Chapter V: Part 5

KABUL RIVER, a river of Afghanistan, 300 m. in length. The Kabul (ancient _Kophes_), which is the most important (although not the largest) river in Afghanistan, rises at the foot of the Unai pass leading over the Sanglakh range, an offshoot of the Hindu Kush towards Bamian and Afghan Turkestan. Its basin forms the province of Kabul, which includes all northern Afghanistan between the Hindu Kush and the Safed Koh ranges. From its source to the city of Kabul the course of the river is only 45 m., and this part of it is often exhausted in summer for purposes of irrigation. Half a mile east of Kabul it is joined by the Logar, a much larger river, which rises beyond Ghazni among the slopes of the Gul Koh (14,200 ft.), and drains the rich and picturesque valleys of Logar and Wardak. Below the confluence the Kabul becomes a rapid stream with a great volume of water and gradually absorbs the whole drainage of the Hindu Kush. About 40 m. below Kabul the Panjshir river joins it; 15 m. farther the Tagao; 20 m. from the Tagao junction the united streams of Alingar and Alishang (rivers of Kafiristan); and 20 m. below that, at Balabagh, the Surkhab from the Safed Koh. Two or three miles below Jalalabad it is joined by the Kunar, the river of Chitral. Thenceforward it passes by deep gorges through the Mohmand hills, curving northward until it emerges into the Peshawar plain at Michni. Soon afterwards it receives the Swat river from the north and the Bara river from the south, and after a further course of 40 m. falls into the Indus at Attock. From Jalalabad downwards the river is navigable by boats or rafts of inflated skins, and is considerably used for purposes of commerce.

KABYLES, or KABAIL, a confederation of tribes in Algeria, Tunisia, and a few oases of the Sahara, who form a branch of the great Berber race. Their name is the Arabic _gabilat_ (pl.: _gabail_), and was at first indiscriminately applied by the Arabs to all Berber peoples. The part of Algeria which they inhabit is usually regarded as consisting of two divisions--Great Kabylia and Lesser Kabylia, the former being also known as the Kabylia of the Jurjura (also called Adrar Budfel, "Mountain of Snow"). Physically many Kabyles do not present much contrast to the Arabs of Algeria. Both Kabyle and Arab are white at birth, but rapidly grow brown through exposure to air and sunshine. Both have in general brown eyes and wavy hair of coarse quality, varying from dark brown to jet black. In stature there is perhaps a little difference in favour of the Kabyle, and he appears also to be of heavier build and more muscular. Both are clearly long-headed. Some, however, of the purer type of Kabyles in Kabylia proper have fair skins, ruddy complexions and blue or grey eyes. In fact there are two distinct types of Kabyles: those which by much admixture have approximated to Arab and negroid types, and those which preserve Libyan features. Active, energetic and enterprising, the Kabyle is to be found far from home--as a soldier in the French army, as a workman in the towns, as a field labourer, or as a pedlar or trader earning the means of purchasing his bit of ground in his native village. The Kabyles are Mahommedans of the Sunnite branch and the Malikite rite, looking to Morocco as the nearer centre of their religion. Some of the Kabyles retain their vernacular speech, while others have more or less completely adopted Arabic. The best known of the Kabyle dialects is the Zouave[1] or Igaouaouen, those speaking it having been settled on the northern side of the Jurjura at least from the time of Ibn Khaldun; it is the principal basis of Hanoteau's _Essai de grammaire kabyle_ (Paris, 1858). Unlike their southern brethren, the Kabyles have no alphabet, and their literature is still in the stage of oral transmission, for the most part by professional reciters. Hanoteau's _Poesies populaires de la Kabylie du Jurjura_ (Paris, 1867) gives the text and translation of a considerable number of historical pieces, proverbial couplets and quatrains, dancing songs, &c.

Consult General L. L. C. Faidherbe and Dr Paul Topinard, _Instructions
sur l'anthropologie de l'Algerie_ (Paris, 1874); Melchior Joseph
Eugene Daumas, _Le Sahara algerien_ (Paris, 1845) and _Moeurs et
coutumes de l'Algerie_ (1857); De Slane's translation of Ibn Khaldun's
_Hist. des Berberes_ (Algiers, 1852); Aucapitaine, _Les Kabyles et la
colonie de l'Algerie_ (Paris, 1864) and _Les Beni M'zab_ (1868);
L.J.A.C. Hanoteau and A. Letourneux, _La Kabylie et les coutumes
kabyles_ (Paris, 1893); Charmetant, in _Jahrbucher der Verbreitung des
Glaubens_ (1874); Masqueray, _Formation des cites ... de l'Algerie_
(1886); Dugas, _La Kabylie et le peuple kabyle_ (Paris, 1878); Recoux,
_La Demographie de l'Algerie_ (Paris, 1880); J. Liorel, _Races
berberes: les Kabyles_ (Paris, 1893); MacIver and Wilkin, _Libyan
Notes_ (1901).

FOOTNOTE:

[1] From the enlistment of Kabyles speaking the Zouave dialect the
Zouave regiments of the French army came to be so called.

KACH GANDAVA, or KACHHI (Kach, Kej, Kiz), a low-lying flat region in Baluchistan separating the Bugti hills from those of Kalat. It is driven, like a wedge, into the frontier mountain system and extends for 150 m. from Jacobabad to Sibi, with nearly as great a breadth at its base on the Sind frontier. Area, 5310 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 82,909. The Mula pass, which connects it with the Kalat highlands, was once (when the ancient city of Kandabel was the capital of Gandava) a much trodden trade highway, and is still a practicable route though no longer a popular one. The soil is fertile wherever it can be irrigated by the floods brought down from the surrounding hills; but much of the central portion is sandy waste. It is traversed by the North-Western railway. The climate is unhealthy in summer, when pestilential hot winds are sometimes destructive to life. The annual rainfall averages only 3 in. Kachhi, though subject to the khan of Kalat, is administered under the tribal system. There are no schools, dispensaries or gaols.

See _Baluchistan District Gazetteer_, vol. vi. (Bombay, 1907).

