Des V. xxvi. 296; Burnes,
III. 186 seqq.; Wood, 155, 244; J. A. S. B. XXII. 300; Ayeen Akbery,
II. 185; see N. and Q. 1st Series, vol. v.)
NOTE 2. - I have adopted in the text for the name of the country that one
of the several forms in the G. Text which comes nearest to the correct
name, viz. Badascian. But Balacian also appears both in that and in
Pauthier's text. This represents Balakhshan, a form also sometimes used
in the East. Hayton has Balaxcen, Clavijo Balaxia, the Catalan Map
Baldassia. From the form Balakhsh the Balas Ruby got its name. As Ibn
Batuta says: "'The Mountains of Badakhshan have given their name to the
Badakhshi Ruby, vulgarly called Al Balaksh." Albertus Magnus says the
Balagius is the female of the Carbuncle or Ruby Proper, "and some say it
is his house, and hath thereby got the name, quasi Palatium Carbunculi!"
The Balais or Balas Ruby is, like the Spinel, a kind inferior to the real
Ruby of Ava. The author of the Masalak al Absar says the finest Balas
ever seen in the Arab countries was one presented to Malek 'Adil Ketboga,
at Damascus; it was of a triangular form and weighed 50 drachms. The
prices of Balasci in Europe in that age may be found in Pegolotti, but
the needful problems are hard to solve.
"No sapphire in Inde, no Rubie rich of price,
There lacked than, nor Emeraud so grene,
Bales, Turkes, ne thing to my device."
(Chaucer, 'Court of Love.')
"L'altra letizia, che m'era gia nota,
Preclara cosa mi si fece in vista,
Qual fin balascio in che lo Sol percuoto."
(Paradiso, ix. 67.)
Some account of the Balakhsh from Oriental sources will be found in J.
As. ser V. tom. xi. 109.
(I. B. III. 59, 394; Alb. Mag. de Mineralibus; Pegol. p. 307; N. et
E. XIII. i. 246.)
["The Mohammedan authors of the Mongol period mention Badakhshan several
times in connection with the political and military events of that period.
Guchluk, the 'gurkhan of Karakhitai,' was slain in Badakhshan in 1218
(d'Ohsson, I. 272). In 1221, the Mongols invaded the country (l.c. I.
272). On the same page, d'Ohsson translates a short account of Badakhshan
by Yakut (+ 1229), stating that this mountainous country is famed for its
precious stones, and especially rubies, called Balakhsh."
(Bretschneider, Med. Res. II. p. 66.) - H. C.]
The account of the royal monopoly in working the mines, etc., has
continued accurate down to our own day. When Murad Beg of Kunduz conquered
Badakhshan some forty years ago, in disgust at the small produce of the
mines, he abandoned working them, and sold nearly all the population of
the place into slavery! They continue still unworked, unless
clandestinely. In 1866 the reigning Mir had one of them opened at the
request of Pandit Manphul, but without much result.
The locality of the mines is on the right bank of the Oxus, in the
district of Ish Kashm and on the borders of SHIGNAN, the Syghinan of the
text. (P. Manph.; Wood, 206; N. Ann. des. V. xxvi. 300.)
[The ruby mines are really in the Gharan country, which extends along both
banks of the Oxus. Barshar is one of the deserted villages; the boundary
between Gharan and Shignan is the Kuguz Parin (in Shighai dialect means
"holes in the rock"); the Persian equivalent is "Rafak-i-Somakh." (Cf.
Captain Trotter, Forsyth's Mission, p. 277.) - H. C.]
NOTE 3. - The mines of Lajwurd (whence l'Azur and Lazuli) have been,
like the Ruby mines, celebrated for ages. They lie in the Upper Valley of
the Kokcha, called Koran, within the Tract called Yamgan, of which the
popular etymology is Hamah-Kan, or "All-Mines," and were visited by Wood
in 1838. The produce now is said to be of very inferior quality, and in
quantity from 30 to 60 poods (36 lbs each) annually. The best quality
sells at Bokhara at 30 to 60 tillas, or 12l. to 24l. the pood
(Manphul). Surely it is ominous when a British agent writing of
Badakhshan products finds it natural to express weights in Russian poods!
The Yamgan Tract also contains mines of iron, lead, alum, salammoniac,
sulphur, ochre, and copper. The last are not worked. But I do not learn of
any silver mines nearer than those of Paryan in the Valley of Panjshir,
south of the crest of the Hindu-Kush, much worked in the early Middle
Ages. (See Cathay, p. 595.)
NOTE 4. - The Kataghan breed of horses from Badakhshan and Kunduz has still
a high reputation. They do not often reach India, as the breed is a
favourite one among the Afghan chiefs, and the horses are likely to be
appropriated in transit. (Lumsden, Mission to Kandahar, p. 20.)
[The Kirghiz between the Yangi Hissar River and Sirikol are the only
people using the horse generally in the plough, oxen being employed in the
plains, and yaks in Sirikol. (Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon, p. 222,
Forsyth's Mission.) - H. C.]
What Polo heard of the Bucephalid strain was perhaps but another form of a
story told by the Chinese, many centuries earlier, when speaking of this
same region. A certain cave was frequented by a wonderful stallion of
supernatural origin. Hither the people yearly brought their mares, and a
famous breed was derived from the foals. (Rem. N. Mel. As. I. 245.)
NOTE 5. - The huskless barley of the text is thus mentioned by Burnes in
the vicinity of the Hindu-Kush: "They rear a barley in this elevated
country which has no husk, and grows like wheat; but it is barley." It is
not properly huskless, but when ripe it bursts the husk and remains so
loosely attached as to be dislodged from it by a slight shake.
