From the Black Mountain to Waziristan: Being an account of the border countries and the more turbulent of the tribes controlled by the north-west frontier province, and of our military relations with them in the pastWylly, H. C. (Harold Carmichael)
History
From the Black Mountain to Waziristan: Being an account of the border countries and the more turbulent of the tribes controlled by the north-west frontier province, and of our military relations with them in the past
The _Lashkarzai_ consist of two divisions only, Alisherzais and
Mamuzais, the former Gar and the latter Samil, both being of the Sunni
sect, and each being at feud with the other. The clan can muster some
5800 fighting men, of which number the Alisherzais contribute the larger
half—all are fairly well armed. The country of the Alisherzai is
divided—like the seats at a Spanish bull-fight—into the “sunny” and the
“shady”—the former title applying to the country lying on the southern
slopes of the Tor Ghar, towards the Kurram Valley, and the latter to
that on the northern slopes at the head of the Khanki Valley. The
Alisherzais have a great reputation for bravery, and it is said that at
one time in their military history they employed mounted men in battle;
but if this was ever the case their taste for cavalry service would
appear to have weakened, since barely a dozen Orakzais all told are at
the present moment to be found serving in our regular regiments of the
Indian cavalry. In this division the Khan-ship is hereditary, being
vested in a family living at Tatang; in the year 1897 the then holder of
the office was greatly implicated in the risings on the Samana. The
Mamuzais live at the head of the Khanki Valley, to the north of the
Minjan Darra, in a tract called Sama, Khanki Bazar, a rich trading
centre, being the tribal headquarters. There is, perhaps, no other clan
between the Kabul and the Kurram Rivers, so much under the influence of
their mullahs and so fanatical as are these people; they also rather
take the lead among the Orakzais.
The _Massuzais_ are contained in three divisions, of which one is Gar
and the other two are Samil, while all three are Sunnis. They can put
2000 men in the field, but have not a great reputation for courage.
Their holdings are in the Kharmana Valley—the Kharmana River flows into
the Kurram near our frontier post at Sadda—and they have a number of
Afridi hamsayas settled amongst them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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