KACHIN HILLS, a mountainous tract in Upper Burma, inhabited by the Kachin or Chingpaw, who are known on the Assam frontier as Singphos. Owing to the great number of tribes, sub-tribes and clans of the Kachins, the part of the Kachin hills which has been taken under administration in the Myitkyina and Bhamo districts was divided into 40 Kachin hill tracts (recently reduced to five). Beyond these tracts there are many Kachins in Katha, Mong Mit and the northern Shan States. The country within the Kachin hill tracts is roughly estimated at 19,177 sq. m., and consists of a series of ranges, for the most part running north and south, and intersected by valleys, all leading towards the Irrawaddy, which drains the country. There were 64,405 Kachins enumerated at the census of 1901. Philological investigations show that it is probable that the progenitors of the Kachins or Chingpaw were the Indo-Chinese race who, before the beginnings of history, but after the Mon-Annam wave had covered Indo-China, forsook their home in western China to pour over the region where Tibet, Assam, Burma and China converge, and that the Chingpaw are the residue left round the headquarters of the Irrawaddy and the Chindwin after those branches, destined to become the Tibetans, the Nagas, the Burmans and the Kuki Chins, had gone westwards and southwards. In the middle of the 19th century the southern limit of the Kachins was 200 m. farther north than it is now. Since then the race has been drifting steadily southward and eastward, a vast aggregate of small independent clans united by no common government, but all obeying a common impulse to move outwards from their original seats along the line of least resistance. Now the Kachins are on both sides of the border of Upper Burma, and are a force to be reckoned with by frontier administrators. According to the Kachin Hill Tribes Regulation of 1895, administrative responsibility is accepted by the British government on the left bank of the Irrawaddy for the country south of the Nmaikha, and on the right bank for the country south of a line drawn from the confluence of the Malikha and Nmaikha through the northern limit of the Laban district and including the jade mines. The tribes north of this line were told that if they abstained from raiding to the south of it they would not be interfered with. South of that line peace was to be enforced and a small tribute exacted, with a minimum of interference in their private affairs. On the British side of the border the chief objects have been the disarmament of the tribes and the construction of frontier and internal roads. A light tribute is exacted.

The Kachins have been the object of many police operations and two
regular expeditions: (1) Expedition of 1892-93. Bhamo was occupied by
the British on the 28th of December 1885, and almost immediately
trouble began. Constant punitive measures were carried on by the
military police; but in December 1892 a police column proceeding to
establish a post at Sima was heavily attacked, and simultaneously the
town of Myitkyina was raided by Kachins. A force of 1200 troops was
sent to put down the rising. The enemy received their final blow at
Palap, but not before three officers were killed, three wounded, and
102 sepoys and followers killed and wounded. (2) Expedition of
1895-96. The continued misconduct of the Sana Kachins from beyond the
administrative border rendered punitive measures necessary. They had
remained unpunished since the attack on Myitkyina in December 1892.
Two columns were sent up, one of 250 rifles from Myitkyina, the other
of 200 rifles from Mogaung, marching in December 1895. The resistance
was insignificant, and the operations were completely successful. A
strong force of military police is stationed at Myitkyina, with
several outposts in the Kachin hills, and the country is never wholly
free from crimes of violence committed by the Kachins.

KADUR, a district of Mysore state, in southern India, with an area of 2813 sq. m. Pop. (1901), 362,752, showing an increase of 9% in the decade. The larger portion of the district consists of the Malnad or hill country, which contains some of the wildest mountain scenery in southern India. The western frontier is formed by the chain of the Ghats, of which the highest peaks are the Kudremukh (6215 ft.) and the Meniti Gudda (5451 ft.). The centre is occupied by the horse-shoe range of the Baba Budans, containing the loftiest mountain in Mysore, Mulaingiri (6317 ft.). The Maidan or plain country lying beneath the amphitheatre formed by the Baba Budan hills is a most fertile region, well watered, and with the famous "black cotton soil." The principal rivers are the Tunga and Bhadra, which rise near each other in the Ghats, and unite to form the Tungabhadra, a tributary of the Kistna. The eastern region is watered by the Vedavati. At the point where this river leaves the Baba Budan hills it is embanked to form two extensive tanks which irrigate the lower valley. From all the rivers water is drawn off into irrigation channels by means of anicuts or weirs. The chief natural wealth of Kadur is in its forests, which contain inexhaustible supplies of the finest timber, especially teak, and also furnish shelter for the coffee plantations. Iron is found and smelted at the foot of the hills, and corundum exists in certain localities. Wild beasts and game are numerous, and fish are abundant.

The largest town is Tarikere (pop. 10,164); the headquarters are at Chikmagalur (9515): The staple crop is rice, chiefly grown on the hill slopes, where the natural rainfall is sufficient, or in the river valley, where the fields can be irrigated. Coffee cultivation is said to have been introduced by a Mahommedan saint, Baba Budan, more than two centuries ago; but it first attracted European capital in 1840. The district is served by the Southern Mahratta railway.

KAEMPFER, ENGELBRECHT (1651-1716), German traveller and physician, was born on the 16th of November 1651 at Lemgo in Lippe-Detmold, Westphalia, where his father was a pastor. He studied at Hameln, Luneburg, Hamburg, Lubeck and Danzig, and after graduating Ph.D. at Cracow, spent four years at Konigsberg in Prussia, studying medicine and natural science. In 1681 he visited Upsala in Sweden, where he was offered inducements to settle; but his desire for foreign travel led him to become secretary to the embassy which Charles XI. sent through Russia to Persia in 1683. He reached Persia by way of Moscow, Kazan and Astrakhan, landing at Nizabad in Daghestan after a voyage in the Caspian; from Shemakha in Shirvan he made an expedition to the Baku peninsula, being perhaps the first modern scientist to visit these fields of "eternal fire." In 1684 he arrived in Isfahan, then the Persian capital. When after a stay of more than a year the Swedish embassy prepared to return, Kaempfer joined the fleet of the Dutch East India Company in the Persian Gulf as chief surgeon, and in spite of fever caught at Bander Abbasi he found opportunity to see something of Arabia and of many of the western coast-lands of India. In September 1689 he reached Batavia; spent the following winter in studying Javanese natural history; and in May 1690 set out for Japan as physician to the embassy sent yearly to that country by the Dutch. The ship in which he sailed touched at Siam, whose capital he visited; and in September 1690 he arrived at Nagasaki, the only Japanese port then open to foreigners. Kaempfer stayed two years in Japan, during which he twice visited Tokyo. His adroitness, insinuating manners and medical skill overcame the habitual jealousy and reticence of the natives, and enabled him to elicit much valuable information. In November 1692 he left Japan for Java and Europe, and in October 1693 he landed at Amsterdam. Receiving the degree of M.D. at Leiden, he settled down in his native city, becoming also physician to the count of Lippe. He died at Lemgo on the 2nd of November 1716.

