Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/856

822 KAFIRISTAN of Peshawar and Yusufzai. A clan of the now Moslem tribe of Safis is called Gandhdrai. The Kamoz tribe of Kafirs have been surmised to be living representatives of the Kambojas of early Sanskrit, whose name was borrowed by that region in the far East in whose forest depths religions of Indian origin reared weird and stupendous fanes, lately made known. In two other Kafir clans, Aspins and Ashkins, one is tempted to trace remnants of the Aspasii and Assaceni of Alexander s historians, whose seat was about Kuner, Bajaur, and Dir. The people are recognized from outside as Kafirs (" infidels") or Sidh-posh (" black-clad "compare the Melanchl&ni of ancient Scythia) ; but they use no collective term as applicable to them selves ; in many cases different tribes are unable to converse with each other ; and apparently they recognize no common tie of nationality. If hard pushed, or speaking with foreigners, they will thus employ the word Kappra (for Kafir), but so also a Hindu talking to an Englishman will sometimes use the term Kdld ddmi (" black man ") collectively of his countrymen. The variations in the catalogue of tribes given are endless ; indeed, Tanner says explicitly that he never found two people who agreed in the names of four out of five, and the variation in actual lists is greater than this. Major Biddulph s information leads him to divide the whole body into three main tribes (or perhaps topo graphical divisions) : (1) Bashgalis, occupying the eastern valley adjoining Chitral, partially tributary to that state, their principal clan being divided into Kamoz and Kamtoz ; (2) Waigalls, occupy ing the Pech valley and its upper waters ; (3) Ramgalis or Lam- f/alis, on the upper waters of the streams descending towards Laghman (formerly Lamyhdn) and Cabul, and also apparently extending north ol the great watershed. But these great tribes are subdivided into numerous clans, of which the Waigalis alone count eighteen. There are also broken clans, like the Kaldshas, adjoin ing Chitral, a degraded race who are claimed by the Bashgalis as their slaves, and the KMigalis, a small tribe near the watershed who are subject to Munjan, one of the highland cantons of Badakhshan. More copious lists of tribes have been given by Elphinstone (three lists on different authorities), and by Eaverty, Lumsden, Bellow, &c. We may notice that all lists give a prominent place to the Katdr or Katdr (see above) . Other names that appear in several lists are Wai or Waigal (already named from Biddnlph) ; Kdm, in various forms ; Wdmah, and Sdnu, which, we learn from Tanner, are names for one great tribe ; Pashd-gar or Pashd-gri, suggestive of connexion with the now Mahometanized Pashais of the Cabul highlands, spoken of above ; Munde-gal, Paruni, Traiegama, Gambtr or Gimir, Ashkong or AsMn, Ashpin or Ishpi, Nisha or Nishai, &c. The affix gale or gali, which attaches to several Kafir names of place and tribe, is to be ascribed to a word gal signifying " country." The characteristics of some tribes were given to Tanner by their (ntmcha) neighbours the Chuganis, and ran thus : "In Kafir land are many languages, many tribes with different tongues. The Katawas (Kators ?) are horsemen. The Parunis have no guns, they kill men with clubs. The Majgalis are beautiful ; they have guns and are marksmen ; they are men of the chase, very active and swift. The Wainas are the nicest of all. But the Katawas (Kators ?) are chief before the Wamas. And the Nishai are fairer than the Wamas." In regard to the general aspect and complexion of the Kafirs, accounts have varied. Dr Trumpp, a learned mis sionary, who examined three Kafirs at Peshawar, declares them to have been in all respects like natives of Upper India, with dark hair and eyes and swarthy colour, tinged with ruddiness due to wine. On the other hand Burnes, Atkinson, Wood, and Masson all speak of their blue eyes, nearly all of their brown hair. Bellew describes Faramorz Khan, an officer of Kafir birth in the Afghan service, as of fair, almost florid complexion, and light brown hair, hardly to be distinguished from an Englishman. And, unless their fairness were a general characteristic, one hardly sees how the story current among themselves of their kin to us could have found vogue. The fact seems to be, as Biddulph states, and as the Chugani characterization quoted above implies, that they differ considerably in complexion, some of those living at high elevations being very fair. In feature those