IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Southern Tibet : vol.7 |
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Citation Information
THE JOURNEY TO YARKAND.
399
the old fort of Kurgan-i-Ujadbai at the junction of the two branches of the Tågh-
dum-bash Pamir, the Tågh-dum Pamir and Täsh-Kurghän. ))'
Then the text says: »From this they went on to Chemàn ....)), which Yule suggests
may be Wood's I - Khanam, and Cordier Teskan or Teshkån on the road to Faizabad.
The journey from this place to Yarkand is desribed thus:2
After eight days of the worst possible road, they reached the Tenghi Badascian. Tengi signifies a difficult road, and it is indeed fearfully narrow, giving passage to only one at a time, and running at a great height above the bed of a river .... They halted here ten days, and then in one day's march reached Ciarciunar, where they were detained five days in the open country by rain, .... From this in ten days they reached Serpanil, but this was a place utterly desolate and without a symptom of human occupation ; and then they came to the ascent of the steep mountain called Sacrithma. None but the stoutest of the horses could face this mountain ; the rest had to pass by a round-about but easier road. And so, after a journey of twenty days, they reached the province of Sarcil, where they found a number of hamlets near together. They halted there two days to rest the horses, and then in two days more reached the foot of the mountain called Ciecialith. It was covered deep with snow, and during the ascent many were frozen to death, and our brother himself barely escaped, for they were altogether six days in the snow here. At last they reached Tanghetàr, a place belonging to the Kingdom of Cascar. Here Isaac the Armenian fell off the bank of a great river into the water, and lay as it were dead, for some eight hours till Benedict's exertions at last brought him to.
In fifteen days more they reached the town of Iakonich, and the roads were so bad that six of our brother's horses died of fatigue. After five days more our Benedict, going on by himself in advance of the caravan, reached the capital, which is called Hiarchan, and sent back horses to help on his party with necessaries for his comrades. And so they also arrived not long after safe at the capital, with bag and baggage, in November of the same year 1603.
On the excellent map accompanying Yule's Cathay Vol. IV, the route of Goës
is marked in red, the most probable or certain route in a solid line, the alternative
route in a dotted line. He travels from Kabul northward, crossing the Hindu-kush,
traverses portions of Afghanistan and Badakhshan to the Ab-i-Panja (Tengi-Badascian),
follows the river southwards along and through Roshan, Shighnan and Wakhan by
Kala Panja and Dasht-i-Mirza Murad. Continuing thence eastwards, south of Hüan-
chuang's route, he crosses the Wakhjir Pass, and, below Beyik, turns north along
the Taghdumbash River to Tash-kurghan. Along his route from Wakhjir to Tash-
kurghan we find, to his left or north and west of his route, the names Serpanil,
Sacrithma and Sarcil. From Tash-kurghan he is supposed to have crossed the
Chichiklik Pass, and to have continued to Chihil-gumbaz. From here the solid line
is drawn to Yangi Hissar (Tanghetar), whilst the alternative route is drawn by Yaka-
arik (Iakonich) to Yarkand (Hiarchan).
1
~
I Cp. Vol. VIII.
2 Op. cit., p. 214.
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