The Utman Khel are said to be Sarbani Pathans of the Kodai Karlanri branch, who moved eastwards with the Yusafzais when these migrated from their earlier homes north-west of the Suleiman range, occupying their present territory simultaneously with the Yusafzai conquest of Swat. They are a hardy set of mountaineers, of good physique, hardworking, many of them eking out a scanty livelihood as labourers about Peshawar; “often,” so Oliver tells us, “naked from the waist up—a custom opposed to Pathan ideas—but not very civilised. They live in small groups of houses, rather than villages, stuck on the mountain side, secure in their inaccessibility.” There are no chiefs of any importance among them, and they are a very democratic people. They are estimated to number some 9,000 fighting men, poorly armed. The trans-frontier Utman Khels have always held themselves rather aloof, and few of them enlist with us; but the cis-frontier men have lately taken more freely to service in the levies, and even in the Indian army, and are said to make excellent soldiers. Their country lies on both banks of the Swat River until the limits of the Mohmand territory are reached, and here the river bends to the south and forms the boundary between the two tribes. The country is throughout very difficult, there are few roads passable by any but a pedestrian, and the only means of crossing the Swat—here rushing a deep swift torrent between steep cliff-like banks—is afforded by a few rope bridges. To the north of the river are a number of valleys between spurs running out from the Koh-i-Mohr. To the south and south-east of this mountain are the important divisions of Barang and Ambahar; to the north-east lies Arang; and south of the Swat River, and between it and British territory, is the narrow hilly tract of Laman or Daman, traversed by the Sulala Range. [Sidenote: Utman Khel Clans] The tribe is divided into eight main clans as under: 1. Ismailzai. 2. Mandal. 3. Alizai. 4. Matakai. 5. Gurai. 6. Peghozai. 7. Bimarai. 8. Sinazai. The Ismailzai is by far the largest and most important clan, and occupies the right bank of the Swat River and the northern slopes of the Koh-i-Mohr. The three last-named clans of the tribe live in Totai on the left bank of the Swat below its junction with the Panjkora, within Sam Ranizai limits, and separated from the Laman by the Jhindai Valley. The Laman accommodates a number of other tribes besides the Utman Khel. The roads leading from our territory into the Utman Khel country are all difficult, but there is a good road from Matta, on the Mohmand border, through Pandiali to Ambahar. The dwellers in Laman can be easily coerced, but in their time, and particularly during the first years of British occupation of the frontier country, they have given a great deal of trouble, raiding the border and sheltering outlaws.