I was very pleased to find that my itinerary agrees with that of Dr. M.A.
Stein; this learned traveller sends me the following remarks: "The remark
about the absence of birds (pp. 174-175) might be a reflex of the very
ancient legend (based probably on the name zend Upairi-saena, pehlevi
Aparsin, 'higher than the birds') which represents the Hindu Kush
range proper as too high for birds to fly over. The legend can be traced
by successive evidence in the case of the range north of Kabul." -
Regarding the route (p. 175) from the Wakhjir (sic) Pass down the
Taghdum-bash Pamir, then via Tash-kurghan, Little Karakul, Bulun Kul,
Gez Daria to Tashmalik and Kashgar, Dr. Stein says that he surveyed it in
July, 1900, and he refers for the correct phonetic spelling of local names
along it to his map to be published in J.R.G.S., in December, 1902.
He says in his Prel. Report, p. 10: "The Wakhjir Pass, only some 12
miles to the south-west of Koek-toeroek, connects the Taghdumbash Pamir
and the Sarikol Valleys with the head-waters of the Oxus. So I was glad
that the short halt, which was unavoidable for survey purposes, permitted
me to move a light camp close to the summit of the Wakhjir Pass (circ.
16,200 feet). On the following day, 2nd July, I visited the head of
Ab-i-Panja Valley, near the great glaciers which Lord Curzon first
demonstrated to be the true source of the River Oxus. It was a strange
sensation for me in this desolate mountain waste to know that I had reached
at last the eastern threshold of that distant region, including Bactria and
the Upper Oxus Valley, which as a field of exploration had attracted me
long before I set foot in India. Notwithstanding its great elevation, the
Wakhjir Pass and its approaches both from west and east are comparatively
easy. Comparing the topographical facts with Hiuen-Tsiang's account in the
Si yu-ki, I am led to conclude that the route followed by the great
Chinese Pilgrim, when travelling about A.D. 649 from Badakshan towards
Khotan, through 'the valley of Po-mi-lo (Pamir)' into Sarikol, actually
traversed this Pass."
Dr. Stein adds in his notes to me that "Marco Polo's description of the
forty days' journey to the E.N.E. of Vokhan as through tracts of
wilderness can well be appreciated by any one who has passed through the
Pamir Region, in the direction of the valleys W. and N. of Muztagh Ata.
After leaving Tashkurghan and Tagharma, where there is some precarious
cultivation, there is no local produce to be obtained until the oasis of
Tashmalik is reached in the open Kashgar plains. In the narrow valley of
the Yamanyar River (Gez Defile) there is scarcely any grazing; its
appearance is far more desolate than that of the elevated Pamirs." - "Marco
Polo's praise (p. 181) of the gardens and vine-yards of Kashgar is well
deserved; also the remark about the trading enterprise of its merchants
still holds good, if judged by the standard of Chinese Turkestan.
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