Apart from the officers, the proportion of
true Pathans among them was slight. Yet I could well believe from all I
saw and heard, that, properly led and provided for, these sturdy Iranian
hillmen might give a good account of themselves. Did not Marco Polo speak
of the people of 'Badashan' as 'valiant in war' and of the men of 'Vokhan'
as gallant soldiers?" (Ruins of Desert Cathay, I., p. 66.)
XXXII., pp. 170 seq.
In Chap. III., pp. 64-66, of his Serindia, Sir Aurel Stein has the
following on Marco Polo's account of Wakhan: -
"After Wu-k'ung's narrative of his journey the Chinese sources of
information about the Pamirs and the adjoining regions run dry for nearly
a thousand years. But that the routes leading across them from Wakhan
retained their importance also in Muhammedan times is attested by the
greatest mediaeval travellers, Marco Polo. I have already, in Ancient
Khotan [pp. 41 seq.], discussed the portion of his itinerary which
deals with the journey across the Pamirs to 'the kingdom of Cascar' or
Kashgar, and it only remains here to note briefly what he tells us of the
route by which he approached them from Badakhshan:
