Lord Curzon gives the following list of the “eight claimants to the distinction and title of a Pamir”:  (1) Taghdumbash, or Supreme Head of the Mountains Pamir, lying immediately below and to the north of the Kilik Pass. (2) The Pamir-i-Wakhan. (3) The Pamir-i-Khurd, or Little Pamir. (4) The Pamir-i-Kalan, or Great Pamir. (5) The Alichur Pamir. (6) The Sarez Pamir. (7) The Rang Kul Pamir. (8) The Khargosh or Hare Pamir, which contains the basin of the Great Kara Kul.  See this most valuable paper, The Pamirs and the Source of the Oxus, reprinted from the Geographical Journal of 1896, in 1896, 1898, and 1899.

[Illustration:  Some of the objects found by Dr. M.A.  Stein in Central Asia.]

6.—­PEIN. (Vol. i. p. 192.)

Dr. M.A.  Stein, of the Indian Educational Service, appears to have exactly identified the site of Pein, during his recent archaeological researches in Central Asia; he writes (Prel.  Report on a Journey of Archaeological and Topog.  Exploration in Chinese Turkestan, Lond., 1901, pp. 58-59):  “Various antiquarian and topographical considerations made me anxious to identify the position of the town of Pi-mo, which Hiuen-Tsiang describes as some 300 li to the east of the Khotan capital.  It was probably the same place as the Pein, visited by Marco Polo.  After marching back along the Keriya River for four days, I struck to the south-west, and, after three more marches, arrived in the vicinity of Lachin-Ata Mazar, a desolate little shrine in the desert to the north of the Khotan-Keriya route.  Though our search was rendered difficult by the insufficiency of guides and the want of water, I succeeded during the following few days in tracing the extensive ruined site which previous information had led me to look for in that vicinity.  ‘Uzun-Tati’ (’the distant Tati,’) as the debris-covered area is locally designated, corresponds in its position and the character of its remains exactly to the description of Pi-mo.  Owing to far-advanced erosion and the destruction dealt by treasure-seekers, the structural remains are very scanty indeed.  But the debris, including bits of glass, pottery, china, small objects in brass and stone, etc., is plentiful enough, and in conjunction with the late Chinese coins found here, leaves no doubt as to the site having been occupied up to the Middle Ages.”

Our itinerary should therefore run from Khotan to Uzun Tati, and thence to Nia, leaving Kiria to the south; indeed Kiria is not an ancient place.—­H.C.

[Illustration:  MARCO POLO’S ITINERARY CORRECTED]