The only work Kaempfer lived to publish was _Amoenitatum exoticarum
politico-physico-medicarum fasciculi_ V. (Lemgo, 1712), a selection
from his papers giving results of his invaluable observations in
Georgia, Persia and Japan. At his death the unpublished manuscripts
were purchased by Sir Hans Sloane, and conveyed to England. Among them
was a _History of Japan_, translated from the manuscript into English
by J. G. Scheuchzer and published at London, in 2 vols., in 1727. The
original German has never been published, the extant German version
being taken from the English. Besides Japanese history, this book
contains a description of the political, social and physical state of
the country in the 17th century. For upwards of a hundred years it
remained the chief source of information for the general reader, and
is still not wholly obsolete. A life of the author is prefixed to the
_History_.

KAFFA, a country of N.E. Africa, part of the Abyssinian empire. Kaffa proper (formerly known also as Gomara) has an area of little more than 5000 sq. m., but the name is used in a general sense to include the neighbouring territories of Gimirra, Jimma, Ennarea, &c. In this larger acceptation Kaffa extends roughly from 6 deg. to 9 deg. N. and from 35 deg. to 37(1/2) deg. E. It forms the S.W. part of the great Abyssinian plateau and consists of broken table-land deeply scored by mountain torrents and densely wooded. The general elevation is about 8000 ft., while several peaks are over 10,000 ft. From the western slopes of the plateau descend headstreams of the Sobat. The principal river however is the Omo, the chief feeder of Lake Rudolf. Kaffa proper is believed to be the native home of the coffee plant (whence the name), which grows in profusion on the mountain sides. The principal town was Bonga, 7(1/2) deg. N., 36 deg. 12' E., a great trading centre, but the Abyssinian headquarters are at Anderacha, about 12 m. S.S.W. of Bonga. Jiren, the capital of Jimma, 60 m. N.E. of Bonga, is a still more important town, its weekly market being attended by some 20,000 persons.

A great variety of races inhabit these countries of southern Ethiopia. The Kaficho (people of Kaffa proper) are said to be of the same stock as the northern Abyssinians and to have been separated from the rest of the country by the Mahommedan invasion of the 16th century. Thus Jimma, immediately north of Kaffa proper, is peopled by Mahommedan Gallas. The Kaficho, though much mixed with Galla blood, retained their Christianity and a knowledge of Geez, the ecclesiastical tongue of Abyssinia. The ordinary language of the Kaficho has no outward resemblance to modern Abyssinian. Their speech was, however, stated by Dr C. T. Beke (c. 1850) to be cognate with the Gonga tongue, spoken in a portion of Damot, on the northern side of the Abai. Kaffa, after having been ruled by independent sovereigns, who were also suzerains of the neighbouring states, was about 1895 conquered by the Abyssinians. The first European explorer of Kaffa was Antoine de'Abbadie, who visited it in 1843. Not until the early years of the 20th century was the country accurately mapped.

KAFFIR BREAD, in botany, the popular name for a species of _Encephalartos_ (_E. caffra_), one of the cycads, a native of South Africa, so called from the farinaceous food-stuff which is found at the apex of the stem (Gr. [Greek: en], in, [Greek: kephale], head, and [Greek: artos], bread). It is a tree reaching nearly 20 ft. in height, with very stiff, spreading pinnate leaves 3 to 4 ft. long and recurving at the tip. The species of _Encephalartos_, which are natives of tropical and South Africa, form handsome greenhouse and conservatory plants; some species are effectively used in subtropical gardening in the summer months.

KAFFIRS (Arabic _Kafir_, an unbeliever), a name given by the Arabs to the native races of the east coast of Africa. The term was current along the east coast at the arrival of the Portuguese, and passed from them to the Dutch and English, and to the natives themselves under the form of _Kafula_. There are no general or collective national names for these peoples, and the various tribal divisions are mostly designated by historical or legendary chiefs, founders of dynasties or hereditary chieftaincies. The term has no real ethnological value, for the Kaffirs have no national unity. To-day it is used to describe that large family of Bantu negroes inhabiting the greater part of the Cape, the whole of Natal and Zululand, and the Portuguese dominions on the east coast south of the Zambezi. The name is also loosely applied to any negro inhabitant of South Africa. For example, the Bechuana of the Transvaal and Orange Free State are usually called Kaffirs.

The Kaffirs are divisible into two great branches: the Ama-Zulu with the Ama-Swazi and Ama-Tonga and the Kaffirs proper, represented by the Ama-Xosa, the Tembu (q.v.) and the Pondo (q.v.). Hence the compound term Zulu-Kaffir applied in a collective sense to all the Kaffir peoples. Intermediate between these two branches were several broken tribes now collectively known as Ama-Fengu, i.e. "wanderers" or "needy" people, from _fenguza_, to seek service[1] (see FINGO).

The ramifications of the Kaffirs proper cannot be understood without
reference to the national genealogies, most of the tribal names, as
already stated, being those of real or reputed founders of dynasties.
Thus the term Ama-Xosa means simply the "people of Xosa," a somewhat
mythical chief supposed to have flourished about the year 1530. Ninth
in descent from his son Toguh was Palo, who died about 1780, leaving
two sons, Gcaleka and Rarabe (pronounced Kha-Kha-be), from whom came
the Ama-Gcaleka, Ama-Dhlambe (T'slambies) and the Ama-Ngquika (Gaika
or Sandili's people). The Pondo do not descend from Xosa, but probably
from an elder brother, while the Tembu, though apparently representing
a younger branch, are regarded by all the Kaffir tribes as the royal
race. Hence the Gcaleka chief, who is the head of all the Ama-Xosa
tribes, always takes his first or "great wife" from the Tembu royal
family, and her issue alone have any claim to the succession. The
subjoined genealogical tree will place Kaffir relations in a clearer
light:--

