_Hamsaya: Sheikhan._—These are believed to have been originally Wazirs; they are Sunnis and Samil in politics. Their possessions form a compact tract, extending from the Mastura River on the north to the Khanki on the south, and from Khangabur on the west to Talai on the border of the Kohat district on the east. They trade but little, and come down to the neighbourhood of Kohat to pasture their flocks in the winter. They can muster from 2750–3000 fighting men of no great repute for courage, but are a clan of some importance and not easy to control, though susceptible to blockade. As regards the question of the southern boundaries of the Orakzai territory, it may be mentioned that as far back as 1865, the Rabia Khel division of the Ismailzai clan formally acknowledged that the crest of the Samana Range was the northern boundary of British territory; but the strip of country in question does not then appear to have been marked on our maps as British, although it was assessed as such, and was always acknowledged by the clans as being within our borders. It was not, however, until 1889 that the Government of India agreed to the proposals of the Punjab Government that “the country up to the _foot_ of the Samana Range should be declared to be British territory and dealt with accordingly,” and not until two years later that posts were established upon the Samana Range itself. This chapter may fittingly be closed by a brief account of the circumstances under which certain Orakzai clans and divisions petitioned to be taken under British administration, and of the decision which was then come to on the matter. As has already been mentioned, the Orakzai tribe is partly Sunni and partly Shiah by persuasion, the Sunnis predominating, and between these two religious communities there exists a long-standing and bitter animosity. In the summer of 1894 the Bar Muhammad Khel division of the Muhammad Khel clan of Orakzais made a request through the Assistant Political Officer, Kohat, that they might be allowed to come under British rule, on the grounds that they could not much longer defend themselves against their Sunni fellow-tribesmen, as they found themselves cut off from local supplies of arms and ammunition by the influence of Sunni mullahs. To some of the frontier officials the idea of such voluntary annexation had a good deal to recommend it, but the Government of India declined to meet the desire of the division concerned that they or their country should be put under the control or the protection of the British Government. [Sidenote: Shiah and Sunni Animosity]