1859.] Notes on Kdfirktan. 319 



In a note at page 207 of the work to which I have before alluded, 

 Sir Alexander Burnes remarks that, " Since the British entered 

 Afghanistan, one of the Kafirs near Jellalabad, sent a congratulatory 

 message at the arrival of so many Kafir brethren as ourselves." 

 Here again a grand opportunity offered for sending an intelligent 

 officer into Kafiristan, or at least that part of it under the authority 

 of this Kafir chief. With what contempt, and John Bullish phlegm, 

 and Indian listlessness, this party of friendly Kafirs was treated, 

 will be found related below from the information of an eye- 

 witness. 



During a residence at Pes'hawer in 1849 and! '50, I naturally, 

 felt great curiosity respecting these interesting tribes, who, centuries 

 ago, had resisted the hordes of Timur-i-Lang ; baffled the legions of 

 Akbar ; and although surrounded on all sides by the fanatic, warlike, 

 and ambitious enemies of their faith, have, up to the present day, 

 preserved their independence, and even exact tribute from some of 

 them ; I was induced to send an intelligent man, a native of Kan- 

 dahar, into the Kafir country to gain whatever information he could 

 respecting this people, their country, and their manners and 

 customs. 



After an absence of nearly two years, by which time, I had given 

 him up as lost, — the man and the money also which I had entrusted 

 to him for his expenses, — he returned with an account of the Kafir- 

 country and people, as also of Kashkar or Chitral, Paujkorah, and 

 other little known localities of Hindu Kush. 



A Moulvi of Hasht-nagar, in the Pes'hawer district, whom I met 

 with at Poonah, resided for several years at Dir, the chief town of 

 Panjkorah, and close to the Kafir and Kashkar frontiers. He has 

 supplied me with much of his own personal observation, which, toge- 

 ther with other information gathered whilst at Pes'hawer, from 

 various persons who had visited Kafiristan and the other pelty 

 states noticed in this paper, has enabled me to compare and check 

 the different statements, the whole of which I have found generally 

 to agree on all essential points, and to contain matter of some in- 

 terest, though more meagre than I could have wished. 



I had kept this paper by me, in the hope of returning to IVs'h.i 

 wer, and of then adding to the information contained in it, or even 



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