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until thirty years ago, and as they still survive back in the mountains. I was surprised to discover how closely they resembled all primitive Aryan religions, and particularly the old Iranian fire cult and Zoroastrianism. Their basis was a polytheism with a marked dualist character. The old man named several deities, the most important of whom was Imra, the father of the gods, evidently the same as Indra, to whom a great fire was kindled once a week around which sacred dances were held. Most of the legends about Imra related by the old man described how he got the better of the Devil. The god of war was also worshiped everywhere and innumerable altars were erected in his honor. There were other gods and goddesses whose special provinces were the water, the earth, and the harvest, many of whom might easily be identified with deities of the early Germans.

The village constitution of Kafirs is like that of the Afghans. It is democratic and in the hands of a council of elders to which only members of the more aristocratic families are eligible. I could see that these local aristocrats were all people of a more marked Aryan type. The rest of the population consisted of poor freemen, who were mostly shepherds, and of slaves.

Comparatively little land was cultivated around this particular village, grazing being the principal industry. Naturally there was no rice, for want of water. I saw no Indian corn. There were some fields of wheat, barley, and millet; and millet is said to be the principal grain raised in free Kafiristan. In that part of the country the grape is also cultivated and wine is made. Naturally this is not permitted where the Mohammedans control the country. Cattle are used for ploughing and no horses are known in the higher parts of the mountains. Sheep are raised for wool and goats for flesh.

We spent most of the daytime in the village square, but for the sake of safety slept at night in the house of one of the elders. On the morning of the third day we retraced our path to the Alingar valley, as there was no way of penetrating farther into the mountains at this point, and reached the river late in the afternoon, spending the night in an Afghan village. The next morning we left early and proceeded up the valley, which continued to be as attractive and fertile as it had been farther down the stream. About midday we stopped at a village to get recommendations to points farther on; for our letters of introduction extended only to this place. The khan, who was a middle-aged man with a blonde moustache and almost European features, received us in the village square, surrounded by his followers, including a high ecclesiastic holding a rank comparable with that of a Christian bishop.

Our welcome was as formal and courteous as usual, but from the first I noticed an atmosphere of reserve. Food was provided for us, hammocks were slung, and then our conversation began. Our hosts asked me if I were an Englishman. When I said that I was a German, I noticed a look of bewilderment on their faces. They had never heard of such a nation. Both the khan and the 'bishop' evidently doubted if it actually existed. They had heard vaguely of Firangistan, — Europe, but supposed it consisted of only England and Russia. When I tried to describe Germany to them, and told them that there were also several other countries in Europe, they stared at me about as intelligently as an honest German peasant would if you were to try to enlighten him about the ethnology of Afghanistan. I do not think they believed that there was such a country as Germany. They had

never heard of the World War, except a vague rumor that their Mohammedan brothers, the Turks, had been engaged in heavy fighting with the English.

Finally our conversation got around to the object of my visit. I wanted guides and recommendations to the next heathen Kafir village. Instantly everybody tried to dissuade me from my plan. Never having seen a European before, and having no conception whatever of scientific interest or scientific research, they simply could not conceive why I should want to go into such a dangerous and benighted country. They recited horrible stories about the atrocities perpetrated by the heathens upon their own people, which they assured me would be repeated with generous additions in my own case, adding that the moment we approached the next village we should be greeted with bows and arrows. They themselves did not know the language of the people living there, and were at constant war with them. We told them that we intended to go forward regardless of consequences, but, thinking it would be better to give our hosts time to think the matter over, decided to postpone our departure for a day. I also designed giving the khan and his friends rather more liberal gifts than usual, a field glass or something like that, for it was essential that we have good recommendations when crossing the boundary between Mohammedan and heathen territory. We should have to send an emissary ahead to announce our coming and to deliver a letter of recommendation in our behalf.

In Afghanistan class distinctions are not observed as sharply as they are in Europe, and it is the universal custom for masters and servants to sit around the same fire and eat out of the same dish. So it happened to

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our misfortune that my conversation with the headmen of the village was overheard not only by the whole local population but also by my own. servants and attendants. The latter were already tired of our trip, and when they heard the stories of the dreadful things that awaited us a few miles beyond they fell into a panic.

