with folk-lore, and some would have us believe that the intellectual life of primitive peoples has evolved by a process governed by natural laws; others object to drawing analogies from biological evolution, and contend that the folk life of separated peoples is the result of the reaction of the human mind on its environment and that there are strictly local beliefs and practices—in short, that every belief has an area of origin and is part of the history of a people rather than the product of a natural law—a distinction with a difference. But it is not my intention to enter on any controversial aspect of the subject. I prefer simply to act the part of the recorder and tell you of those things I have seen and of which I have heard, leaving the data accumulated to be dealt with in accordance with whatever fashion of thinking is favoured by individual hearers. My subject is the folk life of Afghanistan, the customs as well as the lore, and the matter is sufficiently bulky to occupy our attention in the time at my disposal. I have found it necessary to limit the survey. Festivals, for instance, cannot be dealt with at any length, but as many of those are Islamic and resemble those held elsewhere, having been imported, you will agree, I think, that it is better that I should confine my attention chiefly to those domestic customs and beliefs which are not generally known. I ask you, therefore, to step with me into the Afghan family circle and to share, for a time, its interests and especially in so far as they are of import to students of folk-lore—for the time being, I shall ask you to dismiss from your minds the Afghan as a fighting man and to be introduced to him as a peaceful householder. As you will find, there is a good deal of human nature in the picturesque individual and much in his family circle.
I shall begin with birth, pass through the years of youth to the marriage ceremony and follow the individual to the deathbed, so that you may acquaint yourselves, if only in outline, with the life history of an Afghan.
