830 Description of the Siuh-poshis. [ApRit, 



rienced no difficulties, but he would not have been permitted to go 

 among the more distant Kaffirs : had he attempted it, he either would 

 have been killed or compelled to marry and live for good among them. 

 He was not however convinced of the journey being impracticable* 

 He was kindly treated as far as he went, and admitted to their houses. 

 He saw them dancing and describes the race to be of exquisite beauty, 

 with arched eyebrows and fine complexion ! These Kaffirs allow a lock 

 of hair to grow on the right side of the head, and the Hindu declares 

 they were of his own creed as they knew Siva. They had bows and 

 arrows for defence, they pulled the strings of the former with their toes 

 and their arrows had heads like drooping lilies. Their country had many 

 flowers and much shade. Many coins are found in it resembling those 

 to be procured about Bajour, and some of which have Grecian inscrip- 

 tions. The worthy Hindu insisted upon its being a fact that the Kaffirs 

 sold their daughters to the Muhammadans according to their size, twenty 

 rupees per span being a fair valuation ! There is certainly no difficulty 

 in procuring Kaffir slaves, and the high prices which are readily given 

 may have induced these poor people, who closely adjoin the Muhamma- 

 dan countries, to enter upon this unnatural traffic. 



But by far the most singular of all the visitors to the Kaffir country 

 of whom I have heard was an individual, who went into it from Cabal 

 about the year 1829. He arrived from Candahar and gave himself 

 out, to be a Gubr or fireworshipper and an " Ibrahime" (follower of 

 Abrahim) from Persia, who had come to examine the Kaffir country 

 where he expected to find trace of his ancestors. He alighted in Cabul 

 with the Armenians, called himself Shuhryar, which is a name current 

 among the Parsees of these days. His hosts used every argument to 

 dissuade his going on such a dangerous journey, but he proceeded to 

 Julalabad and Lughman, where he left his pony and property and 

 entered the Kaffir country as a mendicant by way of Nujjil, and was 

 absent for some months. On his return, after quitting Kajfiristan, he 

 was barbarously murdered by the neighbouring Hazdras of the All 

 Purnst tribe ; whose Malik, Oosman, was so incensed at his country- 

 men's conduct that he exacted a fine of two thousand rupees as the price 

 of his blood. All these facts were communicated to me by the Arme- 

 nians in Cabul, but whether poor Shuhryar was a Bombay Parsee or 

 a Persian Gubr, I could not discover, though I am disposed to believe 

 him the latter as he carried along with him " a rukum" or document 

 from the shah of Persia. The death of this successful sojourner among 

 the Kaffir tribes is a subject for deep regret, but it holds out a hope 

 that some one may still follow the adventurous example of this disciple of 



