Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1880-11-26
A MYSTERIOUS PEOPLE.
The Kafirs--A Race of Unknown Orb
gin.-Are They Descended from One
or AIexander's Colonies.


Among the results that had been
hoped for from the Afghan war was
an accurate knowledge Of Kaiiristan,
the land of mystery, which lies within
the late kingdom Of the Ameers.
Military operations, however, have not
brought us within reach Of "the black
clad people, rs the Kafirs are called,
or brought any Of them into our camp,
so the campaign bids fair to end leav-
ing this truly wonderful country quite
unexplored. Dardistan, close by, is
also place Of marvels and its fork-lore
would add to Grimm and Anderson n
chapter about bear-kings and the
Harginn such AZ would rival any of
the legends Of the Hartz mountains
or Thuringia. Kafiristan is even more
interesting than its neighbor, for it is
not only in its fables and myths that
this cloud land is so delightfully."- mys-
FERROUS, but in every detail Of the life
and manners, the looks, dress food,
religion and customs Of the people
that inhabit il. Who are the kaiirs,
and where is their country? If the
questions were asked Of an Afghan Of
Kabul, he would probably answer that
they are infdcl dogs who live Ito the
north" Of this city, and that their wo-
men and children are Of such surpass-
ing beauty that the agents of rich citi-
zens are always on the lookout for II
purchase. The size Of their country
no one knows exactly, but "the love
herb" grows there,-a valuable plant,
indeed for whoever possesses it can
command the affection Of any he
plcascs, and gold Of n very
pale color, but pure gold,
nevertheless is found in their
fields with the maize. They eat little
grain, however, for the kaiirs live on
cheese and curds, meat and fruits,
chiefly the last, which grow wild I'LL
over the hills, and their orchards are
wonderful. They have no earth in
their country To spare, SO the "hlack-
clad" built their houses of cakes of
cow-dunp and sand mixed together;
but water they have III abundance,
since every hill is divided from the
next by stream, which the people
cross by swinging bridges made Of
ercepers. They kill every Mussulman
they find within their border, and drink
his blood; indeed, some Of the kaiirs
are cannibals. Such, in effect, would
probably be the total amount Of i'm At
ghnn's knowledge Of this large body of
his fcllow-comtrymcn. for kallristan,
partly from its sinister traditions and
the memory of its traditional blood
feud with Islam. and partly from the
undoubted vindictivencss Of the people
toward Mohammedans, is sealed book
to the East A tribe of molntainecrs,
known rs the Nimeha Moslcms, who,
to suit circumstances, and to accom-
MEDIATE themselves to local fashion in
religion, are only true believers in the
Mohammcdcn side of the frontier, and
spit ut the nume of Allah ON the kailir
side, net AZ n means of communication
between the, "black clad and their
ncighbors, and, we're it not for them it
Is probable that the kaiils would never
hc able to hold any intercourse with the
outer world ut all.
If the East itself is ignorant Of this
remarkable race, and if their next
ncighbors and reputed kinsmen, the
Dnrds, really know nothing about them,
it is not surprising that in the West the
Kntir { A(ghanistan should he com
pletc mystery. Who are they? Some
say they are Arabs, while Others be-
licvc them to be Greeks. Nor, remcm-
boring how Alexander sowod colonies
along the roadsidrs rs he went to and
from India, is such II theory mtaablc,
especially as some Of the Mohammcdar
tribes, once kaiirs, claim European de-
scent. The kntirs themsclvH-the
Siah Posh, or "blnck- clad from their
wearing black sheep-skin coats with
the hairy side outward, cannot, or
will not explain their own origin for
the few who had been caught mt in
tervnls by inquistive Euglishmcn have
only made matters worse by chcorinlly
accepting for themselves any lineage
that happened to hc suggested, Arab
Hebrew, Or Helene. Their language
-Kalnsha would, it might have been
supposed have given II clcw; but here
again Il difficulty arises, for the Katirs
i'll communicating with their ncighhors
used II mongrel tongue. of which the
vocabulary, rs far rs il il yet compiled,
deIies any important pathological infer
encos being drawn from it, through its
edmixture Of several dialects Persian,
pushtoo, lIindi, and Sanskrit-in vary
ing proportions, with large percent
agc Of words and idioms to which no
eastern ycrnaeulnr offers any analogy.
From time To time Oriental scholars
have given their attention to this eth
biological mystery, and notably Burncs,
Wolfe, Nigne. and Bellew, though with
out any conclusive results hut DIR.
Leitnrr. OF Lahore has now contributed
n further nstallmcnt of vocabulary
compiled from the lips If kalirs, -
two of thom being prisoners captured
by the Maharaah Of Cashmere in his
war With the tribes beyond the Indus
in 1866, which promises to lay the
foundation Of something like Il sound
knowledge Of the linguistic eccentric
tiles peculiar to these unknown folks.
He himself, however, has not yet pro-
nomced opinion upon their origin
The people, rs we have said, hate the
Mohammcdans with surprising fer
vor, not only from traditionary fcuds.
but because to this day the Afghans
and others carrying on systematic
hrigandagc upon their frontier, for the