[3] According to Colonel Tod, the Hindu bard Chand speaks of "Pamer, chief
of mountains." (I. p. 24.) But one may like and respect Colonel Tod
without feeling able to rely on such quotations of his unconfirmed.
[4] Usually written Polii, which is nonsense.
[5] ["The Tian Shan wild sheep has since been described as the Ovis
Karelini, a species somewhat smaller than the true Ovis Poli which
frequents the Pamirs." (Colonel Gordon, Roof of the World, p. 83,
note.) - H. C.]
CHAPTER XXXIII.
OF THE KINGDOM OF CASCAR.
[Illustration: Head of a Native of Kashgar]
Cascar is a region lying between north-east and east, and constituted a
kingdom in former days, but now it is subject to the Great Kaan. The
people worship Mahommet. There are a good number of towns and villages,
but the greatest and finest is Cascar itself. The inhabitants live by
trade and handicrafts; they have beautiful gardens and vineyards, and fine
estates, and grow a great deal of cotton. From this country many merchants
go forth about the world on trading journeys. The natives are a wretched,
niggardly set of people; they eat and drink in miserable fashion. There
are in the country many Nestorian Christians, who have churches of their
own. The people of the country have a peculiar language, and the territory
extends for five days' journey.[NOTE 1]
[Illustration: View of Kashgar (From Shaw's "Tartary")]
NOTE 1. - [There is no longer any difficulty in understanding how the
travellers, after crossing Pamir, should have arrived at Kashgar if they
followed the route from Tashkurgan through the Gez Defile.
The Itinerary of the Mirza from Badakhshan (Faizabad) is the following:
Zebak, Ishkashm, on the Panja, which may be considered the beginning of
the Wakhan Valley, Panja Fort, in Wakhan, Raz Khan, Patur, near Lunghar
(commencement of Pamir Steppe), Pamir Kul, or Barkut Yassin, 13,300 feet,
Aktash, Sirikul Tashkurgan, Shukrab, Chichik Dawan, Akul, Kotul, Chahul
Station (road to Yarkand) Kila Karawal, Aghiz Gah, Yangi-Hissar, Opechan,
Yanga Shahr, Kashgar, where he arrived on the 3rd February, 1869. (Cf.
Report of "The Mirza's" Exploration from Caubul to Kashgar. By Major T.
G. Montgomerie, R.E.... (Jour. R. Geog. Soc. XLI. 1871, pp. 132-192.)
Major Montgomerie (l.c. p. 144) says: "The alterations in the positions of
Kashgar and Yarkund in a great measure explains why Marco Polo, in
crossing from Badakhshan to Eastern Turkestan, went first to Kashgar and
then to Yarkund. With the old positions of Yarkund and Kashgar it appeared
that the natural route from Badakhshan would have led first to Yarkund;
with the new positions, and guided by the light of the Mirza's route, from
which it is seen that the direct route to Yarkund is not a good one, it is
easy to understand how a traveller might prefer going to Kashgar first,
and then to Yarkund.
