y wine made
by the Kafirs, which he got when he extended his dominion to
Chigar-serai in 1514. The Kafirs are described as strong athletic men
with a language of their own, the features and complexions of
Europeans, and fond of dancing, hunting, and drinking. They also play
at leap-frog, shake hands as Englishmen, and cannot sit cross-legged on
the ground. When a deputation of Kafirs came to Sir William Macnaghten
at Jalalabad, the Afghans exclaimed: 'Here are your relations coming!'
From the days of Alexander the Great the Siah-posh Kafirs have never
been conquered, and they have never embraced Islam. They successfully
resisted the attacks of Mahmud of Ghazni, and the campaign which Timur
undertook against them in 1398 was equally unsuccessful. But the Muslim
rulers of Kabul continued to make inroads into the Siah-posh country
down to the time of Baber and afterwards. Our only knowledge of this
interesting people is from the reports of Mahommedans, and from an
account of two native missionaries who penetrated into Kafiristan in
1865. Elphinstone obtained much information respecting the Kafirs from
one Mullah Najib in 1809; and Lumsden from a Kafir slave named
Feramory, who was a general in the Afghan service in 1857. Further
particulars will be found in the writings of Burnes, Wood, Masson,
Raverty, Griffith, and Mohun Lal." In recent years, Major Biddulph
entered from Kashmir, through Gilgit, and made his way to Chitral, and
Colonel Tanner advanced from Jalalabad a short distance into
Kafiristan, among a portion of the people who had been converted to
Mahommedanism, but who still retained many of the peculiarities of the
Kafir race. Dr. Leitner had also taken great pains to obtain
information about this ancient and unconquered people but Mr. McNair
was the first European who had ever penetrated into Kafiristan.

Mr. McNair then read as follows:--

In the September number of this Society's "Proceedings," p. 553, under
the heading "An Expedition to Chitral," allusion is made to my being
accompanied by a native explorer known "in the profession" as the
Saiad; it is to this gentleman that I am indebted for the partial
success that attended our undertaking. I say partial advisedly,
inasmuch as the original programme we had marked out, of penetrating
into the heart of Kafiristan, fell through, for reasons that will
appear as I proceed with the narrative.

The Saiad, whose name I need not mention, had been made over to me