348 Notes on Kafiristan. [No. 4. 



the army of Xerxes, mentions several nations who dressed in a similar 

 manner, consisting of tribes from the east and north-east of the 

 Caspian Sea, and adjoining the Sea of Aral — the Caspii, the Utii, and 

 others ; as also the inhabitants of the mountainous regions on the 

 south-eastern boundary of Great Bucharia, the people of Beluristan 

 or Land of Crystal,* Gilgitt, and others. 



The remaining tribes — the Kati-hi, Pashagar, Pandii, Wamah, 

 Mandul, Sama-jil, Tapah-kal, Chanak, Duh-tak, Sa-lao, Askin, Ashpin, 

 and Wadi-lm, wear a dress called a cliakman, which is sometimes 

 brought to Kabul for sale, and is manufactured from wool of various 

 colours ; drawers called buzo also made of wool ; and a shirt of coarse 

 cotton cloth, as worn by the other tribes. 



In the winter season, on account of the snow which lies on the 

 ground for several months, in the more elevated districts, they are 

 in the habit of wearing shoes of black goats-hair, woven strongly 

 together ; but in the summer they substitute the cMruJc — a sort of 

 half-boot made of goat-skin with the hair outwards, to lace up in 

 front, and similar to the boots worn by the mountaineers of Panj- 

 sher, who are, by all accounts, converted Kafirs, and the shoes of skin 

 with the hair on, worn by the Scottish Highlanders. 



Few of the Kafirs cover the head ; and when they do so, it is with 

 a narrow band or fillet made of goat's hair of three different colours 

 — red, black, and white — about a yard or a yard and a half in length, 

 wound round the head. 



The females dress in a similar style to the women of the Kohistan 

 or Highlands of Kabul, viz. ; loose drawers tight at the ancle ; a long 

 shirt or chemise ; a cliddar or veil ; and a small scull-cap under which 

 the hair is plaited. 



Their ornaments or trinkets consist of flat bracelets on the wrists, 

 necklaces, and ear-rings, and rings on the fingers. Those of the rich 



The Pactyes also wore goat-skin mantles, and had bows peculiar to the country 

 and daggers." Herodotus : Book VII. Polyhymnia 67. The Pactyes here 

 referred to are the inhabitants of Pactyice, supposed to be the present district of 

 Pakli, on the left bank of the Indus just above Attak, but more probably the 

 little known parts on the opposite bank, to the north of the districts held by the 

 Yusufzi Afghans. 

 * See description of Kashkar and Chitral. 



