1859.] Notes on Kdfiristdn. 347 



ghal troops, however, seem to have met with but little success, 

 and being unable to bring the Kafirs under subjection to their yoke, 

 soon abandoned the attempt, and retired, somewhat precipitately, 

 through the Kawak Pass.* 



The emperor Baber, in his " Memoirs" gives an account of his 

 several forays into Kafiristau ; but he does not appear to have 

 entertained the idea of permanently occupying any part of the 

 country, and probably saw the difficulty of such an undertaking 

 from the determined opposition he met with from these hardy- 

 mountaineers. 



About the end of the last century, the Muhammadan chiefs of 

 Bajawer, Paojkorah, Kunir, and others, confederated together and 

 entered the Kafir country, where they burnt some hamlets and forced 

 several persons to embrace Islamism, and these are now included 

 amongst the Nimchahs ; but the invaders were soon compelled to 

 retreat, after sustaining severe loss. 



Five or six years since, the Bajawer chief made an inroad into that 

 part of Kafiristau adjoining his own district ; burned and sacked 

 some villages ; and succeeded in carrying off a number of people, whom 

 he subsequently sold into slavery. 



In mode of dress the Kafirs somewhat differ from each other ; but 

 all wear the black goat-skin garments, from which they derive the 

 general name of Sfah-posh, or Black-clad. 



The men wear a tuft of hair on the crown of the head, but the 

 beard is worn according to individual taste — some never shave, others 

 merely shave round the mouth, and others again cut off the beard 

 entirely. 



The dress of the Si'ah-posh, Kamuz, Kampar, Kattar, and Wae-kal 

 tribes is precisely alike, viz. ; — a shirt, drawers neither very tight nor 

 very loose, and a lungi or scarf, all of coarse cotton, besides a black 

 dress similar to that worn by the fakirs or devotees at Kabul, consisting 

 of a wide clwkah or cloak with short, wide sleeves, made of a pecu- 

 liar sort of wool. This they put on over the under-dress ; and over 

 all are worn the goat-skin garments. Herodotusf in his account of 



* Hist de Timur Bec. Vol. III. p. 5. 



t " The Caspians clothed in goat-skiu mantles, and carrying bows made of 

 cane peculiar to their country, and scimetars, joined the expedition. * * * 



