[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.
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).