338

149. Trans-border traders in Peshawar 343

150. Mosque of Shah Hamadan (F. Bremner) 345

Map of territories of Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir _at end of volume_
Map of Panjab _at end of volume_

CHAPTER I

AREAS AND BOUNDARIES

~Introductory.~--Of the provinces of India the Panjab must always have a
peculiar interest for Englishmen. Invasions by land from the west have
perforce been launched across its great plains. The English were the
first invaders who, possessing sea power, were able to outflank the
mountain ranges which guard the north and west of India. Hence the
Panjab was the last, and not the first, of their Indian conquests, and
the courage and efficiency of the Sikh soldiery, even after the guiding
hand of the old Maharaja Ranjit Singh was withdrawn, made it also one of
the hardest. The success of the early administration of the province,
which a few years after annexation made it possible to use its resources
in fighting men to help in the task of putting down the mutiny, has
always been a matter of just pride, while the less familiar story of the
conquests of peace in the first sixty years of British rule may well
arouse similar feelings.

[Illustration: Fig. 1. Arms of Panjab.]

~Scope of work.~--A geography of the Panjab will fitly embrace an account
also of the North-West Frontier Province, which in 1901 was severed
from it and formed into a separate administration, of the small area
recently placed directly under the government of India on the transfer
of the capital from Calcutta to Delhi, and of the native states in
political dependence on the Panjab Government. It will also be
convenient to include Kashmir and the tribal territory beyond the
frontier of British India which is politically controlled from Peshawar.
The whole tract covers ten degrees of latitude and eleven of longitude.
The furthest point of the Kashmir frontier is in 37 deg. 2' N., which is
much the same as the latitude of Syracuse. In the south-east the Panjab
ends at 27 deg. 4' N., corresponding roughly to the position of the
southernmost of the Canary Islands. Lines drawn west from Peshawar and
Lahore would pass to the north of Beirut and Jerusalem respectively.
Multan and Cairo are in the same latitude, and so are Delhi and
Teneriffe. Kashmir stretches eastwards to longitude 80 deg. 3' an