SULIMAN HILLS  , a

mountain system on the Dera Ismail Khan border of the north-west frontier of India . From the Gomal river southward commences the true Suliman system, presenting an impenetrable barrier between the plains of the Indus and Afghanistan . The Suliman Mountains finally merge. into the hills of Baluchistan, which are inhabited by the Marri and Bugti tribes . The chief mass of the range is known as Takht-i-Suliman or Solomon's throne . It may be seen on the western horizon from Dera Ismail Khan, a grey, flat-looking rampart rising from the lower line of mountains north and south of it, slightly saddle-backed in the middle, but culminating in a very well-defined peak at its northern extremity . The legend of the mountain is that Solomon visited Hindostan to marry Balkis, and that as they were returning through the air, on a throne supported by genii, the bride implored the bridegroom to let her look back for a few moments on her beloved land . Solomon directed the genii to scoop out a hollow for the throne on the summit of the mountain . The hollow is a cavity some 30 ft. square cut out of the solid rock, at the southern extremity of the mountain and is a place of pilgrimage for both Hindus and Mahommedans . The actual shrine is about two m. south of the highest peak . The whole mountain was traversed and surveyed by the Takht-i-Suliman Survey Expedition of 1883 (see SHERANI) and was found to consist of two parallel ridges running roughly north and south, the southern end of the eastern ridge culminating in a point 11,070 ft. high, which is the Takht proper on which the shrine is situated, and the western ridge culminating at its north-ern end in a point 11,300 ft. high known as Kaisargarh . Between these two ridges is a connecting tableland about 9000 ft. high . This plateau and the interior slopes of the ridges are covered with chilghosa (edible pine) forests .

The mass of the mountain is composed of nummulitic

limestone . No water is to be found on the summit .