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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
182
MARCO POLO BOOK I.
•
merchants go forth about the world on trading journeys.
The natives are a wretched, niggardly set of people ;
they eat and drink in miserable fashion. . There are in
the country many Nestorian Christians, who have
churches of their own. The people of the country
have a peculiar language, and the territory extends
for five days' journey.1
NOTE I.—[There is no longer any difficulty in understanding how the travellers, after crossing Pamir, should have arrived at Kashgar if they followed the route from Táshkurgán through the Gez Defile.
The Itinerary of the Mirza from Badakhshan (Fáizabad) is the following : Zebak, Ishkashm, on the Panja, which may be considered the beginning of the Wakhán Valley, Panja Fort, in Wakhán, Raz Khan, Patur, near Lunghar (commencement of Pamir Steppe), Pamir Kul, or Barkát Yassin, 13,30o feet, Aktash, Sirikul Táshkurgán, Shukrab, Chichik Dawan, Akul, Kotul, Chahul Station (road to Yarkand) Kila Karawal, Aghiz Gah, Yangi-Hissar, Opechan, Yanga Shahr, Kashgar, where he arrived on the 3rd February, 1869. (Cf. Report of " The Mirza's " Exploration from Caubul to Kashgar. By Major T. G. Montgomerie, R.E. . . (Jour. R. Geo' . Soc. XLI. 1871, pp. 132-192.)
Major Montgomerie (l. c. P. 144) says : " The alterations in the positions of Kashgar and Yarkund in a great measure explains why Marco Polo, in crossing from Badakhshan to Eastern Turkestan, went first to Kashgar and then to Yarkund. With the old positions of Yarkund and Kashgar it appeared that the natural route from Badakhshan would have led first to Yarkund ; with the new positions, and guided by the light of the Mirza's route, from which it is seen that the direct route to Yarkund is not a good one, it is easy to understand how a traveller might prefer going to Kashgar first, and then to Yarkund. It is satisfactory to have elicited this further proof of the general accuracy of the great traveller's account of his journey through Central Asia."
The Itinerary of Lieutenant-Colonel (i' Edon (Sirikol, the Pámfrs and IVakhán, ch. vi. of Forsyth's Mission to Yarkund in 1873) runs thus : "Left Káshgar (21st March), Yangi-Hissar, Kaskasú Pass, descent to Chihil Gumbaz (forty Domes), where the road branches off to Yárkand (1 Io miles), Torut Pass, Tangi-Tár (defile), ` to the foot of a great elevated slope leading to the Chichiklik Pass, plain, and lake (14,7oo feet), below the Yámbulák and Kok-Moinok Passes, which are used later in the season on the road between Yangi-Hissár and Sirikol, to avoid the Tangi-Tár and Shindi defiles. As th,: season advances, these passes become free from snow, while the defiles are rendered dangerous and difficult by the rush of the melting snow torrents. From the Chichiklik plain we proceeded down the Shindi ravine, over an extremely had stony road, to the Sirikol River, up the banks of which we travelled to Táshkurgán, reaching it on the tenth day from Yangi-Hissar. The total distance is 125 miles.' Then Táshkurgán (ancient name Várshidi) : ' the open part of the Sirikol Valley extends from about 8 miles below Táshkurgán to apparently a very considerable distance towards the Kunjút mountain range ; ' left Táshkurgán for Wákhan (2nd April, 1873) ; leave Sirikol Valley, enter the Shindán defile, reach the Áktásh Valley, follow the Áktásh stream (called Ákú by the Kirghiz) through the Little Pamir to the Gházkul (Little Pamir) Lake or Barkat Vássfn, from which it takes its rise, four days from Táshkurgán. Little Pamir ` is bounded on the south by the continuaticn of the Neza Tásh range, which separates it from the Tághdúngbásh Pámir,'
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