CHAPTER VII. THE CLANS OF BAJAUR AND DIR.[69] The inhabitants of both these countries are mainly Yusafzais—Tarkanri or Tarklanri Yusafzais in Bajaur, and Akozai Yusafzais in Dir. Bajaur is bounded on the north by Dir, and on the east by Dir and Swat, on the south-east and south by the Utman Khel country, on the south again for a short distance by the Mohmands, and on the west by Afghanistan. It is an extremely mountainous country, watered by the Rud River, and including within its area the valleys of the Rud, of Babukarra, Watelai and Chaharmung. The Bajauris or Tarkanris are Sarbani Pathans of the Khakhai Khel branch and representatives of the ancient Gandhari, with whom they returned from Kabul in the fifteenth century to the Peshawar Valley, and a hundred years later subjugated and dispossessed the Gujars, then in occupation of Bajaur. “In 1504,” we are reminded by Oliver, “the Emperor Baber acquired the sovereignty of Kabul and Ghazni, and in the following year made an extensive frontier tour, coming by the Khyber Pass to Peshawar, going along the whole border, and returning by the Sakhi Sarwar Pass and the Bori Valley to Ghazni. At this period the Pathan settlers are described as pretty well established in Laghman, Peshawar, Swat and Bajaur; though some of the original occupants still struggled for independence under their hereditary chiefs. During the next twenty-five years the Mogul Baber undertook many forays—for most of them could not be called anything else—to punish the hill Pathans, or to protect his own subjects, dispersing the men, carrying off the women and cattle; but, as a rule, the tribes were even then fully able to hold their own. Guided by the Dilazaks, he marched against Bajaur, carried the fortress of the original Sultan by escalade, using the new matchlocks, which greatly astonished the enemy, the net result being to extend the power of the Tarklanris.” The Tarkanris have three main divisions: 1. Ismailzai. 2. Isozai. 3. Mamunds, and of the different valleys into which Bajaur is split up, the Maidan Valley is occupied by the Ismailzai, the Baraul and Jandol Valleys by the Isozai, and the valleys of Babukarra, Chaharmung and Watelai by the Mamunds, who also own a good deal of land across the border in Afghanistan. Some six or seven alien tribes also live among the Bajauris—chiefly in the Jandol and Maidan Valleys. Originally Jandol belonged to Bajaur, but it has within recent years come under the political control of Dir, whose ruler, however, has little or no authority over the people of the Jandol Valley. [Sidenote: The Valleys of Bajaur]