[Illustration: Ancient Silver Patera of debased Greek art, formerly in the
possession of the Princes of Badakhshan, now in the India Museum.
(Four-ninths of the diameter of the Original.)]
In this kingdom there are many strait and perilous passes, so difficult to
force that the people have no fear of invasion. Their towns and villages
also are on lofty hills, and in very strong positions.[NOTE 8] They are
excellent archers, and much given to the chase; indeed, most of them are
dependent for clothing on the skins of beasts, for stuffs are very dear
among them. The great ladies, however, are arrayed in stuffs, and I will
tell you the style of their dress! They all wear drawers made of cotton
cloth, and into the making of these some will put 60, 80, or even 100 ells
of stuff. This they do to make themselves look large in the hips, for the
men of those parts think that to be a great beauty in a woman.[NOTE 9]
NOTE 1. - "The population of Badakhshan Proper is composed of Tajiks,
Turks, and Arabs, who are all Sunnis, following the orthodox doctrines of
the Mahomedan law, and speak Persian and Turki, whilst the people of the
more mountainous tracts are Tajiks of the Shia creed, having separate
provincial dialects or languages of their own, the inhabitants of the
principal places combining therewith a knowledge of Persian. Thus, the
Shighnani [sometimes called Shighni] is spoken in Shignan and Roshan,
the Ishkashami in Ishkasham, the Wakhi in Wakhan, the Sanglichi in
Sanglich and Zebak, and the Minjani in Minjan. All these dialects
materially differ from each other." (Pand. Manphul.) It may be
considered almost certain that Badakhshan Proper also had a peculiar
dialect in Polo's time. Mr. Shaw speaks of the strong resemblance to
Kashmiris of the Badakhshan people whom he had seen.
The Legend of the Alexandrian pedigree of the Kings of Badakhshan is
spoken of by Baber, and by earlier Eastern authors. This pedigree is, or
was, claimed also by the chiefs of Karategin, Darwaz, Roshan, Shighnan,
Wakhan, Chitral, Gilgit, Swat, and Khapolor in Balti. Some samples of
those genealogies may be seen in that strange document called "Gardiner's
Travels."
In Badakhshan Proper the story seems now to have died out. Indeed, though
Wood mentions one of the modern family of Mirs as vaunting this descent,
these are in fact Sahibzadahs of Samarkand, who were invited to the
country about the middle of the 17th century, and were in no way connected
with the old kings.
The traditional claims to Alexandrian descent were probably due to a
genuine memory of the Graeco-Bactrian kingdom, and might have had an
origin analogous to the Sultan's claim to be "Caesar of Rome"; for the
real ancestry of the oldest dynasties on the Oxus was to be sought rather
among the Tochari and Ephthalites than among the Greeks whom they
superseded.
