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0315 Cathay and the way thither : vol.2
中国および中国への道 : vol.2
Cathay and the way thither : vol.2 / 315 ページ(カラー画像)

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doi: 10.20676/00000042
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TO CATHAY.   555

with that wanderer they halted for twenty days more, and as the road was reported to be infested with brigands they got an escort of four hundred soldiers from the lord of the place. From this they travelled in twenty-five days to a place called GHIDELI.1 In the whole of this journey the baggage and

attempted to reach Mongolia by Tibet (probably by the passes of Karakorum), but failed, and had to go round by Bamian. Akbar and Nadir Shah also undertook expeditions against the Kafirs, both unsuccessfully (H. de Timur Bec., iii, 14-21 ; D' Ohsson, i, 319 ; Elphinstone's Caubul, ii, 376, 381 ; Bitter, vii, 207).

Kafiristan has lately been visited by two native missionaries, employed under the agents of the Church Missionary Society at Peshawar, and some account of their experiences has been published, but it does not amount to much. The chastity and honesty of the people are lauded. Those of the same village entertain a strong feeling of kindred, so that neither fighting nor marrying among themselves is admissible. But the different tribes or villages are often at war with each other, and then to kill men or women of an alien tribe is the road to honour. They have no temples, priests, or books. They believe that there is one God, but keep three idols whom they regard as intercessors with him. One of these, called Palishanu, is roughly carved in wood, with silver eyes ; he is resorted to in excess or defect of rain, or in epidemic sickness. Goats are sacrificed, and the blood sprinkled on the idol. Women must not approach it. The other two idols are common stones. Goats' flesh is the chief food of the people, and occasionally partridges and deer ; but fowls, eggs, and fish are not used. They have no horses, donkeys, or camels, only a few oxen and buffaloes, and a few dogs. " They drink wine in large quantities, and very nasty it is, if what was brought down to Peshawar may be taken as a specimen ;" but none were seen drunk. Their drinking-vessels were of curiously wrought pottery, and occasionally of silver. They live to a great age, and continue hale till the day of death. " The men are somewhat dark, but the women are said to be as fair as Europeans, and very beautiful, with red cheeks." The men hardly ever wash either their clothes or their persons. In talking they shout with all their might. They bury their dead with coffins, in caves among the hills. (From Christian Work, September 1865, p. 421).

Leech, in his Report on the Passes of Hindu Kush, mentions that smiths are regarded by the Kafirs as natural bondsmen, and are occasionally brought for sale to the Musulman people of the valleys ; also, that the oath of peace of the Kafirs consists in licking a piece of salt. This last was also the oath of the Kasias on the eastern frontier of Bengal, in whose country I spent some time many years ago.

1 George Forster was, on the 31st July, at Gandamak ; on the 1st of August he rested at Djeguid-'Atli (I am using a French version, and do not know how Forster spells it) ; next clay he got to Kabul. I suspect