The household utensils were chiefly flat wooden dishes ("kobun") ; wooden bowls; large flat earthenware dishes ; earthenware bowls; earthenware pitchers of the same shape as those used in Scandinavia in olden time; low flat earthenware jugs for milk and water ("lubt") with a handle and a wide mouth ; rather large earthenware pots for the cooking of the food of exactly the same shape as our vessels of Jutland pottery ; earthenware lamps, consisting of a small bowl with a handle, in which was placed a greasy wick; melon-shaped baskets (" sabt ") of braided straw with lids but without handles, in which fruit and seeds were kept; and, lastly, oblong excavated wooden troughs for washing.

Only in very few places did we see the flat tinned copper dishes or trays of Afghanistan, on which are served meat, fruit, and pillan, or the Afghan copper jugs ("abtaba") for the making of tea.

If there be no mill in the neighbourhood of the kislak an excavated stone and one of rounded form are used as a kind of pestle and mortar for the grinding of apricot kernels, seeds, dried mulberries and bread-corn. The apricot kernels are employed for cooking. Dried pulverised mulberries are eaten in this powdery form, in which they are almost always carried by travellers in a small leathern bag. These are also employed for the baking of cakes, and everywhere take the place of sugar for the sweetening of bread and pastry, as sugar is quite unknown, or at least never seen in these parts.

Sheep's wool, which in Vakhan is of an extremely fine quality, is cleaned with the aid of a small wooden bow with a gut-string. The wool is placed in a heap on a horsehair sieve, which is also used for sifting flour, and, by beating the wool with the string, it is freed from dust and dirt, and the tangles are unravelled. After the wool is cleansed and washed, it is spun on a hand-spindle, which consists of a wooden rod with a perforated stone or a wooden cross as a crank. The wool is wound on to a winder (" chark ") made of wood, and from the winder passes on to the loom, which is constructed in the same manner as the loom used by the Kirghiz. A piece of yarn of about twelve metres length is now suspended in the open air between wooden pegs, and the place where they weave is kept off the ground by a cross-bar suspended by strings on a pyramid of sticks stuck into the ground. This method of weaving is, in spite of its primitiveness, the same as the European method ; and the woollen stuff which they weave, always either white or brown, the natural colour of the wool, is very serviceable and often very beautifully woven.

Another kind of loom, on which the ordinary coarse white and brown striped rugs are made, consists only of a wooden frame on which the coarse woollen yarn is stretched, and other yarn is now simply interwoven with these.

The local industries are very few. The white or blackish brown woollen material which is always woven in long narrow pieces for wearing apparel, the coarse white and brown striped rugs, the strings and braids and rope for the cattle which are twisted and plaited of woollen yarn, are, together with stockings, the only things produced in the way of woollen goods. Stouter cord and rope for the cattle and for the agricultural implements are always plaited of osier bands, of which also large baskets are made for hay and fruit.

The tanning of the hides of both domestic and wild animals for boots and for the leather bags used for flour and corn is understood by almost all the natives. The hides of Kiyik and the Ovis Poli, the large wild sheep from Pamir, are especially valued for fur cloaks on account of their long thick fur, but, as they are difficult to get, most people wear ordinary sheep-skin cloaks.

When, to those house utensils, I add sieves made of horsehair or string, for the cleaning of corn and the sifting of flour, wooden spoons, and a churn, everything that is a household possession is set down.

The churn is only found in a few places, chiefly because the luxury of eating butter cannot be widely enjoyed, also because most people who can afford the luxury make their butter by shaking the cream in a bladder. A few, however, do churn their butter, which does not taste like Danish butter, but has a peculiar greasy taste.

The churn is a large earthenware pot placed close to one of the detached pillars which support the roof of the house. In this pot is placed a stick with wings at the end; at the mouth of the pot the stick plays through a couple of pieces of wood in which are round holes, these pieces of wood being fastened to the pillar. A string is tied round the upper end of the stick, which is made to revolve by pulling each end of the string alternately as it winds on the stick.

WEAPONS

The weapons of the natives are for the chief part bows made of the wood of the apricot tree. The bow is strung with two strings of gut, and flings stones. The stone is placed in a piece of leather, fastened to the strings at their middle. In passing through the Patidsh valley for the first time in 1896, when I camped outside a town or village, all the males of the place would come out to look at the strangers. They were all, from the oldest to the youngest, armed with these bows, which are of the height of a man, and each carried a handful of round stones. When asked if they used arrows, they said that though the Siaposh tribes, of whom they stood in great awe, used arrows, they themselves never did so. We saw them kill little birds with these stone-flinging bows at a distance of twenty to thirty paces. These weapons are to all appearance harmless against an enemy unless the stories should strike the face ; but as these people were matvellously skilled in the use of this bow it is possible that they may be effective. They use, besides the bow, stone slings made of strings and leather.

