Jamshêd of Katár, the nephew of General Feramorz, the renowned Kafir General in the service of the late Amir Sher Alí of Kabul, was a confidential orderly both in the service of the Amir Sher Alí and in that of Yakúb Khan, whose cause he espoused against that of his father, in consequence of which, when his master was imprisoned, he fled to Rawalpindi, where he came to me. He had witnessed some of the most exciting scenes in modern Kabul history, had risen to the rank of Major, and had served with Prince Iskandar of Herát, whom he afterwards again met in London.
In 1872 I published from Jamshêd’s dictation an account of the “Adventures of Jamshèd, a Siah Pôsh Kafir, and his wanderings with Amir Sher Alí,” and also “a statement about slavery in Kabul, etc.,” which contained the names of places and tribes previously unknown to Geographers and Ethnographers, as well as historical and political material, the value of which has been proved by subsequent events. I took him with me to England, not only on account of the interest which exists in certain scientific quarters as regards the “mysterious race” of which he was a member, but also in order to draw the attention of the Anti-slavery Society and of Government to the kidnapping of Kafirs—the supposed “poor relations” of the European—which is carried on by the Afghans.
His measurement was taken, according to the systems of both Broca and Schwarz (of the Novara expedition), by Dr. Beddoe, and the type appeared to approach nearest to that of the slavonized Macedonians of the Herzegovina, like one of whose inhabitants he looked, thus creating far less attention, especially when dressed à l’européenne in Europe, than he did at Lahore, where Lord Northbrook saw him. The Anti-slavery Society sent him to the Chiefs of Katár with a communication to the effect that Englishmen strongly disapproved of slavery, and that they should represent their case to the Panjab Government. A curious incident in connection with his presence in England may be mentioned. It was the 6th May, 1874, the day of the “Two Thousand”; the result of the Newmarket race was eagerly expected, when the Globe came out with the following titles placed on the posters: “Result of the ‘Two Thousand.’” “An Interesting Race” (the latter was an article on the race of the Siah Pôsh Kafirs). The result may be imagined. Hundreds of Welshers plunged into an account of the Siah Pôsh Kafirs under the notion that they were going to have a great treat in a telegraphic description of a Newmarket race. I was informed that the wrath of the sporting roughs who besieged the office was awful when they found out their mistake. Poor Jamshêd was seen across the Panjab border by one of my Munshis, but returned some months later to Lahore, whence he found his way to Brussa, in Asia Minor. It is supposed that he took service in the Turkish Army, but he has not since been heard of. As I intend to publish an account of the Káfirs of Katár (now, I fear, all Nimchas, or half-Muhammadans), Gambir, etc., I reserve the interesting statements of Jamshêd to their proper Section in my “Káfiristán.”
Jamshêd, the Siah Pôsh Kafir,
Brought to England by Prof. Leitner in 1872.
COMPARATIVE TABLE OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS ON SOME OF THE DARDS IN DR. LEITNER’S SERVICE.
(The first five and the last are described by the French system; the sixth by the German system, put into millimetres and centimetres respectively.)
| A MATAVALLI.[118] | B KHUDÁYÁR. | C GHULAM MUHAMMAD. | D GHULÁM. | E ABDULLAH. | F MIR ABDULLAH.[119] | G[120] DR. LEITNER. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date and place of observation | 2-6-81: Simla | 2-6-81: Simla | 2-6-81: Simla | —— Simla | 2-6-81: Simla | 23-3-86: Lahore | 2-6-81: Simla | |
| Age; sex; profession | 32 yrs.; m.; peasant and warrior | 21 yrs.; m.; student | 40 yrs.; m.; agriculturist | 18 yrs.; m. | 40 yrs.; m.; agriculturist | 30 yrs.; m.; Jurist | 40 yrs. | |
| Caste, tribe, and tongue | Yashkun; Khajuná; Burishki | Yashkun; Khajuná; Burishki | Shiná | Shîn (Kashmir subject) | Shîn; (Kashmir subject) | Dard; Gabriál | ||
| Religion and birthplace | Shiah; (probably Mulái) Hunza | Shiah; Nagyr | Shiah; Gilgit | Sunni; Gurukôt near Astor | Sunni; Gurukôt near Astor | Sunni | ||
| Thin, medium, or stout | medium | thin | medium | medium | medium | stout | ||
| Weight[121] | 9 st. 8½ lb. | 9 st. 10 lb. | 8 st. 5 lb. | 14 st. 4 lb. | ||||
| Colours[122] | skin, exposed parts | 53 (red brown) | 54 | 38 | 52 | 37 | forehead & cheeks, reddish-brown | 25 (very fair) |
