320 Notes on K&firistan. [No. 4. 



to have subjoined rny own personal observations ; for I bad long 

 cherished the idea of entering the Kafir country ; and I would have 

 effected it too, had I not been, during a number of years employ- 

 ment in the Panjab, constantly kept at a distance from Pes'hawer — 

 the chief city of our possessions in the Afghan country — which 

 from my knowledge of the Pushto or Afghan language would have 

 been my proper place. 



The country lying between the 34th and 37th degrees of north 

 latitude, and the parallels of 69° 30' and 74° 30' of east longitude, 

 embracing the culminating ridges and slopes of the Hindu Kush — 

 the Paropamisus and Indian Caucasus of the ancients — is, at the 

 present day, divided into a number of petty independent states, 

 inhabited by several highly interesting tribes, concerning whom 

 our information is more scanty and imperfect than could be wished, 

 and whom modern travellers have but briefly noticed. 



These districts and valleys of the Kabul river and its tributary 

 streams, have, from their rugged nature and strong situation, a natural 

 tendency to resolve themselves into petty states, which have long 

 been independent ; and which, under their own chiefs, still continue 

 to maintain their freedom. They are known at present under the 

 names of Kafiristan, Chitral, or Chitrar, or Kashkar, as it is variously 

 termed, Panjkorah, Gilgitt, Suwafc, Buner, Bajawer, Kuner or 

 .Kamah, and Lamghan, all lying to the north of, and between the 

 Kabul river (Kophenes) and the Sindhu or Indus, They require to 

 be noticed in detail. 



Kafiristan. 



The tract of country inhabited by that highly interesting race of 

 people, known by the name of Si'ah-posh Kafirs, or " Black-clad 

 unbelievers," is designated Kafiristan — a compound word derived 

 from the Arabic^i^* (k/i-Jir) an infidel or unbeliever, and the Per- 

 sian participle uL^» (istdn) a place, a station. It is bounded on the 

 north by the Uzbak states of Kunduz, and Badakhshan ; south by 

 the cantons or districts of Lamghan or Laghman and Kamah, 

 situated on the northern bank of the Kabul river; east by Chitral 



