384 NATURAL BTJ3T0BY Of 



westward, down the Bolor range to Hindu-Koosh and Balkh. 

 In these mountain ri Kaufir of the present time retains 



the full vigor, indej . and beauty of his earliest pro- 



genitors, notwithstanding that he is hunted like a wild I 

 by Moslem half-bred tribes, and debarred all access to more 

 civilized nations. His similarity to the ancient Greek nations 

 is so striking, that it was believed the hardy mountaii 

 were a relic of a Macedonian army left in the country ; nor 

 was the supposition a wild fancy, since dynasties of Greek 

 priii x'S have ruled in Bactria, and in Candahar for several 

 centuries after the memorable invasion of Alexander the Great. 



Tin: KATJFIBS, OB MAMOQES.* 



Ir is in the fertile glens of lofty ridges of pine forest, forming 

 a portion of Hindu-Koosh and Beloot Tauch, that this people 

 resides, though as yet little known. The true national denomi- 

 nation of it is not even certain, and instead we are obliged to 

 rest contented with the Mahommedan vituperative term of 

 Kaufirs, or infidels, which the Affghans use to designate idola- 

 ters. They divide them into Speen, or white, and Seeapush, 

 or Tor Kautirs, merely because one is habitually clothed in 

 white cotton, and the other in black goat-skins. The people is 

 divided into a multitude of independent clans, living peaceably 

 together, but in unceasing war with the Moslem, much like the 

 Montenegrins in Europe, who carry on an exterminating con- 

 test with the Turks. The Speen Kaufirs, having Little Thi- 

 bet on the north, Ladauk east, the Punjaub south, and Poushtoo 

 west, have to guard themselves only on the side of the four 

 passes leading from the Punjaub, one from the Affghan side on 

 the west, and two from the north, there being none on the east. 



* Of the four original tribes, the Mamoges alone retained the primitive 

 manners ; the Camoze, Hilar, and Silar, becoming Mahommedans, and 

 mixing with other Islamized nations. 



