"regular in their Numauz. In the cities, one might pass long without Nu"mauz; but in their khails, or seah khanas, or black tents, or killas, one "cannot abide any time without being questioned."

Of the remaining two sheets, one contains Mr. Durie's travels through the Punjaub, and the other an account of his journey to Candahar in less detail than what has been given: one or two observations from this sheet have, however, been quoted in my text.

APPENDIX C.

ACCOUNT OF SOME NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES.

TH

'HOUGH they are not included in the King of Caubul's dominions, I make no apology for giving an account of the Caufirs, or for stating the few facts I know about Budukshaun and Kaushkaur, countries of which the names alone are known in Europe.

The following passage is quoted in Rennel's Memoir of a Map of Hindostan.

66

"There is a certain tribe at this day inhabiting modern Bijore (Bajour), " or at least there was not long ago, who pretend to be the descendants of "certain persons belonging to that conqueror's (Alexander's) army, who they say, were left there as he passed through the country. Both Abool Fuzl "and Soojun Rae report this tradition without material variation. The latter, "indeed, adds that these Europeans (if we may call them so) continued to preserve that ascendancy over their neighbours which their ancestors may "be supposed to have possessed when they first settled here." (Kirkpatrick's MSS. quoted in Rennell's Memoir, page 162, Ed. 1794).

It may easily be supposed that this account excited great attention during the journey of the mission to Caubul, and that we were not long at Peshawer before we began to enquire after our Macedonian neighbours. We were soon obliged to give up an opinion, derived from Abool Fuzl, that these colonists were a branch of the Eusofzyes; but we learned that the Caufirs, a people in the mountains north of Bajour, had many points of character in common with the Greeks. They were celebrated for their beauty and their European complexion, worshipped idols, drank wine in silver cups or vases, used chairs and tables, and spoke a language unknown to their neighbours.

It was not easy to gratify the curiosity these descriptions excited, for although I early determined to send a person to make enquiries on the spot, it seemed impossible to prevail on any one properly qualified, to engage in a journey into the country of a people among whom there was no action so

honourable as the murder of a Mussulman. At length the adventure was undertaken by Moollah Nujeeb (a brother of Moollah Behramund already mentioned), a person admirably fitted for the task by his talents and curiosity. He left Peshawer in the middle of May, and penetrated into the country of the Caufirs by the way of Punjcora. The mission set out for India about a month afterwards, at which time no news had been received of him as long as we continued in the Afghaun dominions, we entertained strong hopes of his return; but when the second month had elapsed, and we had half crossed the Punjaub, we began to be uneasy about him, and his brother who had accompanied me so far, returned to make enquiries concerning him, under a persuasion that he had been murdered by the Caufirs. I had no tidings of him from this time till I had been for some months at Delly, and I had given up all hopes of ever seeing him, when he unexpectedly arrived in Camp, having undertaken this long journey from his own country rather than disappoint our expectations. He had been as far as Caumdaish, a village within three stages of Budukhshaun, had made himself master of every thing relating to the Caufirs, had completed a vocabulary of their language, and brought full answers to a long list of queries with which he had been furnished at his departure. The following account is chiefly abstracted from his report, which was translated by Mr. Irvine; but as I had opportunities of obtaining further information during the Moollah's absence, I have made use of it to check and to illustrate his account.

The principal sources from which this additional information was derived, were, a young Caufir whom I had opportunities of interrogating; a Hindoo clerk of Mr. Irvine, who had visited the country of the Caufirs; the Syud of Coonner's agent, who lived on their border; and an Eusofzye, who had been engaged in a military expedition into their country. The geography is taken as usual from Lieutenant Macartney.

The country of the Caufirs occupies a great part of the range of Hindoo Coosh, and a portion of Beloot Taugh. It is bounded on the north-east by Kaushkaur, on the north by Budukhshaun, and on the north-west by Koondooz in Bulkh. On the west it has Inderaub and Khost, also in Bulkh, and the Cohistaun of Caubul; and on the east it extends for a great distance towards the north of Cashmeer, where its boundary is not distinctly known.

The whole of this Alpine country is composed of snowy mountains, deep pine forests, and small but fertile valleys, which produce large quantities of grapes wild and cultivated, and feed flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, while the hills are covered with goats. Grain is inferior, both in importance

and abundance. The common kinds are wheat and millet. The roads are only fit for men on foot, and are often crossed by rivers and torrents, which are passed by means of wooden bridges, or of swinging bridges made on ropes of withy or some other pliant tree. All the villages that I have heard described are built on the slopes of hills, so that the roof of one house forms the street leading to the one above it; and this is said to be the constant practice of the country. The valleys must be well peopled; that of the Caumojee tribe, at least, contained ten villages, and the chief place, Caumdaish, consisted of five hundred houses.

