let of Talikhan-the Talakien of Hiouen Tsang, the Taican of Polo, and the Talhan of Goës-with its three or four hundred hovels, stands in a fruitful tract of land favourable to the vine. It is now peopled by Badakhshies, probably descended from the Venetian's evil and murderous generation, whose great delight is in the wine-shop' (though Mohammedans); for they have good wine (albeit it be boiled) and are great topers; in fact, they are constantly getting drunk. They wear nothing on the head but a cord, some ten palms long, twisted round it.' They were then mighty huntsmen, and clad themselves in the skins of beasts. Salt mines are worked in the neighbouring mountains.

A market is held twice a week, and the busy scene awoke pleasant recollections in Captain Wood's mind. Troops of horsemen were hurrying into market, many riding double. Gaudily painted cradles, toys, bird-cages, skins of animals, and white and striped cotton cloth, were the articles forming the stock in trade of most of the dealers. All whom we met were blythe and jocund, and but for the difference of dress, and the large proportion of those who rode, I could have fancied them my own countrymen hastening to some merry fair in Old England.' Notwithstanding the bird-cages nests are not molested, and the sparrows, which flew about in flocks, took no trouble to conceal their eggs. Talikhan was taken by Chinghiz Khan after a siege that lasted upwards of six months. Enraged by the heroic resistance of the garrison, the barbarian left not a soul alive, or one stone standing upon another.

A mountain ridge divides Afghan Toorkestan from Badakhshan. The road lies through the Lattaband Pass and descens into the valley of Ak-Bolak, or the White Springs, and so en to Kila Afghan, about thirty miles from Talikhan,—when the snow is on the ground infested by packs of wolves. Taishan is reached after a farther journey of twenty-six miles, beyond

which the Junasdurah range rises to the height of 6600 feet. When traversed by Captain Wood these mountains were covered with snow, but the descent on the eastern side was facilitated by following the tracks made by the wild hogs. 'So numerous are these animals that they had trodden down the snow as if a large flock of sheep had been driven over it.' He then crossed the narrow valley of Darah-i-Aim and the plain of Argoo, once peopled by 6000 families, but then utterly desolate. He next came upon the undulating district of Reishkhan, where Khan Khoja, fleeing from Kashgar before the victorious Chinese, was treacherously attacked, defeated, and mortally wounded by Sooltan Shah, who was himself put to death a few years later by Ahmed Shah Dourani.

Traversing the Kokcha valley, Captain Wood halted at the small hamlet of Chittah. Since his departure from Talikhan he had seen no signs of animal life save the hog-tracks and a few partridges. It was, no doubt, the winter season, but still it appeared to him strange and depressing, that except in villages thirty miles apart not a single human being had been encountered during a journey of upwards of eighty miles. Fyzabad, the present capital of Badakhshan, was only distinguished by the withered trees which once ornamented its gardens.' It had been destroyed by Moorad Beg, and the inhabitants carried off to Kunduz, a place only fit to be the residence of aquatic birds.'

It has since then revived, and is once more a place of comparative importance. It stands on the right bank of the Kokcha, and carries on a small trade in cast-iron utensils, the manufacture of which, as Colonel Yule suggests, may have been taught by Chinese exiles or slaves. The town is unwalled, but the Zagarchie, or old citadel, overlooks it from the south bank of the river, and the Meer lives in a mud fort, only useful in the event of a sudden riot. The Khirkat-i-Shureef, or the

Mosque of the Holy Shirt, once contained a garment, believed to have been worn by Mohammed. Behind Fyzabad, which is itself 3500 feet above the sea, a mountain rises to a height of 2000 feet. Thirteen miles distant, the village of Kasur crowns an eminence, not less than 6600 feet in altitude.

From the 26th December to the 30th January, 1838, Captain Wood was detained by a heavy snowfall in the cluster of hamlets that together make up the small town of Jerm, at that time the most considerable place in Badakhshan, though the population did not exceed 1500 souls. It stands on the bank of the Kokcha, at a point where the usually narrow valley expands to the breadth of a mile. Some miles higher up the river, where the width of the valley diminishes to 200 yards, the once famous mines of Lajwurd, or Lapis Lazuli,* were formerly worked by a rude gallery driven into the mountain

side.

shan.