Zuide (1500?), reputed founder of the nation.
|
+--------------------+--------+---------------+
| | |
Tembu. Xosa (1530?). Mpondo.
| | |
Ama-Tembu Toguh. +---------+-----+
(Tambookies), | |
Tembuland Palo (ob. 1780?), Ama-Mponda, Ama-Mpondumisi
and Emigrant 10th in descent between river |
Tembuland. from Xosa. Umtata and Abelungu
| Natal. (dispersed?)
|
+--------------------+-------------+
| |
Gcaleka. Rarabe
| (Khakhabe).
Klanta. |
| +--------------+----------------+
Hinza. | | |
| Omlao. Mbalu. Ndhlambe
| | --- |
Kreli. Ngqika. Ama-Mbalus. Ama-Ndhlambes
----- | Ama-Gwali. or T'slambies,
Ama-Gcaleka Macomo Ama-Ntinde. between the
(Galeka), | Ama-Gqunukwebi. Keiskamma and
between the Tyali. Ama-Velelo. Great Kei
Bashee and | Ama-Baxa. rivers.
Umtata rivers. Sandili. Imi-Dange.
----- Imi-Dushane.
Ama-Ngqika
(Gaika),
Amatola highlands.
\___________________________________________/
|
Ama-Khakhabe.
\______________________________________________________________/
|
Ama-Xosa.

It will be seen that, as representing the elder branch, the Gcaleka
stand apart from the rest of Xosa's descendants, whom they group
collectively as Ama-Rarabe (Ama-Khakhabe), and whose genealogies,
except in the case of the Gaikas and T'slambies, are very confused.
The Ama-Xosa country lies mainly between the Keiskama and Umtata
rivers.

The Zulu call themselves Abantu ba-Kwa-Zulu, i.e. "people of Zulu's
land," or briefly Bakwa-Zulu, from a legendary chief Zulu, founder of
the royal dynasty. They were originally an obscure tribe occupying the
basin of the Umfolosi river, but rose suddenly to power under
Chaka,[2] who had been brought up among the neighbouring and powerful
Umtetwas, and who succeeded the chiefs of that tribe and of his own in
the beginning of the 19th century. But the true mother tribe seems to
have been the extinct Ama-Ntombela, whence the Ama-Tefulu, the
U'ndwande, U'mlelas, U'mtetwas and many others, all absorbed or
claiming to be true Zulus. But they are only so by political
subjection, and the gradual adoption of the Zulu dress, usages and
speech. Hence in most cases the term Zulu implies political rather
than blood relationship. This remark applies also to the followers of
Mosilikatze (properly Umsilikazi), who, after a fierce struggle with
the Bechuana, founded about 1820 a second Zulu state about the head
waters of the Orange river. In 1837 most of them were driven
northwards by the Boers and are now known as Matabele.

The origin of the Zulu-Kaffir race has given rise to much controversy. It is obvious that they are not the aborigines of their present domain, whence in comparatively recent times--since the beginning of the 16th century--they have displaced the Hottentots and Bushmen of fundamentally distinct stock. They themselves are conscious of their foreign origin. Yet they are closely allied in speech (see BANTU LANGUAGES) and physique to the surrounding Basuto, Bechuana and other members of the great South African Negroid family. Hence their appearance in the south-east corner of the continent is sufficiently explained by the gradual onward movement of the populations pressing southward on the Hottentot and Bushman domain. The specific differences in speech and appearance by which they are distinguished from the other branches of the family must in the same way be explained by the altered conditions of their new habitat. Hence it is that the farther they have penetrated southwards the farther have they become differentiated from the pure Negro type. Thus the light and clear brown complexion prevalent amongst the southern Tembu becomes gradually darker as we proceed northwards, passing at last to the blue-black and sepia of the Ama-Swazi and Tekeza. Even many of the mixed Fingo tribes are of a polished ebony colour, like that of the Jolofs and other Senegambian negroes. The Kaffir hair is uniformly of a woolly texture. The head is dolichocephalic, but it is also high or long vertically,[3] and it is in this feature of hypsistenocephaly (height and length combined) that the Kaffir presents the most striking contrast with the pure Negro. But, the nose being generally rather broad[4] and the lips thick, the Kaffir face, though somewhat oval, is never regular in the European sense, the deviations being normally in the direction of the Negro, with which race the peculiar odour of the skin again connects the Kaffirs. In stature they rank next to the Patagonians, Polynesians and West Africans, averaging from 5 ft. 9 in. to 5 ft. 11 in., and even 6 ft.[5] They are slim, well-proportioned and muscular. Owing to the hard life they lead, the women are generally inferior in appearance to the men, except amongst the Zulu, and especially the Tembu. Hence in the matrimonial market, while the Ama-Xosa girl realizes no more than ten or twelve head of cattle, the Tembu belle fetches as many as forty, and if especially fine even eighty.

The more warlike tribes were usually arrayed in leopard or ox skins,
of late years generally replaced by European blankets, with feather
head-dresses, coral and metal ornaments, bead armlets and necklaces.
The Makua and a few others practise tattooing, and the Ama-Xosa are
fond of painting or smearing their bodies with red ochre. Their arms
consist chiefly of ox-hide shields 4 to 6 ft. long, the kerrie or
club, and the assegai, of which there are two kinds, one long, with
9-in. narrow blade, for throwing, the other short, with broad blade 12
to 18 in. long, for stabbing. The dwellings are simple conical huts
grouped in kraals or villages. Although cattle form their chief
wealth, and hunting and stock-breeding their main pursuits, many have
turned to husbandry. The Zulu raise regular crops of "mealies"
(maize), and the Pondo cultivate a species of millet, tobacco, water
melons, yams and other vegetables. Milk (never taken fresh), millet
and maize form the staples of food, and meat is seldom eaten except in
time of war.

A young Kaffir attains man's estate socially, not at puberty, but upon
his marriage. Polygyny is the rule and each wife is regarded as adding
dignity to the household. Marriage is by purchase, the price being
paid in cattle. Upon the husband's death family life is continued
under the headship of the eldest son of the house, the widows by
virtue of levirate becoming the property of the uncle or nearest
males, not sons. A son inherits and honourably liquidates, if he can,
his father's debts.

