above Kila Panja, to Mazār-tapa where the plain of the Great Pamīr may be said to begin, and this distance agrees remarkably well with the three marches mentioned by Marco.
“His description of Wakhān as ‘a province of no great size, extending indeed no more than three days’ journey in any direction’ suggests that a portion of the valley must then have formed part of the chiefship of Ishkāshim or Zebak over which we may suppose ‘the brother of the Prince of Badashan’ to have ruled. Such fluctuations in the extent of Wakhān territory are remembered also in modern times. Thus Colonel Trotter, who visited Wakhān with a section of the Yarkand Mission in 1874, distinctly notes that ‘Wakhān formerly contained three “sads” or hundreds, i.e., districts, containing 100 houses each’ (viz. Sad-i-Sar-hadd, Sad Sipang, Sad Khandūt). To these Sad Ishtragh, the tract extending from Dīgargand to Ishkāshim, is declared to have been added in recent times, having formerly been an independent principality. It only remains to note that Marco was right, too, in his reference to the peculiar language of Wakhān; for Wakhī—which is spoken not only by the people of Wakhān but also by the numerous Wakhī colonists spread through Mastūj, Hunza Sarikol, and even further east in the mountains—is a separate language belonging to the well-defined group of Galcha tongues which itself forms the chief extant branch of Eastern Iranian.”
XXXII., pp. 171 seq., 175, 182.
THE PLATEAU OF PAMIR.
“On leaving Tāsh-kurghān (July 10, 1900), my steps, like those of Hiuan-tsang, were directed towards Kāshgar.... In Chapters V.–VII. of my Personal Narrative I have given a detailed description of this route, which took me past Muztāgh-Ata to Lake Little Kara-kul, and then round the foot of the great glacier-crowned range northward into the Gez defile, finally debouching at Tāshmalik into the open plain of Kāshgari. Though scarcely more difficult than the usual route over the Chichiklik Pass and by Yangi-Hīsar, it is certainly longer and leads for a considerably greater distance over ground which is devoid of cultivation or permanent habitations.
“It is the latter fact which makes me believe that Professor H. Cordier was right in tracing by this very route Marco Polo’s itinerary from the Central Pamirs to Kāshgar. The Venetian traveller, coming from Wakhān, reached, after three days, a great lake which may be either Lake Victoria or Lake Chakmak, at a ‘height that is said to be the highest place in the world.’ He then describes faithfully enough the desert plain called ‘Pamier,’ which he makes extend for the distance of a twelve days’ ride, and next tells us: ‘Now, if we go on with our journey towards the east-north-east, we travel a good forty days, continually passing over mountains and hills, or through valleys, and crossing many rivers and tracts of wilderness. And in all this way you find neither habitation of man, nor any green thing, but must carry with you whatever you require.’