There was now a very large body of troops at Inayat Kila, and the Mamunds began clearly to recognise the hopelessness of prolonging the resistance. They accordingly opened negotiations through the Khan of Nawagai, their jirgah finally coming in on the 11th October and agreeing to all our terms. The operations against the Mamunds, who had shown fighting qualities of a high order, now came to an end, and the troops were withdrawn from the Watelai Valley. During the period from the 14th September to the 11th October, our casualties totalled 61 killed and 218 wounded. On his way back to the Malakand, Sir Bindon Blood halted in the Salarzai Valley and easily forced that section of the Tarkanris to submit, while the Babukarra Valley was thoroughly explored. The last of the troops crossed the Panjkora on the 23rd, and four days later the whole force returned to the Swat Valley. Since the conclusion of the operations just described, the clans of Dir and Bajaur have given no trouble to the British Government; but the efforts which the ambitions of the local khans cause them to make in order to add to their territories, and the constant intrigues of pretenders and other claimants, combine with the natural pugnacity of the Pathan to cause some occasional anxiety as to the continued security of our communications with Chitral. CHAPTER VIII. CHITRALIS.[77] Chitral is the largest and the most important state on the northern part of the north-western frontier. It lies immediately to the west of Gilgit, while on the other side it is divided by the Hindu Kush from the province of Kafiristan—transferred to the dominions of Afghanistan during the latter part of the reign of the late Amir Abdurrahman Khan. South of Gilgit the Shandur spur and the watershed between the Chitral and Panjkora Rivers divide the country from Yasin, Kohistan and Dir; it is bordered on the north by the Hindu Kush; while to the south the watershed of the Arnawai Stream forms the boundary between Chitral and the districts of Dir and Asmar. It is an especially mountainous country, “composed partly of gigantic snowy peaks, mostly of barren rocky mountains, and, in a very small degree, of cultivated land. The valleys are narrow and confined, the main ones in their inhabited portions running from 5000 to 8000 feet above sea-level. It is only in them that any cultivation at all is found, and even then it is not carried on very extensively.... But the whole food production is small, and barely suffices for the people of the country, leaving little to spare for outsiders. The climate varies according to the height of the valley. In the lower parts, at about 5000 feet above sea-level, it ranges from 12° or 15° in winter to 100° in summer, and higher up, at 8000 feet, it would vary from 5° or so below zero to about 90° in summer.”[78]