Mentally the Kaffirs are superior to the Negro. In their social and
political relations they display great tact and intelligence; they are
remarkably brave, warlike and hospitable, and were honest and truthful
until through contact with the whites they became suspicious,
revengeful and thievish, besides acquiring most European vices. Of
religion as ordinarily understood they have very little, and have
certainly never developed any mythologies or dogmatic systems. It is
more than doubtful whether they had originally formed any notion of a
Supreme Being. Some conception, however, of a future state is implied
by a strongly developed worship of ancestry, and by a belief in
spirits and ghosts to whom sacrifices are made. There are no idols or
priests, but belief in witchcraft formerly gave the "witch-doctor" or
medicine-man overwhelming power.[6] Circumcision and polygyny are
universal; the former is sometimes attributed to Mahommedan
influences, but has really prevailed almost everywhere in East Africa
from the remotest time.

Dearer than anything else to the Kaffir are his cattle; and many
ceremonial observances in connexion with them were once the rule.
Formerly ox-racing was a common sport, the oxen running, riderless,
over a ten-mile course. The owner of a champion racing ox was a
popular hero, and these racers were valued at hundreds of head of
cattle. Cattle are the currency of the Kaffirs in their wild state.
Ten to twenty head are the price of a wife. When a girl marries, her
father (if well off) presents her with a cow from his herd. This
animal is called _ubulungu_ or "doer of good" and is regarded as
sacred. It must never be killed nor may its descendants, as long as it
lives. A hair of its tail is tied round the neck of each child
immediately after birth. In large kraals there is the "dancing-ox,"
usually of red colour. Its horns are trained to peculiar shapes by
early mutilations. It figures in many ceremonies when it is paid a
kind of knee-worship.

The Kaffirs have three, not four, seasons: "Green Heads," "Kindness"
and "Cutting"; the first and last referring to the crops, the second
to the "warm weather." Women and children only eat after the men are
satisfied. A light beer made from sorghum is the national drink.

Of the few industries the chief are copper and iron smelting,
practised by the Tembu, Zulu and Swazi, who manufacture weapons,
spoons and agricultural implements both for their own use and for
trade. The Swazi display some taste in wood-carving, and others
prepare a peculiar water-tight vessel of grass. Characteristic of this
race is their neglect of the art of navigation. Not the smallest boats
are ever made for crossing the rivers, much less for venturing on the
sea, except by the Makazana of Delagoa Bay and by the Zambezi people,
who have canoes and flat-bottomed boats made of planks.

The Kaffir race had a distinct and apparently very old political
system, which may be described as a patriarchal monarchy limited by a
powerful aristocracy. Under British rule the tribal independence of
the Kaffirs has disappeared. Varying degrees of autonomy have been
granted, but the supreme powers of the chiefs have gone, the Swazi
being in 1904 the last to be brought to order. In the Transkeian
Territories tribal organization exists, but it is modified by special
legislation and the natives are under the control of special
magistrates. To a considerable extent in Natal and throughout Zululand
the Kaffirs are placed in reserves, where tribal organization is kept
up under European supervision. In Basutoland the tribal organization
is very strong, and the power of chiefs is upheld by the imperial
government, which exercises general supervision.

See Gustav Fritsch, _Die Eingeborenen Sudafrikas_, with atlas, 30
plates and 120 typical heads (Breslau, 1872); W. H. I. Bleek,
_Comparative Grammar of the South African Languages_ (London and Cape
Town, pt. i., 1862; pt. ii., 1869); Theo. Hahn, _Grundzuge einer
Grammatik des Herero_ (Berlin, 1857); Dr Colenso, _Grammar of the
Zulu-Kafir Language_ (1855); Girard de Rialle, _Les Peuples de
l'Afrique et de l'Amerique_ (Paris, 1880); G. W. Stow, _The Native
Races of South Africa_ (London, 1905); G. McC. Theal, _History and
Ethnography of South Africa, 1505 to 1795_ (3 vols., London,
1907-1910) and _History of South Africa since 1795_ (5 vols., London,
1908), specially valuable for the political history of the Kaffirs;
Caesar C. Henkel, _The Native or Transkeian Territories_ (Hamburg,
1903); _The Natives of South Africa_ (1901), and its sequel, _The
South African Natives_ (1908); Dudley Kidd, _The Essential Kafir_
(1904) and _Kafir Socialism_. The last four books deal with the many
social and economic questions raised by the contact of the Kaffir
races with Europeans.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The Ama-Fengu are regarded both by the Zulu and Ama-Xosa as
slaves or out-castes, without any right to the privileges of
true-born Kaffirs. Any tribes which become broken and mixed would
probably be regarded as Ama-Fengu by the other Kaffirs. Hence the
multiplicity of clans, such as the Ama-Bele, Aba-Sembotweni Ama-Zizi,
Ama-Kuze, Aba-Sekunene, Ama-Ntokaze, Ama-Tetyeni Aba-Shwawa, &c., all
of whom are collectively grouped as Ama-Fengu.

[2] Seventh in descent from Zulu, through Kumede, Makeba, Punga,
Ndaba, Yama and Tezengakona or Senzangakona (Bleek, _Zulu Legends_).

[3] P. Topinard, _Anthropology_ (1878), p. 274.

[4] This feature varies considerably, "in the T'slambie tribes being
broader and more of the Negro shape than in the Gaika or Gcaleka,
while among the Ama-Tembu and Ama-Mpondo it assumes more of the
European character. In many of them the perfect Grecian and Roman
noses are discernible" (Fleming's _Kaffraria_, p. 92).

[5] Gustav Fritsch gives the mean of the Ama-Xosa as 1.718 metres,
less than that of the Guinea Negro (1.724), but more than the English
(1.708) and Scotch (1.710).

[6] Since the early years of the 19th century Protestant and Roman
Catholic missions have gained hundreds of thousands of converts among
the Kaffirs. Purely native Christian churches have also been
organized.

KAFFRARIA, the descriptive name given to the S.E. part of the Cape province, South Africa. Kaffraria, i.e. the land of the Kaffirs (q.v.), is no longer an official designation. It used to comprise the districts now known as King William's Town and East London, which formed British Kaffraria, annexed to Cape Colony in 1865, and the territory beyond the Kei River south of the Drakensberg Mountains as far as the Natal frontier, known as Kaffraria proper. As a geographical term it is still used to indicate the Transkeian territories of the Cape provinces comprising the four administrative divisions of Transkei, Pondoland, Tembuland and Griqualand East, incorporated into Cape Colony at various periods between 1879 and 1894. They have a total area of 18,310 sq. m., and a population (1904) of 834,644, of whom 16,777 were whites. Excluding Pondoland--not counted previously to 1904--the population had increased from 487,364 in 1891 to 631,887 in 1904.

