The tract of country inhabited by this tribe is some sixty miles long by about twenty broad. It is bounded on the north by the Shinwaris and Afridis, on the east by the Bangash and Afridis, on the south by the Bangash and the Zaimukhts, and on the west by the Kharmana River and by the country of the Chamkannis. The Orakzais also possess some settlements in British territory in the Kohat district. The Orakzai country proper is generally termed Orakzai Tirah, and it contains four principal valleys—the Khanki, the Mastura, the Kharmana and the Bara; but Holdich lays due stress upon the peculiarities of its position, when he says that “the Orakzai geographical position differs from that of the Afridis in some essential particulars.... It is through their country that the way to the heart of the Afridi mountains lies. They keep the front door to Maidan (which is near the Dargai Pass across the Samana), whilst the back door is open to Afghanistan, but they possess no back door themselves, so that once their valleys (Khanki and Mastura) are held, they are in the power of the enemy and they must submit.”

The origin of the tribe is rather obscure, and local traditions vary greatly. One version is that three brothers—Pridi, Wazir, and Warak—came from Afghanistan to the Orakzai Hills, where they quarrelled over some trifle—as their descendants have continued to do down to present times—and Pridi then went north, Wazir to the south, while Warak remained where he was. Another tradition is that they are descended from a Persian prince who was exiled (“Wrukzai” in Pushtu) and who settled in the Kohat district, marrying a daughter of the King of Kohat. Others, again, say that the original home of the Orakzais was on the slopes of the Suleiman Mountains; that they and the Bangash settled in the Zaimukht country during the invasions of Sabuktagin and Timur, and were driven thence into the Kurram, and from there, again, into the Miranzai Valley. The occupation of the Kurram by the Turis, and their gradual encroachment into the lower part of that valley, then held by the Bangash, forced these in their turn to press the Orakzais. The struggle came to an end with a great battle at Muhammadzai, near Kohat, towards the end of the sixteenth century. The story goes that after three days’ fighting the victory remained with the Bangash, the actual issue being materially assisted by the intervention of a supernatural figure garbed in spotless white raiment, which appeared between the contending forces, crying out—“the plains for the Bangash and the hills for the Orakzai.”

The Orakzais thereupon retired to their present holdings, while the Bangash have ever since occupied the Miranzai Valley. Historically, however, it is more than probable that the Orakzais are of an ancient Indian stock, and that in process of time successive emigrations from the west have brought to them an infusion of Turkish blood.

These tribesmen are wiry-looking mountaineers, but they are not such fine men physically, their reputation for courage does not stand so high, nor are they as formidable as their northern neighbours, the Afridis, while they are prone to be influenced by fanaticism to a far greater extent. Their mountains are barren, and they themselves are often ragged, poverty-stricken and underfed in appearance, distinguishable from their neighbours—and, incidentally, wholly indistinguishable when skirmishing on their hillsides—by reason of the peculiar pearl-grey tint of their dress, dyed from an earth found in the Tirah hills. Their chief source of wealth lies in their flocks and herds, and they do a considerable trade with Peshawar, especially in the mazarai, or dwarf palm, which is cut during August and September, and which has a certain commercial value for the manufacture of ropes, grass sandals, bed-strings, nets, matting, baskets and grain-bins. Many of the Orakzais are weavers by trade.

Of their moral character the usual contradictory evidence is forthcoming. It was against the Orakzais that Macgregor brought the indictment already quoted, that “there is no doubt that, like other Pathans, they would not shrink from any falsehood, however atrocious, to gain an end. Money would buy their services for the foulest deed; cruelty of the most revolting kind would mark their actions to a wounded or helpless foe, as much as cowardice would stamp them against determined resistance.” And Oliver, after saying that, if not better, they are probably not much worse than their neighbours in the Pathan qualities of deceit, avarice and cruelty, reminds us that “it must not be forgotten that they have been embittered by centuries of bitter religious feuds and the influence of fanatical teachers; they have never had a government of any decent sort, its place being supplied by superstition; and they do not understand our theory of tolerance or non-interference.” On the other hand, it is said that as soldiers they are, in general, quiet, well-behaved and intelligent, responding easily to discipline. At home they are given, even more than other Pathans, to internecine feuds, due to the fact that part of the tribe are Samil and Sunnis, and part Gar and Shiahs. Their fighting men number, all told, some 24,000, all tolerably well armed.