| ” covered parts | 21 (light red brown) | 47 | 38 | 53 | 37 | lips, pink; covered parts, lighter | 24 (very fair) | |
| hair | 48 (black) | 42 | grey | 48 | 48 | black | fair | |
| beard | 41 (black) | 43 | grey | 48 | 48 | red-brown | fair; slightly red | |
| eyes | 3 (light brown) | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | iris: dark brown; ball: white, bluish, injected | 14 (blue) | |
| Hair: straight, wavy, curly, frizzled, or woolly | straight | curly | curly | curly | curly | black, short, curly | curly | |
| Beard: thick (abundant), scanty, or none | thick, long and stiff | scanty | very thick | thick | very thick | straight; woolly; brown-reddish | abundant | |
| Skin: smooth, a little, or very hairy | very hairy | a little hairy | a little hairy | very hairy | very hairy | hairy on breast, little on arms | very hairy | |
| Shape of profile of nose (p. 111) | No. 2 (nearly quite straight) | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5, very high nostrils | convex | 5 | |
| Lips: thick, medium, or thin | medium (arched) | medium | medium | thin | medium | thin, arched | medium | |
| ” straight, or turned outwards | straight | straight | straight | straight | little turned outward | thin, straight | thin, straight | |
| Teeth: large, medium, or small | small | medium | large | small | small | small | medium | |
| ” incisors, straight (vertical), slanting, or very slanting | straight (incisors wide apart) | straight | straight | straight | straight | straight | vertical | |
| The set of teeth: very good, good, medium, bad, or very bad | good (but dirty) | very good | good | very good | very bad | transparent, very white | medium | |
| Skull | Diameters: antero-posterior, maximum | 195 millim. | 183 | 186 | 187 | 193 | 191 | 201 |
| ” ” inial | 192 ” | 180 | 187 | 185 | 183 | 186 | 200 | |
| ” transverse, maximum | 144 ” | 144 | 144 | 144 | 140 | 141 | 163 | |
| ” auriculo-vertical (fr. m.) | 116 ” | 110 | 123 | 110 | 114 | 119 | 126 | |
| Curves: inio-frontal | 345 ” | 315 | 325 | 335 | 345 | 340 | ||
| ” horizontal | 540 ” | 525 | 540 | 540 | 520 | 530 | 600 | |
| ” transverse sub-auricular | 330 ” | 315 | 320 | 335 | 320 | 330 | ||
| facial angle (Camner) | 81 ” | 81 | 73 | |||||
| From point of chin to edge of hair | 185 ” | 177 | 191 | 193 | ||||
| ” ophryon to alveolar point | 95 ” | 75 | 94 | |||||
| Breadth between zygomata | 139 ” | 132 | 136 | 133 | ||||
| Length of nose | 48 ” | 52 | 59 | 54 | ||||
| Breadth of nose | 31 ” | 39 | 35 | 33 | ||||
| From ophryon to root of nose | 12 ” | 20 | 16 | |||||
| Width between inner angle of eyes | 38 | 34 | 35 | |||||
| ” ”cheekbones | 94 ” | 108 | 103 | |||||
| Height (standing) | 164 centim. | 182 | 161 | 159 | 152 | 166 | 171 | |
| ” (sitting) | 126 ” | 131 | 124 | 125 | 124 | 126 | ||
| Greatest extension of arms | 162 ” | 180 | 174 | 167 | 165 | 165 | 182 | |
| ” ” of span | 20 ” | 16½ | 16 | 20 | 19 | 19 | ||
| Total length of foot | 25 ” | 26 | 25 | 24½ | 23½ | 25½ | 27 | |
| Length of ditto, ante-malleolar | 20 ” | 21½ | 19 | 20 | 19½ | 22 | ||
| Forehead | high; slightly receding | high; slightly retreating | medium; straight | medium; straight | high; straight | high; breadth of forehead 107 | high; slightly receding | |
| Frontal bone (bord sourcillier) | very marked | well developed | much developed | scarcely any | scarcely any | pronounced | very pronounced | |
| Intra-ocular distance | scarcely any | deep | very deep | not deep | not deep | deep; distance 3·4 | very small | |
| Eyebrows | bushy, crossing, forming but one line | very bushy | arched, bushy, crossed | arched, bushy, crossed | arched, bushy, crossed | standing far apart, thin | arched | |
| Eyes | straight | straight | straight | straight | straight | straight | straight | |
| Cheeks | little salient | little salient | salient | little salient | little salient | very salient | salient | |
| Zygomatic arch | very salient | salient | salient | much developed | much developed | salient | not salient | |
| Chin | oval | oval | oval | oval | oval | oval | square | |
| Ears | medium, little salient (round, small) | medium flat | long; height of ear 6·3 | medium | ||||
| Mouth | medium | small | thick | length of mouth 5·3 | medium | |||
| Neck | strong | proportioned | proportioned | well proportioned | strong | proportioned | strong | |
| Torso | strong | square | proportioned | well made | slim (svelte) | proportioned | vigorous | |
| Extremities | very small | fine | fine | medium | medium | small | medium[123] | |