The Osceola times., 1880-09-25
A MYSTERIOUS PEOPLE.
The Kaf,rs-Are They Descended From one
OF AIexander's ColoniesY
Londop Telegraph

Among the results that mao peeh
hoped for from the Afghan war was an
accurate knowledge Of Kaiirlstan, the
land of mystery, which lies within tne
late kingdom of the Ameers. Military
however, have not brought
ms within reach of "the black-clad peo-
nle - as the Kaiirs are called, or brought
any of them into our camp; SO the cam
naipn bids fair to end leaving this truly
wonderful country quite uneNPioIeu.;
Dardlstan. close by, is also a place vi
maryels, and its folk lore would add 10
Grimm and Anderson chapter aoou,
bear kings and IIarginn such as Wouid
rival any of the legands OF the Dariz
Mountains or Thuringia. Kaiiristan Is
even more interesting than It's helehu9r,
for it is not only in its fables ana niy,ns M
that this cloud-land is so delightiuily
mysterious, but in every detail OF the
life and manners. the looks, dress, 1000,
religion and customs Of the people that
inhabit il. Who are the kafirs, ana
where is their country? II the questions
were asked of an Afghan of kabul, he
would probably answer that they We're
infidel dogs whe live ITO the north Oh
his city, and that their women ana cniiu-
rem are of such surprising beauty that
the agents of rich citizens are always on
the lookout for purchase. The size OF
their county no one knows exactly, put
"the love herb" grows there-a valuable
plant, indeed, for whoever possesses IL
can command the affection OF any ne
pleases-and gold of very pale Color,
but pure gold nevertheless, Is found In
their fields with the maize. They eat
little grain, however, for the kaflrs I'VE
on cheese and curds, meat and fruits,
chiefly the last, which grow wild all
over the hills. and their orchards are
wonderful. They have no earth IN their IL,
country to spare, so the Dlack-ciau
built their houses of cakes OF cow-dung
and sand mixed together; but wafer
they have in abundance, since every
hill is divided from the next by stream
which the people cross 10y swinging
| bridges made of creepers. They XIII
every Mussulmen they find within their
border, ami drink his blood; indeed
some of the Katirs are cannables. such
| in effect would probably be the total
amount of an Afghan's knowledge OF
| this large body of his fellow-country
men. tor Kafristan, partly from its SIN
lster traditions and the memory OF its
! traditional blood feud with Islam, and
partly from the undoubted yindictlveness
of the people toward Mohammedans, is
| sealed book TO the East. A tribe ol
| mountaineers, known as the Nimeha
! Moselems, who, to suit circumstances
and accommodate themselves to local
/ fashion in religion, are only true be
/ al. ha "a
| frontier, and spit at the name OF Allan
on the Kafir side, act as means Of com.
munication between the "Hlack clad
and their neighbors, and where IT mol
for them it is probable that the haiir'
would never be able to hold any inter
course with the outer world at all.
/ If the East itself is so ignorant OF tins
remarkable race, and if their next
neighbor and reputed kinsmen, the
Dards. really know nothing about them
it is not surprising that IN the Wes'
/ the Kafir of Afghanstan should be {
| complete mystery Who are they
Some say they are Arabs, while other
| belieye them to be Greeks. Nor, remem
/ herring how Alexander sowcd colonies
| along the roadside as he went to and re
turned from India, is such theory un
| tenablt, especially as some OF tht
Mohammedan tribes, once katirs, clam
European descent. The kafirs them
selyes-the Siah Posh, or "black clad,
from their wearing black sheep-skin
coats with the hairy side outward, can
| not, or will not, explain their own orr
| gin, for the few who have been caught
at intervals by inquisitive Enelishmer
have only made matters worse by cheer
fully accepting for themselves any line
age that happened to be supgested-Arab
Hebrew or HELENE. Their language
Kalasha-would, it might have been sup
posed, have given clue; but here again
a difficulty arises, f,r the Katirs in com
municating with their neighbors use O
mongrel tongue of which the vocabu-
larry, as far as it is yet compiled, defies
any important pathological inferences
being drawn from 1t, through its ad-
mixture of several dialects-Persian
Pushtoo, Hindl and Sanskrit-in vary.
ing proportions, with large percentage
of words and idioms 10 which no East
crn venracular offers any analogy. From
time to time Oriental scholars have given
| their attention to this chronological mys-
terry, and notably Burnes, Wolf, Nigne
and Bellew, though without any conclu.
sive results; but DR.. Leitner, of Lahore
has now contributed further install.
ment of a vocabulary compiled from the
/ lips of kafrs--two of them bt ing pris
oner captured by the Maharajah of Cash
mere in his war with the tribes beyond
the Indus, in 1866-which promises t.
lay the foundation of something like n
sound knowledge of the linguistic &C.
centricities peculiar to these unknown
folk. lie himself however, has not as
yet any pronounced opinion upon their
origin.
The people, as we have said, nate the
Mohammedans with surprising fervor,
not only from traditionary fueds, but
because to this day the Afehans and
others carry on systematic brigandage
upon their frontiers, for the purpose of
stealing their women and children, who
are then sold to the wealthy men of
Kabul or Badakshan, Swat, Bajour and
Ehitral. On the other hand thev are
said to be kindly disposed towards Hin.
dus, and are quite ready to accept En-
glishmen as friends. Native travellers
who have visited them have come away
delighted with their genial hospitality,
and struck with their activity of temper
ament, intelligence, and singularly high
standard of morality and ethics. That
the Katirs are brave needs no telling,
for they have retained their isolated in
dependence in spite of every effort of
every conqueror from Timur downward,
and The list OF their prosecutors have
been wel.-nigh continuous for several
centuries, every Mohammedan chief in
turn ambitious of becoming a "Ghazi,"
having at one time or another turned
his arms against this infdel colony. In
contradiction to some of the compli-
ments that have been paid them it is