Of two out of their four main valleys the following descriptions are given by Holdich: “The Khanki Valley offers no special attractions in the matter of scenery. The flanking mountains are rugged and rough, and unbroken by the craggy peaks and fantastic outlines which generally give a weird sort of charm to frontier hills. The long slopes of the mountain spurs gradually shape themselves downwards into terraced flats, bounded by steep-sided ravines, along which meander a few insignificant streams, and the whole scene, under the waning sun of late October, is a dreary expanse of misty dust colour, unrelieved by the brilliant patchwork which enlivens the landscape elsewhere. On a terraced slope between the Khanki and the Kandi Mishti ravines, under the Pass of Sampagha, stands a mud-built village with an enclosure of trees, called Ghandaki; and it is through this village that the road to Sampagha runs after crossing the Kandi Mishti declivities, ere it winds its devious course up a long spur to the pass.... Beyond the Sampagha lay the elevated Valley of Mastura (some 1500 feet higher than the Khanki, itself 4300 feet above sea-level), and 700 feet below, the pass. The difference in elevation was at once apparent in the general appearance of the landscape. Six thousand feet of altitude lifts Mastura above the dust-begrimed and heat-riddled atmosphere of Khanki or Miranzai, and gives it all the clear, soft beauty of an Alpine climate. Mastura is one of the prettiest valleys of the frontier. In spite of the lateness of the season, apricot and mulberry trees had not yet parted with scarlet and yellow of the waning year. Each little hamlet clinging to the grey cliffs, or perched on the flat spaces of the bordering plateau below, was set in its own surrounding of autumn’s gold-tinted jewellery; and in the blue haze born of the first breath of clear October frost, the crowded villages and the graceful watch-towers keeping ward over them were mistily visible across the breadth of the valleys, tier above tier, on the far slopes of the mountains, till lost in the vagueness of the shadows of the hills.”

The Kharmana Valley has been described as dotted with hamlets and towers, well-wooded and cultivated, and abundantly watered. It is entered from the south by the Kharmana defile, some seven miles in length, the hills on either side being very steep and covered with scrub jungle; and from the east over the Durbi Khel Kotal, a rough and difficult pass, and by way of the Lozaka defile, a narrow ravine with precipitous hills on either side.

Of such part of the Bara Valley as is occupied by the Orakzai, it may be said to be that portion between the right bank of the Bara River and the Mastura—formerly known as the Orakzai Bara—and enclosed between Bar And Khel, where the Mastura makes a sharp bend to the south, and Mamanai, where it joins the Bara on its entry into the Kajurai plain. From this part of the Bara Valley the upper reaches of the Mastura are arrived at by a very narrow, rocky gorge to Sapri and Kwaja Khidda, thence over the Sapri Pass—an ascent of some 2000 feet—and thence by the stream bed or over the Sangra Pass to Mishti Bazar and the upper Mastura.

The Orakzais are now usually considered to be divided into six clans, since, of the original seven, one is practically extinct; these six clans are again sub-divided into many divisions; the six clans are as under:

1.

Ismailzai.

2.

Lashkarzai.

3.

Massuzai.

4.

Daulatzai.

5.

Muhammad Khel.

6.

Sturi Khel or Alizai.

In addition, however, to the Orakzai clans, there are four hamsaya clans:

1.

Ali Khel.

2.

Malla Khel.

3.

Mishtis.

4.

Sheikhans.

The Ismailzai are divided into six divisions; all of them are Sunnis by faith, and the majority are Samil in politics. The clan is very disunited, but can turn out some 1800 fighting men, chiefly from two of the divisions, which are rather increasing in power and numbers at the expense of the remaining four. One of these divisions, the Rabia Khel, is remarkable for the fair hair, fair complexions and blue eyes of those belonging to it. The Ismailzai, residing as they do rather nearer to our territory than the rest of the Orakzais, have hitherto given us considerably more than their share of tribal trouble.

