Chapter VI: Part 6

The climate varies with the altitude, but in the summer-time it is hot
at all elevations. In the higher valleys the winter is rigorous. Snow
falls heavily everywhere over 4000 ft. above the sea-level. During the
winter of 1890-1891 at Kamdesh (elevation 6100 ft.) the thermometer
never fell below 17 deg. F. In many of the valleys the absence of wind
is remarkable. Consequently a great deal of cold can be borne without
discomfort. The Kunar valley, which is wet and windy in winter, but
where snow, if it falls, melts quickly, gives a much greater sensation
of cold than the still Kafiristan valleys of much lower actual
temperature. A deficiency of rain necessitates the employment of a
somewhat elaborate system of irrigation, which in its turn is
dependent upon the snowfall.

The Kafirs.

The present inhabitants are probably mainly descended from the broken tribes of eastern Afghanistan, who, refusing to accept Islam (in the 10th century), were driven away by the fervid swordsmen of Mahomet. Descending upon the feeble inhabitants of the trackless slopes and perilous valleys of modern Kafiristan, themselves, most likely, refugees of an earlier date, they subjugated and enslaved them and partially amalgamated with them. These ancient peoples seem to be represented by the Presun tribe, by the slaves and by fragments of lost peoples, now known as the Jazhis and the Aroms. The old division of the tribes into the Siah-Posh, or the black-robed Kafirs, and the Safed-Posh, or the white-robed, was neither scientific nor convenient, for while the Siah-Posh have much in common in dress, language, customs and appearance, the Safed-Posh divisions were not more dissimilar from the Siah-Posh than they were from one another. Perhaps the best division at present possible is into (1) Siah-Posh, (2) Waigulis, and (3) Presungalis or Viron folk.

The Siah-Posh.

The black-robed Kafirs consist of one very large, widely spread tribe,
the Katirs, and four much smaller communities, the Kam, the Madugalis,
the Kashtan or Kashtoz, and the Gourdesh. Numerically, it is probable
that the Katirs are more important than all the remaining tribes put
together. They inhabit several valleys, each community being
independent of the others, but all acknowledging the same origin and a
general relationship. The Katirs fall readily into the following
groups: (a) Those of the Bashgal valley, also called Kamoz and
Lutdehchis, who occupy eleven villages between Badawan and Sunra, the
border hamlet of the Madugal country, namely, Ptsigrom, Pshui or
Pshowar, Apsai, Shidgal, Bragamatal (Lutdeh), Bajindra, Badamuk,
Oulagal, Chabu, Baprok and Purstam; (b) the Kti or Katwar Kafirs, who
live in two settlements in the Kti valley; (c) the Kulam people, who
have four villages in the valley of the same name; (d) the Ramgalis,
or Gabariks, who are the most numerous, and possess the western part
on the Afghan border. Of the remaining tribes of the Siah-Posh, the
chief is the Kam or Kamtoz, who inhabit the Bashgal valley, from the
Madugal boundary to the Kunar valley, and its lateral branches in
seven chief settlements, namely, Urmir, Kambrom or Kamdesh, Mergrom,
Kamu, Sarat, Pittigal and Bazgal. The next Siah-Posh tribe in
importance is the Muman or Madugal Kafirs, who have three villages in
the short tract between the Katirs and the Kam in the Bashgal valley.
The last Siah-Posh tribe is the Kashtan or Kashtoz, who in 1891 were
all located in one greatly overcrowded village, their outlying
settlement having been plundered by the Afghan tribes of the Kunar
valley. One colony of Siah-Posh Kafirs lives in the Gourdesh valley;
but they differ from all the other tribes, and are believed to be
descended, in great part, from the ancient people called the Aroms.

The Waigulis.

Our exact knowledge of the Waigulis is scanty. They seem to be related
in language and origin with a people fierce, shy and isolated, called
the Ashkun, who are quite unknown. The Wai speak a tongue altogether
different from that spoken by the Siah-Posh and by the Presungalis.
The names of their ten chief villages are Runchi, Nishi, Jamma, Amzhi,
Chimion, Kegili, Akun or Akum, Mildesh, Bargal and Prainta. Of these
Amzhi and Nishi are the best known.

The Presungalis.

The Presungalis, also called Viron, live in a high valley. In all
respects they differ from other Kafirs, in none more than in their
unwarlike disposition. Simple, timid, stolid-featured and rather
clumsy, they are remarkable for their industry and powers of
endurance. They probably represent some of the earliest immigrants.
Six large well-built villages are occupied by them--Shtevgrom,
Pontzgrom, Diogrom, Kstigigrom, Satsumgrom and Paskigrom.

The Slaves.

The slaves are fairly numerous. Their origin is probably partly from
the very ancient inhabitants and partly from war prisoners. Coarse in
feature and dark in tint, they cannot be distinguished from the lowest
class of freemen, while their dress is indistinctive. They are of two
classes--household slaves, who are treated not unkindly; and artisan
slaves, who are the skilled handicraftsmen--carvers, blacksmiths,
bootmakers and so forth; many of the musicians are also slaves. They
live in a particular portion of a village, and were considered to a
certain extent unclean, and might not approach closely to certain
sacred spots. All slaves seem to wear the Siah-Posh dress, even when
they own as masters the feeble Presungal folk.

Women.

Little respect is shown to women, except in particular cases to a few
of advanced years. Usually they are mistresses and slaves, saleable
chattels and field-workers. Degraded, immoral, overworked and
carelessly fed, they are also, as a rule, unpleasant to the sight.
Little girls are sometimes quite beautiful, but rough usage and
exposure to all weathers soon make their complexions coarse and dark.
They are invariably dirty and uncombed. In comparison with the men
they are somewhat short. Physically they are capable of enormous
labour, and are very enduring. All the field-work falls to them, as
well as all kinds of inferior occupations, such as load-carrying. They
have no rights as against their husbands or, failing them, their male
relations. They cannot inherit or possess property.

Language.