The people have no general name for their nation. Each tribe has its peculiar name, for they are all divided into tribes, though not according to genealogy, but to geographical position; each valley being held by a separate tribe. The Mussulmans confound them all under the name of Caufir or infidel, and call their country Caufiristaun. They also call one division of them Seeaposh (black vested) or Tor Caufirs (black infidels), and another Speen Caufirs (white infidels). Both epithets are taken from their dress, for the whole of the Caufirs are remarkable for the fairness and beauty of their complexion, but those of the largest division wear a sort of vest of black goatskins, while the other dresses in white cotton. *

There are several languages among the Caufirs, but they have all many words in common, and all have a near connection with the Shanscrit. They have all one peculiarity, which is, that they count by scores instead of hundreds, and that their thousand (which they call by the Persian and Pushtoo name) consists of four hundred or twenty score. All these observations apply also to the Lughmaunee or Deggaunee language, which seems to be a

* The following are the names of some of their tribes. The first set were given by the young Caufir of Tsokooee, the second got by Moollah Nujub at Caumdaish, and the third by Dhunput Roy at Kuttaun and on the borders of Bajour.

1. Traiguma, Gimeer, Kuttaur, Bairagullee, Chainaish, Dimdeau, Waillee Wauee, Cauma, Cooshteea, Dhaing, and Wauee, called Puneeta by the Mussulmans.

2. Caumojee, Kistojee (whose chief town is Muncheeashee), Moondeegul, Camtoze (half of whom are towards Budukhshaun and half towards Lughmaun), Puroonee (whose capital is Kishtokee), Tewnee, Poonooz, Ushkong, Umshee, Sunnoo, Koolumee Roose Turkuma (to whom belong Kataur and Guinbeer), Nisha, Chumga, Wauee, Khoollum, Deemish, Eerait, &c. &c.

I must observe that one of Moollah Nujeeb's list is Pusha, which is stated to live towards Caubul, and which I doubt not is the origin of the Pushawees mentioned by Bauber, and still found in the Cohistaun of Caubul.

3. Wauee Daiwuzee, Gumbeer, Kuttaur, Pundect, Khoostoze Caumozee Divine, Tsokooee, Hurunseea, and Chooneea.

Caufir dialect, and gives reason to suppose the Lughmaunees and Deggauns, to be Caufirs, converted to the Mahommedan religion. I imagine the inhabitants of the Cohistaun of Caubul to have the same origin, particularly as the name of Cohistaunee is that applied to all the lately converted Caufirs.

This derivation of their language seems fatal to the descent of the Caufirs from the Greeks, and their traditions do not furnish us with any distinct account of their origin. The most general and the only credible story is, that they were expelled by the Mussulmans from the neighbourhood of Candahar, and made several migrations from place to place, before they reached their present abode. They allege that they consisted of four tribes called Camoze, Hilar, Silar, and Camoje, of which the three former embraced the Mahomedan religion, but the fourth retained its ancient faith, and quitted its native country.

Their religion does not resemble any other with which I am acquainted. They believe in one God, whom the Caufirs of Caumdaish call Imra, and those of Tsokooee Dagun; but they also worship numerous idols, which they say represent great men of former days, who intercede with God in favour of their worshippers.

These idols are of stone or wood, and always represent men or women, sometimes mounted and sometimes on foot. Moollah Nujeeb had an opportunity of learning the arts which obtain an entrance to the Caufir Pantheon. In the public apartment of the village of Caumdaish, was a high wooden pillar on which sat a figure, with a spear in one hand and a staff in the other. This idol represented the father of one of the great men of the village, who had erected it himself in his life-time, having purchased the privilege by giving several feasts to the whole village; nor was this the only instance of men deified for such reasons, and worshipped as much as any other of the gods. The Caufirs appear indeed to attach the utmost importance to the virtues of liberality and hospitality. It is they which procure the easiest admission to their paradise, which they call Burry Le Boola, and the opposite vices are the most certain guides to Burry Duggur Boola, or hell.

This facility of deification must render the number of the gods very great, but many must be confined to their own tribe, since it cannot be expected that those will worship them who have never partaken of their entertainments. Accordingly, the gods of Caumdaish seem to be quite different from those of Tsokooee, though there is one common to both, and there may probably be more who may have been deified before the separation of the Caufir tribes. The chief gods, or heroes, of Caumdaish are, 1st, Bugeesh, who is