Frontier and Overseas Expeditions from India: v. 2 North-West Frontier Tribes Between the Kabul and Gumal Rivers

This volume opens with a description of the Afridi tribe, tthe terrain in which they lived , their fighting qualities, character and customs, which included skill in stealing rifles (among other things). Troops on the Frontier ofen slept with a chain through the trigger guard attached to thei wrists, or slept on thei rifles. Ther term Afridi covers eight clans,and seven of them are dealt with in the book.. According to this account ruthless, cowardly robbery and cold-blooded, treacherous murder were to an Afridi the salt of life. Another source refers to them as a most avaricious race, desperately fond of money with a sense of loyalty that depended on the how much was in it for them.. Characteristics like that, combilned with an undoubted fighting ability made for a treacherous though formidable foe, especially in their mountainous country. No wonder we had trouble with them! The narrative describes the background to and conduct of a series of expeditions against the various clans, in eac h case describing the strength of the column, the units involved and the name of the commander and the outc ome of the expedition. The other tribes such as the Orakzai, Zaimukht, Wazirs etc are covered in the same way, descriptions of the tribesmen, ofthe terrain in which they lived and of the expeditions sent against them.The period covered in this volume is from 1855 operations against the Afridis to the Kabul Khel expedition of 1902.