There are certainly three tongues spoken, besides many dialects, that
used by the Siah-Posh being of course the most common; and although it
has many dialects, the employers of one seem to understand all the
others. It is a Prakritic language. Of the remaining two, the Wai and
the Presun have no similarity; they are also unlike the Siah-Posh.
Kafirs themselves maintain that very young children from any valley
can acquire the Wai speech, but that only those born in the Presungal
can ever converse in that language, even roughly. To European ears it
is disconcertingly difficult, and it is perhaps impossible to learn.

Religion.

Before their conquest by Abdur Rahman all the Kafirs were idolaters of
a rather low type. There were lingering traces of ancestor-worship,
and perhaps of fire-worship also. The gods were numerous; tribal,
family, household deities had to be propitiated, and mischievous
spirits and fairies haunted forests, rivers, vales and great stones.
Imra was the Creator, and all the other supernatural powers were
subordinate to him. Of the inferior gods, Moni seemed to be the most
ancient; but Gish, the war-god, was by far the most popular. It was
his worship, doubtless, which kept the Kafirs so long independent. In
life as a hero, and after death as a god, he symbolized hatred to the
religion of Mahomet. Every village revered his shrine; some possessed
two. Imra, Gish and Moni were honoured with separate little temples,
as was usually Dizani goddess; but three or four of the others would
share one between them, each looking out of a small separate square
window. The worshipped object was either a large fragment of stone or
an image of wood conventionally carved, with round white stones for
eyes. Different animals were sacrificed at different shrines: cows to
Imra, male goats and bulls to Gish, sheep to the god of wealth; but
goats were generally acceptable, and were also slain ceremonially to
discover a complaisant god, to solemnize a vow, to end a quarrel, to
ratify brotherhood. The ministers of religion were a hereditary
priest, a well-born chanter of praise, and a buffoon of low station,
who was supposed to become inspired at each sacrifice, and to have the
power of seeing fairies and other spirits whenever they were near,
also of understanding their wishes. The blood of the offering,
together with flour, wine and butter, was cast on the shrine after the
animal and the other gifts had been sanctified with water sprinkled by
the officiating priests, while he cried "Such, such!" ("Be pure!").
Dense clouds of smoke from burning juniper-cedar, which crackled and
gave forth pungent incense, added to the spectacle, which was
dignified by the bearing of the officials and solemnized by the devout
responses of the congregation. There was no human sacrifice except
when a prisoner of war, after a solemn service at a shrine, was taken
away and stabbed before the wooden tomb of some unavenged headman.
Kafirs believed in a kind of Hell where wicked people burned; but the
Hereafter was an underground region entered by a guarded aperture, and
inhabited by the shapes which men see in dreams. Suicide was as
unknown as fear of dying. Melancholy afflicted only the sick and the
bereaved. Religious traditions, miracles and anecdotes were puerile,
and pointed no social lesson or any religious law. Music, dancing and
songs of praise were acceptable to the gods, and every village
(_grom_) had its dancing platform and dancing house (_grom ma_),
furnished with a simple altar. No prayers were offered, only
invocations, exhortative or remonstrant.

Tribal Organization.

The great majority of the tribes were made up of clans. A person's
importance was derived chiefly from the wealth of his family and the
number of male adults which it contained. The power of a family, as
shown by the number and quality of its fighting men as well as by the
strength of its followers, was the index of that family's influence.
Weak clans and detached families, or poor but free households, carried
their independence modestly. The lowest clan above the slaves sought
service with their wealthier tribesmen as henchmen and armed
shepherds. By intricate ceremonial, associated with complicated
duties, social and religious, which extended over two years,
punctuated at intervals by prodigious compulsory banquets, rich men
could become elders or _jast_. Still further outlay and ostentation
enabled the few who could sustain the cost to rank still higher as
chief or _Mir_. Theoretically, all the important and outside affairs
of the tribe were managed by the _jast_ in council; actually they were
controlled by two or three of the most respected of that class. Very
serious questions which inflamed the minds of the people would be
debated in informal parliaments of the whole tribe. Kafirs have a
remarkable fondness for discussing in conclave. Orators, consequently,
are influential. The internal business of a tribe was managed by an
elected magistrate with twelve assistants. It was their duty to see
that the customs of the people were respected; that the proper seasons
for gathering fruit were rigidly observed. They regulated the
irrigation of the fields, moderating the incessant quarrels which
originated in the competition for the water; and they kept the
channels in good repair. Their chief, helped by contributions in kind
from all householders, entertained tribal guests. He also saw that the
weekly Kafir Sabbath, from the sowing to the carrying of the crops,
was carefully observed, the fires kept burning, and the dancers
collected and encouraged. Opposition to these annual magistrates or
infraction of tribal laws was punished by fines, which were the
perquisites and the payment of those officials. Serious offences
against the whole people were judged by the community itself; the
sentences ranged as high as expulsion from the settlement, accompanied
with the burning of the culprit's house and the spoliation of his
goods. In such cases, the family and the clan refusing to intervene,
the offender at once became cowed into submission.

Houses and Villages.

Habitations are generally strong, and built largely of wood. They are
frequently two or more storeys high, often with an open gallery at the
top. Wealthy owners were fond of elaborate carving in simple designs
and devices. A room is square, with a smoke-hole when possible; small
windows, with shutters and bolts, and heavy doors fastened by a
sliding wooden pin, are common. The nature of the ground, its
defensible character, the necessity of not encroaching upon the scanty
arable land, and such considerations, determine the design of the
villages. Specimens of many varieties may be discovered. There is the
shockingly overcrowded oblong kind, fort-shaped, three storeys high,
and on a river's bank, which is pierced by an underground way leading
to the water. Here all rooms look on to the large central courtyard;
outwards are few or no windows. There is also the tiny hamlet of a few
piled-up hovels perched on the flattish top of some huge rock,
inaccessible when the ladder connecting it with the neighbouring
hill-side or leading to the ground is withdrawn. Some villages on
mounds are defended at the base by a circular wall strengthened with
an entanglement of branches. Others cling to the knife-edged back of
some difficult spur. Many are hidden away up side ravines. A few
boldly rely upon the numbers of their fighting men, and are
unprotected save by watch-towers. While frequently very picturesque at
a distance, all are dirty and grimed with smoke; bones and horns of
slaughtered animals litter the ground. The ground floor of a house is
usually a winter stable for cows and the latrine, as well as the
manure store for the household; the middle part contains the family
treasures; on the top is the living-place. In cold valleys, such as
the Presungal, the houses are often clustered upon a hillock, and
penetrate into the soil to the depth of two or more apartments.
Notched poles are the universal ladders and stairways.

