INTERVIEW WITH THE KAFIHS. 



459 



deputation of the Khan of Chugur Serai, (who has married a Chief's 

 daughter) met them ; they received the deputation with a feu de joie 

 from one or two firelocks, and then accompanied him to us, preceded 

 by two drums, one of ordinary, the other of an hour-glass shape, and 

 two pipes of gramineous culm, with three or four holes, and apparently 

 oblique mouth-pieces, but of ordinary sound. The Chiefs, the head 

 of whom is Hussin Ali's father-in-law, having been introduced, ad- 

 vanced, and commenced turning and stamping round a circle. 



The usual formalities then took place ; the followers, although a 

 fine bodied people, and very active, were excessively dirty, and not 

 very fair ; most were dressed in skins, having the hair inside, armed 

 with bows, either straight or like cow's horns, and daggers. 



The Chiefs were much fairer than their followers, and in the expres- 

 sion of face and eyes European ; but in all cases the forehead was 

 very slanting, and head generally badly developed. 



Their dress consisted of cotton frocks, with slashed sleeves, em- 

 broidered thickly with worsted network : they wear short pyjamas, 

 and skin shoes, with thick skin soles ; one had short boots with hair 

 inside : most were ornamented with the blue and yellow longhys of 

 Pushut, etc. The hair is cut short except that of the Chiefs, who 

 had fillets left round their heads, adorned with cowries, in radiated 

 shapes, with a red, worsted, pendant tassel. The headman had a 

 pendant wire chain with ornaments, and from the centre of the tassel, 

 the Monaul pheasant feathers, and his back hair was plaited into many 

 little tails. 



Almost all had necklaces of beads, the better sort silver earrings 

 (plain rings), and some pendant silver ornaments ; many had bracelets, 

 ornamented with brass ; kumurbunds of plain white cloths : the poor 

 ones have their heads naked, or with bits of cloth wrapped round. 



They had no swords, but Hindoostany ones, and of these very few. 



Even their archery, Macgregor says is bad ; one or two had spears, 

 the Chiefs spear was provided with a very long head, and ornamented 

 with cowrie shells at the top of the haft ; two women came afterwards, 

 their necks loaded with cowries and bits of bones, but otherwise well 

 clothed with the usual gowns, the outer one without sleeves and very 

 wide arm holes. They were decorated with very coarse, large, circular 

 earrings. They approached the rest singing in chorus, not unmelodi- 

 ously, but with very little variation in notes. Then a whistle, gene- 

 ral and loud from the whole party, representing their rejoicing over a 

 slaughtered Mussulman. 