whom he saw were pure Aryans of a high type, the women handsome (as all native reports make them), with brown hair and eyes, sometimes very fair. Indeed, Sir H. Rawlinson, who repeatedly saw Kafirs at Cabul in 1838-40, has stated that the most beautiful Oriental lady he ever had seen was a Kafir slave ; by loosening her golden hair she could cover herself completely from head to foot as with a veil. The current tale has always been like that told to Goes in 1603 that no Mussulman could enter their land and live. This is true of any one entering without warning ; but, on the eastern side at least, they receive visitors when passed in by one of themselves. Thus pedlers with wares from Peshawar enter ; and Mahometans from Chitral are occa sionally allowed to enter the country for sport, and enjoy the hospitality for which the Kafirs are famed. The assurance that they would welcome the visits of Christians has been general, and the invitation often given. Two Afghans from Peshawar, Christian converts, on the invita tion of a Kafir who had been a soldier in the Guides under Colonel (now Sir Harry) Lumsden, visited the Kafir country in 1864, and brought back a very interesting journal. They witnessed, soon after entering the country, the treacherous massacre by the Kafirs, in fulfilment of an old vendetta, of a large party of Mahometans who had been invited across the border, but were themselves well treated. The language of the Kafir tribes belongs, like their physical type, to the Aryan class. On both northern and southern slopes of Hindu Kush are spoken a number of languages and dialects, all of which, with the striking exception of the Khajuna or Burishki in Gilgit, belong to the class named, some of them leaning more to the Persic, some to the Indie (or Prakritic) type. To the first belong especially the dialects of the north known as Ghdlcha, spoken in Sirikol, "Wakhari, Shighnan, and other cantons of the upper Oxus. To the second belong the Shina language of Dardistan, and other dialects, spoken on the Indus and west of it as far as Chitral. Major Biddulph considers the Kafir languages, of which the Khowar or Chitrali is a type, to stand between the two classes, drawing on the whole nearest to "the Indie side, but with a larger number of Persic roots than the Card dialects. Vocabularies of Kafir or Siah- posh dialects have been published by various persons (e.g., Leech, Burnes, Raverty, Lumsden, Trumpp, N orris, Leitner, Tanner, Biddnlph). The most ample are by no means the most valuable ; and the data as yet, both as to copiousness and as to precision regarding the locality of the dialects represented, are scanty, though in these respects Major Biddulph s book marks a considerable step. The Hindi character of the lists of numerals in some of the dialects is very striking. They all seem to confirm Elphinstone s statement that in all the Kafir dialects the numeration is by scores, as in the French "survival" of quatrevingt, quaircvingt-dix, &c. Biddulph regards the religion of the Kafirs as a crude form of the old Vedic worship. Imbra is their chief god, a name suggestive of Indra. Mani is spoken of as mediat ing with Imbra on behalf of man. There are many inferior divinities, some acknowledged to have been mortals wor shipped after death. Names of some of these are given by Elphinstone and by Biddulph, and a large part of the two lists agree. Stones are set up as emblems of Imbra, but carved idols are not used, says Biddulph ; we must perhaps interpolate, "as representations of Imbra," for there is much evidence that images are set up. Deogan is a name which several accounts give as that of a chief god, perhaps a generic word connected with deo, div, dens, &c. Colonel Tanner s informants told him of a temple of Deogan among the Wamas, hung about with bright-coloured cloths and ornaments, whilst Deogan was represented by a fierce image of wood, armed with club, knife, and gun. The temples are said to be stored with the accumulated spoils of ages. To all the deities cows are sacrificed, and cedar branches burned. On all occasions of slaughtering for food, some deity is invoked and sacrificial ceremonies observed. The Bashgalis showed Biddulph the sacrifice of a goat. The detail is most remarkable, as he points out, in its agreement, even in some of the minutiae (such as the ritual words used, such ! and he-mach /), with the account given by Elphinstone after Mullah Najib, thus attesting the authenticity of the latter s narrative. Polygamy is practised, and according to the balance of