Characteristics.

In height Kafirs average about 5 ft. 6 in. They are lean; always in
hard condition; active jumpers, untiring walkers, expert mountaineers;
exceptionally they are tall and heavy. With chests fairly deep, and
muscular, springy legs, there is some lightness and want of power
about the shoulder muscles, the arms and the hand-grasp. In complexion
they are purely Eastern. Some tribes, notably the Wai, are fairer than
others, but the average colour is that of the natives of the Punjab.
Albinos, or red-haired people, number less than (1/2)% of the
population. As a rule, the features are well-shaped, especially the
nose. The glance is wild and bold, with the wide-lidded, restless gaze
of the hawk; or the exact converse--a shifty, furtive peer under
lowered brows. This look is rather common amongst the wealthier
families and the most famous tribesmen. The shape of a man's head not
uncommonly indicates his social rank. Several have the brows of
thinkers and men of affairs. The degraded forms are the bird-of-prey
type--low, hairy foreheads, hooked noses with receding chin, or the
thickened, coarse features of the darker slave class. Intellectually
they are of good average power. Their moral characteristics are
passionate covetousness, and jealousy so intense that it smothers
prudence. Before finally destroying, it constantly endangered their
wildly cherished independence. Revenge, especially on neighbouring
Kafirs, is obtained at any price. Kafirs are subtle, crafty, quick in
danger and resolute, as might be expected of people who have been
plunderers and assassins for centuries, whose lives were the forfeit
of a fault in unflinchingness or of a moment's vacillation. Stealthy
daring, born of wary and healthy nerves and the training of
generations, almost transformed into an instinct, is the national
characteristic. Ghastly shadows, they flitted in the precincts of
hostile villages far distant from their own valleys, living upon the
poorest food carried in a fetid goatskin bag; ever ready to stab in
the darkness or to wriggle through apertures, to slay as they slept
men, women and babies. Then, with clothing for prize, and human ears
as a trophy, they sped, watchful as hares, for their far-away hills,
avenger Pathans racing furiously in their track. Kafirs, most faithful
to one another, never abandoned a comrade. If he were killed, they
sought to carry away his head for funeral observances. As traders,
though cunning enough, they are no match for the Afghan. They were
more successful as brigands and blackmailers than as skilled thieves.
In night robbery and in pilfering they showed little ingenuity. Truth
was considered innately dangerous; but a Kafir is far more trustworthy
than his Mahommedan neighbours. Although hospitality is generally
viewed as a hopeful investment, it can be calculated on, and is
unstinted. Kafirs are capable of strong friendship. They are not
cruel, being kind to children and to animals, and protective to the
weak and the old. Family ties and the claim of blood even triumph over
jealousy and covetousness.

Dress, Weapons, Utensils, &c.

The national attire of the men is a badly-cured goatskin, confined at
the waist by a leather belt studded with nails, supporting the
I-hilted dagger, strong but clumsy, of slave manufacture, sheathed in
wood covered with iron or brass, and often prettily ornamented. Women
are dressed in a long, very dark tunic of wool, ample below the
shoulders, and edged with red. This is fastened at the bosom by an
iron pin, a thorn, or a fibula; it is gathered round the body by a
woven band, an inch wide, knotted in front to dangle down in tassels.
On this girdle is carried a fantastically handled knife in a leather
covering. The woman's tunic is sometimes worn by men. As worn by women
its shape is something between a long frock-coat and an Inverness
cape. Its hue and the blackness of the hairy goatskin give the name of
Siah-Posh, "black-robed," to the majority of the clans. The other
tribes wear such articles of cotton attire as they can obtain by
barter, by theft, or by killing beyond the border, for only woollen
cloth is made in the country. Of late years long robes from Chitral
and Badakshan have been imported by the wealthy, as well as the
material for loose cotton trousers and wide shirts. Clothing, always
hard to obtain, is precious property. Formerly little girls, the
children of slaves, or else poor relations, used to be sold in
exchange for clothes and ammunition. Mahommedans eagerly bought the
children, which enabled them in one transaction to acquire a female
slave and to convert an infidel. Men go bareheaded, which wrinkles
them prematurely, or they wear Chitral caps. Certain priests, and
others of like degree, wind a strip of cotton cloth round their brows.
Siah-Posh women wear curious horned caps or a small square white
head-dress upon informal occasions. Females of other tribes bind their
heads with turbans ornamented with shells and other finery. Excellent
snow gaiters are made of goat's hair for both sexes, and of woollen
material for women. Boots, strongly sewn, of soft red leather cannot
be used in the snow or when it is wet, because they are imperfectly
tanned. For the ceremonial dances all manner of gay-coloured articles
of attire, made of cheap silk, cotton velvet, and sham cloth-of-gold,
are displayed, and false jewelry and tawdry ornaments; but they are
not manufactured in the country, but brought from Peshawar by pedlars.
Woollen blankets and goat's-hair mats cover the bedsteads--four-legged
wooden frames laced across with string or leather thongs. Low square
stools, 18 in. broad, made upon the same principle as the bedsteads,
are peculiar to the Kafirs and their half-breed neighbours of the
border. Iron tripod tables, singularly Greek in design, are fashioned
in Waigul. A warrior's weapons are a matchlock (rarely a flintlock), a
bow and arrows, a spear and the dagger which he never puts aside day
or night. The axes, often carried, are light and weak, and chiefly
indicate rank. Clubs, carefully ornamented by carving, are of little
use in a quarrel; their purpose is that of a walking-stick. As they
are somewhat long, these walking-clubs have been often supposed to be
leaping-poles. Swords are rarely seen, and shields, carried purely for
ostentation, seldom. Soft stone is quarried to make large utensils,
and great grim chests of wood become grain boxes or coffins
indifferently. Prettily carved bowls with handles, or with dummy
spouts, hold milk, butter, water or small quantities of flour. Wine,
grain, everything else, is stored or carried in goatskin bags. Musical
instruments are represented by reed flageolets, small drums, primitive
fiddles, and a kind of harp.

