Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1897-04-07
THE SWAT VALLEY.
A Glance ar Its Cruel Type of Native
habitantS.


habitants.
1t cannot be said that the Swat va
| riety of Pathan is a very attractive per-
son, writes II. w. Lawson in the Lon
don Telegraph. Among Pathans the
Swatis look somewhat puny and in face
not less ill-favored The type is intense
ly Semitic, and the race here fanatically
Mohammedan. 1t would be unfair to
judge of what stanaTd of civilization
they may be capable just now. for our
system of order has not yet taken root
and murder and theft are still things Of
everyday life.
Two mornings before MY arrival a Sc
poy, i'll of continent smallpox, was
stabbed to death in an isolated tent, and
1t is to be devoutly hoped that the public
prophecy of the political officer of its Wis
ltatlOn on the murderer or murdress may
be fulfilled Only short time since his
sails went down to the polo ground in the
upper valley with pony. On the way
he was killed by a Dirghar Swat, who
evidently wanted TO get hold of the ami
nal, but after mounting it took the
wrong road and gallOped into party of
Sikhs returning from drill. One of them
promptly hit the pony over the nose and
the scoundrel fell into their arms. By 10
O'Clock the same morning he had paid
the penalty of his crime. This sort of
outrage is common enough, and Swat
opinion, such as it is, does not condemn
black. Sikh or English; but to kill sa-
bib is too dangerous to the tribal pocket
, and tho tribal existence to be lightly at
tempted.
Before long the district will settle down
TO q more peaceful state. From an arch
geological and religious standpoint, this
part of the country Is full of a peculiar
interest, for these Swat valleys were the
very seat and center of early Buddhism.
No mound is ever disturbed without great
quantities of Buddhist relics and objects
of worship being discovered. First of all,
there are the statues of Asoka himself
then groups collected around him after
the manner of the medieval pictures of
the alteration; and, lastly, frieZes of a
classical kind. The taste and style are
somewhat varied. the later ones betray-
ing the usual evidence of HindOo int1u-
enCe in the grOteSquenesS of their art
Most Of the earlier kind are full of Greek
types, and were, undoubtedly, the result
of the conquest of Alexander the Great
At Chukdurra, ten miles beyond the Ma
lakund, there is n bridge over the Swat
river, at a place where tradition says Il
certain portion of AleXander's army
crossed, coming into India the same way
our force went up to Chitral. In the mu-
| seums some of these Buddhist memorials
have been pieced together, and in that
way show how high was the artistic
power of the artists of early days. Such
is the fanaticism of the Swat population
even now that they hardly ever bring in a
Buddha without first initiating him by
chopping off the classic nose. Very prop
erly the finds thus spoilt earn no re-
wards 1t is just this fanaticism that re-
Quires keeping i'll check. The brigade at
Malakund and at the various posts and
forts is kept at full strength, and not
without need Even so, it strikes the
most casual critic that it is too near the
base and too concentrated to keep the
Cbitral road as open rs it ought to be.
A halfway house will soon have to be
found and furnished.