Kafiristan in disguise. He (the President) had had an opportunity of
seeing the paper, and he found that Mr. McNair had not dwelt upon the
historical geography of Kafiristan, and therefore he would say a few
words on that subject. As long ago as 1809, Kafiristan attracted the
attention of one of the ablest public servants that England ever sent
out to India--Mountstuart Elphinstone--who was anxious to add to his
"History of Kabul" something about the people of Kafiristan; and
knowing that it was inaccessible to Europeans, he employed an Indian, a
man of learning and intelligence, to travel there and obtain all the
information he could. It was curious to notice how faithful the report
of his emissary was. The people of the country were described in the
following words: "The Kafirs were celebrated for their beauty and their
European complexions. They worshipped idols, drank wine in silver cups
or vases, used chairs and tables, and spoke a language unknown to their
neighbours." Their religion seems to have been a sort of debased Deism:
they believed in a God; at the same time they worshipped a great number
of idols, which they said represented the great men that had passed
from among them; and he described a scene at which he had been present,
when a goat or a cow was sacrificed, and the following prayer, pithy
and comprehensive, although not remarkable for charity, was offered up:
"Ward off fever from us. Increase our stores. Kill the Mussulmans.
After death admit us to Paradise." Killing the Mussulman was a
religious duty which the Kafirs performed with the greatest fidelity
and diligence. In fact, no young man was allowed to marry until he had
killed a Mussulman. They attached the same importance to the killing of
a Mussulman as the Red Indians did to taking the scalp of an enemy.
Their number did not appear to exceed 250,000. They inhabited three
valleys, and small as their number was they were constantly at war with
each other, and seized upon the members of kindred tribes in order to
sell them as slaves. The women were remarkable for their beauty; and