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

last from May to October; during this period rain falls occasionally in July, but storms of
thunder and lightning are unknown in the country. "I have lived in the country all my life,"
says my informant, a native of Túng, aged about forty years, "but I have never seen such a
storm as you describe in which the sky flashes fire and the clouds make a noise."——"Yes, I
know what a cloud is, and what a fog is. They often hide the mountains and everything else
from view. I know what an earthquake is too; they sometimes shake the ground, and tumble
down our walls, but the mountains never growl, nor do the clouds grumble.

"When there is no snow on the ground pasture is abundant everywhere, but trees are scarce
all over the country. At Túng there are some mulberry trees=uzma, and the apricot=nosh;
and there are no other fruit trees in the country, nor any of other kinds except the juniper=
umbárts and the arbor vita?=ill which only grow in the mountains; the willow=wanoj is
common on all the water-courses."

"All the villages have their cultivated fields. The crops are wheat and barley, two kinds
of bean, and a pulse called makh. Carrots and turnips are also grown. The people have lots
of cattle such as sheep=gath, goats=vaz, horse=roj, camel=shutur, cow=zau, grunting
ox=cotás, hybrid ox=staur, the dog, cat, and fowls. The sheep, hybrid cattle, and cotás are
the most numerous. Their wool and their butter are bartered with Yarkand traders for cotton
cloth and silk cloaks, &c. The rate is one sheep for three pieces of karbás or khám of 10 yards
each; that is one sheep for thirty yards of cloth. Wheat and barley are bartered with the
Kirghiz for felts and horses. No coin is current in Sárigh Kúl, everything is by barter. The
people have no need of money. They live on the produce of their cattle and fields, and make
their own clothing. Only two materials are made in the country, viz., a thick sort of felt
called jayn, and a warm woollen stuff called galim, for cloaks, blankets, &c. It is very strong
and warm, and is the common dress of the people. It is made in every village and almost by
every family for itself.

"The people of Sárigh Kúl came originally from Shighnán, and their language is the
same as that spoken by the Shighní. They have no special tribal name, but simply call
themselves Sárigh Kúlí. By the people of Kashghar they are called Tájik, and the neighbour-
ing Kirghiz call them Sárt, but they never apply these terms to each other. The Wákhi and
Badakhshi, who are similarly denominated Tájik and Sárt by their neighbours of Káshghar
and Bukhárá on either hand, always call us Sárigh Kúlí; and this is our proper appellation just
as Wákhi is that of the people of Wakhán, and Badakhshi is that of the people of Badakh-
shan, or Shighní that of those of Shighnán, and Roshání that of those of Roshan.

"The Sárigh Kúlí and the Shighní are one people. We speak the same language and
have the same customs. The Wákhi and Badakhshi are a different people, and we don't under-
stand each other's speech."——"Yes. They are called Tájik as we are, and like us too they are
of the Shia sect, but we consider them different, and only our Chiefs intermarry with them."——
"Yes. There is a sort of brotherhood of all the Shia tribes of Badakhshán, Roshán, Shighnán,
Wakhan, Chitral, Yásin, Kunjud, Gilgit, and Yághistán down to Kashmír itself, because our
Sunni neighbours revile us and call us Rafizi="Heretic"; and some of them don't allow that
we are Musalmáns unless we call ourselves Cháryári."——"There are lots of Sunni families living
amongst the Shia everywhere, and there are about a hundred Sunni families in Sárigh Kúl.
The Chiefs and Nobles everywhere call themselves Cháryári and thus become Sunni, but I don't
know what the difference is. They are our rulers and can do as they like; we are only poor
people and don't know anything about these matters; we only do as our fathers did before us.

"Formerly our Chiefs used by way of punishment to sell some of us into slavery, and in
our wars with our Sunni neighbours—the Kirghiz especially—such as fell into their hands
were always enslaved, and we used to retaliate by treating their captives in like manner. No.
We never ill treat slaves unless they rebel or try to escape, but we could dispose of them in
barter as we pleased. If the slave is clever and docile, we give him a wife and settle him
amongst us, but he is always the property of his original captor or purchaser. All this is
changed now since the rule of Atálik Gházi. Formerly lots of slave boys and girls as well
as men used to pass up from Kunjud and Chitrál to Badakhshán for the Búkhárá market, but