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 Faiz Bakhsh, in an unpublished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.
