"Shibarkhan
(Afghan Turkistan), Balkh, Kunduz, Khanabad, Talikan, Kishm, Badakhshan."
I am tempted to look for Dogana at Khanabad. - H. C.]
NOTE 5. - The belief that the porcupine projected its quills at its
assailants was an ancient and persistent one - "cum intendit cutem
missiles," says Pliny (VIII. 35, and see also Aelian. de Nat. An. I.
31), and is held by the Chinese as it was held by the ancients, but is
universally rejected by modern zoologists. The huddling and coiling
appears to be a true characteristic, for the porcupine always tries to
shield its head.
NOTE 6. - The description of Kishm as a "very great" province is an example
of a bad habit of Marco's, which recurs in the next chapter. What he says
of the cave-dwellings may be illustrated by Burnes's account of the
excavations at Bamian, in a neighbouring district. These "still form the
residence of the greater part of the population.... The hills at Bamian
are formed of indurated clay and pebbles, which renders this excavation a
matter of little difficulty." Similar occupied excavations are noticed by
Moorcroft at Heibak and other places towards Khulm.
Curiously, Pandit Manphul says of the districts about the Kokcha: "Both
their hills and plains are productive, the former being mostly composed
of earth, having very little of rocky substance."
NOTE 7. - The capital of Badakhshan is now Faizabad, on the right bank of
the Kokcha, founded, according to Manphul, by Yarbeg, the first Mir of the
present dynasty. When this family was displaced for a time, by Murad Beg
of Kunduz, about 1829, the place was abandoned for years, but is now
re-occupied. The ancient capital of Badakhshan stood in the Dasht (or
Plain) of Baharak, one of the most extensive pieces of level in Badakhshan,
in which the rivers Vardoj, Zardeo, and Sarghalan unite with the Kokcha,
and was apparently termed Jauzgun. This was probably the city called
Badakhshan by our traveller.[2] As far as I can estimate, by the help of
Wood and the map I have compiled, this will be from 100 to 110 miles
distant from Talikan, and will therefore suit fairly with the six marches
that Marco lays down.
Wood, in 1838, found the whole country between Talikan and Faizabad nearly
as depopulated as Marco found that between Kishm and Badakhshan. The
modern depopulation was due - in part, at least - to the recent oppressions
and razzias of the Uzbeks of Kunduz. On their decline, between 1840 and
1850, the family of the native Mirs was reinstated, and these now rule at
Faizabad, under an acknowledgment, since 1859, of Afghan supremacy.
[1] Since published in J. K. G. S. vol. xlii.
[2] Wilford, in the end of the 18th century, speaks of Faizabad as "the
new capital of Badakhshan, built near the site of the old one." The
Chinese map (vide J. R. G. S. vol. xlii.) represents the city of
Badakhshan to the east of Faizabad. Faiz Bakhsh, in an unpublished
paper, mentions a tradition that the Lady Zobeidah, dear to English
children, the daughter of Al-Mansur and wife of Ar-Rashid, delighted
to pass the spring at Jauzgun, and built a palace there, "the ruins of
which are still visible."
CHAPTER XXIX.
OF THE PROVINCE OF BADASHAN.
Badashan is a Province inhabited by people who worship Mahommet, and have
a peculiar language. It forms a very great kingdom, and the royalty is
hereditary. All those of the royal blood are descended from King Alexander
and the daughter of King Darius, who was Lord of the vast Empire of
Persia. And all these kings call themselves in the Saracen tongue
ZULCARNIAIN, which is as much as to say Alexander; and this out of
regard for Alexander the Great.[NOTE 1]
It is in this province that those fine and valuable gems the Balas Rubies
are found. They are got in certain rocks among the mountains, and in the
search for them the people dig great caves underground, just as is done by
miners for silver. There is but one special mountain that produces them,
and it is called SYGHINAN. The stones are dug on the king's account, and
no one else dares dig in that mountain on pain of forfeiture of life as
well as goods; nor may any one carry the stones out of the kingdom. But
the king amasses them all, and sends them to other kings when he has
tribute to render, or when he desires to offer a friendly present; and
such only as he pleases he causes to be sold. Thus he acts in order to
keep the Balas at a high value; for if he were to allow everybody to dig,
they would extract so many that the world would be glutted with them, and
they would cease to bear any value. Hence it is that he allows so few to
be taken out, and is so strict in the matter.[NOTE 2]
There is also in the same country another mountain, in which azure is
found; 'tis the finest in the world, and is got in a vein like silver.
There are also other mountains which contain a great amount of silver ore,
so that the country is a very rich one; but it is also (it must be said) a
very cold one.[NOTE 3] It produces numbers of excellent horses, remarkable
for their speed. They are not shod at all, although constantly used in
mountainous country, and on very bad roads. [They go at a great pace even
down steep descents, where other horses neither would nor could do the
like. And Messer Marco was told that not long ago they possessed in that
province a breed of horses from the strain of Alexander's horse
Bucephalus, all of which had from their birth a particular mark on the
forehead.
