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| 0404 |
Innermost Asia : vol.2 |
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3,000 between Kara-muk and Gharm seemed scarcely exaggerated. Yet there was evidence,
especially along the upper portion of the valley, that agricultural effort was here far from being
equal to the extent of arable land.
Turkish
occupation
of Kara-
tegīn. It was easy to trace the cause of this in what I observed with regard to the ethnic character
of the people. According to local tradition the whole of Kara-tegīn down to Gharm was occupied
until some two centuries ago by Kirghiz, while now their holdings stop at Kala-i-lab-i-āb and give
place to settlements of Persian-speaking Tājiks. Kara-tegīn, as its present designation and the
prevailing local names attest, appears to have been long occupied by a Turkī-speaking population,
the Kirghiz probably representing the last wave of this Turkish invasion into what was originally
Iranian ground. It was hence of special interest to observe how the Kirghiz settlers were now being
slowly ousted again from the land by the steady reflux of Tājik immigrants from Darwāz, the
Zarafshān valley, and other tracts farther west.
Kirghiz
ousted by
Tājiks. The Kirghiz, who invariably still observe their customary semi-nomadic migration to summer
grazing grounds, are obviously unable to extract from their land as much produce as their industrious
Tājik neighbours. The latter accordingly find opportunity to buy up more and more of the
holdings, while the Kirghiz owners, with their stock of cattle increased by profit on land sales, are
tempted to emigrate to the Alai and the steppes farther north, where full scope is offered for life
in accordance with their traditional instincts. The process of peaceful reconquest here observed
is not without its historical interest; for it helps us to understand better how the original Iranian
population of ancient Sogdiana has managed also in the plains and lower hills to regain a prevalent
share in the land that had been wrested from it again and again by nomadic invaders.² At the
same time the practice of Kirghiz intermarriage with Tājik females, of which I learnt on my passage
through Kara-tegīn, served to illustrate another potent process, that by which the autochthonous
Iranian population has gradually succeeded in so markedly transforming the racial character of
its Turkish conquerors, when not altogether absorbing them.
Trade
passing
through
Gharm. Passing Langar-i-shāh, once the chief place on the left bank of the river, and other large
villages ensconced in fine arbours and orchards (Fig. 437) I reached on October 10th Gharm, the
seat of the ' Mīr ' then administering Kara-tegīn for the Government of the Amīr of Bokhāra.
The kind welcome accorded to me there during a day's halt in the ' Dādkhwāh's ' large garden
afforded interesting glimpses of the quaint medieval style of official pomp and circumstance then
still surviving in these quiet backwaters of Western Turkestān. It also allowed me to gather useful
information about that regular trade, largely in horses, sheep, and wool, from Kulāb, Baljuwān,
Hissār, and other tracts north of the Oxus towards Kōkand and Margilān, for which Kara-tegīn
still serves as the main line of passage. The route followed by this trade leads above Gharm up
the right side of the valley, and it is at Gharm that the two lines of communication coming from
Hissār in the south-west and the region between the terminal course of the Surkh-āb (Wakhsh-āb)
in the south and the Oxus unite. It hence appears probable that Gharm has from early times
always been a place of importance in Kara-tegīn.
Along
Surkh-āb
to Āb-i-
garm. From below the junction of the Surkh-āb and Khingāb the valley greatly contracts, and within
two marches from Gharm it ceases for a considerable distance to be practicable for trade traffic.
The numerous villages that we passed on October 12–13th on our way to Āb-i-garm lay mostly
in fertile side valleys or else on plateaus well above the right bank of the Surkh-āb. Before finally
leaving the main valley towards the close of the second march we enjoyed a striking view from
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697
698
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