Ancient Khotan : vol.1 / 56 ページ（白黒高解像度画像）

0056	Ancient Khotan : vol.1
古代コータン : vol.1

Routes
through
Tâsh-
kurghân.

an important goal for travellers. From whichever side we may approach Sarîkol, there is an
inhospitable belt of high mountain land to be crossed first, practically devoid of permanent
habitations, and throughout incapable of furnishing supplies and places of shelter to caravans.
The elevated Pâmîr region stretching westwards can never, during historical times, have permitted
of cultivation. The routes which, starting from Tagharma, connect Sarîkol with Kâshgar to the
north-east and Yarkand to the east, lead by a succession of high passes over barren spurs of
the great meridional range with narrow uninhabited gorges between them. It is true that the
difficult and rarely frequented tracts which cross the mountains between the Tâsh-kurghân and
Yarkand rivers in the direction of Karghalik and Kök-yâr, pass through some of the minor
Sarîkoli settlements. But the produce raised on their isolated plots of cultivable land does
not suffice even for the maintenance of the small pastoral population scattered over this region.
Finally, if the route be followed which leads northward past Muztâgh-Ata and then descends
along the Yamân-yâr river into the Kâshgar plain, as described in my Personal Narrative ⁵, an
even greater distance has to be traversed before permanent habitations are reached.

Resources
of Sarîkol.

This situation of Sarîkol, in the midst of desolate mountain tracts and yet at the junction
of important routes, necessarily invests with exceptional value whatever natural resources the
district possesses. Given an adequate population, and an administration capable of protecting
it, these resources would, undoubtedly, be far larger than they are at present. The lower part
of the Tâghdumbâsh Valley, for a distance of forty miles from below Tâsh-kurghân to the hamlet
of Dafdâr, shows a remarkably broad and uniform expanse of fertile ground at its bottom.
Cultivation is now restricted to a small continuous stretch of the valley above and below
Tâsh-kurghân, and to certain isolated settlements, such as Dafdâr and Pîsling, recently started
at points higher up the valley where it is easy to obtain water for irrigation from side streams.

Earlier
settlements
in Tâsh-
kurghân
Valley.

But the uniform tradition of the inhabitants, as reported to me during my stay at Tâsh-
kurghân, asserts that the compact cultivated area once extended much higher up the valley.
In support of this belief, reference was made to the remains of extensive irrigation canals
traceable along the foot of the mountains, especially on the east side of the valley, as well as
to deserted village sites, such as Bâzâr-dasht, found at a considerable distance beyond the limits
of the present belt of village land. I believe that these statements may be accepted as based
on substantial facts. On the one hand, the almost unbroken stretch of alluvial land which
I passed on my route from Dafdâr to Tughlân-shahr, seemed only to wait for systematic
irrigation in order to yield the crops for which the climate is adapted. On the other hand,
it is impossible to doubt that the periodical raids from slave-hunting Kanjûtîs and Shighnîs,
to which we know Sarîkol to have been subjected before and after Yâqûb Bêg's rebellion,
and which did not cease completely until the British occupation of Hunza, must have resulted
in a partial depopulation of the country ⁶.

From the devastating effects of these raids, the upper portions of the Tâghdumbâsh Valley,
lying nearest, necessarily suffered most. But they extended also to the Tagharma Valley, which,
in its well-watered central flat, about twelve miles long by seven broad, offers ample ground
for agricultural settlements ⁷.

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

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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

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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