Only the very well-to-do possess old matchlocks with a wooden fork fixed to the barrel. When this wooden fork is turned forward the matchlock looks for all the world like a pitchfork. In shooting, which is with difficulty accomplished otherwise than in a recumbent position, the fork is stuck into the ground, forming a rest which keeps the barrel steady whilst firing.

Of trenchant arms and goring weapons, we found here and there a few old scimitars ; the short sheath knives which they carry in the belt being more used as tools than as weapons.

CHAPTER VI

Agricultural and pastoral pursuits-Articles of food-

Hunting-Animals

THE people all live by agriculture, or the breeding of cattle and flocks.

When the glaciers and snow-water have made their way down the mountain slope they have gradually formed a stratum of loose material deposited from the weathering and erosion of the mountains. The water also, on freezing, expands and cracks the ground rock itself, on which the floods at thawing time have deposited their loose disintegrated mountain rubbish in a sort of terrace in the lower course of the tributary streams. It is on these terraces that the kislaks are situated, with their cornfields and gardens.

All cultivation is attained by litigation, as in all other parts of central Asia. Outside of the irrigated areas there is no considerable vegetation to be found except, of course, along the banks of the rivers. On the land not directly watered by rivers or irrigation only a spontaneous vegetation is found, and that only of a kind which can adapt itself to being watered at the time the snow melts, and which can do without water for the rest of the year.

There are no forests, as Europeans reckon forests. The tipper mountain slopes, outside the river courses, are bare and barren. Only in a few places, as in the valley of the Garm-chashma Darya, high up on the dry slopes, do we find rather large trees of the juniper variety, which grow round about in the crevices of the hard rock, where it is difficult to understand how the tree can get enough nourishment. In the bottom of the same valley is found a rather large wood of tall willows and poplars on an island in the river. By Latigarkish and Zunk, on the islands in the Pandsh river, in Vakhan and Ishkashim, on the banks of the Pandsh between Nut and Somdjen, by the upper course of the Kuh-i-lal and Andarab rivers, are extensive copses of willow, poplar, birch, and hippophae, intertwined with hawthorn, clematis, honeysuckle, and wild rose ; and in the quicksand by the Pandsh river large tamarisks grow.

Except in these places, only very meagre copses are here and there found outside the irrigated areas.

Concerning the growth of grass on the mountain slopes, the same thing happens here as on the steppes. After the snow-melting time, when the high slopes and terraces are irrigated, the plain is transformed, and for a short time a rather luxuriant growth of grass and flowers bursts forth, almost as at the stroke of a magician's wand, and lasts until well into July. The natives take advantage of the short time before it is burnt up by the sun and lack of water to send their cattle tip into the mountains. Only a few inhabitants remain in the kislaks-as a rule only the old people and children and such as cannot climb the mountains. All the rest wander up to the mountain pastures, just as in Norway, with their cattle ; and during this time they live in primitively built stone houses which are built for the occasion, made of heaped up loose stones, with compartments similar to those of the houses in the kislaks. These Ailaks, or summer camps, are found round about on the high terraces of the mountains in Vakhan and Garan. The centre of the terrace, where the Ailak is situated, is always occupied by a large fold, consisting, as a rule, of an enclosure within a circular wall, where the cattle are driven in and herded at night to protect them from wild animals and thieves.

When one passes through the kislaks of the province in the beginning of July, one is astonished to find them almost deserted-only a white-haired old man who with difficulty supports himself on his staff, an old woman, and a few children are met with here and there in the town. But in the Ailaks there is plenty of life until the end of July, when they are deserted again for the kislaks-the mountain slopes resume their barren blackish brown aspect, and everything looks like a desert in which the kislak forms the oasis.

The cultivated fields and gardens in the neighbourhood of the kislaks are irrigated by water from the rivers. The water is conveyed by means of a few channels which are seldom more than two feet deep and the same in breadth, cut from the upper course of the rivers on the mountain slopes down to the kislaks, whence minor channels ("wado") lead the water to every landed proprietor, who again, by means of innumerable little channels, leads the water out over the fields and gardens. It is one of the most difficult of undertakings to keep the channels in order; often they must be led several kilometres in zig-zag or in numberless windings down the slopes. Often it is impossible to make them in the hard rock and they have to be constructed of stones and clay along the mountain sides, and in snowmelting time the earthslips and avalanches destroy the whole work so that in spring they have to be constructed anew.