_Physical Features._--The physical characteristics of Kaffraria bear a
general resemblance to those of the Cape province proper. The country
rises from sea-level in a series of terraces to the rugged range of
the Drakensberg. Between that range and the coast-lands are many
subsidiary ranges with fertile valleys through which a large number of
rivers make their way to the Indian Ocean. These rivers have very
rapid falls in comparison to their length and when less than 40 m.
from the coast are still 2000 ft. above sea-level. The chief,
beginning at the south, are the Kei, the Bashee, the Umtata, the St
John's or Umzimvubu, and the Umtamvuna, which separates Kaffraria from
Natal. The St John's River rises in the Drakensberg near the
Basuto-Natal frontier. The river valley has a length of 140 m., the
river with its many twists being double that length. It receives
numerous tributaries, one, the Tsitza, possessing a magnificent
waterfall, the river leaping over an almost vertical precipice of 375
ft. The St John's reaches the sea between precipitous cliffs some 1200
ft. high and covered with verdure. The mouth is obstructed by a sand
bar over which there is 14 ft. of water. None of the rivers of
Kaffraria except the St John's is navigable.

Kaffraria is one of the most fertile regions in South Africa. The
mountain gorges abound in fine trees, thick forest and bush cover the
river banks, grass grows luxuriantly in the lower regions, and the
lowlands and valleys are favourable to almost any kind of fruit, field
and garden cultivation. The coast districts are very hot in summer,
the temperature from October to April on an average varying from 70
deg. to 90 deg. F., while in winter the day temperature is seldom
below 50 deg., though the nights are very cold. But the variation in
altitude places climates of all grades within easy reach, from the
burning coast to the often snow-clad mountain. Thunderstorms are
frequent in summer; the winters are generally dry. On the whole the
climate is extremely healthy. At St John's are sulphur springs.

A considerable area is devoted to the raising of wheat and other
cereals, especially in the northern district (Griqualand East), where
in the higher valleys are many farms owned by Europeans. Large
quantities of stock are raised. Most of the land is held by the
natives under tribal tenure, and the ease with which their wants are
supplied is detrimental to the full cultivation of the land. Kaffraria
is, however, one of the chief recruiting grounds for labour throughout
South Africa. Most of the white inhabitants are engaged in trade.

_Towns and Communication._--The chief town is Kokstad (q.v.), pop.
(1904), 2903, the capital of Griqualand East. Umtata (2100 ft. above
the sea, pop. 2342) on the river of the same name, capital of
Tembuland, is the residence of an assistant chief magistrate,
headquarters of a division of the Cape Mounted Rifles, and seat of the
Anglican bishopric of Kaffraria. The principal buildings are the
cathedral, a Gothic structure, built 1901-1906, and the town-hall, a
fine building in Renaissance style, erected 1907-1908. Port St John is
the chief town in Pondoland, and the only harbour of the country.
Butterworth is the chief town in Transkei. Cala (pop. about 1000), in
the N.W. part of Tembuland, is the educational centre of Kaffraria. A
railway, 107 m. long, the first link in the direct Cape-Natal line,
runs from Indwe, 65 m. from Sterkstroom Junction on the main line from
East London to the Transvaal, to Maclear, an agricultural centre in
Griqualand East. Another railway parallel but south of that described
also traverses Kaffraria. Starting from Amabele, a station on the main
line from East London to the north, it goes via Butterworth (132 m.
from East London) to Umtata (234 m.).

_Administration and Justice._--The Cape administrative and judicial
system is in force, save as modified by special enactments of the Cape
parliament. A "Native Territories Penal Code" which came into
operation on the 1st of January 1887 governs the relations of the
natives, who are under the jurisdiction of a chief magistrate
(resident at Cape Town) with subordinate magistrates in the
Territories. In civil affairs the tribal organization and native laws
are maintained. No chief, however, exercises criminal jurisdiction.
Since 1898 certain provisions of the Glen Grey Act have been applied
to Kaffraria (see GLEN GREY). The revenue is included in the ordinary
budget of the Cape province. The expenditure on Kaffraria considerably
exceeds the revenue derived from it. The franchise laws are the same
as in the Cape proper. Though the Kaffirs outnumber the whites by
fifty to one, white men form the bulk of the electorate, which in 1904
numbered 4778.

_Religion._--Numbers of Protestant missionary societies have churches
and educational establishments in Kaffraria, but, except in Fingoland,
the bulk of the Kaffirs are heathen. The Griquas profess Christianity
and have their own churches and ministers. The Anglican diocese of St
John's, Kaffraria, was founded in 1873.

_Annexation to the Cape._--The story of the conflicts between the Kaffir tribes and the Cape colonists is told under CAPE COLONY. As early as 1819 Kaffirland, or Kaffraria, was held not to extend west beyond the Keiskamma River. The region east of that river as far as the Kei River became in 1847 the Crown colony of British Kaffraria, and was annexed to Cape Colony in 1865. The Transkeian territories remained in nominal independence until 1875, when the Tembu sought British protection. An inter-tribal war in 1877 between Fingo and Gcaleka resulted in the territory of the Gcaleka chief Kreli being occupied by the British. It was not, however, till 1879 that Fingoland and the Idutywa Reserve, together with the district then commonly called Noman's-land, were proclaimed an integral part of the Cape. About this time most of the rest of Kaffraria came under British control, but it was 1885 before Gcalekaland, the coast region of Transkei, and the various districts comprising Tembuland--Bomvanaland on the coast, Tembuland Proper and Emigrant Tembuland--were annexed to the colony. By the annexation, the frontier of the colony was carried to the Umtata River, so that by 1885 only Pondoland, fronting on the Indian Ocean, separated the Cape from Natal. In Pondoland, Port St John, proclaimed British territory in 1881, was, along with the lower reaches of the St John's River, incorporated with Cape Colony in 1884; in 1886 the Xesibe country (Mount Ayliff) was annexed to the Cape and added to Griqualand East; and in the following year Rhode Valley was included within the boundary line. The rest of Pondoland, chiefly in virtue of a British protectorate established over all the coast region in 1885, was already more or less under British control, and in 1894 it was annexed to the Cape in its entirety. Thus the whole of Kaffraria was incorporated in Cape Colony, with the exception of some 1550 sq. m., then part of Noman's-land, annexed by Natal in 1866 and named Alfred county. To the wise administration of Major Sir Henry G. Elliot, who served in Kaffraria in various official capacities from 1877 to 1903, the country owes much of its prosperity.

