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0106 On Ancient Central-Asian Tracks : vol.1
On Ancient Central-Asian Tracks : vol.1 / Page 106 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000214
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until September. In the meantime I was free to turn my
attention to geographical and other tasks.
For a few days I halted at the great and flourishing oasis
of Yarkand to which the Tarim river, where it debouches
from the mountains, assures plentiful irrigation, and then
proceeded to the foothills of the K'un-lun range to the
south. Proofs and other literary tasks connected with the
completion of Ancient Khotan, the detailed report on my first
expedition, had, alas, to be brought along so far. While
busily at work on their final disposal in the peaceful small
oasis of Kök-yar, I found my hands full, too, with collecting
anthropological measurements and data about the little-
known people of Pakhpo (Fig. 22). At first they fought ter-
ribly shy of leaving their high valleys, just as if real heads
were to be taken instead of mere measurements and photo-
graphs with perfectly harmless instruments. But the trouble
was amply repaid. The evidence collected showed that this
small tribe, though it now speaks only Turki like the rest
of the population all through the Tarim basin, had yet in
its alpine isolation preserved remarkably well the main
physical features of that Homo Alpinus race which in ancient
times appears to have extended right through to Khotan
and farther east along the southern edge of the Taklamakan.
There is reason to believe that its original speech was prob-
ably Eastern Iranian, like that which prevails among the
closely allied stock of the present Wakhis, Shughnis, etc., on
the uppermost Oxus. To this language branch belongs also
the old tongue of Khotan, as proved by the documents
which have been recovered at sand-buried sites of the
Khotan region.
After carrying my plane table survey by a little known