Peculiar Customs.

Isolated and at the outskirts of every village is a house used by
women when menstruating and for lying-in. Children are named as soon
as born. The infant is given to the mother to suckle, while a wise
woman rapidly recites the family ancestral names; the name pronounced
at the instant the baby begins to feed is that by which it is
thereafter known. Everybody has a double name, the father's being
prefixed to that given at birth. Very often the two are the same.
There is a special day for the first head-shaving. No hair is allowed
on a male's scalp, except from a 4-in. circle at the back of the head,
whence long locks hang down straight. Puberty is attained
ceremoniously by boys. Girls simply change a fillet for a cotton cap
when nature proclaims womanhood. Marriage is merely the purchase of a
wife through intermediaries, accompanied by feasting. Divorce is often
merely a sale or the sending away of a wife to slave for her parents
in shame. Sexual morality is low. Public opinion applauds gallantry,
and looks upon adultery as hospitality, provided it is not discovered
by the husband. If found out, _in flagrante delicto_, there is a
fiscal fine in cows. There is much collusion to get this penalty paid
in poor households. Funeral rites are most elaborate, according to the
rank and warrior fame of the deceased, if a male, and to the wealth
and standing of the family, if a woman. Children are simply carried to
the cemetery in a blanket, followed by a string of women lamenting. A
really great man is mourned over for days with orations, dancing,
wine-drinking and food distribution. Gun-firing gives notice of the
procession. After two or three days the corpse is placed in the coffin
at a secluded spot, and the observances are continued with a straw
figure lashed upon a bed, to be danced about, lamented over, and
harangued as before. During regular intervals for business and
refreshment old women wail genealogies. A year later, with somewhat
similar ritual, a wooden statue is inaugurated preliminary to erection
on the roadside or in the village Valhalla. The dead are not buried,
but deposited in great boxes collected in an assigned place. Finery is
placed with the body, as well as vessels holding water and food.
Several corpses may be heaped in one receptacle, which is, rarely,
ornamented with flags; its lid is kept from warping by heavy stones.
The wooden statues or effigies are at times sacrificed to when there
is sickness, and at one of the many annual festivals food is set
before them. Among the Presungal there are none of these images.
Blood-feuds within a tribe do not exist. The slayer of his fellow,
even by accident, has to pay a heavy compensation or else become an
outcast. Several hamlets and at least one village are peopled by
families who had thus been driven forth from the community. The stigma
attaches itself to children and their marriage connexions. Its outward
symbol is an inability to look in the face any of the dead person's
family. This avoidance is ceremonial. In private and after dark all
may be good friends after a decorous interval. The compensation is
seldom paid, although payment carries with it much enhancement of
family dignity. All the laws to punish theft, assault, adultery and
other injury are based on a system of compensation whenever possible,
and of enlisting the whole of the community in all acts of punishment.
Kafirs have true conceptions of justice. There is no death penalty; a
fighting male is too valuable a property of the whole tribe to be so
wasted. War begins honourably with proper notice, as a rule, but the
murder of an unsuspecting traveller may be the first intimation.
Bullets or arrow-heads sent to a tribe or village is the correct
announcement of hostilities. The slaying of a tribesman need not in
all cases cause a war. Sometimes it may be avoided by the sinning
tribe handing over a male to be killed by the injured relations.
Ambush, early morning attacks by large numbers, and stealthy killing
parties of two or three are the favourite tactics. Peace is made by
the sacrifice of cows handed over by the weaker tribe to be offered up
to a special god of the stronger. When both sides have shown equal
force and address, the same number of animals are exchanged.
Field-work falls exclusively to the women. It is poor. The ploughs are
light and very shallow. A woman, who only looks as if she were yoked
with the ox, keeps the beast in the furrows, while a second holds the
handle. All the operations of agriculture are done primitively.
Grazing and dairy-farming are the real trade of the Kafirs, the
surplus produce being exchanged on the frontier or sold for Kabul
rupees. Herders watch their charges fully armed against marauders.

_History._--The history of Kafiristan has always been of the floating legendary sort. At the present day there are men living in Chitral and on other parts of the Kafiristan frontier who are prepared to testify as eye-witnesses to marvels observed, and also heard, by them, not only in the more remote valleys but even in the Afghan borderland itself. It is not surprising therefore that the earlier records are to a great extent fairy tales of a more or less imaginative kind and chiefly of value to those interested in folk-lore. Sir Henry Yule, a scientific soldier, a profound geographer and a careful student, as the result of his researches thought that the present Kafiristan was part of that pagan country stretching between Kashmir and Kabul which medieval Asiatics referred to vaguely as _Bilaur_, a name to be found in Marco Polo as _Bolor_. The first distinct mention of the Kafirs as a separate people appears in the history of Timur. On his march to the invasion of India the people at Andarab appealed to Timur for help against the Kator and the Siah-Posh Kafirs. He responded and entered the country of those tribes through the upper part of the Panjhir valley. It was in deep winter weather and Timur had to be let down the snows by _glissade_ in a basket guided by ropes. A detachment of 10,000 horse which he speaks of as having been sent against the Siah-Posh to his left, presumably therefore to the north, met with disaster; but he himself claims to have been victorious. Nevertheless he seems quickly to have evacuated the impracticable mountain land, quitting the country at Khawak. He caused an inscription to be carved in the defiles of Kator to commemorate his invasion and to explain its route. Inside the Kafir country on the Najil or Alishang River there is a fort still called Timur's Castle, and in the Kalam fort there is said to be a stone engraved to record that as the farthest point of his advance. In the _Memoirs_ of Baber there is mention of the Kafirs raiding into Panjhir and of their taste for drinking, every man having a leathern wine-bottle slung round his neck. The _Ain-i-Akbari_ makes occasional mention of the Kafirs, probably on the authority of the famous _Memoirs_; it also contains a passage which may possibly have originated the widespread story that the Kafirs were descendants of the Greeks. Yule however believed that this passage did not refer to the Kafirs at all, but to the claims to descent from Alexander of the rulers in Swat before the time of the Yusufzai. Many of the princelings of the little Hindu-Kush states at the present day pride themselves on a similar origin, maintaining the founders of their race to be Alexander, "the two-horned," and a princess sent down miraculously from heaven to wed him.