Particulars concerning each of the four divisions of Kaffraria follow.

_Griqualand East_ (area, 7594 sq. m.), so called to distinguish it
from Griqualand West, a district north of the Orange River, lies
between Basutoland (N.W.), Natal (N.E.), Tembuland (S.W.) and
Pondoland (S.E.). It occupies the southern slopes of the Drakensberg
or the fertile valleys at their feet. It includes most of the region
formerly called Noman's-land, and afterwards named Adam Kok's Land
from the Griqua chief who occupied it in 1862 with the consent of the
British authorities, and governed the country till his death in 1876,
establishing a _volksraad_ on the Dutch model. The Griquas are still
ruled by an officially appointed headman. The majority of the
inhabitants are Basutos and Kaffirs (Pondomisi, Ama-Baka and other
tribes). The Griquas number about 6000. Since its annexation to Cape
Colony Griqualand East has made fairly rapid progress. The population
rose from 121,000 in 1881 to 222,685 in 1904, of whom 5901 were
whites. Stock-breeding on the uplands, tillage on the lower slopes of
the Drakensberg, are the chief industries. On these slopes and uplands
the climate is delightful and well suited to Europeans. There is
considerable trade with Basutoland in grain and stock, and through
Kokstad with Port St John and Port Shepstone, Natal. Much of the best
agricultural land is owned by Europeans.

_Tembuland_ (area, 4122 sq. m.), which lies S.W. of Griqualand East
and comprises the districts of Tembuland Proper, Emigrant Tembuland
and Bomvanaland, takes its name from, the Tembu nation, called
sometimes Tambookies, one of the most powerful of the Kaffir groups.
In the national genealogies the Tembu hold an honourable position,
being traditionally descended from Tembu, elder brother of Xosa, from
whom most of the other Kaffirs claim descent. The inhabitants
increased from about 160,000 in 1881 to 231,472 in 1904, of whom 8056
were whites. The chief town is Umtata.

_Transkei_ (area, 2552 sq. m.) comprises the districts of Fingoland,
the Idutywa Reserve and Gcalekaland, this last being named from the
Gcaleka nation, who claim to be the senior branch of the Xosa family,
the principal royal line of the Kaffir tribes. They still form the
chief element of the population, which rose from 136,000 in 1881 to
177,730 in 1904 (1707 whites). Here are some prosperous missionary
stations, where the natives are taught agriculture, mechanical
industries and a knowledge of letters. The heroic deeds of Hinza,
Kreli and other chiefs famous in the wars are still remembered; but
witchcraft, rain-making and other pagan practices seem to have died
out. Even more advanced in all social respects are the Fingo, who give
their name to the district of Fingoland, and also form the bulk of the
population in the Idutywa Reserve. They wear European clothes, support
their schools by voluntary contributions, edit newspapers, translate
English poetry, set their national songs to correct music, and the
majority profess Christianity. The industrial institution of
Blythswood, about 20 m. N.W. of Butterworth, is a branch of Lovedale
(q.v.), and is largely supported by the Fingo.

_Pondoland_ (area, 4040 sq. m.; pop. (1904), 202,757 (including 1113
whites), an estimated increase of 36,000 since 1891) is bounded E. by
the sea, N. by Natal, W. by Griqualand East, by S. and Tembuland. In
Pondoland the primitive organization of the natives has been little
altered and the influence of the chiefs is very great. Land is held
almost wholly in tribal tenure, though a number of whites possess
farms acquired before the annexation of the country. The Pondo have
shown some appreciation of the benefits of education.

See G. McCall Theal's _History of South Africa_ and other works cited
under CAPE COLONY; also _The Native or Transkeian Territories_, by C.
C. Henkel (Hamburg, 1903), a useful handbook by an ex-official in the
Transkeian Territories.

KAFIRISTAN, a province of Afghanistan. Very little of this country was known with accuracy and nothing at first hand until General Sir W. (then Colonel) Lockhart headed a mission to examine the passes of the Hindu Kush range in 1885-1886. He penetrated into the upper part of the Bashgal valley, but after a few days he found himself compelled to return to Chitral. Previously Major Tanner, R.A., had sought to enter Kafiristan from Jalalabad, but sudden severe illness cut short his enterprise. M'Nair, the famous explorer of the Indian Survey department, believed that he had actually visited this little-known land during an adventurous journey which he made from India and through Chitral in disguise; but the internal evidence of his reports shows that he mistook the Kalash district of Chitral, with its debased and idolatrous population, for the true Kafiristan of his hopes. In 1889 Mr G. S. Robertson (afterwards Sir George Robertson, K.C.S.I.) was sent on a mission to Kafiristan. He only remained a few days, but a year later he revisited the country, staying amongst the Kafirs for nearly a year. Although his movements were hampered, his presence in the country being regarded with suspicion, he was able to study the people, and, in spite of intertribal jealousy, to meet members of many of the tribes. The facts observed and the information collected by him during his sojourn in eastern Kafiristan, and during short expeditions to the inner valleys, are the most trustworthy foundations of our knowledge of this interesting country.

Kafiristan, which literally means "the land of the infidel," is the name given to a tract of country enclosed between Chitral and Afghan territory. It was formerly peopled by pagan mountaineers, who maintained a wild independence until 1895, when they were finally subdued by Abdur Rahman, the amir of Kabul, who also compelled them to accept the religion of Islam. The territory thus ill named is included between 34 deg. 30' and 36 deg. N., and from about 70 deg. to 71 deg. 30' E. As the western and northern boundaries are imperfectly known, its size cannot be estimated with any certainty. Its greatest extent is from east to west at 35 deg. 10' N.; its greatest breadth is probably about 71 deg. E. The total area approximates to 5000 sq. m. Along the N. the boundary is the province of Badakshan, on the N.E. the Lutkho valley of Chitral. Chitral and lower Chitral enclose it to the E., and the Kunar valley on the S.E. Afghanistan proper supplies the S. limit. The ranges above the Nijrao and Pansher valleys of Afghanistan wall it in upon the W. The northern frontier is split by the narrow Minjan valley of Badakshan, which seems to rise in the very heart of Kafiristan.

