The field force concentrated at Datta Khel on the 19th July, and on the next day the First Brigade marched to Sheranni, finding that place and Maizar deserted, the Madda Khel being reported to have fled to the hills preliminary to seeking a refuge in Afghanistan. All the defences in the neighbourhood were destroyed, and a proclamation embodying our terms was issued, but to these the Maizar and Sheranni maliks on the 3rd September definitely refused to agree. The Kazha, Shawal and Khina Valleys were visited by columns, and strong places were destroyed, but with the exception of some sniping into camp there was no sign of opposition. It was not, however, until the 31st October that the head of the Madda Khel gave himself up, and a fortnight later the whole tribe formally submitted, paid up a first instalment of all fines, including the overdue blood money which had occasioned the outrage, and early in 1898 the field force began to be gradually broken up. The total casualties at Maizar and in the subsequent operations amounted to twenty-nine killed and forty wounded; but during this expedition the troops suffered to an altogether unusual extent from sickness, chiefly diarrhoea and dysentery. The climate of the Tochi Valley is always trying, while the forced march in the hot weather from Khushalgarh to Bannu had no doubt affected the men’s constitutions. _Operations against the Mahsuds in 1900–1901._—No sooner were operations concluded in the Tochi Valley than the Mahsuds began again to be troublesome. During 1898 and 1899 raids were of frequent occurrence, and in the year following a levy post at Zam and a police post near Tank were attacked. The maliks seemed quite unable to restrain, still less to coerce, the tribesmen. The fines for past offences now amounted to no less a sum than Rs. 100,000, and, no portion of it being forthcoming, a blockade was declared, which came into operation on the 1st December, 1900. To ensure its effectiveness movable columns were mobilised from Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan, and by their means cordons were drawn on the east and south of the Mahsud country. These measures were so far effectual that the Mahsuds made a commencement with the payment of their fine, but in January 1901, fresh offences were committed, raids continued, and more serious attacks were not infrequent.