[3] According to Colonel Tod, the Hindu bard Chand speaks of “Pamer, chief
    of mountains.” (I. p. 24.) But one may like and respect Colonel Tod
    without feeling able to rely on such quotations of his unconfirmed.

[4] Usually written Polii, which is nonsense.

[5] ["The Tian Shan wild sheep has since been described as the Ovis
    Karelini, a species somewhat smaller than the true Ovis Poli which
    frequents the Pamirs.” (Colonel Gordon, Roof of the World, p. 83,
    note.)—­H.  C.]

CHAPTER XXXIII.

OF THE KINGDOM OF CASCAR.

[Illustration:  Head of a Native of Kashgar]

Cascar is a region lying between north-east and east, and constituted a kingdom in former days, but now it is subject to the Great Kaan.  The people worship Mahommet.  There are a good number of towns and villages, but the greatest and finest is Cascar itself.  The inhabitants live by trade and handicrafts; they have beautiful gardens and vineyards, and fine estates, and grow a great deal of cotton.  From this country many merchants go forth about the world on trading journeys.  The natives are a wretched, niggardly set of people; they eat and drink in miserable fashion.  There are in the country many Nestorian Christians, who have churches of their own.  The people of the country have a peculiar language, and the territory extends for five days’ journey.[NOTE 1]

[Illustration:  View of Kashgar (From Shaw’s “Tartary")]

NOTE 1.—­[There is no longer any difficulty in understanding how the travellers, after crossing Pamir, should have arrived at Kashgar if they followed the route from Tashkurgan through the Gez Defile.

The Itinerary of the Mirza from Badakhshan (Faizabad) is the following:  Zebak, Ishkashm, on the Panja, which may be considered the beginning of the Wakhan Valley, Panja Fort, in Wakhan, Raz Khan, Patur, near Lunghar (commencement of Pamir Steppe), Pamir Kul, or Barkut Yassin, 13,300 feet, Aktash, Sirikul Tashkurgan, Shukrab, Chichik Dawan, Akul, Kotul, Chahul Station (road to Yarkand) Kila Karawal, Aghiz Gah, Yangi-Hissar, Opechan, Yanga Shahr, Kashgar, where he arrived on the 3rd February, 1869. (Cf. Report of “The Mirza’s” Exploration from Caubul to Kashgar.  By Major T. G. Montgomerie, R.E.... (Jour.  R. Geog.  Soc. XLI. 1871, pp. 132-192.)

Major Montgomerie (l.c. p. 144) says:  “The alterations in the positions of Kashgar and Yarkund in a great measure explains why Marco Polo, in crossing from Badakhshan to Eastern Turkestan, went first to Kashgar and then to Yarkund.  With the old positions of Yarkund and Kashgar it appeared that the natural route from Badakhshan would have led first to Yarkund; with the new positions, and guided by the light of the Mirza’s route, from which it is seen that the direct route to Yarkund is not a good one, it is easy to understand how a traveller might prefer going to Kashgar first, and then to Yarkund.  It is satisfactory to have elicited this further proof of the general accuracy of the great traveller’s account of his journey through Central Asia.”