The Travels of Marco Polo Volume II Part 157

In Chap. III., pp. 64-66, of his _Serindia_, Sir Aurel Stein has the following on Marco Polo's account of Wakhan:--

"After Wu-k'ung's narrative of his journey the Chinese sources of information about the Pamirs and the adjoining regions run dry for nearly a thousand years. But that the routes leading across them from Wakhan retained their importance also in Muhammedan times is attested by the greatest mediaeval travellers, Marco Polo. I have already, in _Ancient Khotan_ [pp. 41 seq.], discussed the portion of his itinerary which deals with the journey across the Pamirs to 'the kingdom of Cascar' or Kashgar, and it only remains here to note briefly what he tells us of the route by which he approached them from Badakhshan: 'In leaving Badashan you ride twelve days between east and north-east, ascending a river that runs through land belonging to a brother of the Prince of Badashan, and containing a good many towns and villages and scattered habitations. The people are Mahommetans, and valiant in war. At the end of those twelve days you come to a province of no great size, extending indeed no more than three days' journey in any direction, and this is called VOKHAN. The people worship Mahommet, and they have a peculiar language. They are gallant soldiers, and they have a chief whom they call NONE, which is as much as to say _Count_, and they are liegemen to the Prince of Badashan.'

[Polo, I., pp. 170-171.]

"Sir Henry Yule was certainly right in a.s.suming that 'the river along which Marco travels from Badakhshan is no doubt the upper stream of the Oxus, locally known as the Panja.... It is true that the river is reached from Badakhshan Proper by ascending another river (the Vardoj) and crossing the 'Pa.s.s of Ishkashm, but in the brief style of our narrative we must expect such condensation.' [Polo, I., pp. 172-3.] Marco's great commentator was guided by equally true judgment when he recognized in the indications of this pa.s.sage the same system of government that prevailed in the Oxus valleys until modern times. Under it the most of the hill tracts dependent from Badakhshan, including Ishkashim and Wakhan, were ruled not direct by the Mir, but by relations of his or hereditary chiefs who held their districts on a feudal tenure. The twelve days' journey which Marco records between Badashan and 'Vokhan' are, I think, easily accounted for if it is a.s.sumed that the distance from capital to capital is meant; for twelve marches are still allowed for as the distance from Baharak, the old Badakhshan capital on the Vardoj, to Kila Panja.

"That the latter was in Marco's days, as at present, the chief place of Wakhan is indicated also by his narrative of the next stage of his journey. 'And when you leave this little country, and ride three days north-east, always among mountains, you get to such a height that 'tis said to be the highest place in the world! And when you have got to this height you find [a great lake between two mountains, and out of it] a fine river running through a plain.... The plain is called PAMIER.' The bearing and descriptive details here given point clearly to the plain of the Great Pamir and Victoria Lake, its characteristic feature. About sixty-two miles are reckoned from Langar-kisht, the last village on the northern branch of the Ab-i-Panja and some six miles above Kila Panja, to Mazar-tapa where the plain of the Great Pamir may be said to begin, and this distance agrees remarkably well with the three marches mentioned by Marco.

"His description of Wakhan as 'a province of no great size, extending indeed no more than three days' journey in any direction' suggests that a portion of the valley must then have formed part of the chiefship of Ishkashim or Zebak over which we may suppose 'the brother of the Prince of Badashan' to have ruled. Such fluctuations in the extent of Wakhan territory are remembered also in modern times. Thus Colonel Trotter, who visited Wakhan with a section of the Yarkand Mission in 1874, distinctly notes that 'Wakhan formerly contained three "sads" or hundreds, i.e., districts, containing 100 houses each' (viz. Sad-i-Sar-hadd, Sad Sipang, Sad Khandut). To these Sad Ishtragh, the tract extending from Digargand to Ishkashim, is declared to have been added in recent times, having formerly been an independent princ.i.p.ality. It only remains to note that Marco was right, too, in his reference to the peculiar language of Wakhan; for Wakhi--which is spoken not only by the people of Wakhan but also by the numerous Wakhi colonists spread through Mastuj, Hunza Sarikol, and even further east in the mountains--is a separate language belonging to the well-defined group of Galcha tongues which itself forms the chief extant branch of Eastern Iranian."

x.x.xII., pp. 171 seq., 175, 182.

THE PLATEAU OF PAMIR.

