_The Chamkannis._—This tribe—known also as Chakmannis—is traditionally supposed to belong to the Ghoria Khel section of the Sarbani Pathans—one of the two divisions of the Gandhari section of the Pactiyan nation, said by Herodotus to have been in existence when Alexander invaded India in B.C. 327. Other authorities assign them a Persian origin. By their Sarbani descent they are related to the Mohmands, Daudzais and Khalils; the major portion of the tribe appears to have joined forces with the Khattaks, who were settled on our western border in the fourteenth century; and when these moved into the Kohat district, the Chamkannis remained in Waziristan, going later into the Kharmana Valley to the north-east of the Kurram Valley. The tribe is at present located in the Thabai and Awi Darras, in the Kharmana Valley, and in the Karman Darra on the northern slopes of the Sika Ram Range. Their neighbours are the Afridis on the east, the Orakzais on the east and south-east, the Turis on the west and south-west, while the Safed Koh Range is the boundary on the north, beyond which lies the country of the Shinwaris. With few exceptions the Chamkannis are all Sunnis; the tribe is poor, but fairly united, can turn out rather over 3000 fighting men, and is at feud with the Turis, and with the Massuzai clan of Orakzais who border them on the east. Dr. Bellew describes the Chamkannis as originating in a heretical sect of Persian Islamites, who were driven out of their own country by constant persecution on account of their peculiar religious ceremonies and immoral proceedings. “One of the stories against them is not altogether without a savour of the ‘Love Feast’ of more modern sects in England,” says Oliver, “and consisted in putting out the lights at a stage of the religious performances, in which both sexes joined indiscriminately, and which was the signal for possible improprieties. The Persians called it ‘_Chiragh-kush_ or lamp-extinguisher,’ and the Pathans ‘_Or-mur_ or fire-extinguisher’; the Chamkannis, however, have turned over a new leaf and become orthodox Muhammadans.” [Sidenote: Chamkanni Clans] The tribe is divided into four main clans—exclusive of a small band called also Chamkannis, who, however, claim to be Ghilzais, and who live at the head of the Kurram Valley above Karlachi: 1. Bada Khel. 2. Haji or Para Khel. 3. Khwajak Khel. 4. Khani Khel.