Commencing from the east, the settlements of the Ismailzai extend along the right bank of the Khanki River to near Shahu Khel, and include the northern slopes of the Samana Range. This tract belongs to the Rabia Khel and Akhel divisions, and they also own a small strip of ground on the left bank of the river, while both have also settlements in the British portion of the Miranzai Valley. Another division, the Mamazai, live in the Daradar Glen, which drains into the Khanki on the left bank, and here is the village of Arkhi, of more than local reputation for the manufacture of rifles. The remaining three divisions of this clan are scattered about in small settlements on the left bank of the Khanki River, the Khadizais at Sadarai and Tutgarhi, the Sadakhel at Ghandaki, at the foot of the Sampagha Pass leading to the Mastura Valley, and the Isa Khel in hamlets on either side of the pass itself. The Isa Khel are considered inviolable and are hamsayas of the Rabia Khel, Ali Khel and Mishtis—the two last themselves hamsaya clans—while the curse of an Isa Khel is said to possess particular potency, and is in consequence dreaded by the neighbouring tribesmen.

The Lashkarzai consist of two divisions only, Alisherzais and Mamuzais, the former Gar and the latter Samil, both being of the Sunni sect, and each being at feud with the other. The clan can muster some 5800 fighting men, of which number the Alisherzais contribute the larger half—all are fairly well armed. The country of the Alisherzai is divided—like the seats at a Spanish bull-fight—into the “sunny” and the “shady”—the former title applying to the country lying on the southern slopes of the Tor Ghar, towards the Kurram Valley, and the latter to that on the northern slopes at the head of the Khanki Valley. The Alisherzais have a great reputation for bravery, and it is said that at one time in their military history they employed mounted men in battle; but if this was ever the case their taste for cavalry service would appear to have weakened, since barely a dozen Orakzais all told are at the present moment to be found serving in our regular regiments of the Indian cavalry. In this division the Khan-ship is hereditary, being vested in a family living at Tatang; in the year 1897 the then holder of the office was greatly implicated in the risings on the Samana. The Mamuzais live at the head of the Khanki Valley, to the north of the Minjan Darra, in a tract called Sama, Khanki Bazar, a rich trading centre, being the tribal headquarters. There is, perhaps, no other clan between the Kabul and the Kurram Rivers, so much under the influence of their mullahs and so fanatical as are these people; they also rather take the lead among the Orakzais.

The Massuzais are contained in three divisions, of which one is Gar and the other two are Samil, while all three are Sunnis. They can put 2000 men in the field, but have not a great reputation for courage. Their holdings are in the Kharmana Valley—the Kharmana River flows into the Kurram near our frontier post at Sadda—and they have a number of Afridi hamsayas settled amongst them.

The Daulatzai clan consists of the Firoz Khel, the Bizotis, and the Utman Khel,^[127] all Sunnis and all Samil, but the Firoz Khel hold aloof from the other two, who are leagued together against them. The three divisions can turn out 1600 men between them, the Firoz Khel being the most powerful, and the Bizotis the worst armed. The Bizotis and the Utman Khel have given us a good deal of trouble since our first occupation of the Miranzai Valley, while the Firoz Khel on the other hand have been generally well-behaved, the reason no doubt being that living further from our territory they have had less temptation to transgress. The Firoz Khel, from which division the reigning family of Bhopal is said to be descended, inhabit the Upper Mastura Valley and the north-eastern slopes of the Mola Ghar as far west as the Sapri Pass; the Utman Khel live in portions of the Upper and Lower Mastura Valley, as far as the junction of that river with the Bara; while the Bizotis are intermixed with them in the Upper Mastura, living in the lower reaches of the river between the Ublan Pass and the Asman Darra.

The Muhammad Khel comprise four divisions, all of which are Gar in politics, and being of the Shiah sect, set in the midst of Sunni neighbours, they are inclined to separate themselves to some extent from the rest of the Orakzais and to turn to the British; they have always been well-behaved and favourably disposed towards us. They number 2500 well-armed fighting men, and are accounted among the bravest of the Orakzais. Their country is in the centre of the Mastura Valley, of which it commands either end and turns the greater part of the Khanki Valley; it is also easy of access from Kohat, and would furnish a convenient advanced base for operations against the Afridi country directed from the south. It was the Khan of one of the sections of the Muhammad Khel who led the Orakzai lashkar which, in 1587, defeated, in a battle at the Sampagha Pass, a Mogul army under Ghairat Khan which had attempted to penetrate into Tirah.

