1859.] Notes on KdfirUtdn. 353 



neys these Baris are employed to carry baggage, and in all meaner 

 occupations. 



It is a mistaken idea to imagine that the Kafir tribes sell their 

 own children, as Burnes mentions, at the rate of twenty rupees the 

 span. Whenever the people of Chitrar or Chitral, and Lamghan, who 

 are generally at peace with them, come into their borders for the 

 purpose of barter and for purchasing slaves, they sell them the 

 children of the Bari tribe, before alluded to. Yet, uncivilized as they 

 are, it is rather improbable that they would show much hesitation 

 or compunction, for a good reward, to kidnap and sell their neigh- 

 bour's children if opportunity offered ; nevertheless, it is of rare 

 occurrence. 



All broken victuals are kept for these Baris, who sometimes come 

 and stand behind a person whilst eating, to receive whatever may be 

 left unconsumed. But if a Bari chances to come in front of a Kafir 

 whilst eating, it is considered defilement, and the aggressor is well 

 abused, and soundly beaten also for so doing ■ and cases have been 

 known wherein Baris have been killed by the enraged Kafirs, although 

 the commission of the capital crime is likewise accounted defile- 

 ment. 



Some few years since, a man of the Wamah tribe, on an occasion 

 of this nature, in a fit of rage killed a Bari, and from that day to this 

 his own wife has neither lived in the same house with him nor eaten in 

 his company ; and whenever she happens to see him, she says, " Oh 

 mean one ! thou hast slain a Bari ; thy hand is unclean !" 



Once every year the Kafirs hold a grand and ancient festival which 

 continues from twenty to forty days. Great preparations are made 

 for its celebration ; and large quantities of wine, clarified butter, 

 fruit, and other eatables, are collected by the people before hand. On 

 this festive occasion they do not eat at home, but visit their 

 acquaintances in rotation, with whom they remain four and five days 

 at a time. When the day arrives, a large cauldron of clarified butter, 

 which has been set aside for the purpose, is kept ready heated in 

 every house; and round it drinking vessels are arranged. Every 

 person who enters the house is expected to take a cup-full from the 

 cauldron and drink it off, otherwise it is accounted an insult, and 

 enmity immediately springs up. During this festival, the villagers 



