The Board of Administration, then, composed of these three men began, founded and built up an administration, which lasted without interruption till 1857, and was the most brilliant that has ever been seen in India. They had co-ordinate authority, and ostensibly acted in solidarity. But among themselves there was a division of labour in ordinary matters: that is to say, Henry took the political and military departments, John the financial and fiscal including the land settlements, Montgomery the judicial and the police; while on important matters pertaining to any department whatever, each of the three members had his voice, the majority of course prevailing. If figuratively Henry was the heart of the Board and Montgomery its arm, then John was veritably its backbone. Accordingly John had his headquarters permanently fixed at Lahore, and he straightway proceeded to build himself a home there. He found it to be really a Mahommedan city, the ancient capital of Moslem dynasties from Central Asia, which had been retained by the Sikhs as their political centre, while their national and religious centre was at Amritsar, some thirty miles off. Its noble mosques, its fortress-palace, its imperial tombs, must have brought back to his mind the associations of Delhi. At this time, 1849-50, he was in full health and strength; alas, these were the last years of unimpaired comfort physically that he was ever to enjoy. Those who saw in after years the iron resolution and the energy which even sickness could not subdue, can imagine the magnificent vigour he threw at this time into the work of pacifying a much disturbed province, reducing it to order and calling forth its resources. There is not space here to describe the territories under the Board of Administration. Suffice it to say that the British territories comprised the Cis and Trans-Sutlej States and the Punjab proper, or the basins of the Indus and its affluents, together with Native States on the east of the Sutlej, and in the Himalayan region, including the famous valley of Cashmere. The name Punjab, a Persian word denoting five-waters, refers to this river-system. The total area of all kinds amounted to one hundred and thirty-five thousand square miles, and the population to just twenty millions; both area and population being exclusive of the Cashmere kingdom. The climate is much the same as that of the Delhi territory already described, except that the winter is sharper and longer while the autumn is more feverish. The people, consisting chiefly of Moslems and Sikhs, was quite the strongest, manliest and sturdiest that the British had ever had to deal with in India. On two sides the country was bordered by British districts, and on one side by the Himalayas. So far, then, the circumstances were favourable. But on the front or western side, the border touched on Afghanistan for eight hundred miles, and was the most arduous frontier in the Eastern empire.