As prosperity and the amount of produce depend upon the quantity of water used in the fields, manure never being employed, the distribution of the water is often the cause of strife between the natives. In this respect, justice is maintained, here, as elsewhere, by the Aksakal of the town-Turkish for " white-beard"-the oldest and the Kasi ("judge "), who by turns command the peasants to open and shut with flat pieces of slate the channels by which their fields are watered. Towards autumn the river dries up, or there is so little water that it cannot be led round to the channels, so that the corn is very short and thin.

If possible they commence to work in the hard but rather fertile earth at the beginning of April. With sufficient irrigation and modern agricultural implements the earth could be made to produce much more than it now does with the primitive implements which are at the disposal of the natives. The fields are ploughed with wooden ploughs drawn by two oxen. The plough itself consists of two trunks of trees notched into each other; the back part, which is the longest, is pointed and sometimes shod with iron, or there is a stone at the end which makes a furrow in the earth ; whilst the horizontal front part is fastened by an osier band to a yoke, which rests on the necks of the oxen, and is harnessed on to them by another osier band. The clods of earth are crushed with short clubs ; then the seed is sown and the water led into the fields in little ditches and furrows which are made by the aid of a wooden shovel, the blade of which is fastened on to the handle with osier bands.

The most important species of grain are rye, wheat, horsebeans, peas, and millet. In a few places lucerne is grown, and a little cotton, which does not, however, thrive well here. The rye is sown in June, the other grain in April. The harvest is in September.

The corn is cut with a sickle and bound in sheaves, which are carried home on the backs of men or donkeys. To be able to carry several sheaves at a time, they have a board on to which a stick is fastened with strings. The sheaves are put on the board in a heap, and are fastened by the strings on to the board, between the board and the stick. On the board are loops made of willow into which the man puts his arms so that the burden rests on his back. In September these little wandering loads of corn are seen everywhere on the terraces being brought home to the kislaks, where they are piled in stacks beside the house or on its roof, with the aid of a wooden fork formed by a branch.

Immediately after the harvest is over, the corn is thrashed by the aid of oxen which, for this purpose, are generally tied together, four in number, by their heads, with a cord which is fastened to a pole. The corn is strewn on the ground round the upright pole, and the oxen are chased round the pole by a small and generally naked boy, whereby the corn is thrashed under their hoofs.

The corn, when it is thrashed, is piled up and cleaned of chaff by being thrown up into the air on a wooden shovel so that the wind parts the light chaff from the grain ; it is then stored in the store-rooms by the hearth or in the granaries outside the house. Hay and straw are always heaped on to the roofs of the houses, partly to make the houses warmer, and partly so as not to be a temptation to the cattle, which are kept outside as long as possible in order to save the winter supply of provender.

During the winter the natives live on the supplies that they have stored during the summer, and do no work except tending the cattle and putting their houses and agricultural implements in repair ; sometimes they have a little hunting.

The domestic animals are small black and grey donkeys, some very nice persevering and good-tempered animals, employed both for riding and as beasts of burden. When I passed from Langarkish to Khorok the first time in 1896, there were no horses to be seen. But of late years the province has made much progress under Russian protection, and now the little horses of Kirghiz and Badakhshan have been imported. These horses are small, persevering, sagacious, and well adapted to mountain use, and they are highly prized by the people. To possess a horse of one's own is one of the heart-felt desires of the Vakhans and Garans.

As far as I could make out, there were two races of oxen -both small. One kind is somewhat smaller and more slender than our ordinary cow, with pointed, short, slightly curved, forward-bending horns. The other kind is a crippled dwarfed race of cattle with more strongly curved horns. Like European cattle, they are of different colours. They produce but little milk. The yak-ox (Kutas Kirghizian), or "grunting ox" as it is called, because it grunts incessantly while moving about, is found in great numbers domesticated by the Kirghiz in Paimir ; but they are nowhere to be seen in the Upper Pandsh valley. An Aksakal in Langarkish possessed a few which he bought from the Kirghiz, but these were the only ones in all these parts, and the natives stated everywhere that these cattle have never been kept in Vakhan or Garan.

There were also two races of sheep and goats which are kept in great numbers by these people-one somewhat smaller than our European sheep, and one of quite a dwarf race. Their wool is exceedingly fine.

In Vakhan, both races of cattle, of sheep, and of goats were found, the larger race was, however, prevalent; but in Garan almost all the cattle and flocks belonged to the dwarf race. The full-grown oxen were often not larger than an ordinary European calf ; and the full-grown sheep and goats no larger than lambs of two or three months old in Denmark. I had already noticed this on my first expedition ; and when on my arrival here with the second expedition I pointed out the diminutive sheep and goats to my companions, they exclaimed : "But they are lambs and kids." However, they soon discovered that other still smaller toy-like animals were sucking those which they had taken to be lambs and kids.

