CHILAS  , a

hill village in the North-West Frontier Province of India . It is dominated by a fort on the left bank of the Indus, about 5o M. below Bunji, 4100 ft. above sea-level . It was occupied by a British force early in 1893, when a determined attack was made on the place by the Kohistanis from the Indus valley districts to the south-west, aided by contingents from Darel and Tangir west of Gilgit and north of the Indus . Its importance consists in its position with reference to the Kashmir-Gilgit route via Astor, which it flanks . It is now connected with Bunji by a metalled road . Chilas is also important from its command of a much shorter and more direct route to Gilgit from the Punjab frontier than that of Kashmir and the Burzil pass . By the Kashmir route Gilgit is 400 M. from the rail-head at Rawalpindi . The Kagan route would bring it 100 in. nearer, but the unsettled condition of the country through which the road passes has been a bar to its general use .