indus and the Hindukush. This abundant moisture may well be due to some feature in the orography of the Indus Valley, permitting the monsoon rains to advance here far beyond the line where their effect is stopped elsewhere by the high mountain chains southward.
The contrast with those denuded barren mountains to the north and east, which I remembered so well from my previous routes through Gilgit and Chitral, became even more striking as we descended from the Ishkobar Pass (circ. 13,650 feet) to the head of the main Darel valley. When encamped there at Nyachut, on rich Alpine meadowland and surrounded by mountain sides which magnificent forests of deodars and firs clothed for thousands of feet in height, I felt as if transported to the Sind or some other big side valley of Kashmir. Unfortunately there was little chance left to enjoy the delights of this glorious Alpine scenery while being constantly attacked by swarms of the particularly fierce mosquitoes which infest all Darel and Tangir. We met them first when approaching the Khanbari watershed from the east, and the trouble they gave steadily increased as we progressed. Even high up in the mountains we suffered severely from this plague which is apt to cause bad sores, as my surveyors and myself soon found by experience. There was little consolation in the fact that the local people suffer almost as much from the infliction, as their pock-covered skin showed, and that during the winter those tormentors descend to seek warmer quarters by the Indus. I often wondered whether their presence would not be an adequate defence of Darel against any permanent invasion by people concerned for their comfort.
When I moved down to the vicinity of Manikyal, the northern of the two extant walled townships of Darel, there revealed itself strikingly the remarkable openness of the main valley and the great extent of arable land on the wide plateaus flanking the middle course of the Darel River. The sight of this fertile area, all easy to irrigate, revealed at a glance the importance which Darel must have possessed in ancient times, and which with an adequate population and under a firm rule it could attain once more. But much of the land had passed out of cultivation long ago, and the great number of ruined sites gave striking confirmation of the observation. The survey of these ruins, all known as kots," forts," kept me busy for several days, and showed that most of them were remains of fortified settlements dating back to pre-Muhammadan times. Rapid excavation near one of them, Bojo-kot, brought to light unmistakable relics of a Buddhist burial ground in the shape of cinerary urns, metal ornaments, etc. These ruins always occupy naturally strong rocky ridges bearing elaborately built terraces, and by their position and constructive features curiously recalled to my mind the extensive ruined settlements of the Buddhist period with which my explorations in the Swat Valley and on the Peshawar border had rendered me familiar. Archäological evidence thus seemed to bear out the tradition preserved in the Chinese pilgrims' records as to the early historical connection between the ruling families of Darel and Swat.
All antiquarian observations pointed to the territory having been occupied in Buddhist times by a much denser population than the present and one possessed of far greater material resources. Yet even now Darel contains a number of large crowded villages, some, like
