The Geographical Journal (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society): Volume XVI, No. 6 [‎372r] (96/232)

ON THE AFGHAN FRONTIER: A RECONNAISSANCE IN SHUGNAN. 669
off. The soil thereabouts is salt, and vegetation grows scantily only along the
banks of the river.
July 22.—We set out again early next morning, after leaving our usual post
of three cossacks behind. The road here turns to the left, and soon takes us away
from the Alichur valley.
Our most direct route would have been along the \ashil-kul lake, thence
following the Gund river, which flows out of its western side. As this road,
however, is very hard to traverse, we decided to take the longer but easier route
over the summit of the Koi Tezek, and thence through the valley of the Toguz
Bulak river.
This we did, and camped for the night by the salt lake Tuz-kul. Here we
received a deputation of a hundred Shugnanis, who petitioned us on behalf of the
inhabitants of the Shakh-Dara for protection against the Afghans. Ihey were a
poor, dispirited-looking body of men, and must have stood to the Afghans as sheep
to wolves. Their dress, made from the coarsest stuffs, led us to think that they
were all simple peasants ; but in this we were mistaken, as we soon perceived, for no
less a personage than Azis-Khan, nephew of the last independent ruler of Shakh-
Dara, was amongst them. This was the ruler who had been executed in Rosh-
kala by order of the Shugnan ruler (Shah-Abduraim-Khan).
Azis-Khan, our humble petitioner, was a young fellow of about twenty or twenty-
two, of medium height, with the typical features of a mountain Tajik, and the
customary curly whiskers, like those we see depicted on many of the old Assyrian
bas-reliefs. His dress, consisting of a black cotton “ kbalat,” or gown, was mean in
the extreme, and neither in bearing nor in apparel did he betray any hint of his
princely birth. The “caste” system does not exist in Shugnan, and, owing to the
general poverty which prevails throughout the kingdom, there is no visible dis
tinction, generally speaking, between prince and pauper. Of course, there are
exceptions. Later on, I met another Shugnan prince, Timur-Shah, nephew of the
last Shugnan Khan, Seid-Akhbar-Shah, whose dignified bearing and manners were
quite in keeping with his birth. I suppose, though, it must be hard to be dignified
on next-to-nothing a year, and an empty belly will certainly humble prince as well
as pauper in the long run.
We took advantage of the visit to learn something about the country, state of
the roads, etc., and heard pleasant news. In the first place, it appeared, according
to Azis-Khan, that the roads up to Shakh-Dara would be found exceedingly good;
and, in the second place, that the inhabitants of the latter were waiting our advent
with impatience, being in mortal terror of the Afghans. We continued on our way,
therefore, in the best of spirits.
On entering the Shakh-Dara territory we soon had practical demonstration that,
so far as our welcome was concerned, things were as Azis-Khan had represented
them. We were quickly surrounded by smiling helpers, all eager to do something
for us—some collecting fuel, others helping to carry the heavy loads, etc. As
regards the state of the roads, however, we were disappointed, for though they may
have been “ exceedingly good ” according to the Shugnan standard, to us they
seemed exceedingly bad, even in comparison with Pamir roads.
We halted for the night near the Mazar-Kyrk-Sheit, and several of our party,
having an hour or so’s daylight, took advantage of it to go fishing in the stream
emptying itself into the Bulyun-kul lake. Although it was the warmest season of
the year (July), our thermometer only registered 10° Reaumur (54| 0 F.) at
9.30 p.m., and had fallen to 7° (47|° F.) by the morning.
We started at 6.50 a.m. in fine weather. At 9.10 a.m. we reached the top of
Mount Koi-Tezek (14,000 feet), which marks the frontier line of Shugnan. During
I