THE RISING ON THE INDIAN FRONTIER.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVIII, Issue 206, 3 September 1897, Page 2

THE RISING ON THE INDIAN FRONTIER.

Accounts from the acana of hostilities, in the north wraat Indian frontier ara of a roassuring character. Some of the loading instigators of the rising huvo beat* arrested in Beluchißbau, where a amall British post haa been captured and pillaged. From the Swafc Valley ib is reported that the insurgents are surrendering their anna.

Dir, which iv threatened with attack by Mollali Hacida, in rev«nge for tha .support giv®n by the bribes to fcho British, ia a town in JLafiriatan, on an nfHu&nb of tha Panjkbora, about 50 miles smith of Chitral. Ib ia the capital of the petty state of the same nanaa, and haa an altitude of upwards of 5,000 foeb above sea lavul. The Kafirs ot tins Sindu-Kush are described by Colonel Holdich in fcho transactions of tho Royal Geographical Society as amaagah She moac fanatical ot Mohammadan aeeba, raging an efcerntil blood fead with their neighbours. In rapidity of snoremenu over a mountainons country they stand unrivalled by any obhor raeo in feha world. Kanriafcan consists of an irregular aeries of main valleys, for the mosb part deep, narrow, and tortuouo, into which a varying number of still more difficult!, narrower, and deeper valleys, ravines and glens pour their borreui watera. D«ring the winter the country ie practically converted into a number of ioolated communities aUub off from each other. The villages are mostdy built on the sides of etieep hills. Gazarbundab is a small British outpost) in Baluchistan, a country to the south of Afghanistan, composed mainly of arid aad rugged tablelands. The population is ts «pafie l t.aad is sublet) bs fee Ehan of Khelati...

Khelub, the capital, in a fortified town situated aba height of 6,800fb above bhe sea. Tho govertiinonb of the whole area ia undar the supervision of the agent of the Governor General of India, and includes tho fortress of Quetta, which waa recently reported to be in a etate of singe. The railway to Pinahin formß a loop before reaching thab station, one branch running by tho Bolan Pass roube bo tho town of Quebta.

lianga, bo which place Brigadier-General Bigga haa proceeded in ardor to direcb tho operations againsß insurgonb tribesmen, is tho western portion of bhe Kohat district, Punjaub, coneisbingof bhe Mirat'.zsi Valioy, inhabited by a bribe of BangaßD. Pathana. It is divided into upper and lower Miranzai. Tho former, or western part was anwexed by the Eaab India Company, in 1851. but British govornmenb waa not established until 1855. Ib long romainod a wild, lawlosß tract, overrun by robbers and frooboobera, but of lata years ib has boon formed into a police district), and civil and criminal courts rtro bald ab stated times. Tho area of the Hangu dißtricb is aboub 419 square miles, and tho population numbers nearly 40,000. Mohammedanism is the predominanb religion, bub bhore ia a atrong Hindu and Sikh olemenr. Hangu foro ia tho headquarters of the district. Ib lies in a amall open plain '25 milea from Kohut town, and ia very picturesquely Bituuted. There aro two famouß ahrineß which overlook tho villajjo bo the westward. The population of the town ia aboub 4,000, chinfly of tho Upper Bangamh bribes. The town is very uncient, having boon mentioned by the Emocror Babur in his memoirs.

Bara Fort, now occupied by a detachment of Bangal Lancorii, is s>ibuatad on bhe River Bora, in fcho Peshmvar district. Now." bho fort) bho rivar ia intercepted by tfaroo outs, of which 0110 convoys water to bha town of Puahawar, while the upper channel supplies the water commas of the Khalis and Mohmandß. Consequonbly, for the greater parO of tho year the lower chaunal is dry. Bub heavy rama in bho Tira Hilla sometimes render the stream impaeaahle for aoveral days. Tho roads to ICohab and Abtock cro*a tho Bara by timber bridges. The Bara River ia regunled as sacred, and tho cpob whore iba waters firßfe divide forma a special object of veneration. The Punjaub railway crosses the Bara by an iron bridge.