18S3'.] T. P. Hiiglies— ^ visit, to Kafiridnn. 105 



such things are managed by women, and in most cases men do not 

 come even to know of them. It will appear that on the one hand 

 some of these superstitious beliefs are the relics of old faiths and man- 

 ners which have in some instances been incorporated in the 'modern 

 religions, and on the other hand they are the absurd beliefs of an ignorant 

 and credulous jDCople. It is also manifest that the modern relio-ions dis- 

 card such superstitions : yet all religions prevalent in the Punjab, Hin- 

 duism, Sikhism, and Muhammadanism, have failed to eradicate them 

 and it must be so until women are also edu(iated, and brought up 

 like men. Truly ^every candid native must confess that in India women 

 have their own superstitious religion, which does not practically differ 

 much whether they be nominally Hindus, Muhammadans or Sikhs." 

 This paper will be published in the Journal, Part I, 1883. 



3. A visit to Kajiristan. — By Rev. T. P. Hughes, B. B. 

 (Abstract.) 

 This paper consists of the diary of a Pathan Christian Evangelist who 

 visited Kafiristan in 1882, together with notes on the habits, &c., of the 

 Kafirs by the Rev. T. P. Hughes. These notes and the diary appeared 

 originally in the " Civil and Military Gazette." No European has as yet 

 been able to penetrate into Kafiristan and the country is therefore to a great 

 extent unknown, the little that is known having been obtained from the 

 verbal narratives of Muslim and Kafir travellers. The people appear 

 anxious that Europeans should visit them and have given every assurance 

 that they would treat them hospitably. The Peshawar Missionaries have 

 received three distinct invitations to visit the country. The people appear 

 to be ignorant, superstitious and immoral, and their idolatrous customs have 

 been made social institutions, but they express great anxiety to be instruct- 

 ed, and the existence of a Muhammadan village three miles from Kamdesh 

 proves that they are not bigoted. They have no special name for their 

 country and call themselves Kafirs, or Infidels, a name given them by the 

 Muhammadans, and their country Kafiru-gul, i. e., the Kafir countrj^ 

 Theft appears to be almost unknown among them and they are more truth- 

 ful than the people of India. The punishment for murder (which is not 

 common) is expulsion from the tribe. Domestic slavery has existed in 

 Kafiristan for many centuries, and every family of respectability possesses 

 slaves. The men slaves appear to remain in the sam.e family, but the female 

 slaves are sold like cattle. An extensive slave trade is carried on with the 

 surrounding Muhammadan tribes. 