In olden times Jerm was a comparatively large and prosperous town, but it has shared the declining fortunes of Badakh'Enduring decay,' Colonel Yule remarks, probably commenced with the wars of Chinghiz, for many an instance in Eastern history shows the permanent effect of such devastations. And here wave after wave of war passed over a little country isolated on three sides by wild mountains and barbarous tribes, destroying the apparatus of culture, which represented the accumulated labour of generations, and without the support of civilization, and the springs of recovery. Century after century only saw progress in decay. Even to our own time the process of depopulation and deterioration has continued.'

As already observed, Jerm consists of several detached hamlets grouped together, and each enclosed within its own outer wall. The houses are substantially built and plastered with mud, both inside and out. The roofs are flat, with a hole in

* Described in chap. vi.

the centre to permit the smoke to escape, the aperture being provided with a wooden frame, by which it can be closed at pleasure. When a room is unusually large, the roof is supported by four stout pillars arranged in a square in the middle of the apartment. The floor is strewed with straw, or covered with a felt carpet, according to the wealth or poverty of the family.

To commence housekeeping comfortably implies the possession of property to the value of nearly six pounds sterling, or, to speak by the book, £5 14-to wit: A wife costs twenty-five rupees, bedding six, an iron boiler two, culinary and other vessels one and a half (including spoons, flour sieve, antimony for the eyes, a red willow bowl, a firwood drinking bowl, tablecloth, dresser, knife to cut beans, wooden ladle, frying-pan, wooden pitcher, stone lamp, and iron girdle), the wife's wardrobe four and a half (comprising a head covering, a shirt, trousers, and shoes), and the husband's outfit eighteen and three quarters (consisting of a turban, cloak, shoes, stockings, girdle for the waist, loose trousers, a long sword, a matchlock and its equipments). Earthenware is scarce and expensive. Bread is baked upon a stone girdle, and of the same material are the lamps, cut into the shape of a shoe. Reeds are also used instead of candles, and are peeled round at a certain point, so that the light may go out of itself, instead of being blown

out.

A bride, it should be mentioned, does not enter her parents' house for a year after her marriage, except that on her wedding day she visits her mother, and receives a present, generally a cow. She then entertains her female friends beneath her husband's roof, but no men are suffered to intrude on such occasions. The hill-men always go armed, but not the dwellers in the plains. The ordinary dress is that of the Oozbegs. In Upper Badakhshan, a strong man slave was, in 1836-37, valued at the same

price as a horse or a large dog, that is, at eighty rupees, or £8. Indeed, men were frequently exchanged for dogs, but young healthy girls were more highly esteemed. The Oozbegs are said to compute time by the galloping of a horse, while the more domestic Badakhshies in the upper part of the province take for their standard the preparation of soup. The penal code is severe upon donkeys. For a first offence in trespassing upon a neighbour's lands they get a sound drubbing; for a second, their ears are slit; for a third, their ears are cut off, or an eye put out, or their tail docked, and sometimes they are even lamed.

Throughout that month of January, the thermometer never rose above 48° at noon, and at sunrise was as low as 10°. But the most serious inconvenience to which the upper valley of the Oxus is exposed, is the frequency of severe earthquakes. In 1832 a shock was felt from Lahore to Jerm, where 156 persons were missing out of 310 inhabiting three hamlets that were overthrown. In the neighbouring valley of Sir Gholam, eighty-three perished out of a population of 155. The mountains are often much shattered, and landslips occur on a formidable scale.

Passing through Zebak, a considerable village with houses touching one another as in an English street, Captain Wood entered the petty State of Wakhan, after encountering the 'Bad-i-Wakhan,' a piercingly cold wind which blows for six months in the year; when it goes to sleep,' as the local saying has it, the clouds gather from all quarters. Wakhan, the In-pokien of Hiouen Tsang and the Vocan of Marco Polo, embraces the upper valley of the Oxus for the distance of a three days' journey from Ishkashm. When visited by Captain Wood, in the depth of winter, it appeared to contain not more than a thousand inhabitants, though five times that number might find within its bounds a comfortable living.