KAFIR, also called Siah Posh Kafir, are names applied by Muhammadans to a race who occupy the mountainous region on the southern slopes of the Hindu Kush, directly north of Kabul, bounded on the north by the Hindu Kush moun tains, on the south by the Kunar range ; for its western limit it has the Alishan,,o. river with its tributary the Alingar • its eastern boundary, taken roughly, would be , the Kunar river from its junction with the Kabul to where the former receives the waters of the Kalasligum," thence, following up this affluent to its source, a line from that point to the Dura pass would be well within the march. It would also take in a small tract north-west of that pass, and subject to Munjan. There are three main tribes, Ramgal, Vaigal, and Bashgal, answering to the three chief valleys of the country. The Vaigal are the most powerful, holding the largest valley. Each has its distinctive dialect. The entire population is estimated at over 600,000. Their country is picturesque, thickly wooded, and wild in the extreme ; the men are of fine appearance, but, like all 1.i11 tribes, short of stature ; they are daring to a fault, but lazy, leaving all agricultural work to their women, spending their days, when not at War, in hunting; passionately fond of dancing, in which both sexes join, indulging in it almost every evening round a blazing fire. It is purely owing to their having no blood-feuds among themselves that they hold their own against the Muhammadans, who hem them in on all sides, and with whom they are always fighting. Towards the British they are exceedingly well disposed. Slavery exists to a certain extent among them, but the trade in slaves would soon die out if human beings were not so saleable at Jalalabad, Kunar, Asmar, and Chitral. Poly gamy is rare ; mild corporal punishment is in flicted on a wife for adultery, while the male offender is fined so many heads of cattle. The dead are coffined, but never buried. One Supreme Being, Imbra, is universally acknowledged. Priests
preside at their temples, in which sacred stones are set up, but to neither priests nor idols is excessive reverence paid. In evil spirits, authors of ill-luck, the Kafirs firmly believe. Their drink is the pure juice of the grape, neither fermented nor distilled. Their arms are bows and arrows ; a few matchlocks have found their way among them from Kabul, but no attempts have been made to imitate them. Wealth is reckoned by heads of cattle. There are 18 chiefs in all, chosen for bravery mainly, but with some regard to hereditary claims. Their staple food is wheat.
Judging from the nature of their idolatry and their language, there can be little doubt that they are an Indian people.
Fazl-i-Haqq, in 1864, said, A breach of the seventh commandment in any form is not endured for a moment.' But both Syud Shah and Mian Gul assert that they are completely lost to all shame in this respect. Major Biddulph confirms this. He says, The women are very immoral, and marital jealousy is satisfied with a short fine.' It has also been ascertained that the Kafirs sell their women as slaves. But it appears that a large slave trade is carried on directly with the Kafirs themselves. When one Kafir tribe defeats another, the women are seized and sold into slavery. • They are entirely independent. The country occupies a commauding position, dominating all mountain passes between the Oxus and Indus basin. It occupies the most western part of the independent highlands, where the chain of the Hindu Kush impinges on the extremity of the Himalaya, capping the mountainous region of Badakhshan, on the Oxus, and overlooking most of the passes at the head of the Kabul river. The people give no quarter to Muhammadans, but spare those who, like themselves, are technically Kafir, or non-believers in the creed of Mahomed, which is associated in their minds with barbarous cruelty from the earliest, period of the Muham madan invasion of Afghanistan.