Geographical And Descriptive Of Dir Swat And Bajour
The country dealt with in this
report lies between Lat . 34 20 AND 35 20 North and Long.71 15 and 72 30 East.
Roughly speaking, it comprises an area of about 4,000 square miles and contains
a population of some 400,000 inhabitants.
It is bounded on the north by the crest of the
high mountain range which forms the southern watershed of the valleys draining
into the Chitral river; on the east by the watershed between the Swat and Indus
rivers; south-east by Boner;south by the British District of Peshawar;
south-west by the Mohmand country; and on the west by Afghanistan, of which the boundary here follows the eastern
watershed of the Kunar river.
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With the exception of a small
portion of Nawagai and the Utman Khel country draining into the Ambahar river
in the south-west corner, and a narrow strip of country known as Sam Ranizai
lying at the foot of the hills along the edge of the Peshawar valley plain, the
whole country under report may be described as the drainage area of three river
systems,i.e, the Swat, Panjkora and Bajour [or Rud] rivers. These joining from
one river which under the name of the Swat River issues through narrow gorges
on to the Peshawar plain, at Abazai .
The country is a very mountainous one,
intersected by fertile valleys varying in breadth from the wide alluvial
expanse of the Lower Swat and Panjkora and Rud valleys to the narrow steep
glens of the upper branches of the affluents of those rivers. The general
elevation of the country, which at the junction of the Swat and Panjkora
rivers is about 2,000 feet above sea level,
increases rapidly towards the north, where the heights of the mountain peaks
vary from 15,000 feet on the north-west to some 22,000 feet on the north and
north-east.