"On leaving Tash-kurghan (July 10, 1900), my steps, like those of Hiuan-tsang, were directed towards Kashgar.... In Chapters V.-VII. of my Personal Narrative I have given a detailed description of this route, which took me past Muztagh-Ata to Lake Little Kara-kul, and then round the foot of the great glacier-crowned range northward into the Gez defile, finally debouching at Tashmalik into the open plain of Kashgari. Though scarcely more difficult than the usual route over the Chichiklik Pa.s.s and by Yangi-Hisar, it is certainly longer and leads for a considerably greater distance over ground which is devoid of cultivation or permanent habitations.

"It is the latter fact which makes me believe that Professor H. Cordier was right in tracing by this very route Marco Polo's itinerary from the Central Pamirs to Kashgar. The Venetian traveller, coming from Wakhan, reached, after three days, a great lake which may be either Lake Victoria or Lake Chakmak, at a 'height that is said to be the highest place in the world.' He then describes faithfully enough the desert plain called 'Pamier,' which he makes extend for the distance of a twelve days' ride, and next tells us: 'Now, if we go on with our journey towards the east-north-east, we travel a good forty days, continually pa.s.sing over mountains and hills, or through valleys, and crossing many rivers and tracts of wilderness. And in all this way you find neither habitation of man, nor any green thing, but must carry with you whatever you require.'

"This reference to continuous 'tracts of wilderness' shows clearly that, for one reason or another, Marco Polo did not pa.s.s through the cultivated valleys of Tash-kurghan or Tagharma, as he would necessarily have done if his route to Kashgar, the region he next describes, had lain over the Chichiklik Pa.s.s. We must a.s.sume that, after visiting either the Great or Little Pamir, he travelled down the Ak-su river for some distance, and then crossing the watershed eastwards by one of the numerous pa.s.ses struck the route which leads past Muztagh-Ata and on towards the Gez defile. In the brief supplementary notes contributed to Professor Cordier's critical a.n.a.lysis of this portion of Marco Polo's itinerary, I have pointed out how thoroughly the great Venetian's description of the forty days' journey to the E.N.E. of the Pamir Lake can be appreciated by any one who has pa.s.sed through the Pamir region and followed the valleys stretching round the Muztagh-Ata range on the west and north (cf. Yule, _Marco Polo_, II., pp.

593 seq.). After leaving Tash-kurghan and Tagharma there is no local produce to be obtained until the oasis of Tashmalik is reached. In the narrow valley of the Yaman-yar river, forming the Gez defile, there is scarcely any grazing; its appearance down to its opening into the plain is, in fact, far more desolate than that of the elevated Pamir regions.

"In the absence of any data as to the manner and season in which Marco Polo's party travelled, it would serve no useful purpose to hazard explanations as to why he should a.s.sign a duration of forty days to a journey which for a properly equipped traveller need not take more than fifteen or sixteen days, even when the summer floods close the pa.s.sage through the lower Gez defile, and render it necessary to follow the circuitous track over the Tokuk Dawan or 'Nine Pa.s.ses.' But it is certainly worth mention that Benedict Goez, too, speaks of the desert of 'Pamech' (Pamir) as taking forty days to cross if the snow was extensive, a record already noted by Sir H. Yule (_Cathay_, II., pp. 563 seq.). It is also instructive to refer once more to the personal experience of the missionary traveller on the alternative route by the Chichiklik Pa.s.s.

According to the record quoted above, he appears to have spent no less than twenty-eight days in the journeys from the hamlets of 'Sarcil'

(Sarikol, i.e. Tash-kurghan) to 'Hiarchan' (Yarkand)--a distance of some 188 miles, now reckoned at ten days' march." (Stein, _Ancient Khotan_, pp.

40-42.)

x.x.xII., p. 171. "The Plain is called PAMIER, and you ride across it for twelve days together, finding nothing but a desert without habitations or any green thing, so that travellers are obliged to carry with them whatever they have need of."

At Sarhad, Afghan Wakhan, Stein, _Ruins of Desert Cathay_, I., p. 69, writes: "There was little about the low grey houses, or rather hovels, of mud and rubble to indicate the importance which from early times must have attached to Sarhad as the highest place of permanent occupation on the direct route leading from the Oxus to the Tarim Basin. Here was the last point where caravans coming from the Bactrian side with the products of the Far West and of India could provision themselves for crossing that high tract of wilderness 'called Pamier' of which old Marco Polo rightly tells us: 'You ride across it ...' And as I looked south towards the snow-covered saddle of the Baroghil, the route I had followed myself, it was equally easy to realize why Kao Hsien-chih's strategy had, after the successful crossing of the Pamirs, made the three columns of his Chinese Army concentrate upon the stronghold of Lien-yun, opposite the present Sarhad. Here was the base from which Yasin could be invaded and the Tibetans ousted from their hold upon the straight route to the Indus."

x.x.xII., p. 174.

