"The Grass Of
Pamir, They Tell You, Is So Rich That A Sorry Horse Is Here Brought Into
Good Condition In Less Than Twenty Days; And Its Nourishing Qualities Are
Evidenced In The Productiveness Of Their Ewes, Which Almost Invariably
Bring Forth Two Lambs At A Birth." (P. 365.)
With regard to the effect upon fire ascribed to the "great cold,"
Ramusio's version inserts the expression "gli fu affermato
Per
miracolo," "it was asserted to him as a wonderful circumstance." And
Humboldt thinks it so strange that Marco should not have observed this
personally that he doubts whether Polo himself passed the Pamir. "How is
it that he does not say that he himself had seen how the flames disperse
and leap about, as I myself have so often experienced at similar altitudes
in the Cordilleras of the Andes, especially when investigating the
boiling-point of water?" (Cent. Asia, Germ. Transl. I. 588.) But the
words quoted from Ramusio do not exist in the old texts, and they are
probably an editorial interpolation indicating disbelief in the statement.
MM. Huc and Gabet made a like observation on the high passes of
north-eastern Tibet: "The argols gave out much smoke, but would not burn
with any flame"; only they adopted the native idea that this as well as
their own sufferings in respiration was caused by some pernicious
exhalation.
Major Montgomerie, R.E., of the Indian Survey, who has probably passed
more time nearer the heavens than any man living, sends me the following
note on this passage:
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