The first man to protest against proceeding further was the karakash, or horse-hirer, who notified me that he intended to take his horses and go back home the next day. I told him that he personally could go any time he wished, but that his horses had been hired for the whole trip and I intended to keep them, if necessary by force. Thereupon my attendants and guards appeared in a body and announced that they refused to go farther, frankly admitting that they were afraid to do so. No man in this country piques himself upon his personal courage or word of honor. Such ideas are utterly foreign to him. So I decided to let our men go home, but to keep our pack animals and get men from the village to conduct us farther. But the khan, without refusing outright, evaded a definite promise of his assistance.

Finally the bishop' took me to one side and told me frankly what the situation was. The authorities at Jalalabad had been suspicious from the outset of the object of our expedition. Instead of telling me this frankly at the time and forbidding our entering Kafiristan, they had let me go but had sent men with me to report what I did. These men had enlisted in my party with orders to take me only to such and such a point up the valley and to halt me there. Lest I refuse to stop, a detachment of men had been sent in advance to a narrow pass a short distance ahead of this village, with orders to detain me there by force if necessary.

Faced by this situation, I found my

self compelled, to my bitter disappointment, to submit to circumstances. Yonder, just beyond the dark gray mountains ahead of us, holy fires were still burning on the altars of ancient Aryan gods, young men were still dancing the war dances of our primitive forefathers in honor of Imra and Givish, their Jove and Mars, their Woden and Thor. In yonder blue-forested heights wooden ancestral images were still set up over the graves of their fathers, according to ancient ritual. In these fastnesses an unchanging remnant of the old Aryan race from which all IndoEuropean nations are descended still survived practically as it was three thousand years ago. And I had to halt on the threshold of this ethnological and anthropological paradise!

We camped in the open square in front of the khan's castle. Sleep was out of the question. The village idiot pottered about all night long, now and then bringing down his heavy staff in dangerous proximity to my pillow. Hundreds of owls and bats circled incessantly around the ancient castle walls. Leaving betimes the next morning, and accompanied only by my single German companion, I rode directly back down the valley, covering fully fifty miles that day, to Kashasis Khan.

I spent only a day at this point, and, arranging to have our luggage sent back over the mountain pass to Jalalabad, started down the river to that city on a raft of inflated cowhides. Out in the river my companion and I overtook an old man with a white curly beard, who looked like Father Neptune, swimming along on a single inflated hide. He asked us to attach this to our raft, so that we might travel together. In order to do so, and also to buy a few watermelons, we decided to stop at a little village on the bank of the stream just at the point where the latter enters the canyon. The villagers hurried up and

begged us to go no farther. They said that three bands of robbers, learning of our intended trip, had posted themselves on either side of the canyon to kill or capture us. Further inquiry revealed the fact that we had to deal with some three hundred men, all of them from the notorious Ut Chel tribe. Two parties were on the south bank and one on the north. So if we had not stopped for the melons, but instead had drifted down into the canyon where the river is exceedingly narrow and swift, we should in all probability have been shot before we could think of resistance. In any case, one or two bullets through our inflated cowhide rafts would have brought us to a sudden halt, and we should have fallen into the hands of the raiders.

After briefly considering the situation, we decided that the robbers must be cleared out. Fortunately the village where we stopped belonged to the great khan whose acquaintance we had made when we were in Kashasis before, so we applied to him for help. The khan was sleeping in his hammock close by the murmuring river in his magnificent date-grove. At first his servants did not venture to awaken him over a trifle like a robber foray, but we insisted. He greeted us with dignity and composure, and gave his orders in a casual way that showed plainer than words what an everyday matter such incidents were. We rested less than an hour under the shadowy date-palms while a party of more than a hundred men, led by a mullah, assembled, and then set forth in the burning midday sun to attack the bandits.

The latter outnumbered our men three to one, but our leader evidently counted upon the effect of surprise, and planned to deal with each of the three bands separately before the others could come to its assistance. Hastening through the rocky country,

we soon discovered the first group of the enemy. They were watching the river intently, probably wondering why their intended victims were so long delayed. Finding themselves unexpectedly attacked from the rear, they took to their heels at our first volley. I caught momentary glimpses of wild, desperatelooking fellows in flowing beards and ragged mantles, carrying incredibly long muskets, springing like goats from boulder to boulder and disappearing behind them. It was all over in a second. Our mullah then advanced waving a white cloth as a sign that he wanted to parley. A mullah promptly presented himself from the other side, for apparently these robber bands carry a chaplain with them, and approximately this conversation was shouted from one cliff-pinnacle to another:

'What are you doing here?'

