~Mianwali~ is one of the largest districts, but has the smallest population of any except Simla. The Indus has a course of about 180 miles in Mianwali. In the north it forms the boundary between the Mianwali _tahsil_ and the small Isakhel _tahsil_ on the right bank. In the south it divides the huge Bhakkar _tahsil_, which is bigger than an average district, from the Dera Ismail Khan district of the N.W.F. Province. It is joined from the west by the Kurram, which has a short course in the south of the Isakhel _tahsil_. The Salt Range extends into the district, throwing off from its western extremity a spur which runs north to the Indus opposite Kalabagh. Four tracts may be distinguished, two large and two small. North and east of the Salt Range is the Khuddar or ravine country, a little bit of the Awankari or Awan's land, which occupies a large space in Attock. West of the Indus in the north the wild and desolate Bhangi-Khel glen with its very scanty and scattered cultivation runs north to the Kohat Hills. The rest of the district consists of the wide and flat valley of the Indus and the Thal or Uplands. In the north the latter includes an area of strong thirsty loam, but south of the railway it is a huge expanse of sand rising frequently into hillocks and ridges with some fertile bottoms of better soil. Except in the north the Thal people used to make their living almost entirely as shepherds and camel owners. There were scattered little plots of better soil where wells were sunk, and the laborious and careful cultivation was and is Dutch in its neatness. Some millets were grown in the autumn and the sandhills yielded melons. The people have now learned that it is worth while to gamble with a spring crop of gram, and this has led to an enormous extension of the cultivated area. But even now in Mianwali this is a comparatively small fraction of the total area. There is a small amount of irrigation from wells and in the neighbourhood of Isakhel from canal cuts from the Kurram. Owing to the extreme scantiness of the rainfall the riverain depends almost entirely on the Indus floods, to assist the spread of which a number of embankments are maintained. Everywhere in Mianwali the areas both of crops sown and of crops that ripen fluctuate enormously, and much of the revenue has accordingly been put on a fluctuating basis. The chief crops are wheat, _bajra_, and gram. Jats[12] are in a great majority Cis-Indus, but Pathans are important in Isakhel. [Illustration: Fig. 108.] [Sidenote: Area, 4791 sq. m. Cultd area, 1933 sq. m. Pop. 648,989. Land Rev. Rs. 16,96,272 = L113,085.]