Innermost Asia : vol.2 / 388 ページ（カラー画像）

0388	Innermost Asia : vol.2
極奥アジア : vol.2

usually about 2 feet thick, still rise in places to over 12 feet in height. A dwelling at the SE. end
contained several large rooms, one measuring 25 feet by 23. About a mile farther up a detached
rock, about 60 feet high and known as Barīkak, on the opposite bank of the river, carries scanty
remains of walls which are also believed to go back to 'Kāfir' times. From here onwards the course
of the river lies in a narrow cañon, and the path ascends on the left bank through a steep rock
¹ Kāfir ' fort couloir to a plateau occupied by the fields of Sendīw (about 9,100 feet above the sea). Where
of Sendīw. this plateau falls off precipitously to the river there rises on its edge an isolated rocky knoll once
occupied by the keep of a 'Kāfir' fort. Most of the walls had been pulled down to supply material
for the large newly built house of the Ming-bāshi, but I could see the remnants of a wall running
down from the knoll along a little ravine and probably meant to safeguard access to water.

March to It was about two miles beyond Sendīw that we encountered the first and only serious obstacle
Nemādh. to traffic within Shākh-dara. Here a very steep descent of some 200 feet had to be made over
'Rafaks' down to the left bank of the river, making it necessary to unload ponies. Beyond the
small village of Sēdj cultivation was repeatedly met with in small patches wherever the valley
bottom widened. The road winds up and down steep slopes in places where the river has cut its
way through narrow impracticable gorges. Yet we covered twenty-three miles without trouble before
reaching that night's camp at the homesteads and Mazār of Nemādh (10,100 feet elevation).

Kirghiz Our march of September 18th was of distinct interest. It first led up the steadily widening
cultiva-
tion at valley, past a succession of small hamlets occupied mainly by immigrants from Rōshān, until
Jaushangāz. after a march of about 11 miles we reached quite Pāmīr-like ground in the wide grassy trough
of Jaushangāz (about 10,800 feet above sea). Here we found some ten Kirghiz families cultivating
oat fields but still living in their felt tents or 'Kirghas'. They had taken up land here in recent
years, but plenty more of it capable of cultivation could be seen extending for miles to the east.
Oats and barley were said to grow well here, and everything pointed to this head of the main
valley having been closely settled in earlier times. Shākh-dara tradition, as heard from old Tūrān
Bēg, credited it in fact with having once supported three thousand Shughnī homesteads, an estimate
greatly exaggerated, no doubt, yet significant. Sassik-kul on the Alichur Pāmīr can be reached
from here by two easy marches along a route now followed by the Russian cart-road. Jaushangāz,
therefore, when fully occupied, may well have once served as a halting-place and supply centre
of importance for traders passing across the Pāmirs to and from Shughnān.¹⁷ A ruined fort on
a small spur rising within the Jaushangāz trough (Fig. 418) was said to have been occupied by
Shughnīs until some forty years before. Its masonry looked modern and distinctly inferior to that
of the 'Kāfir' remains at Bidēch.

Crossing From Jaushangāz we turned to the north in order to gain the Dōzakh-dara pass leading into
Dōzakh-
dara pass. the Ghund valley. Before reaching the valley which descends from the pass we skirted abandoned
fields extending almost continuously for some four miles over terraces along the banks of the
Khurwinek stream. Old canals could be traced clearly along the slopes. Heaps of stones on
the flat saddle above the stream coming from the pass are believed by popular tradition to have
been left behind by a Chinese army which was counted here. On September 19th we crossed
the pass at the head of Dōzakh-dara at an elevation of about 14,000 feet, after an easy ascent past
three old moraine terraces. On the northern side of the pass several small lakelets mark the position
of a former glacial lake. Below a very large terminal moraine the track for 3 miles crosses very
trying slopes of rock-debris choking the valley bottom, which accounts for the appropriate name
of Dōzakh-dara, corresponding to the 'Höllenthal' so common in the Alps. Where the Dōzakh-

国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

引用情報

OCR読み取り結果

国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト 『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

引用情報

OCR読み取り結果

国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