Benedict Goes, travelling from Peshawar to Kabul in 1603, heard of a place called _Capperstam_, where no Mahommedan might enter on pain of death. Hindu traders were allowed to visit the country, but not the temples. Benedict Goes tasted the Kafir wine, and from all that he heard suspected that the Kafirs might be Christians. Nothing more is heard of the Kafirs until 1788, when Rennell's _Memoir of a Map of Hindostan_ was published. Twenty-six years later Elphinstone's _Caubal_ was published. During the British occupation of Kabul in 1839-1840 a deputation of Kafirs journeyed there to invite a visit to their country from the Christians whom they assumed to be their kindred. But the Afghans grew furiously jealous, and the deputation was sent coldly away.

After Sir George Robertson's sojourn in the country and the visit of several Kafirs to India with him in 1892 an increasing intimacy continued, especially with the people of the eastern valleys, until 1895, when by the terms of an agreement entered into between the government of India and the ruler of Afghanistan the whole of the Kafir territory came nominally under the sway of Kabul. The amir Abdur Rahman at once set about enforcing his authority, and the curtain, partially lifted, fell again heavily and in darkness. Nothing but rumours reached the outside world, rumours of successful invasions, of the wholesale deportation of boys to Kabul for instruction in the religion of Islam, of rebellions, of terrible repressions. Finally even rumour ceased. A powerful Asiatic ruler has the means of ensuring a silence which is absolute, and nothing is ever known from Kabul except what the amir wishes to be known. Probably larger numbers of the growing boys and young men of Kafiristan are fanatical Mahommedans, fanatical with the zeal of the recent convert, while the older people and the majority of the population cherish their ancient customs in secret and their degraded religion in fear and trembling--waiting dumbly for a sign.

See Sir G. S. Robertson, _Kafirs of the Hindu-Kush_ (London, 1896).
(G. S. R.)

KAGERA, a river of east equatorial Africa, the most remote headstream of the Nile. The sources of its principal upper branch, the Nyavarongo, rise in the hill country immediately east of Lake Kivu. After a course of over 400 m. the Kagera enters Victoria Nyanza on its western shore in 0 deg. 58' S. It is navigable by steamers for 70 m. from its mouth, being obstructed by rapids above that point. The river was first heard of by J. H. Speke in 1858, and was first seen (by white men) by the same traveller (Jan. 16, 1862) on his journey to discover the Nile source. Speke was well aware that the Kagera was the chief river emptying into the Victoria Nyanza and in that sense _the_ headstream of the Nile. By him the stream was called "Kitangule," _kagera_ being given as equivalent to "river." The exploration of the Kagera has been largely the work of German travellers.

See NILE; also Speke's _Discovery of the Source of the Nile_
(Edinburgh, 1863); R. Kandt's _Caput Nili_ (Berlin, 1904); and map by
P. Sprigade and M. Moisel in _Grosser deutscher Kolonialatlas_, No. 16
(Berlin, 1906).

KAHLUR, or BILASPUR, a native state of India, within the Punjab. It is one of the hill states that came under British protection after the first Sikh war in 1846. The Gurkhas had overrun the country in the early part of the 19th century, and expelled the raja, who was, however, reinstated by the British in 1815. The state occupies part of the basin of the Sutlej amid the lower slopes of the Himalaya. Area, 448 sq. m. Pop. (1901), 90,873; estimated gross revenue, L10,000; tribute, L530. The chief, whose title is raja, is a Chandel Rajput. The town of Bilaspur is situated on the left bank of the Sutlej, 1465 ft. above sea-level; pop. (1901), 3192.

KAHN, GUSTAVE (1859- ), French poet, was born at Metz on the 21st of December 1859. He was educated in Paris at the Ecole des Chartes and the Ecole des langues orientales, and began to contribute to obscure Parisian reviews. After four years spent in Africa he returned to Paris in 1885, and founded in 1886 a weekly review, _La Vogue_, in which many of his early poems appeared. In the autumn of the same year he founded, with Jean Moreas and Paul Adam, a short-lived periodical, _Le Symboliste_, in which they preached the nebulous poetic doctrine of Stephane Mallarme; and in 1888 he became one of the editors of the _Revue independante_. He contributed poetry and criticism to the French and Belgian reviews favourable to the extreme symbolists, and, with Catulle Mendes, he founded at the Odeon, the Theatre Antoine and the Theatre Sarah Bernhardt, matinees for the production of the plays of the younger poets. He claimed to be the earliest writer of the _vers libre_, and explained his methods and the history of the movement in a preface to his _Premiers poemes_ (1897). Later books are _Le Livre d'images_ (1897); _Les Fleurs de la passion_ (1900); some novels; and a valuable contribution to the history of modern French verse in _Symbolistes et decadents_ (1902).

