Innermost Asia : vol.2 / Page 395 (Color Image)

0395	Innermost Asia : vol.2

glaciers. Some three miles below this junction the bottom of the valley becomes very confined
and the track, in places only a foot wide, along the steep slopes of detritus present great difficulty.
But after passing two small patches of cultivation we suddenly emerged into the Bartang valley
amidst the small terraced meadows and fields of Khaizhēz hamlet (about 6,800 feet elevation),
where we halted.

The two days' journey which brought me from Khaizhēz down to Kala-i-Wāmar on the Oxus Through
covered but a small portion of that main valley of Rōshān which I had first sighted high up at Bartang
Saunāb. But it sufficed to impress me with the exceptional difficulties of traffic offered by the gorges.
tortuous gorges in which the Bartang river has cut its way down to the Oxus. It also showed why
Rōshān has always been the least accessible of all the valleys descending from the Pāmīrs, and
why its people and ways have shown themselves most retentive of their old inheritance. The
line of progress through these narrow deep-cut gorges (Figs. 421, 422, 424), between towering
mountain masses wildly serrated above and very steep at their foot, was more troublesome even
than the glacier pass by which we had approached them. Having crossed from Khaizhēz to
the right bank of the river on a raft of goatskins we were immediately faced by a steep climb to
the Khaipāst spur. With the river racing past it in cataracts it serves as a formidable 'Darband'
or chiusa, and remains of stone breastworks showed that it was defended on occasion.

A couple of miles beyond there followed a succession of trying climbs up and down precipitous Climbs
rock faces (Fig. 421), where the track leads along narrow ledges or is represented only by foot- along
holds a few inches wide. Fortunately it was possible for a few of us to avoid some of the worst awrins.
of these awrins by the use of small goatskin rafts (Fig. 422), where the absence of dangerous
cataracts allowed of their employment. Guided by dexterous swimmers, they let us glide down
the tossing river, forgetful of all fatigue, in scenery of impressive grandeur. Boldly serrated snowy
peaks showed again and again above the high frowning rock walls, which, as they rapidly passed
in succession, ever seemed to close in upon us. Meanwhile the baggage was being carried in safety
by sure-footed Rōshānīs past precipices as bad in places as any I remembered in Hunza.

The uniform grimness of this mountain scenery was relieved by the pleasant contrast offered Ancient
by the hamlets nestling here and there at the mouth of ravines and half hidden amidst fine walnut style of
and other fruit trees. The dwellings I was able to examine at Rīt and again at Paghū (Fig. 423), Rōshān
where we broke our journey, seen from outside were indeed unpretending rubble-built hovels. dwellings.
But the interior, smoke-begrimed as it was, invariably showed arrangements indicative of rude
comfort and interesting as obviously derived from antiquity. For there was the closest resemblance
in essential features, such as the ground-plan of the living hall with its skylight ceiling and sitting
platforms, to the internal architecture with which I had been made familiar by residences on
ancient sites explored in the Taklamakān and by others still occupied by the living in Hindukush
valleys to the south.¹ Alpine seclusion seemed to have kept this small corner of the world almost
untouched by the change of ages, and I felt inclined to wonder whether it would have presented
a very different picture to some Bactrian Greek or Indo-Scythian visitor of old.

The same impression was conveyed by the physical character of the men whom I met on my Homo
way down the valley (Fig. 443) or was subsequently able to examine anthropometrically at Kala-i- Alpinus
Wāmar (Fig. 444). Clean of limb and made wiry by constant movement over such impossible type of
tracks, they all showed clear-cut features, generally light-coloured eyes and often faces of almost Rōshānīs.
classical regularity. The conclusion suggested itself to me at the time that among the Iranian-
speaking hillmen of the valleys that I traversed in this region it was the population of Rōshān
that has preserved the Homo Alpinus type in its greatest purity, and Mr. Joyce's expert analysis,

II 5 X

National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

Citation Information

OCR Text

National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books