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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 |
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Citation Information
59-4
MARCO POLO APP. L.
i
4
absence of birds (pp. 174-175)
might be a reflex of the very ancient legend (based probably on the name zend Upairi-saena, pehlevi Apärsīn, ' higher than the birds' ) which represents the Hindu Kirsh range proper as too high for birds to fly over. The legend can be traced by successive evidence in the case of the range north of Kabul."—Regarding the route (p. 175) from the Wakhjir (sic) Pass down the Taghdum-bash Pamir, then vied Tāsh-kurghan, Little Karakul, Bulun Kul, Gez Daria to Tashmalik and Kashgar, Dr. Stein says that he surveyed it in July, 1900, and he refers for the correct phonetic spelling of local names along it to his map to be published in J R. G. S., in December, 1902. He says in his Prel. Report, p. io : " The Wakhjir Pass, only some 12 miles to the south-west of Kok-török, connects the Tāghdumbāsh Pāmīr and the Sarīkol Valleys with the head-waters of the Oxus. So I was glad that the short halt, which was unavoidable for survey purposes, permitted me to move a light camp close to the summit of the Wakhjir Pass (circ. 16,200 feet). On the following day, 2nd July, I visited the head of Ab-i-Padja Valley, near the great glaciers which Lord Curzon first demonstrated to be the true source of the River Oxus. It was a strange sensation for me in ths desolate mountain waste to know that I 'iad reached at last the eastern threshold of that distant region, including Bactria and the Upper Oxus Valley, which as a field of exploration had attracted me long before I set foot in India. Notwithstanding its great elevation, the Wakhjir Pass and its approaches both from west and east are comparatively easy. Comparing the topographical facts with Iliuen-Tsiang's account in the Siyu-ki, I am led to conclude that the route followed by the great Chinese Pilgrim, when travelling about A. n. 649 from Badakshdn towards Khotan, through ` the valley of Po-mi-lo (Pamir)' into Sarìkol, actually traversed this Pass."
Dr. Stein adds in his notes to me that " Marco Polo's description of the forty days' journey to the E.N.E. of Vokhan as through tracts of wilderness can we'1 be appreciated by any one who has passed through the Pamir Region, in the direction of the valleys W. and N. of M urtagh Ata. After leaving T:íshkurgban and Tagharma, where there is some precarious cultivation, there is no local produce to be obtained until the oasis of Tashmalik is reached in the open Kashgar plains. In the narrow valley of the Yamanyar River (Gez Defile) there is scarcely any grazing ; its appearance is far more desolate than that of the elevated Pamirs."—" Marco Polo's praise (p. 'Si) of the gardens and vine-yards of Kashgar is well deserved ; also the remark about the trading enterprise of its merchants still holds good, if judged by the standard of Chinese Turkestan. Kashgar traders visit Khotan far more frequently than vice versa. It is strange that no certain remains of Nestorian worship can be traced now."—" My impression [Dr. Stein's] of the people of the Khotan oasis (p. 188) was that they are certainly a meeker and more docile race than e.g the average ` Kashgarlik ' or Yarkandi. The very small number of the Chinese garrison of the districts Khotan and Keria (only about 200 men) bears out this impression."
We may refer for the ancient sites, history, etc., of Khotan to the Preliminary Report of Dr. Stein and to his paper in the Geo<;raphic-alJourual for December, 19o2, actually in the press.
5.—NUMBER OF PAMIRS. (Vol. 1. p. I;G.)
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Lord Curzon gives the following list of the " eight claimants to the distinction and title of a Pamir " : (I) Taghdumbash, or Supreme I Iead of the Mountains Pamir, lying immediately below and to the north of the Kilik Pass. (2) The Pamir-iWakhan. (3) The Pamir-i-Khurd, or Little Pamir. (4) The Pamir-i-Kalan, or Great Pamir. (5) The Alichur Pamir. (6) The Sarez Pamir. (7) The Rang Kul Pamir. (8) The Khargosh or Dare Pamir, which contains the basin of the Great Kara Kul. See this most valuable paper, The Pamirs and the Source of the Oxus, reprinted from the GeographicalJournal of 1896, in 1896, IS9S, and 1S99.
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