THE KAFIRS OF THE HINDU-K17SH. 40 A VERY singular race are
the Kafirs which inhabit one or the wildest parts of the Hindu-Kush Mountains, known as Kafiristan. A typical race of mountaineers,—courageous, independent, and capable of astonishing endurance, but way- ward, impetuous, covetous as children, and jealous to such an extraordinary degree that we should not be surprised if Kafir jealousy passed into a proverb, if it has not done so already. Sir George Robertson tells us that having become interested in the Kafirs from hearsay, and never having forgotten the distant sunset view he once had of the network of mountains and valleys constituting Chitral and Kafiristan, he obtained permission to visit the fairyland of his imagination.
He started from Chitral in September, 1890, for Kamdesh, the headquarters of the best-known and most feared of the various tribes, the Kam. A preliminary visit had been paid the year previous, and the mountaineers had seemed agree- able to a visit. But once settled, Sir George's troubles began, and when the novelty of the " Frank " and his electric battery had worn off, the extraordinary jealousy of the people lest one should be more favoured than another, and their insatiable craving for rupees, led to endless difficulties and much party feeling. The feelings and views of the Kamdesh villagers so ebbed and flowed, and veered and backed, that no metaphor, or even a mixture of metaphors, could do justice to the instability of the people. Sir George always had a friendly party, but they were in the minority, and when he returned after his first expulsion, there were a few hours when he thought his house would be stormed and his friends would have to fight for dear life. The suddenness with which the frenzied crowd outside were dispersed furnishes one of the most absurd anticlimaxes that we know. One of the "Frank's" party rushed out, and, making himself heard, the whole tumult instantly stopped. It naturally appeared marvellous to Sir George. The fellow had promised that the " Frank " would pay sixteen thousand rupees to make friends, and the Kafirs had actually believed this ingenious lie. Finally, after leaving Kamdesh for peace's sake, and returning in triumph once more, he decided to leave for Gilghit. Umra Khan too, it seems, had made his alliance with the Kam Kafirs conditional on Sir George's departure, and the tribe, who were for this suicidal alliance almost to a man, thought that their visitor had better go.
The Kafirs appear to be a race who have travelled east- ward, probably compelled to by force, and as the trend of all migrations is westward, we may be pretty certain from their own traditions, a great battle and a subsequent exodus, that this explains their position. As a race they have obviously sunk from a higher plane of life than the guerilla existence they now lead in isolated mountain fastnesses. The face is Semitic in several portraits, and the physique light but admirably adapted for a life amid the crags. Sir George says the faces are of a distinct Aryan type, and the heads of some of the men those of philosophers and statesmen. They are idolators; and indeed their religious observances, and some of the attributes of their deities and mythological traditions, have a remarkable similarity to those of the Greeks. The favourite god is Gish, the War-God, and the
• (1.) The Kdfirs of the Hindu-Kwh. By Sir George 4. Robertson, II.C.S.L Illustrated by A. D. McCormick. London : Le.wrenN3 and Fluden.—(2.) In and Beyond the Himalayas. By S. J. Stone. Mastra ed by Charles Whympar. London ; Edward Arnold,
tribe were continually performing sacrifices and dances in his honour. Imra, the Creator, is the chief deity. They have it that Dizane, the Goddess of Plenty, was carried away by a demon ; also that Dizane sprung into existence from Imra's right breast. Yurdesh, which contains both heaven and hell for mortals, is entered by a pit, the solitary guardian of which allows none to return to the earth again. Of the various legends it can only be remarked that they are a con- fused mixture of what bears some resemblance to Greek mythology and every-day customs of the Kafirs. Innumerable goats and bulls are sacrificed at the altars, and the dancing was at times seemingly interminable. The houses are flat- roofed, and where continuous, furnish a regular promenade and playing-ground. We should add that the Kafirs are pastoral, and their wealth in cattle is often considerable, else they could scarcely stand the continual drain on them from the sacrifices. Their agriculture, performed, with the single exception of threshing, by women, is intelligent and effective enough, and dependent on irrigation.
