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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 13, p. 76.

7 6 HAZfl RA DLSTRICT A coaly layer is found below the Nummulitic limestone in the Dor and neighbourhood. It is much crushed, uncertain in thickness, and mixed with much clay. Its value (if any) requires proving'. The trees of the District are described below under Forests. Generally speaking the flora is extremely varied, in the south embracing most varieties commonly found in the plains of Northern India, and in the hills including every type of Alpine vegetation until the extreme limit of growth is reached. Leopards and black bears are found in all the hill tracts; hyenas are common in the lower hills, and wolves are occasionally seen. Foxes, hill martens, porcupines, hedgehogs, mongooses, and burrowing rats are common throughout the District. Ibex and musk deer are found in Kagan. Game-birds are not numerous. Various kinds of pheasant are found at elevations from 5,000 to 12,000 feet, and partridges and the commoner water-fowl abound lower down. Mahseer are plentiful in the Indus and Jhelum and in the lower reaches of the Harroh and Siran. The climate is as varied as the scenery. The hot season in the south vies with that in the adjoining Districts of Rawalpindi and Attock. In the central plateaux the heat of summer is materially less, and the winter proportionately severe. The line of perpetual snow is between 14,ooo and 15,000 feet above sea-level. The climate is, however, healthy, and well suited to Europeans. Malarial fevers in the spring and autumn, and various affections of the lungs in winter, are the chief diseases. The rainfall is abundant, varying from 30 inches in the south to 50 inches or more in Abbottabad and the neighbouring hill stations. The heaviest fall in the last twenty years was 79 inches at Abbottabad in 1893-4, and the lightest 15 inches at Haripur in 1891-2. The origin of the name Hazara is obscure. It has been identified with Abisara, the country of Abisares, the chief of the Indian moun- History. taineers at the time of Alexander's invasion. Dr. Stein regards it as derived from Urasa, the ancient name of PAKHLI ; but a possible derivation is from Hazara-i-Karlugh, or the Karlugh legion, which was settled in this tract by Timūr after his invasion of India. Little is known of the history of the tract before the Durranis. The name indeed occurs in the Ain-i-Akbari, and is mentioned by Firishta. From these writings we gather that the Hazara plain formed part of the Attock governorship, while other parts of the modern District were held by the same Gakhars who played so prominent a part in the history of Rawalpindi. When the Mughal dynasty declined and the Afghan peoples from across the Indus grew ' C. S. Middlemiss, Megnoirs, Geoloo4'eal Survey of India, vol. xxvi.