344 KOHf1T DISTRICT
the rest of the Punjab was annexed to the British dominions. Khwâja
Muhammad Khan had taken the British side and continued to manage
the tahsil, which was made a perpetual jdgir. In 1872 Khwâja Mu-
hammad obtained the title of Nawâb and was made a K.C.S.I. He died
in 1889 and was succeeded byhis son,Khan BahadurAbdul Ghaffrr Khan.
At annexation the western boundary was left undefined; but in
August, 1851, Upper Miranzai was formally annexed by proclamation,
and an expedition was immediately dispatched up the valley to establish
our rule. There was no fighting, beyond a little skirmishing with the
tiVazirs near Biland Khel. The lawless Mirânzai tribes, however, had
no desire to be under either British or Afghan rule. They were most
insubordinate, paid no revenue and obeyed no orders, while incursions
from across the frontier continued to disturb the peace of the new
District. At last, in 1855, a force of 4,000 men marched into the
valley, enforced the revenue settlement, and punished a recusant vil-
lage at the foot of the Zaimukht hills. The people of Miranzai quickly
reconciled themselves to British rule; and during the Mutiny of 1857
no disturbance of any sort took place in the valley, or in any other part
of the District. In March, 1858, it was finally decided that the Kurram
river was to form the western boundary of the District, thus excluding
the Biland Khel on the opposite bank.
The construction of the road from Kohât to Peshâwar was under-
taken immediately after annexation, and at once brought the British
into conflict with the border tribes, while the construction of the road
to Bannu by Bahâdur Khel was also the occasion of outbreaks in which
the salt mines were seized by the insurgents..
Kohât District contains one town and 298 villages. The population
at the last three enumerations was: (1881) 174,762, (1891) 195,148,
Population. and (1901) 217,865. It increased by 11•5 per cent.
during the last decade, the increase being greatest in
the Kohât tahsil and least in Teri. The increase, though partly due
to the presence of coolies, &c., employed in making the Khushâlgarh-
Kohât Railway, was mainly the result of increased tranquillity on the
border. The District is divided into three tahsils, the chief statistics of
which, in 1901, are shown in the table on the next page.
The head-quarters of these are at the places from which each is
named. The only town is KOHt1T, the administrative head-quarters of
the District. The District also contains the military outposts of THAL
and FORT LOCKHART. The density of the population is low, and the
population is too small in some villages to cultivate all the land. Mu-
hammadans number 199,722, or more than 91 per cent. of the total;
Hindus, 14,480; and Sikhs, 3,344 The language commonly spoken is
Pashtû ; the Awans and Hindus talk Hindki, a dialect of Punjabi,
arnong themselves, but know Pashtû as well.
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