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Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.1 |
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CH. IV
38 IN CHITRAL
I:
in its unmistakable imitation of Indian ` Public Works '
style, and significant for its purpose—the Mehtar's new
school. How grateful I felt that I could with a good
conscience forgo the inspection !
During most of my stay in Chitral the weather was
cloudy and threatening. Yet after the day's ` rush ' and
toil I always managed a short excursion to one or other
place in the close vicinity where remains of antiquity were
reported. More instructive than these remains themselves
were the rides that took me there. For some miles above
and below castle and Agency the valley is a closely
cultivated oasis, one hamlet with its orchards and avenues
almost touching the other (Fig. 14). In Dawawish, under
luxuriant walnut-trees, I was shown a roughly built house
supposed to date back to the times of the ` Kafirs.' Out-
side it looked like a large heap of stones ; within I found
a large central room elaborately panelled in deodar black
with the smoke of ages. Here, too, the decorative motives
clearly recalled Gandhara work, though far more primitive
in execution. The owner of this gloomy old house was a
Mullah, practising also as a carpenter. Proudly he claimed
the original Kafir builder of it as a fellow-craftsman. The
scanty remains of old fort walls at Jughor and Uchust had
little to teach me ; for their materials were only unhewn
stones, scarcely distinguishable in their laying, etc., from
the rough walls common at present in this region. But
the views across the green valley, with the barren
mountain slopes behind rising abruptly to thousands of
feet, were in each case lovely.
On the last day of my stay I had the good fortune
to measure and photograph a number of Kafirs of the
Bashgali tribe who had found a refuge in the Mehtar's
territory when forcible conversion threatened them after the
annexation of their old homes by the Afghans. Some two
hundred families are said to be settled now in Bambureth
and other nullahs above Ayun (Fig. i I), and the Mehtar
had obligingly ordered a representative set to come in
for measurement (Fig. 15). Quiet and harmless the men
looked, in spite of their old reputation for savage cruelty
in the days of independence. Only the shaven fore-part of
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