The Kafir's mode of warfare is not pleasant to contemplate; he is emphatically the midnight assassin. He will perform a long journey alone into the enemy's country, lie in wait for an unsuspecting field-worker, or stab a whole family asleep, and make his way home, often undergoing incredible hard- ships. His favourite device is the ambush, and for this reason the Chitralis and Afghans have a wholesome respect for him. A man's title to fame is the list of killed he can vouch for, and in this list women and children are of equal value with men,—the Kafir spares neither; but then they are polygamous. Yet Sir George assures us that their family affections are strong. He has a high opinion of their bravery. But he Bays that if it were not for their courage and family feeling they would be a hateful race. From what we can discover, there is only one Commandment that they do not break, and that is the fifth. The family government is of the very oldest type evidently and strongly patriarchal, and the village council, or Jast, is supreme. If it were not for this, these Kafir tribes, with their unique ideas of conducting war and perpetual feuds, would cease to exist. They do not, however, have blood feuds,—a life for a life, and there it ends.
The Mehtar of Chitral and Umra Khan gave Sir George endless trouble. The Mehtar having once let him go, did his best by every device known to an Oriental to make his resi- dence in Kamdesh impossible. Still Sir George spent a winter there, and really got a marvellous insight into the character and customs of the people, knowing at first nothing of the language. A more admirable school of patience and tact could not be imagined, and he must be unusually gifted with these qualities and all others to have held on as he did. As to the book, the author has done justice to a race whose ideas we can have little sympathy with, as he himself says, and whose surroundings are responsible for a mode of life and a code of honour essentially barbarous. Sir George's sym- pathy has brought out their good points in a really readable study in humanity—though we do get tired of the Kafir dances—and Mr. McCormick has some characteristic drawings of the people and their shrines. The idea of control cannot, of course, be mentioned in the same breath with a Kafir, or we should have thought of them as possible and capital auxiliaries.
Mr. Stone has described in his first chapters the pleasures and pains of markhor and ibex shooting in the Astor Valley, and a short campaign in the Phulwain and Krishganga Valleys after bears. For hard work and caution combined one may compare the hunting of the markhor with the white goat and the Rocky Mountain sheep in particular. This bear-shooting is, however, on the confession of most sports- men, such poor fun that we may well wonder that they continue to hunt the unfortunate creature. Other animals when wounded, from the nature of the country and the conse- quent drag exercised on their movements, are often finally brought to bay, but a bear, because a man cannot make up his mind exactly where to hit him, apparently often gets away wounded. The habits of the creature, and the bad light, are of course responsible for this.
A more interesting part of Mr. Stone's reminiscences is his sporting campaign in Ladakh after ovis amnion, whom he re- cemmends to be caught in his noonday nap ! The most successful expedition was the next one, to Chang-Chen-Mo, where Mr. Stone secured some yak, three in ten days, with which he seemed satisfied, and indeed he was lucky to get such chances in the time. The pursuit of game in these high valleys is trying to the strongest physique, and a stalk of a dozen hours at a stretch at a height of 20,000 ft. requires sound heart and lungs. Mr. Stone says it is not to be wondered that men deficient in this respect succumb to the hardship of mountain expeditions. Sportsmen, we expect, do not always realise this, and the fact that success, the steady hand at the end of an exhausting stalk, is dependent on a perfectly sound condition of body and nerves. Mr. Stone in- cidentally mentions how numerous sportsmen were even in Thibet, and many men, of course, have only health and lighter purses to show for their wanderings ; not one in twenty can handle a rifle. Our author records his misses honestly, and they are numerous enough even at such animals as yak and deer ; his best shots were at running game, it seems, a not, unusual characteristic of indifferent shots, if we may say so. He has many useful hints scattered through his pages, and his enthusiasm, which vents itself in describing every detail of a, long laborious stalk, will tempt not a few energetic men to plan expeditions for themselves.
It is easy to gather from Mr. Stone's chapters that the sportsman who penetrates the " marches " of British Indian territory is a great anxiety to officials, especially to the district officer responsible for his safety. He is also a nuisance, and so is the traveller generally, in places where the requisition of porters disturbs the available supply of labour for agriculture. Mr. Stone speaks of the annoyance felt by the headmen in the neighbourhood of the Gilghit route. He himself, it may be observed, had to be recalled from beyond the Indus by the Bunji commandant because some disturbance at Yasin was reported. Though they may be a bother, the change of scenery and air is so beneficial, the physical training so admirable, that the Anglo-Indian must not be denied his sporting tour. Many of them do no good when they go, but, that, of course, is their own fault, and as long as they enjoy themselves and are refreshed they ought to be satisfied. No other men have such splendid opportunities of recruiting themselves, at a trifling cost, as our Indian officials, and if they are hard-working they must be regarded also as decidedly lucky.
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