'We're going to catch and kill those accursed Christian dogs.'

"They are the guests of my lord and master, and have done you no harm. The Khan orders you to get out of this.' "You too are followers of the Prophet. You should help us instead of those dogs of Christians. They must at least give us their money.'

'We shan't discuss that subject. If you don't get out at once my lord the Khan will take it as a personal affront. You know what will happen then.'

The robber chaplain withdrew and conferred with his fellow tribesmen. They did not dare to incur the enmity of the powerful khan, and a minute later we saw them slinking quietly out of the canyon. This deprived the second band, which was much smaller,

of its flank support. A volley was exchanged, and I heard a few bullets buzz through the air. But these fellows had not counted on a fight, and promptly raised the white flag and scampered off to their mountain fastnesses. The third band, which had watched the whole thing from the other side of the river, likewise thought prudence the better part of valor, and we saw its members also slink over the top of the opposite cliff and vanish.

We went back and paid our thanks to the khan, and taking our raft started down the canyon. The khan posted guards on the left bank to ensure our safety, while one of his men followed us down by a footpath with a written order to any bandit he might encounter, threatening him with being 'shot out of a cannon' if he molested us. This is dire punishment indeed, for a man blown off a cannon's mouth, according to the Islamic superstition, is too badly mangled ever to enter Paradise.

None the less, we kept a sharp eye on both sides of the river, lest some lurking foeman might still linger there. It was not until we were a considerable distance downstream, where clay banks, evidently once the home of cavedwellers, had succeeded the rocky cliffs of the canyon proper, that we saw three heavily armed fellows running toward us as if to find a good place from which to fire. But when they saw that we were on our guard, ready to reply, they gave up the idea and vanished in one of the old caves. Half an hour later we were at Jalalabad. It is characteristic of Afghanistan, however, that we should have such an adventure almost at the gate of one of its principal cities.

WHY GERMANY IS NATIONALIST. II1

BY COLONEL LEBAUD, RETIRED

I HAVE hesitated a long time to relate the part that I took in the Separatist movement, for the facts are not very edifying; but I have at length resolved to do so simply to put the historical truth on record. During the summer of 1923 several Separatist demonstrations were organized in different cities in the occupied territory. The railways, which were under joint French and Belgian control, supplied free special trains for those who wished to attend them. Some of these meetings, particularly the one at Düsseldorf, terminated tragically.

One day I learned through the newspapers, precisely as did the rest of the public, that a Separatist republic had been proclaimed at Aachen and that the movement was spreading like wildfire from town to town. We heard of Separatist troops' seizing public buildings, raising their green, white, and red banner over them, and installing new officials. For about a month the agitation continued with varying fortunes. Then one heard less and less about it, until it was apparently forgotten.

The Palatinate really had no Separatist Party whatsoever. It may have mustered a few hundred members at Kaiserslautern, many of whom by no means belonged to the cream of the population. Its president was a barber

an honest fellow who would talk about France with tears in his eyes, but who had no social standing or

1 From Le Progrès Civique (Paris Radical weekly), February 20, 27

strength of character. Some said that the peasants were not averse to seceding from Bavaria and the Reich. The working classes, who were suffering from unemployment and inflation and were indignant at some of the measures taken by the Cuno Cabinet during the passive-resistance campaign, might have looked upon a wellmanaged Separatist movement without special hostility. But the middle and upper classes to a man were against it. Since the peasants and the workingmen, who were good sheeplike people filled with timid and respectful reverence for their officials and social superiors, were political ciphers, the movement had no substantial support.

During the latter half of October rumors were in the air that a Rhenish Republic was to be proclaimed in the Palatinate. A messenger from Headquarters notified me that the proclamation would be made at Kaiserslautern, and ordered me to preserve 'benevolent neutrality.' But my other orders indicated that 'benevolent' was not to be taken seriously. For instance, at the first sign of trouble I was to assume command of the municipal police, and I was to post infantry guards at the entrance of the public buildings as soon as the Separatists had seized them, in order to keep the Nationalists from recapturing them. I was also informed by the delegate of the Interallied High Commission at Kaiserslautern, with whom I was in constant communication, that the movement was strongly endorsed in

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