Indian Antiquary Vol 62

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 97

MAY, 1933)
ON ANCIENT TRACKS PAST THE PAMIRS
at a distance of only some eight miles up to the broad saddle known as the Dasht-i-Baróghil. Lying at an elevation of only about 12,500 feet this easy saddle, which could readily be made practicable for wheeled vehicles, forms the lowest depression on the whole Hindukush range as far west as the passes north of Kabul. From the head of the Yarkhun, or Mastûj river, on the south side of the Barôghil, routes lead down the river to Chitral or directly southwards across the glacier pass of the Darköt into the valley of Yasin, and thus through Gilgit to the Indus.
The importance of this low crossing of the Hindukush was illustrated by an interesting historical event. In Serindia and in a separate paper12 I have had occasion fully to discuss the remarkable expedition by which Kao Hsien-chih, Deputy Protector of the Four Garrisons,' commanding the Chinese troops in the Târîm basin, in A.D. 747 led a force of 10,000 men from Kashgar across the Pâmîrs to the Oxus. The object was to oust the Tibetans who had joined hands there with the Arabs in Tokharistân and in alliance with them were threatening the Chinese hold on the Tarim basin. There is no need to set forth here the details of the great exploit by which the Chinese general, in the face of formidable physical obstacles, brought his troops across the inhospitable Påmirs and then, after signally defeating the
Tibetans where they barred his approach from the Ab-i-Panja to the Barôghil, led a portion of his victorious force across the glacier pass of the Darkot (c. 15,400 feet above sea level) down into Yasin and Gilgit. It was an achievement fully equal to, if not greater than, the great alpine feats of commanders famous in European history.
Between Sarhad and the stage of Langar the valley contracts into a succession of defiles difficult for laden animals in the spring, when the winter route along the river bed is closed by the flood water, while impracticable soft snow still covers the high summer-track. All the same the route is never entirely closed here. Before reaching Langar I noticed marks of former cultivation in several places of the right bank, a point of some importance as proving that even here at an elevation of close on 12,000 feet travellers could at one time expect to find shelter. The remaining journey to the foot of the Wakhjîr pass could readily be done in two marches lading over alluvial plateaux or along the wide river-bank, all easy ground used by Kirghiz camps for grazing.
At Bozai-gumbaz, where we found a number of Kirghiz in their felt huts, the route across the wide Little Pamir joins in. From here I visited Lake Chakmaktin, near which lies, at a height of a little over 13,000 feet, the almost imperceptible watershed between the Ab-iPanja and the Ak-su or Murghåb, the other chief foeder of the Oxus. For nearly fifty miles the view extended unbroken over this perfectly open elevated valley to where the eye rested in the distance on the range, at the time still snow-covered, which overlooks the Tagharma plain of Sarikol.
It is across the Little PAmir that Tash-kurghân can be gained by a route leading over the Naiza-tash pass, about 14,900 feet high. This is described as practicable at all seasons. But the distance to be covered on ground at a great elevation and without habitations is longer than on the route across the Wakhjir and down the Taghdum-bash Pâmîr. Since Russian territory has to be crossed between the Little Pamir and the Naiza-tash pays this route is now no longer followed by traders. Other passes further north are more convenient for smugglers carrying opium from the Badakhshan side.
The track to the Wakhjir pass branches off to the north-east from where the stream fed by a series of large glaciers to the south-east debouches into the head of the open valley. Higher up, at an elevation of about 14,700 feet, this stream forms the true source of the Oxus,
12 See Scrindia, i, pp. 52 sqq., 66 sqq.; Geographical Journal, 1922, February, pp. 112-131.