KAHNIS, KARL FRIEDRICH AUGUST (1814-1888), German Lutheran theologian, was born at Greiz on the 22nd of December 1814. He studied at Halle, and in 1850 was appointed professor ordinarius at Leipzig. Ten years later he was made canon of Meissen. He retired in 1886, and died on the 20th of June 1888 at Leipzig. Kahnis was at first a neo-Lutheran, blessed by E. W. Hengstenberg and his pietistic friends. He then attached himself to the Old Lutheran party, interpreting Lutheranism in a broad and liberal spirit and showing some appreciation of rationalism. His _Lutherische Dogmatik, historisch-genetisch dargestellt_ (3 vols., 1861-1868; 2nd ed. in 2 vols., 1874-1875), by making concessions to modern criticism, by spiritualizing and adapting the old dogmas, by attacking the idea of an infallible canon of Scripture and the conventional theory of inspiration, by laying stress on the human side of Scripture and insisting on the progressive character of revelation, brought him into conflict with his former friends. A. W. Diekhoff, Franz Delitzsch (_Fur und wider Kahnis_, 1863) and Hengstenberg (_Evangelische Kirchenzeitung_, 1862) protested loudly against the heresy, and Kahnis replied to Hengstenberg in a vigorous pamphlet, _Zeugniss fur die Grundwahrheiten des Protestantismus gegen Dr Hengstenberg_ (1862).

Other works by Kahnis are _Lehre vom Abendmahl_ (1851), _Der innere
Gang des deutschen Protestantismus seit Mitte des vorigen
Jahrhunderts_ (1854; 3rd ed. in 2 vols., 1874; Eng. trans., 1856);
_Christentum und Luthertum_ (1871); _Geschichte der deutschen
Reformation_, vol. i. (1872); _Der Gang der Kirche in Lebensbildern_
(1881, &c.); and _Uber das Verhaltnis der alten Philosophie zum
Christentum_ (1884).

K'AI-FENG FU, the capital of the province of Honan, China. It is situated in 34 deg. 52' N., 114 deg. 33' E., on a branch line of the Peking-Hankow railway, and forms also the district city of Siang-fu. A city on the present site was first built by Duke Chwang (774-700 B.C.) to mark off (_k'ai_) the boundary of his fief (_feng_); hence its name. It has, however, passed under several _aliases_ in Chinese history. During the Chow, Suy and T'ang dynasties (557-907) it was known as P'ien-chow. During the Wu-tai, or five dynasties (907-960), it was the Tung-king, or eastern capital. Under the Sung and Kin dynasties (960-1260) it was called P'ien-king. By the Yuan or Mongol dynasty (1260-1368) its name was again changed to P'ien-liang, and on the return of the Chinese to power with the establishment of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), its original name was restored. The city is situated at the point where the last spur of the Kuen-lun mountain system merges in the eastern plain, and a few miles south of the Hwang-ho. Its position, therefore, lays it Open to the destructive influences of this river. In 1642 it was totally destroyed by a flood caused by the dikes bursting, and on several prior and subsequent occasions it has suffered injury from the same cause. The city is large and imposing, with broad streets and handsome buildings, the most notable of which are a twelve-storeyed pagoda 600 ft. high, and a watch tower from which, at a height of 200 ft., the inhabitants are able to observe the approach of the yellow waters of the river in times of flood. The city wall forms a substantial protection and is pierced by five gates. The whole neighbourhood, which is the site of one of the earliest settlements of the Chinese in China, is full of historical associations, and it was in this city that the Jews who entered China in A.D. 1163 first established a colony. For many centuries these people held themselves aloof from the natives, and practised the rites of their religion in a temple built and supported by themselves. At last, however, they fell upon evil times, and in 1851, out of the seventy families which constituted the original colony, only seven remained. For fifty years no rabbi had ministered to the wants of this remnant. In 1853 the city was attacked by the T'ai-p'ing rebels, and, though at the first assault its defenders successfully resisted the enemy, it was subsequently taken. The captors looted and partially destroyed the town. It has now little commerce, but contains several schools on Western lines--including a government college opened in 1902, and a military school near the railway station. A mint was established in 1905, and there is a district branch of the imperial post. The population--largely Mahommedan--was estimated (1908) at 200,000. Jews numbered about 400.

KAILAS, a mountain in Tibet. It is the highest peak of the range of mountains lying to the north of Lake Manasorawar, with an altitude of over 22,000 ft. It is famous in Sanskrit literature as Siva's paradise, and is a favourite place of pilgrimage with Hindus, who regard it as the most sacred spot on earth. A track encircles the base of the mountain, and it takes the pilgrim three weeks to complete the round, prostrating himself all the way.

KAIN, the name of a sub-province and of a town of Khorasan, Persia. The sub-province extends about 300 m. N. to S., from Khaf to Seistan, and about 150 m. W. to E., from the hills of Tun to the Afghan frontier, comprising the whole of south-western Khorasan. It is very hilly, but contains many wide plains and fertile villages at a mean elevation of 4000 ft. It has a population of about 150,000, rears great numbers of camels and produces much grain, saffron, wool, silk and opium. The chief manufactures are felts and other woollen fabrics, principally carpets, which have a world-wide reputation. The best Kaini carpets are made at Darakhsh, a village in the Zirkuh district and 50 m. N.E. of Birjend. It is divided into eleven administrative divisions:--Shahabad (with the capital Birjend), Naharjan, Alghur, Tabas sunni Khaneh, Zirkuh Shakhan, Kain, Nimbuluk, Nehbandan, Khusf, Arab Khaneh or Momenabad.

The town of Kain, the capital of the sub-province until 1740, when it was supplanted by Birjend, is situated 65 m. N. of Birjend on the eastern side of a broad valley, stretching from N. to S., at the base of the mountain Abuzar, in 33 deg. 42' N. and 59 deg. 8' E., and at an elevation of 4500 ft. Its population is barely 5000. It is surrounded by a mud wall and bastions, and near it, on a hill rising 500 ft. above the plain, are the ruins of an ancient castle which, together with the old town, was destroyed either by Shah Rukh (1404-1447), a son, or by Baysunkur (d. 1433), a grandson of Timur (Tamerlane), who afterwards built a new town. After a time the Uzbegs took possession and held the town until Shah Abbas I. (1587-1629) expelled them. In the 18th century it fell under the sway of the Afghans and remained a dependency of Herat until 1851. A large number of windmills are at work outside the town. The great mosque, now in a ruinous state, was built A.H. 796 (A.D. 1394) by Karen b. Jamshid and repaired by Yusof Dowlatyar.

