Innermost Asia : vol.2 / 382 ページ（カラー画像）

0382	Innermost Asia : vol.2
極奥アジア : vol.2

not be very far removed from that of the fortress above Yamchin, and on the strength of some of
the structural features noted I should be inclined to assume a somewhat earlier date for the ' Castle
of Qaʿqa '.

Traces of By the morning of September 8th the survey of the old stronghold was completed and a visit
Buddhist paid to the much-frequented Ziārat of Hazrat Shāh-i-mardān, which lies close outside its northern
worship. front. I have previously had occasion to mention the series of natural stone blocks placed there,
which by their shape curiously resemble miniature Stūpas, and to point out their significance as
probable proofs of lingering respect for what in Buddhist times would certainly have been objects
of worship.⁷ On the march down to Nut, the Russian military post facing Ishkāshm, I noticed
between the villages of Kazi-deh and Run a wide ' Dasht ' where traces of ancient cultivation
were said to be visible and which was being reclaimed by means of new canals. Below the village
of Putur a steep spur descending to the left bank of the river was pointed out as the traditional
boundary on that side between Wakhān and Ishkāshm.

Halt at At Nut I was most kindly received by its cultured commandant Captain Tumanovich, and was
Nut. able to utilize a day's halt in collecting more linguistic and anthropometrical materials concerning
the population of Ishkāshm (Fig. 441). The high position of the Nut post, about 8,400 feet, and
some 400 feet above the river, near where abundant springs issue from the hill-side, afforded a fine
view over the wide open valley on the opposite side of the Oxus (Fig. 400). There the cultivated
terraces, among which the numerous hamlets collectively known as Ishkāshm are scattered, seemed
to extend close up to the remarkably easy saddle or rather plateau which gives access to Zēbak
and the valley of the Wardōj river draining into Badakhshān. It was easy to visualize, as it were,
the reasons that have linked Ishkāshm so closely in language with the hill tracts across that saddle
and made the whole of them an apanage of the great territory westwards, the old Tukhāra country.
To me it was a satisfaction, though at the same time a tantalizing one, to have seen at least from
a distance the mountains of Tokhāristān.

Fort above On September 10th I started from Nut for the journey down the Oxus to Shughnān. Where
Sumjin. the river makes its turn to the north within a couple of miles from Nut, its valley contracts greatly.
Yet stony plateaus on the right bank leave a comparatively easy passage down to the hamlet of
Malwāch, about 12 miles from Nut, and this explains why the dozen or so of homesteads found on
this bank as far as Malwāch are reckoned as belonging to Ishkāshm. At a distance of about
7 miles from Nut and close above the hamlet of Sumjin a bold rocky spur projects from the east
into the bottom of the valley. Its end, about 500 feet above the river, carries a small fairly level
plateau which towards the river bending round its foot falls off with almost sheer precipices. The
top is occupied by a roughly polygonal enclosure (see sketch-plan in Pl. 46) of walls built of rough
stone slabs, practically without any plaster. In a few places loopholes about 1½ feet high survive
in the decayed masonry. Nothing is known to local tradition about the origin of this ' Qala of
Sumjin ', but there can be little doubt that it is distinctly later than the strongholds near Yamchin
and Namadgut. It may have been rapidly constructed as a ' chiusa ' to defend the route from
Ghārān perhaps against a Shughnī invasion.

Difficult At Malwāch hamlet we entered the succession of narrow defiles through which the Oxus,
route locally known as Panj, makes its tortuous way down to Shughnān. This portion of the Oxus
through valley, constituting the tract of Ghārān, was most difficult of access both from the south and north
Ghārān. before Russian engineers had constructed a narrow bridle-path. Many of the precipitous spurs
which descend to the right bank of the river were until then quite impracticable for animal transport.⁸

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