The Sattagydae of Herodotus are identified in the Saitak, Sattak, Shattak, and Khattak of modern native writers. The two last forms are merely the western and eastern modes, respectively, of Pushtu. pronunciation. Their original seat was on the Sulemam range and its great western off shoot, called Koh Sanwal, and the plain country down to the Indus as far south as the present Dehra Ismail Khan. On the Suleman range their limit to the south ended at Barmal, and marched with the Kakar frontier At a very early period the Khattaks were, it appeals, driven out of the plain country on the Indus by the Waziri tribe, who, after a long lapse of time, being themselves pressed in rear by other tribes from Sind, were forced forward, and pushing themselves into the hill country of the Khattaks, dispossessed that ancient people of their original home. This is said to have occurred about six hundred years ago. At some considerable period prior to this, however, it appeals that the Khattaks were invaded from the west by a Persian people now commonly known by the name of Chakmani or Chamkani This people did not conquer or dispossess the Khattaks, but settled in the country amongst them, mostly in and about their principal towns of Mukim and Kanigoram Though all this country is now in the hands of the Waziris, there are still three or four hundred houses of the Chamkani dwelling in these two towns as subjects of the Waziri.

The Chamkani, it appears, were a heretical sect of Persian Islamites, and fled their own country on account of the persecations of the Government They are said to have belonged (for they are now orthodox Musalmans) to the sect of Shia Muhammadans called Ali Ilahi on account of their belief in the divinity of Ali, the son-in-law of Muhammad. Curious stories are told of their peculiar religious ceremonies and immoral proceedings connected with them. A burning light, it appears, was an essential element in their religious performances, in which both sexes joined indiscriminately, and at a particular stage of the ceremonies and recitations it was extinguished by the officiating priest. On this signal the congregation fell to the orgies and immoralities of which they are accused. On account of this strange custom they were called by the Persians chiragh-kush and by the Pathans or-mur, which mean respectively "lamp-extinguisher" and "fire-extinguisher" Their great ancestor or leader in these parts was one Amr Loban, but nothing more is recorded of him than his name. According to Afghan accounts this people were dispersed about five hundred years ago in consequence of a famine which raged in their country for three or four years Some of them moved into the Logar valley, south of Kabul, where they settled at Barkibarak, others emigrated to the Peshawar valley, where the village of Chamkani marks their settlement; others again went on into Hindustan, and there became lost in the general population of the country. A considerable number, however, held to their homes in. Kanigoram and Mukim, and others to their settlements on the north border of the country, where they had as neighbours the petty tribes of Mangal and Khitai and Zazai - evidently immigrant tribes from Mangalai and Khitai (our Cathay) in North Western China. The total number of the Chamkani is reckoned at about five thousand families. They are considered a quiet, inoffensive, and industrious people, and distinguished as the only tribe in these parts not given to feudal fights and highway robbery.

On being turned out of their own country by the Waziri, the Khattaks, together with some of their neighbours of the Hani and Mangal tribes, are said to have retreated to the Banu territory, and settled at Doyal, which was called also Sadrawan. Here they quarrelled with their stranger comrades and expelled them from their midst. After this the Khattaks were attacked by the Baloch, and forced to go north-east to the Koh Khingan. From this they gradually spread by Karbogha, Teri, Chautra, Lacha, etc, to the Indus. Whilst the Khattaks were thus working their way eastward, the Bangash were being driven out of Kurram by the Tori, who, it seems, were advancing from the south-east diagonally across the route by which the Khattaks had come The Bangash, on their part, being ousted from their possessions in Kurram, fell back upon their allied tube, the Orakzai, and contested the land with them Whilst they were thus engaged in hostilities, the Khattak took the opportunity to extend their lands to Tora Chapra and Patiala at the expense of the Orakzai, and thus became neighbours of the Bangash, a hill ridge between Lacha and Gadakhel being the separating boundary, which it is to this day. Gradually as the Khattaks increased in strength, they extended northward, and pressing aside the Orakzai and Afridi to the higher hills, took possession of all the Indus reverain up to the Kabul river, and even advanced across it, as before mentioned, into the Yusufzai country In their advance they absorbed several small communities of foreign settlers, such as the Mughalki and Sini (Mughal or Mongol, and Chinese), whom they include in their Bulac division, and the Jalozai, Dangarzai, and Oriyakhel, whom they include in their Teri division.

The Khattak, with whom are included the Banuchi, are physically a fine race, and differ from all other Pathans in features, general appearance, and many of their customs. They are also distinguished from the other eastern Pathans, as being the only tribe amongst them who speak the soft or western dialect of Pushtu The Afghan account of the origin of their name, whilst illustrative of the manners of the people in the olden times, shows the simplicity of mind of their descendants, and their entire reliance for information upon their priests; for having themselves lost all trace of their ancestry they are fain to believe whatever their spiritual masters choose to tell them.