KAIRA, or KHEDA, a town and district of British India, in the northern division of Bombay. The town is 20 m. S.W. of Ahmedabad and 7 m. from Mehmadabad railway station. Pop. (1901), 10,392. Its antiquity is proved by the evidence of copperplate grants to have been known as early as the 5th century. Early in the 18th century it passed to the Babi family, with whom it remained till 1763, when it was taken by the Mahrattas; it was finally handed over to the British in 1803. It was a large military station till 1830, when the cantonment was removed to Deesa.

The DISTRICT OF KAIRA has an area of 1595 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 716,332, showing a decrease of 18% in the decade, due to the results of famine. Except a small corner of hilly ground near its northern boundary and in the south-east and south, where the land along the Mahi is furrowed into deep ravines, the district forms one unbroken plain, sloping gently towards the south-west. The north and north-east portions are dotted with patches of rich rice-land, broken by untilled tracts of low brushwood. The centre of the district is very fertile and highly cultivated; the luxuriant fields are surrounded by high hedges, and the whole country is clothed with clusters of shapely trees. To the west this belt of rich vegetation passes into a bare though well-cultivated tract of rice-land, growing more barren and open till it reaches the maritime belt, whitened by a salt-like crust, along the Gulf of Cambay. The chief rivers are the Mahi on the south-east and south, and the Sabarmati on the western boundary. The Mahi, owing to its deeply cut bed and sandbanks, is impracticable for either navigation or irrigation; but the waters of the Sabarmati are largely utilized for the latter purpose. A smaller stream, the Khari, also waters a considerable area by means of canals and sluices. The principal crops are cotton, millets, rice and pulse; the industries are calico-printing, dyeing, and the manufacture of soap and glass. The chief centre of trade is Nadiad, on the railway, with a cotton-mill. A special article of export is _ghi_, or clarified butter. The Bombay & Baroda railway runs through the district. The famine of 1899-1900 was felt more severely here than in any other part of the province, the loss of cattle being specially heavy.

KAIRAWAN (KEROUAN), the "sacred" city of Tunisia, 36 m. S. by W. by rail from Susa, and about 80 m. due S. from the capital. Kairawan is built in an open plain a little west of a stream which flows south to the Sidi-el-Hani lake. Of the luxuriant gardens and olive groves mentioned in the early Arabic accounts of the place hardly a remnant is left. Kairawan, in shape an irregular oblong, is surrounded by a crenellated brick wall with towers and bastions and five gates. The city, however, spreads beyond the walls, chiefly to the south and west. Some of the finest treasures of Saracenic art in Tunisia are in Kairawan; but the city suffered greatly from the vulgarization which followed the Turkish conquest, and also from the blundering attempts of the French to restore buildings falling into ruin. The streets have been paved and planted with trees, but the town retains much of its Oriental aspect. The houses are built round a central courtyard, and present nothing but bare walls to the street. The chief buildings are the mosques, which are open to Christians, Kairawan being the only town in Tunisia where this privilege is granted.

In the northern quarter stands the great mosque founded by Sidi Okba ibn Nafi, and containing his shrine and the tombs of many rulers of Tunisia. To the outside it presents a heavy buttressed wall, with little of either grandeur or grace. It consists of three parts: a cloistered court, from which rises the massive and stately minaret, the maksura or mosque proper, and the vestibule. The maksura is a rectangular domed chamber divided by 296 marble and porphyry columns into 17 aisles, each aisle having 8 arches. The central aisle is wider than the others, the columns being arranged by threes. All the columns are Roman or Byzantine, and are the spoil of many ancient cities. Access to the central aisle is gained through a door of sculptured wood known as the Beautiful Gate. It has an inscription with the record of its construction. The walls are of painted plaster-work; the mimbar or pulpit is of carved wood, each panel bearing a different design. The court is surrounded by a double arcade with coupled columns. In all the mosque contains 439 columns, including two of alabaster given by one of the Byzantine emperors. To the Mahommedan mind the crowning distinction of the building is that through divine inspiration the founder was enabled to set it absolutely true to Mecca. The mosque of Sidi Okba is the prototype of many other notable mosques (see MOSQUE). Of greater external beauty than that of Sidi Okba is the mosque of the Three Gates. Cufic inscriptions on the facade record its erection in the 9th and its restoration in the 15th century A.D. Internally the mosque is a single chamber supported by sixteen Roman columns. One of the finest specimens of Moorish architecture in Kairawan is the _zawia_ of Sidi Abid-el-Ghariani (d. c. A.D. 1400), one of the Almoravides, in whose family is the hereditary governorship of the city. The entrance, a door in a false arcade of black and white marble, leads into a court whose arches support an upper colonnade. The town contains many other notable buildings, but none of such importance as the mosque of the Companion (i.e. of the Prophet), outside the walls to the N.W. This mosque is specially sacred as possessing what are said to be three hairs of the Prophet's beard, buried with the saint, who was one of the companions of Mahomet. (This legend gave rise to the report that the tomb contained the remains of Mahomet's barber.) The mosque consists of several courts and chambers, and contains some beautiful stained glass. The court which forms the entrance to the shrine of the saint is richly adorned with tiles and plaster-work, and is surrounded by an arcade of white marble columns, supporting a painted wooden roof. The minaret is faced with tiles and is surmounted by a gilded crescent. The 19th-century mosque of Sidi Amar Abada, also outside the wall, is in the form of a cross and is crowned with seven cupolas. In the suburbs are huge cisterns, attributed to the 9th century, which still supply the city with water. The cemetery covers a large area and has thousands of Cufic and Arabic inscriptions.