"The note connecting Hiuan Tsang's Kieh sha with Kashgar is probably based upon an error of the old translators, for the Sita River was in the Pamir region, and _K'a sha_ was one of the names of Kasanna, or Kieh-shw.a.n.g-na, in the Oxus region." (E.H. PARKER, _Asiatic Quart. Rev._, Jan., 1904, p.

143.)

x.x.xII., I. p. 173; II. p. 593.

PAONANO PAO.

Cf. _The Name Kushan_, by J.F. Fleet, _Jour. Roy. As. Soc._, April, 1914, pp. 374-9; _The Shaonano Shao Coin Legend;_ and a Note on the name Kushan by J. Allan, Ibid., pp. 403-411. PAONANO PAO. Von Joh. Kirste. (_Wiener Zeit. f. d. Kunde d. Morg._, II., 1888, pp. 237-244.)

x.x.xII., p. 174.

YUE CHI.

"The old statement is repeated that the Yueh Chi, or Indo-Scyths (i.e.

the Eptals), 'are said to have been of Tibetan origin.' A long account of this people was given in the _Asiatic Quart. Rev._ for July, 1902. It seems much more likely that they were a branch of the Hiung-nu or Turks.

Albiruni's 'report' that they were of Tibetan origin is probably founded on the Chinese statement that some of their ways were like Tibetan ways, and that polyandry existed amongst them; also that they fled from the Hiung-nu westwards along the _north edge_ of the Tibetan territory, and some of them took service as Tibetan officials." (E.H. PARKER, _Asiatic Quart. Rev._, Jan., 1904, p. 143.)

x.x.xII., pp. 178-179.

BOLOR.

We read in the _Tarikh-i-Rashidi_ of Mirza Haidar (Notes by Ney Elias; translated by E.D. Ross, 1895), p. 135, that Sultan Said Khan, son of Mansur Khan, sent the writer in the year 934 (1528), "with Rashid Sultan, to Balur, which is a country of infidels [_Kafiristan_], between Badakhshan and Kashmir, where we conducted successfully a holy war [_ghazat_], and returned victorious, loaded with booty and covered with glory."

Mirza Haidar gives the following description of Bolor (pp. 384-5): "Balur is an infidel country [_Kafiristan_], and most of its inhabitants are mountaineers. Not one of them has a religion or a creed. Nor is there anything which they [consider it right to] abstain from or to avoid [as impure]; but they do whatever they list, and follow their desires without check or compunction. Baluristan is bounded on the east by the province of Kashgar and Yarkand; on the north by Badakhshan; on the west by Kabul and Lumghan; and on the south by the dependencies of Kashmir. It is four months' journey in circ.u.mference. Its whole extent consists of mountains, valleys, and defiles, insomuch that one might almost say that in the whole of Baluristan, not one _farsakh_ of level ground is to be met with. The population is numerous. No village is at peace with another, but there is constant hostility, and fights are continually occurring among them."

From the note to this pa.s.sage (p. 385) we note that "for some twenty years ago, Mr. E.B. Shaw found that the Kirghiz of the Pamirs called Chitral by the name of _Palor_. To all other inhabitants of the surrounding regions, however, the word appears now to be unknown....

"The Balur country would then include Hunza, Nagar, possibly Tash Kurghan, Gilgit, Panyal, Yasin, Chitral, and probably the tract now known as Kafiristan: while, also, some of the small states south of Gilgit, Yasin, etc., may have been regarded as part of Balur....

"The conclusions arrived at [by Sir H. Yule], are very nearly borne out by Mirza Haidar's description. The only differences are (1) that, according to our author, Baltistan cannot have been included in Balur, as he always speaks of that country, later in his work, as a separate province with the name of _Balti_, and says that it bordered on Balur; and (2) that _Balur_ was confined almost entirely, as far as I am able to judge from his description in this pa.s.sage and elsewhere, to the southern slopes of the Eastern Hindu Kush, or Indus water-parting range; while Sir H. Yule's map makes it embrace Sarigh-Kul and the greater part of the eastern Pamirs."

x.x.xIII., p. 182. "The natives [of Cascar] are a wretched, n.i.g.g.ardly set of people; they eat and drink in miserable fashion."

The people of Kashgar seem to have enjoyed from early times a reputation for rough manners and deceit (Stein, _Ancient Khotan_, p. 49 n). Stein, p.

70, recalls Hiuan Tsang's opinion: "The disposition of the men is fierce and impetuous, and they are mostly false and deceitful. They make light of decorum and politeness, and esteem learning but little." Stein adds, p.

