The Hon Mountstuart Elphinstone FRSE, the author of this book, was born in   
   Dumbarton, Dunbartonshire, Scotland on 6 October 1779. He was a Scottish   
   statesman and historian, associated with the government of British India. He   
   later became the Governor of    
   Bombay (now Mumbai) where he is credited with the opening of several   
   educational institutions accessible to the Indian population. Besides being a   
   noted administrator, he wrote books on India and Afganistan, included this   
   book. He died in Hookwood,    
   Surrey, England on 20 November 1859. He is buried in Limpsfield churchyard.   
   He was a relative of Major-General William George Keith Elphinstone CB (1782   
   – 23 April 1842) who was an officer of the British Army during the 19th   
   century. That Elphinstone was promoted to major-general in 1837, and, in 1841,   
   during the First Anglo-   
   Afghan War, placed in command of the British garrison in Kabul, Afghanistan,   
   numbering around 4500 troops, of whom 690 were European and the rest Indian.   
   The garrison also included 12,000 civilians, including soldiers' families and   
   camp followers. He was    
   elderly, indecisive, weak, and unwell, and proved himself utterly incompetent   
   for the post. His entire command was massacred during the British retreat from   
   Kabul during January 1842. That Elphinstone died as a captive in Afghanistan   
   some months later.    
   His body was dispatched with a small guard of Afghan soldiers to the British   
   garrison at Jalalabad.    
   Famously, of the nearly 20,000 officers, soldiers and their families including   
   women and children, all were killed by the Afghans, except for one doctor who   
   was left alive and reached Jalalabad, so he alone could tell about it.    
   This book in four volumes of more than twelve hundred pages, is a huge work   
   and has long been overlooked as a source of information about the Kafirs of   
   the Hindu Kush. It was written in 1814 and published in 1815 and thus predates   
   any other work    
   providing a detailed description about the Kalash Kafirs.   
   There can be no doubt that this book describes the same people that are the   
   subject of the famous book “The Kafirs of the Hindu-Kush” by Sir George   
   Scott Robertson published in 1896. It is difficult to understand why this work   
   is not cited as a    
   source.   
   I have retyped Appendix C which contains the information about these peoples.   
   The author says he is following the place names on a map. Major James Rennell,   
   (3 December 1742 – 29 March 1830) was an English geographer, historian and a   
   pioneer of    
   oceanography. Rennell produced the Map of Hindoostan that was used by the   
   author of this book for place names.   
   I have corrected this work by using modern names. In many cases it is a simple   
   chance of the letter C to the letter K.  For example, he writes Caubul. I have   
   changed it to Kabul. He writes Caufiristaun. I have changed it to Kafiristan.   
   He writes Caufirs.    
   I write Kafirs. He writes Cohistaun. I change it to Kohistan. He writes   
   Caumdaish. I change it to Kamdish. He writes “Seeaposh (black vested) or Tor   
   Kafirs (black infidels)”. I have changed it to Siaposh Kafirs.   
   Any doubt that these are the same people is erased by the following paragraph:    
   “The Kafirs have a great deal of idle time; they hunt a little, but not as   
   much as the Afghans : their favourite amusement is dancing. Their dances are   
   generally rapid, and they use many gesticulations, raising their shoulders,   
   shaking their heads, and    
   flourishing their battle-axes. All sexes and ages dance. They sometimes form a   
   circle of men and women alternately, who move round the musicians for some   
   time with joined hands, then all spring forward and mix together in a dance.   
   They dance with great    
   vehemence, and beat the ground with much force. Their only instruments are a   
   tabor and pipe, but the dancers often accompany them with the voice. Their   
   music is generally quick, but varied and wild.    
   As to their appearance, here is what he says:    
   “They were celebrated for their beauty and their European complexion,   
   worshiped idols, drank wine in silver cups or vases, used chairs and tables,   
   and spoke a language unknown to their neighbours.”   
   However, I have a major problem with the word “Kaushkaur”. This is an   
   important place name. At first I thought this must be Chitral. Chitral has   
   been known as “Kashgar Kuchek” or “Little Kashgar”. Kashgar is a major   
   city in the Xinjiang    
   Province of China. However, that possibility is excluded by the following:   
   The country of Kaushkaur must be carefully distinguished from Kashgar, near   
   Yarkund, in Chinese Turkistaun. I have endeavoured to mark the difference by   
   retaining the spelling of our maps for the first place, and giving that which   
   is commonest in    
   Afghanistan for the other ; though, in fact, I have heard both called   
   indiscriminately Kaushkaur, Kaushghur, and Eaushgaur. The resemblance of the   
   names led us into great mistakes when we first arrived at Peshawer. We bought   
   tea, which we were told was    
   brought by caravans from Kaushkaur (Kashgar) ; and the first people whom we   
   asked respecting the distance told us we might easily go to Kaushkaur and   
   return within a fortnight. In time, however, we obtained more precise   
   information. We found that the    
   nearest Kaushkaur was an extensive, but mountainous and ill-inhabited country,   
   lying to the west of Badakhshan.    
   So, I do not know where these three places are: Kaushkaur, Kaushghur, and   
   Eaushgaur. My guess is  Eaushgaur is the area ruled by the British, Kaushghur   
   is Kashgar, China and Kaushkaur is in or part of Chitral. However, later in   
   the book he mentions by    
   name Chitral, Drosh and Mastuj. Drosh and Mastuj are towns in Chitral. It is   
   entirely possible that Drosh was ruled by the Kalash back in 1814 but the   
   author never says that.   
   Many of the place names we know, such as Koondooz, but others are a mystery   
   such as Beloot Taugh.   
      
   Regarding dates, the author was interested in finding out the truth of the   
   stories he had heard about these Kafirs so he obtained the agreement of Mullah   
   Nujeeb to go into their areas and learn about them. Mullah Nujeeb left   
   Peshawar in May (but he does    
   not say in which year). When he did not return for a long time, it was feared   
   he had been killed by the Kafirs. After waiting many months, they gave up   
   waiting for him and went to Delhi, fearing he had been killed. But then he   
   arrived back having been to    
   Kamdish which is now in Nuristan and gave a report in his own language which   
   is the subject of this chapter:   
   Kafiristan S73    
       
   APPENDIX C.    
   ACCOUNT OF SOME NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES   
      
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