The Sturi Khel or Alizai are divided into Tirah and Bara Sturi Khel, who are at mortal feud with one another, half being Shiahs and half Sunnis. The clan is only a small one, its fighting men numbering no more than 500 all told, and but indifferently armed. The Tirah division occupies both sides of the Mastura River from Shiraz Garhi to the Gudar Tangi, while the Bara Sturi Khel inhabit the lower Bara Valley from Galli Khel to Mamanai, thus commanding the approach to the Mastura Valley by the way of the Sapri, or Walnut Tree, Pass.

Hamsaya: Ali Khel.—This is by far the most important of these alien clans, is very united, with a high reputation for courage, and mustering from 2800–3000 fighting men. They are said to be descended from Yusafzai emigrants, and being thus of the same origin as the Mishtis they form a coalition with them, despite the fact that they belong to different political factions, the Ali Khel being Gar while the Mishtis are Samil. In religion the Ali Khel are partly Shiahs and partly Sunnis. Their country extends from the Tor Ghar Range on the north, to the Khanki River on the south, with summer settlements near the source of the Mastura River and on either bank. This clan thus occupies in the Orakzai country much the same position of command as do the Zakha Khels in Afridi-land. They are consequently, by right of position, very troublesome neighbours, both to their fellow tribesmen and to the Indian Government.

Hamsaya: Malla Khel.—A clan of Ghilzai origin, Sunni by persuasion and Samil in politics. They occupy a strip of country in the Mastura Valley between the Sampagha and Arhanga Passes. In the cold weather they migrate to Darband in the Miranzai Valley, which they hold as a perpetual gift from the Khan of Hangu—a family formerly possessing great local influence—for having aided him in the eighteenth century against the Khan of Kohat. They hold also, on a lease, the village of Turki in British territory. The Malla Khel have a considerable reputation for bravery, and their fighting men number 800, but the clan is much divided against itself, and, as a clan, is to a great extent swayed by the counsels of the Mishtis, who command the routes to and from the summer quarters of the Malla Khel.

Hamsaya: Mishtis.—These are, as already stated, of Yusafzai descent, Samil in politics, and of the Sunni sect. They are rather a scattered clan, living in the Upper Mastura south of the Waran Valley, in the Upper Khanki south of the Sampagha Range, and also in the Lower Khanki Valley, while in the winter months many of them migrate to the Miranzai Valley. The Mishtis rather take the lead among the Samil faction of the Orakzai; they have 3000 warriors, are well off, and engage a good deal in trade with British territory. One division of this clan is known among the remainder as “the Dirty Ones”—their want of cleanliness must consequently be something quite abnormal to render them thus conspicuous among Pathans.

Hamsaya: Sheikhan.—These are believed to have been originally Wazirs; they are Sunnis and Samil in politics. Their possessions form a compact tract, extending from the Mastura River on the north to the Khanki on the south, and from Khangabur on the west to Talai on the border of the Kohat district on the east. They trade but little, and come down to the neighbourhood of Kohat to pasture their flocks in the winter. They can muster from 2750–3000 fighting men of no great repute for courage, but are a clan of some importance and not easy to control, though susceptible to blockade.

As regards the question of the southern boundaries of the Orakzai territory, it may be mentioned that as far back as 1865, the Rabia Khel division of the Ismailzai clan formally acknowledged that the crest of the Samana Range was the northern boundary of British territory; but the strip of country in question does not then appear to have been marked on our maps as British, although it was assessed as such, and was always acknowledged by the clans as being within our borders. It was not, however, until 1889 that the Government of India agreed to the proposals of the Punjab Government that “the country up to the foot of the Samana Range should be declared to be British territory and dealt with accordingly,” and not until two years later that posts were established upon the Samana Range itself.

This chapter may fittingly be closed by a brief account of the circumstances under which certain Orakzai clans and divisions petitioned to be taken under British administration, and of the decision which was then come to on the matter.

