1 090
2 CAUFtRISTAim.
3 Cautir dialect, and gives reason to suppose the Lughmannec^ and iH'ggauns*
4 to be Caufirs, converted to the Maliommedau rel^on. 1 imagine the inha-
5 faitaiito of the CohutHm of Gubul to Iwre tiie MHoe origin, paxda^aAf-m
6 the nunc of Colusttiinee is that t^ipUed to alt the late^ oooverled Ckiifirtb
7 This derivation of their laogbege aeeowfital to the descent of the Gauftn
8 from the Greeks, and their traditions do not furnish us with any distimrt
9 account of their origin. Tlie most general luid the only credible story is
10 that tliey wertf expelled by tl»e Mussulmans from the neighbourhood of Cau-
11 daliar, and made several migrations firom place to place, before tbcy reach^
12 tiieir pieaeiit abode. They aUege that ^tuey coooated of fiwr'trflMs oUled
13 Camooe^ Hikr, fiSJar, and Ganxge^ of whidi the thiee fimner emfataceil tho
14 Mahomedan Religion, but the fturth retaoied its andent ftilli» and qoltMd
15 its nntive country.'
16 Their religion docs not respinble any other with which I am acquainted.
17 They believe in one God, whom ttie Cautirs of Caumdaish call Imra, and
18 those of. Tsokooee Dagun; but they also worship munennis idols, n^uch
19 they say represent great naeo of ianaa dayii- who intefoade *with' God 'in
20 favour of their worshtppen*
21 These id^b are of stone or wooi^ and always represent men or woaisi^
22 sometimes mounted and sometimes on foot. Moollali Nujeeb h:\d oppor-
23 tunity of learning the arts which obtain an entrance to the C autir I' intlieon.
24 In the puUic apartment of the village of Caumdaish, was a high wooden pit*
25 iat OD wbidi sat a figure, with s spear m one hand abd a staff in Ae o&nr*
26 .Tins idol rapresented the &ther of one of the great men of the vOiag^ who
27 had erected it himself in his life>time, hating purchased the privilege by
28 giving several feasts to the whde village ; nor was this the only instance of
29 men deified for such reasons, and wdrshipped as much as any other of the
30 gods. The Canfiri appear indeed to attach the utmost importance to the
31 virtues of libcrahty and hospitality. It is they which procure the easiest
32 admipsioQ to their paradiic^ which they call Buny Le Boda» and the o^o-
33 aito vices are the most cettsfai gddes to Bony Duggnr Boola, or heU.
34 ' . TWs.ftdiity of deification must render the number of the gods very great,
35 but many mnst be confined to their own tribe, since it cannot be expected
36 that tliose will worship them who have never partaken of their entertainments.
37 Accordingly, the gods of Camndaisli seem to be quite difierent from tiiose
38 of Tsohooee,' though there is one common to both, and there may probably
39 he more. who may have been deified boAre the sepaialioB ,of 'fhe CSuiir
40 tribca. 'The dnef goda^ or heroca^ of Csnmdaish ar^ lat^ Bngeedv who is
41 Digitized by GoOgI<