"They Belonged, So The Colonel Explained To Me Afterwards, To A Sort Of
Militia Drafted From The Local Population Of The Badakhshan Valleys And
Wakhan Into The Regiments Permanently Echeloned As Frontier Guards Along
The Russian Border On The Oxus.
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: 'In leaving Badashan
you ride twelve days between east and north-east, ascending a river that
runs through land belonging to a brother of the Prince of Badashan, and
containing a good many towns and villages and scattered habitations. The
people are Mahommetans, and valiant in war. At the end of those twelve
days you come to a province of no great size, extending indeed no more
than three days' journey in any direction, and this is called VOKHAN. The
people worship Mahommet, and they have a peculiar language. They are
gallant soldiers, and they have a chief whom they call NONE, which is as
much as to say Count, and they are liegemen to the Prince of Badashan.'
[Polo, I., pp. 170-171.]
"Sir Henry Yule was certainly right in assuming that 'the river along
which Marco travels from Badakhshan is no doubt the upper stream of the
Oxus, locally known as the Panja.... It is true that the river is reached
from Badakhshan Proper by ascending another river (the Vardoj) and
crossing the 'Pass of Ishkashm, but in the brief style of our narrative we
must expect such condensation.' [Polo, I., pp. 172-3.] Marco's great
commentator was guided by equally true judgment when he recognized in the
indications of this passage the same system of government that prevailed
in the Oxus valleys until modern times. Under it the most of the hill
tracts dependent from Badakhshan, including Ishkashim and Wakhan, were
ruled not direct by the Mir, but by relations of his or hereditary chiefs
who held their districts on a feudal tenure.
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