As has already been mentioned, the Orakzai tribe is partly Sunni and partly Shiah by persuasion, the Sunnis predominating, and between these two religious communities there exists a long-standing and bitter animosity. In the summer of 1894 the Bar Muhammad Khel division of the Muhammad Khel clan of Orakzais made a request through the Assistant Political Officer, Kohat, that they might be allowed to come under British rule, on the grounds that they could not much longer defend themselves against their Sunni fellow-tribesmen, as they found themselves cut off from local supplies of arms and ammunition by the influence of Sunni mullahs. To some of the frontier officials the idea of such voluntary annexation had a good deal to recommend it, but the Government of India declined to meet the desire of the division concerned that they or their country should be put under the control or the protection of the British Government.

In the following year the Shiahs of the Ali Khel (hamsaya) clan of Orakzais preferred a similar petition, but the annexation of their country did not present advantages equal to that which had accompanied the request put forward in the preceding year. The tract of country offered us by the Bar Muhammad Khel was an undivided stretch of hills with no inhabitants save Shiahs; while in the case of the Ali Khel, although some of the villages concerned were large and powerful, yet they were so mixed up with Sunni communities that annexation would have been impracticable, even if desirable. The request of the Ali Khel was consequently also refused, the Governments of the Punjab and of India being very strongly against any extension of our responsibilities in the tribal tracts beyond the Kohat district. So matters remained until the frontier disturbances of 1897–98, during which these Shiah clans maintained a uniformly friendly attitude towards us, as they had also during the Miranzai expeditions, when they gave us material assistance. In January 1898 the then Secretary of State for India laid down certain principles for the conduct of frontier policy, whereby his successors seem in the main to have since been guided. These were: (1) That no fresh responsibility should be accepted unless absolutely required by actual strategic necessities and for the protection of the British border; (2) that interference with the tribes must when possible be avoided; (3) that no countenance should be given to the idea that Government intended to administer or enclose the tribal country; and, finally, (4) that in view of the suspicion which the Durand demarcation had aroused, one of the primary objects of our future actions should be gradually to allay such doubts and misgivings.

In 1904, however, an even more extended offer of annexation was made to the Government of India, under circumstances differing from those of 1895. In the summer of 1903 a fakir from Ghazni created disturbances in the Orakzai country, preached a jehad, and made an organised attack against the Shiahs. The fakir’s Sunni forces were, however, twice defeated, the fakir left the country, and hostilities came to an end. But even while the fighting was still in progress, the Chappar Mishtis, a Sunni division, applied to be taken over by the British Government, but were informed that we could not interfere in a purely religious war, and that no petition from them could be entertained until peace was restored. When the war had come to an end, all the four Shiah divisions of the Muhammad Khel clan—the Mani Khel, Bar Muhammad Khel, Sipaia and Abdul Aziz Khel—with the Ibrahimzai and the Chappar Mishtis, at once made overtures to be taken over, expressing their desire to come under Government control somewhat on the same lines as the Kurram clans. The fighting strength of these tribes represented approximately 2710 men, the tract occupied by them containing some seventy villages, and being about thirty miles in length with a maximum breadth of some fourteen miles. The territory formed a complete block, bounded on the north by the Mastura river, running down on the south to the broken and undulating country within the limits of Kachai and Marai in British territory; on the east it extended to within four miles of Kohat; while on the west the boundary stopped just short of the point where the road, made during the expedition of 1897, crosses the Sampagha Pass. The strategical advantages conferred by the possession of this tract of country are especially great in the event of the Afridi tribe being ever again arrayed against us. These Shiah clans command one of the shortest routes from the Kohat side to the centre of Tirah by the Landuki Pass; there is access to the Bara Valley by the Maturi or the Uchpal Pass, and by Waran to the Khyber Afridi settlements in Rajgal and Maidan. They also overlook the territory of three of the hamsaya clans, and are in rear of the country of some of the Ismailzai divisions.

On the 28th October, 1904, the Secretary of State for India expressed himself as unwilling to take any steps which he was of opinion might add appreciably to our frontier responsibilities, and therefore declined to authorise any serious departure from the general policy laid down by his predecessor in January 1898, or to incur the risk attaching to the suggested extension of the tribal area under our control.