17
being conveyed over the adjoining districts by numerous canals and cuts. Below Nowshera the land
on either side is, for many months, completely saturated with moisture, the stream in ordinary flood sea-
sons flowing on a level with its banks. Water is therefore everywhere close to the surface, and in parts
considerable tracts of bog or marsh are formed, which do not completely dry up at any season of the
year.
There are no lakes in the district, but owing to extensive percolation from the rivers, large marshes
are fórmed in many low-lying tracts in the neighbourhood of the Swát and Kábul and a large one exists
near Peshawar.
The rainfall varies in the different tahsils, being on an average of four years :—
Utman Bolak
...
Mardan (Yusafzai)
Naushahra
Doába Dandzai
Hastnagar
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Inches.
36.7
23.8
23.2
14.5
17.3
During May, June and July, the hottest months in the year, the valley is usually most healthy, but
in the next three months of hot weather rains, marsh fevers are rife and later inflammatory affections of
the lungs and bowels are very prevalent.
Horses are not extensively reared in the district, but large numbers of cattle, sheep and goats are
kept and bred. Donkeys and camels are also numerous.
Peshawar Tahsil.—Surra made its appearance in two low-lying villages during the months of
September and October 1895. The loss was three horses or 16 per cent. of the animals possessed by
the inhabitants of the two villages. Another village lost one of its horses in the month of June of the
same year.
During 1896, the disease broke out in two villages comprising a loss of 13 asses out of 72
possessed.
In 1897, a village of this tahsil suffered from the malady, losing one out of eight horses.
Chahirsad Tahsil.—In two villages of this tahsil one horse and two asses succumbed to the disease
during the month of November 1895.
During 1896, seven horses and seven asses, or 11 per cent. horses and 9 per cent. asses, died of the
malady in four villages.
Nowshera Tahsil.—The three low-lying villages of the tahsil suffered a loss of four horses and
seventeen asses out of 33 horses and 76 asses during 1896.
In 1897, two villages are reported up to present to have lost 7 asses out of 28 owned by the
villagers.
Dera Ismail Khán District.
This district consists of a long block of country stretching from the foot of the Sulimans across the
Indus into the thal of the Sind Ságar Doáb. It embraces an area of 9,296 square miles and has- a
population of 441,649 souls.
It is divided into five tahsils. Tank in the north-west, Dera Ismail Khán and Kuláchi, the riverain
and sub-montane tracts respectively to the west of the Indus. The cis-Indus area is divided by a line,
running roughly east and west into the two tahsils of Bhakkar and Seiah, the former comprising the
northern portion.
The height above the sea level of the principal places in the district are :—•
Dera Ismail Khán
Kulachi
Bhakkar
Seiah
Tank
...
...
...
...
Shekh-Budin
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
571 feet.
580 „
579 „
500 „
600 „
4,513 „
The district is divided by the Indus into cis-Indus and trans-Indus tracts, with areas of 5,542 and
3,754 square miles, respectively.
On the left bank of the Indus there is a broad belt of alluvial land known as the Nasheb or Kachi.
This low-lying tract is more or less intersected by streams from the Indus, and the whole is liable to be
flooded when the river rises in the rainy season. The high sandy tract to the east of this is called the
thal and the high plain trans-Indus is known as the Daman. The whole district is hemmed in on the
north-west and west by hills but stretches away on the south and east into the great open plain of the
Punjab.
B 2204—5