Formerly famous for its carpets and its oil of roses, Kairawan is now known in northern Africa rather for copper vessels, articles in morocco leather, potash and saltpetre. The town has a population of about 20,000, including a few hundred Europeans.

Arab historians relate the foundation of Kairawan by Okba with
miraculous circumstances (Tabari ii. 63; Yaqut iv. 213). The date is
variously given (see Weil, _Gesch. d. Chalifen_, i. 283 seq.);
according to Tabari it must have been before 670. The legend says that
Okba determined to found a city which should be a rallying-point for
the followers of Mahomet in Africa. He led his companions into the
desert, and having exhorted the serpents and wild beasts, in the name
of the Prophet, to retire, he struck his spear into the ground
exclaiming "Here is your Kairawan" (resting-place), so naming the
city.[1] In the 8th century Kairawan was the capital of the province
of Ifrikia governed by amirs appointed by the caliphs. Later it became
the capital of the Aghlabite princes, thereafter following the
fortunes of the successive rulers of the country (see TUNISIA:
_History_). After Mecca and Medina Kairawan is the most sacred city in
the eyes of the Mahommedans of Africa, and constant pilgrimages are
made to its shrines. Until the time of the French occupation no
Christian was allowed to pass through the gates without a special
permit from the bey, whilst Jews were altogether forbidden to approach
the holy city. Contrary to expectation no opposition was offered by
the citizens to the occupation of the place by the French troops in
1881. On that occasion the native troops hastened to the mosques to
perform their devotions; they were followed by European soldiers, and
the mosques having thus been "violated" have remained open ever since
to non-Mahommedans.

See Murray's _Handbook to Algeria and Tunis_, by Sir R. L. Playfair
(1895); A. M. Broadley, _The Last Punic War: Tunis Past and Present_
(1882) and H. Saladin, _Tunis el Kairouan_ (1908).

FOOTNOTE:

[1] Though Okba founded his city in a desert place, excavations
undertaken in 1908 revealed the existence of Roman ruins, including a
temple of Saturn, in the neighbourhood.

KAISERSLAUTERN, a town in the Bavarian palatinate, on the Waldlauter, in the hilly district of Westrich, 41 m. by rail W. of Mannheim. Pop. (1905), 52,306. Among its educational institutions are a gymnasium, a Protestant normal school, a commercial school and an industrial museum. The house of correction occupies the site of Frederick Barbarossa's castle, which was demolished by the French in 1713. Kaiserslautern is one of the most important industrial towns in the palatinate. Its industries include cotton and wool spinning and weaving, iron-founding, and the manufacture of beer, tobacco, gloves, boots, furniture, &c. There is some trade in fruit and in timber.

Kaiserslautern takes its name from the emperor (Kaiser) Frederick I., who built a castle here about 1152, although it appears to have been a royal residence in Carolingian times. It became an imperial city, a dignity which it retained until 1357, when it passed to the palatinate. In 1621 it was taken by the Spanish, in 1631 by the Swedish, in 1635 by the imperial and in 1713 by the French troops. During 1793 and 1794 it was the scene of fighting; and in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 it was the base of operations of the second German army, under Prince Frederick Charles. It was one of the early stations of the Reformation, and in 1849 was the centre of the revolutionary spirit in the palatinate.

See Lehmann, _Urkundliche Geschichte von Kaiserslautern_
(Kaiserslautern, 1853), and E. Jost, _Geschichte der Stadt
Kaiserslautern_ (Kaiserslautern, 1886).

KAISERSWERTH, a town in the Prussian Rhine province, on the right bank of the Rhine, 6 m. below Dusseldorf. Pop. (1905), 2462. It possesses a Protestant and a large old Romanesque Roman Catholic church of the 12th or 13th century, with a valuable shrine, said to contain the bones of St Suitbert, and has several benevolent institutions, of which the chief is the _Diakonissen Anstalt_, or training-school for Protestant sisters of charity. This institution, founded by Pastor Theodor Fliedner (1800-1864) in 1836, has more than 100 branches, some being in Asia and America; the head establishment at Kaiserswerth includes an orphanage, a lunatic asylum and a Magdalen institution. The Roman Catholic hospital occupies the former Franciscan convent. The population is engaged in silk-weaving and other small industries.

In 710 Pippin of Heristal presented the site of the town to Bishop
Suitbert, who built the Benedictine monastery round which the town
gradually formed. Until 1214 Kaiserswerth lay on an island, but in
that year Count Adolph V. of Berg, who was besieging it, dammed up
effectually one arm of the Rhine. About the beginning of the 14th
century Kaiserswerth, then an imperial city, came to the archbishopric
of Cologne, and afterwards to the duchy of Juliers, whence, after some
vicissitudes, it finally passed into the possession of the princes of
the palatinate, whose rights, long disputed by the elector of Cologne,
were legally settled in 1772. In 1702 the fortress was captured by the
Austrians and Prussians, and the Kaiserpfalz, whence the young emperor
Henry IV. was abducted by Archbishop Anno of Cologne in 1062, was
blown up.

See J. Disselhoff, _Das Diaconissenmutterhaus zu Kaiserswerth_ (new
ed., 1903; Eng. trans., 1883).

KAITHAL, or KYTHAL, an ancient town of British India in Karnal district, Punjab. Pop. (1901), 14,408. It is said to have been founded by the mythical hero Yudisthira, and is connected by tradition with the monkey-god Hanuman. In 1767 it fell into the hands of the Sikh chieftain, Bhai Desu Singh, whose descendants, the bhais of Kaithal, ranked among the most powerful Cis-Sutlej chiefs. Their territories lapsed to the British in 1843. There remain the fort of the bhais, and several Mahommedan tombs of the 13th century and later. There is some trade in grain, sal-ammoniac, live stock and blankets; and cotton, saltpetre, lac ornaments and toys are manufactured.