This country has been thus described by Oliver in his book _Across the Border_: “The Miranzai Valley, perhaps the pleasantest part of the Kohat district, has been arbitrarily divided into an Upper and a Lower, though the river which runs east, down the latter, is a feeder of the Kohat _toi_, or stream, and goes thence to the Indus, while the Ishkali, which runs west along the Upper, is a branch of the Kurram. Both Upper and Lower Miranzai, equally with the Kurram, lie along the base of the great Safed Koh Range, the white peaks of which tower over everything else, a gigantic barrier between this and the still more famous Khyber route to Kabul.... It is a land of mountains, small and great, of rocks and of stones. The rivers that rush down the steep slopes are at one time dangerous torrents, at others yielding with difficulty a little water from the holes dug in their beds, with small and circumscribed, but well-cultivated valleys, where grain and fruit flourish abundantly, varied with raviney wastes, growing little beyond the dwarf palm which affords materials for one of the few staple industries the country possesses. These, again, are interspersed by grassy tracts, on which are pastured abnormally small cattle and exceptionally fat-tailed sheep.” The Miranzai Valley is about forty miles in length, and its width varies from three to seven miles; it extends from Thal to Raisan—where the Khanki River breaks through the hills into the valley—and from the Zaimukht and Orakzai hills to those of the Khattaks. [Sidenote: The Kurram Valley] Up to the time of the second Afghan war the Kurram Valley was ruled by the Afghans, but it came under our influence during the campaign, and was finally occupied by us in the autumn of 1893. The country is now administered by the Indian Government, and is ruled by a political officer, the valley being to all intents and purposes British territory.