THE TRAMP OF CENTURIES 19
of 1847 Major Edwards was ordered to subjugate to the
Khalsa Dewan " the wild valley of Baiinu " for failure on
the part of the Bannuchees (inhabitants of Bannu District)
to pay land revenue. Profusely watered by two streams,
the valley was one "in which the crops never failed and
where the richest and idlest agriculture was overpaid with
almost all Indian grains in abundance ". What followed
is graphically described by Major Herbert Edwards in his
A Year on the Punjab Frontier and is, in fact, an epitome
of the history of subsequent British rule in India :
" It (the valley) was gained neither by shot nor shell, but
simply by balancing two races and two creeds. For fear of a
Sikh army, two warlike and independent Mohammedan tribes
levelled to the ground at my bidding, the four hundred forts
which constituted the strength of their country and for fear of
those same Mohammedan tribes, the Sikh army, at my bidding,
constructed a fortress for the Crown which completed the sub-
jugation of the valley. Thus was a barbarous people brought
peacefully within the pale of civilization and one well-intentioned
Englishman accomplished in three months, without a struggle,
a conquest which the fanatic Sikh nation had vainly attempted.
with fire and sword for five and twenty years/'