70, with regard to Polo's statement: "Without being able to adduce from personal observation evidence as to the relative truth of the latter statement, I believe that the judgements recorded by both those great travellers may be taken as a fair reflex of the opinion in which the 'Kashgarliks' are held to this day by the people of other Turkestan districts, especially by the Khotanese. And in the case of Hiuan Tsang at least, it seems probable from his long stay in, and manifest attachment to, Khotan that this neighbourly criticism might have left an impression upon him."

x.x.xVI., p. 188.

KHOTAN.

Sir Aurel Stein writes (_Ancient Khotan_, I., pp. 139-140): "Marco Polo's account of Khotan and the Khotanese forms an apt link between these early Chinese notices and the picture drawn from modern observation. It is brief but accurate in all details. The Venetian found the people 'subject to the Great Kaan' and 'all worshippers of Mahommet.' 'There are numerous towns and villages in the country, but Cotan, the capital, is the most n.o.ble of all and gives its name to the kingdom. Everything is to be had there in plenty, including abundance of cotton [with flax, hemp, wheat, wine, and the like]. The people have vineyards and gardens and estates. They live by commerce and manufactures, and are no soldiers.' Nor did the peculiar laxity of morals, which seems always to have distinguished the people of the Khotan region, escape Marco Polo's attention. For of the 'Province of Pein' which, as we shall see, represents the oases of the adjoining modern district of Keriya, he relates the custom that 'if the husband of any woman go away upon a journey and remain away for more than twenty days, as soon as that term is past the woman may marry another man, and the husband also may then marry whom he pleases.'

"No one who has visited Khotan or who is familiar with the modern accounts of the territory, can read the early notices above extracted without being struck at once by the fidelity with which they reflect characteristic features of the people at the present day. Nor is it necessary to emphasize the industrial pre-eminence which Khotan still enjoys in a variety of manufactures through the technical skill and inherited training of the bulk of its population."

Sir Aurel Stein further remarks (_Ancient Khotan_, I., p. 183): "When Marco Polo visited Khotan on his way to China, between the years 1271 and 1275, the people of the oasis were flourishing, as the Venetian's previously quoted account shows. His description of the territories further east, Pein, Cherchen, and Lop, which he pa.s.sed through before crossing 'the Great Desert' to Sha-chou, leaves no doubt that the route from Khotan into Kan-su was in his time a regular caravan road. Marco Polo found the people of Khotan 'all worshippers of Mahommet' and the territory subject to the 'Great Kaan', i.e. Kublai, whom by that time almost the whole of the Middle Kingdom acknowledged as emperor. While the neighbouring Yarkand owed allegiance to Kaidu, the ruler of the Chagatai dominion, Khotan had thus once more renewed its old historical connexion with China."

XXVI., p. 190.

"A note of Yule's on p. 190 of Vol. I. describes Johnson's report on the people of Khoten (1865) as having 'a slightly Tartar cast of countenance.'

The Toba History makes the same remark 1300 years earlier: 'From Kao-ch'ang (Turfan) westwards the people of the various countries have deep eyes and high noses; the features in only this one country (Khoten) are not very _Hu_ (Persian, etc.), but rather like Chinese.' I published a tolerably complete digest of Lob Nor and Khoten early history from Chinese sources, in the _Anglo-Russian Society's Journal_ for Jan. and April, 1903.

It appears to me that the ancient capital Yotkhan, discovered thirty-five years ago, and visited in 1891 by MM. de Rhins and Grenard, probably furnishes a clue to the ancient Chinese name of Yu-t'ien." (E.H. PARKER, _Asiatic Quart. Rev._, Jan., 1904, p. 143.)

x.x.xVII., p. 190 n.

Stein has devoted a whole chapter of his _Sand-buried Ruins of Khotan_, Chap. XVI., pp. 256 seq. to _Yotkan, the Site of the Ancient Capital_.

x.x.xVII., p. 191, n. 1.

PEIN.

"It is a mistake to suppose that the earlier pilgrim Fa-hien (A.D. 400) followed the 'directer route' from China; he was obliged to go to Kao ch'ang, and then turn sharp south to Khoten." (E.H. PARKER, _Asiatic Quart. Rev._, Jan., 1904, p. 143.)

x.x.xVII., p. 192.

I have embodied, in Vol. II., p. 595, of Marco Polo, some of the remarks of Sir Aurel Stein regarding Pein and Uzun Tati. In _Ancient Khotan_, I., pp. 462-3, he has given further evidence of the ident.i.ty of Uzun Tati and P'i mo, and he has discussed the position of Ulug-Ziarat, probably the Han mo of Sung Yun.