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0160 Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.1
Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.1 / Page 160 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000213
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74

IN AFGHAN WAKHAN

CH. VII

about ancient remains in Badakhshan and old Bactria, the

regions which he knew so well and to which my own thoughts were ever eagerly turning, but himself also, as

it were, a fascinating historical record. Was it not like

being shifted back many centuries to find myself listening to this considerate and gentlemanly old soldier, who in

his younger days had helped to build up pyramids of rebel

heads just to establish order in the time-honoured fashion of Central Asia ? Of course, much of our talk used to

turn on things of the past, for which a lucky dispensation

had endowed my friend with real interest and a great deal of shrewd practical observation. Yet quite as enticing

was it to listen to his enthusiastic descriptions of all the

charms of Badakhshan, its well-watered valleys with shady groves and abundance of all fruits, and its extensive Alpine

plateaus offering rich grazing and cool retreats for the

summer. Ever there rose before me, during such converse in these bleak wintry valleys, pictures of my cherished

Kashmir, and I wondered when the time might come for me to see its Central-Asian pendant. May kindly old Shirin-dil Khan be still there then to welcome me !

Our onward march on May 22nd proved difficult in its first half. The crossing of the big snow-fed stream dashing

down the side valley of Baharak involved much trouble

and risk for the baggage (Fig. 26), and the fifteen hundred feet ascent to the Bashgaz spur which followed had to

be effected in many places over steep and slippery rock faces. Without the energetic assistance of our Afghan protectors the baggage which had to be unloaded again and again would never have been hauled up, in spite of the additional Wakhi carriers brought from Sarhad. By a

narrow track which kept winding along steep slopes high above the impassable river-gorge, and in a few places passed

small alluvial plateaus, where patches of ground looked

as if terraced for cultivation in ancient times, we reached camp at Langar in the evening. The little mud-domed

structure which has given the place its name, meaning rest - house ' in Turki, was uninviting ; but the broad gravel ` Dasht ' on which we camped, with its easy slope towards the river, gave promise of easier ground before

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