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 BANM-.

90

and

in

the trans-Indus Maidani range.

It

is,

however, worked, or

rather quarried, only at Mari, opposite Kalabagh, where the salt stands clifts. The out-turn from the Mari mine in 1871-72 was 77,615 maunds, yielding a revenue of Rs. 23,284. The mines, however, are practically inexhaustible. Saltpetre is produced in small quantities at Isakhel. It is extracted from the soil by evaporation from water, and afterwards refined by further boiling. Alum, which is abundant through the whole Salt Range, is manufactured at Kdlabdgh and Kutki, whence it is exported to all parts of Upper India: total out-turn, about 22,000 ?nautids per annum. Coal of two kinds is found, oolitic and tertiary; but the smallness of the supply and the expense of quarrying or mining has prevented its extensive use. Petroleum is found in small quantities about eight miles south-east of Mari, but the supply is very limited, and hitherto has been only used as an ointment for the cure of itch in camels, or for miners’ lamps. Gold is found in minute quantities in the sands of the Indus, whence it is extracted by a very laborious process of washing. The wild animals of the District comprise the tnarkhor or mountain goat, uridl or mountain sheep, ravine deer, hog-deer, wild hog, hyaenas, wolves, jackals, foxes, and wild cats. Tigers, bears, and leopards are occasionally found, and rewards are paid for their destruction. Partridges, quail, wild duck, teal, geese, snipe, and chikor are common. Mahs'ir fishing is to be had in the Keoram. History, etc The population of Bannu is, and has been for many There are, however, remains which tell centuries, essentially Afghan. of an older Hindu population, and afford proof that the District came

out in the form of solid

—

.

—

within the pale of the ancient Graeco-Bactrian civilisation of the Punjab.

At Akra and other places in the Bannu valley, mounds of various sizes exist, where, amid fragments of burnt brick and tiles, of broken images and Hindu ornaments, coins occur with Greek or pseudo-Greek inscriptions. -A.gain, at Rokhri, the Indus, which for some years has been encroaching upon the Mianwali plain, has on several occasions laid bare masses of stone, which must have been brought from a distance, now embedded at a depth of some 10 or 15 feet below the surface. In 1865, the river retired before it had quite washed away the remains it had exposed, and portions of two circular walls were traced, composed of blocks of stone and large well-burnt bricks plastered, and in places Numerous copper overlaid with thin gold and ornamental scroll-work. coins were also found, and a number of heads and other Iragments, The well-shaped features and apparently cast in some kind of plaster. proportions of the broken statues bear the unmistakeable stamp of Grecian

The

art.

close of the era of prosperity indicated

attributed in local tradition to the ravages of

by these remains

Mahmud

of Ghazni,

is

who