Speaking generally, the country consists of an irregular series of
main valleys, for the most part deep, narrow and tortuous, into which
a varying number of still deeper, narrower and more twisted valleys,
ravines and glens pour their torrent water. The mountain ranges of
Metamorphic rock, which separate the main drainage valleys, are all of
considerable altitude, rugged and difficult, with the outline of a
choppy sea petrified. During the winter months, when the snow lies
deep, Kafiristan becomes a number of isolated communities, with few if
any means of intercommunication. In the whole land there is probably
nothing in the shape of a plain. Much of the silent, gigantic country
warms the heart as well as captivates the eye with its grandeur and
varied beauty; much of it is the bare skeleton of the world wasted by
countless centuries of storms and frost, and profoundly melancholy in
its sempiternal ruin. Every variety of mountain scenery can be found:
silent peaks and hard, naked ridges, snowfields and glaciers; mighty
pine forests, wooded slopes and grazing grounds; or wild vine and
pomegranate thickets bordering sparkling streams. At low elevations
the hill-sides are covered with the wild olive and evergreen oaks.
Many kinds of fruit trees--walnuts, mulberries, apricots and
apples--grow near the villages or by the wayside, as well as splendid
horse-chestnuts and other shade trees. Higher in elevation, and from
4000 to 8000 ft., are the dense pine and cedar forests. Above this
altitude the slopes become dreary, the juniper, cedar and wild rhubarb
gradually giving place to scanty willow patches, tamarisk and stunted
birches. Over 13,000 ft. there are merely mosses and rough grass.
Familiar wildflowers blossom at different heights. The rivers teem
with fish. Immense numbers of red-legged partridges live in the lower
valleys, as well as pigeons and doves. Gorgeously plumaged pheasants
are plentiful. Of wild animals the chief are the _markhor_ (a goat)
and the _oorial_ (a sheep). In the winter the former are recklessly
slaughtered by hunters, being either brought to bay by trained hounds,
or trapped in pits, or caught floundering in the snow-drifts; but in
the summer immense herds move on the higher slopes. The _ibex_ is very
rare. Bears and leopards are fairly common, as well as the smaller
hill creatures.

Passes and Roads.

All the northern passes leading into Badakshan or into the Minjan
valley of Badakshan seem to be over 15,000 ft. in altitude. Of these
the chief are the Mandal, the Kamah (these two alone have been
explored by a European traveller), the Kti, the Kulam and the Ramgal
passes. Those to the east, the Chitral passes, are somewhat lower,
ranging from 12,000 to 14,000 ft., e.g. the Zidig, the Shui, the
Shawal and the Parpit, while the Patkun, which crosses one of the
dwindled spurs near the Kunar river, is only 8400 ft. high. Between
neighbouring valleys the very numerous communicating footways must
rarely be lower than 10,000, while they sometimes exceed 14,000 ft.
The western passes are unknown. All these toilsome paths are so
faintly indicated, even when free from snow, that to adventure them
without a local guide is usually unsafe. Yet the light-framed cattle
of these jagged mountains can be forced over many of the worst passes.
Ordinarily the herding tracks, near the crest of the ridges and high
above the white torrents, are scarcely discoverable to untutored eyes.
They wind and waver, rise, drop and twist about the irregular
semi-precipitous slopes with baffling eccentricity and abruptness.
Nevertheless the cattle nose their way along blunderingly, but without
hurt. Of no less importance in the open months, and the sole trade
routes during winter, are the lower paths by the river. An unguided
traveller is continually at fault upon these main lines of intercourse
and traffic.

Rivers.

All the rivers find their tumultuous way into the Kabul, either
directly, as the Alingar at Laghman, or after commingling with the
Kunar at Arundu and at Chigar-Serai. The Bashgal, draining the eastern
portion of the country, empties itself into the Kunar at Arundu. It
draws its highest waters from three main sources at the head of the
Bashgal valley. It glides gently through a lake close to this origin,
and then through a smaller tarn. The first affluent of importance is
the Skorigal, which joins it above the village of Pshui. Next comes
the noisier Manangal water, from the Shawal pass, which enters the
main stream at Lutdeh or Bragamatal, the chief settlement of the
Bashgal branch of the Katir tribe. By-and-by the main stream becomes,
at the hamlet of Sunra, a raging, shrieking torrent in a dark narrow
valley, its run obstructed by giant boulders and great tree-trunks.
Racing past Bagalgrom, the chief village of the Madugal Kafirs, the
river clamours round the great spur which, 1800 ft. higher up, gives
space for the terraces and houses of Kamdesh, the headquarters of the
Kam people. The next important affluent is the river which drains the
Pittigal valley, its passes and branches. Also on the left bank, and
still lower down, is the joining-place of the Gourdesh valley waters.
Finally it ends in the Kunar just above Arundu and Birkot. The middle
part of Kafiristan, including the valleys occupied by the Presun, Kti,
Ashkun and Wai tribes, is drained by a river variously called the
Pech, the Kamah, and the Presun or Viron River. It has been only
partially explored. Fed by the fountains and snows of the upper Presun
valley, it is joined at the village of Shtevgrom by the torrent from
the Kamah pass. Thence it moves quietly past meadowland, formerly set
apart as holy ground, watering on its way all the Presun villages.
Below the last of them, with an abrupt bend, it hurries into the
unexplored and rockbound Tsaru country, where it absorbs on the right
hand the Kti and the Ashkun and on the left the Wai rivers, finally
losing itself in the Kunar, close to Chigar-Serai. Concerning the
Alingar or Kao, which carries the drainage of western Kafiristan into
the Kabul at Laghman, there are no trustworthy details. It is formed
from the waters of all the valleys inhabited by the Ramgal Kafirs, and
by that small branch of the Katirs known as the Kalam tribe.

Climate.