11 
in white letters on a black ground, painted on thick 
paper, including specimen of writing by a beggar 
girl; an aecount of the Rajas of Leh by a Lama; a 
picture of a Chorten, and several small treatises, &c. 
"4. A square substantial box made of large bits of 
bamboo, kept together by small bits of bamboo, and 
covered over with leather, with some für patches. 
75. A Yarkandi lantern, chop-sticks in silver, 
medicine box, girdle, flute, guitar, drawer strings, 
cap, jade pipe stem, beit with copper coins from 
Urumtsi and from Yarkand; boots; stockings; 
piece of Charas. 
76. Bokhara coloured silk and two silk hand- 
kerchiefs. 
77- Khoten coarse strong silk. 
78. Lhassa brick tea; china cup and basket. 
79. Three Serpentine cups.from Skardo. 
80. Goat-skin coat and cap; leather quiver; 
arrow; a boot, and an oil lamp from Kafiristan in 
the Hindu-kush. 
In order to raise the interest in etlmographical, 
especially Central Asian, researches, and in order to 
satisfy the speculations of savans, Dr. Leitner also 
brought over with him to Vienna a member of that 
hitherto mysterious race, the Siah Posh Kafirs 
or “ black-garbed Infidels,” as the Muhammadan 
Affghans term them. Some snppose them to be 
descendants of a colony planted in the Hindu-kush 
by Alexander the Great when he invaded India; and 
others believe that they are Zoroastrians, who were 
driven into the hills on the occasion of the Arab 
occupation of Balkh &e. Many again contend 
that they are aborigines of the plains of India, who 
were forced into the hills by Muhammad of Ghazni. 
The Kafirs’ European appearance favours the first 
view, their Parsi names, the second, and their San- 
skritic dialects, the third view. Burnes, Elphinstone, 
Masson, and Wood give short conjectural notices 
regarding them. Dr. Trumpp has given a sketch 
of one of their dialects, which, however, appears to 
be Kohistani or Dehgani, the language of neigh- 
bouring hill tribes. Native Christian Missionaries 
have visited them, but no European. They are 
reported to have some notions of Christianity, and 
to consider Europeans as their brethren. They are 
surrounded on all sides by a beit of Muhamma- 
dans, with whom they wage a ceaseless war, because 
they kidnap their children. They are dressed in 
goats’ skins. The Kafir brought to Vienna has blue 
eyes, reddish hair, and a military appearance. He is 
called Jamshed, is a native of Katar in the Hindu- 
kush, and a nephew of the famous General Feramorz. 
He accompanied the present Amir of Kabul through- 
out all his wanderings in Affghan-Turkistan, Herat, 
&c. &c. Three Kafirs served under General Lumsden 
in the Guides on the Panjab frontier, but are said 
to have been murdered oh their way back to their 
country. Four Kafirs have been at times in Dr. 
Leitner’s Service (of whom this man Jamshed is one), 
and from them Dr. Leitner has collected vocabu- 
laries, &c. &c. of the various Kafir dialects. It 
seems that Jamshed is the only surviving Kafir who 
has ever reaehed the Panjab, and of course, he is the 
very first Kafir who has visited Europe. Vienna had 
also previously been visited (in 1869) by Niaz Mu 
hammad, the first Yarkandi who ever went to Europe, 
and who now has sent several articles of Central 
Asian trade to the Vienna Universal Exhibition 
through Dr. Leitner, bis former master.