The dwarf race, or crippled race, which is the common race met with in Garan and parts of Shugnan-which also is seen in Vakhan-is really wonderfully small. During our winter stay in Khorok, on the Gund, we could as a rule get no other cattle for food. One sheep was just sufficient to make a meal for one man. Only very few specimens of the fattailed sheep are found in these parts, and these have been bought from the Kirghiz in Pamir. Of other domestic animals, there is a small species of fowl, the eggs of which are of the size of a large pigeon's egg ; there is a snappish, sagacious watch-dog of a large Scotch collie type ; and there is a small greyhound of a reddish brown colour which was especially used for starting game. There is, moreover, the tiger-coloured cat, much like our European cat.

These people have much taste for gardening; each house has its little flower garden, vegetable garden, and orchard, which are often carefully tended. Fruits are of no slight value for food ; and the natives are very fond of flowers. It is thus a common experience that the stranger, on arriving at their village, has bouquets of flowers presented to him as a welcome.

When we camped in these parts during the summer, either the Aksakal on the Kasi of the town brought fresh flowers into our tents nearly every morning.

The gardens ("gulistan ") are situate near the houses, and are irrigated by small channels which lead the water to the fruit trees, vegetables, and flower beds. From these channels the natives generally fetch their drinking water, which, as a rule, is beautifully fresh and clear. Yet one should be careful in drinking the water unbolted, as in some places it causes a tumour, resembling bronchocele, on the neck from the chin down on the breast. There was no sign of this disease in Vakhan, Ishkashim, or Garan, but higher up, in the. valleys of western Pamir, in Darwas and Katrategin, it abounded. The same disease is also found in Turkestan, and is supposed to be a consequence of drink-nice the water unbolted. This disease proves fatal in the course of a few years, and according to the Russian physicians, there is no positively effective medicine known to combat it.

In Vakhan, the apricot is the most important fruit tree, and in August these trees are covered with beautiful fruit, which are partly eaten straight off the tree, and partly dried on the flat roofs as winter provisions.

Moreover, there is especially found in Garan, as well as in Vakhan, a great many white mulberry trees, the fruit of which is gathered, dried, and ground into flour. This flour made of mulberries takes the place of sugar. There are some pear and apple trees, the fruit of which is not good, walnut trees, and, in some places in Garan, peaches. On the other hand, grapes, figs, and almonds are not found in these parts ; they do not make their appearance until we reach the north of Roshan, and further north still.

No vegetables are found except melotis and pumpkins.

There is one plant that is never wanting in the gardens of the natives-the opium poppy ("kuknar"). This plant is very carefully tended, as many are addicted to the smoking of opium. Before the capsules get ripe, an incision is made into them with a knife, and the juice which comes out coagulates into a kind of resin which is scraped off and kneaded together into a dough (" afiun"). This dough is burned over a lamp, whilst several persons lie round the lamp and inhale the smoke through long tubes until the sleep or stupor commences. In Vakhan only the poor people smoke opium; it was looked down upon as a vice by the well-to-do. In Shugnan and Garan, on the contrary, the smoking of opium seemed to be common to all classes.

The opium-smoker is easily told by his sallow face, dim eyes, and flaccid body. Many become quite imbecile from this pernicious habit. We always had to make sure before engaging a native whether he were an opium-smoker or not.

One more sensuous pleasure was derived from the ripe opium capsules by grinding them into flour after removing the seeds. This flour is then mixed with water and drunk -the water turning yellow when mixed with the flour.

Another intoxicating liquor is made from the poisonous thorn-apple (" tatalka"), which in a few places is cultivated in the gardens. This drink, however, is not common.

The flowering plants generally found in the gardens were hollyhocks, hemp, mallow, marigolds, yellow carnations, fox-tail, and yellow tobacco. Flowers are only employed for the beautifying of the gardens, and not in the houses. The caps or turbans of the natives are, however, often adorned with flowers stuck into them. The tobacco plant is mostly employed for decorative purposes ; indeed, tobacco smoking is but little known. Tobacco pipes are unknown ; when tobacco is smoked it is done in the following primitive way : A hole is dug in the earth, and filled with tobacco leaves, generally mixed with dry apricot leaves, some straws are stuck slantingly into the hole, and several persons lie flat on the ground and suck at these straws, whilst the smoke hangs like a cloud round their heads.

ARTICLES OF FOOD

During the summer, when the cattle are taken up to the mountain pastures, the meals of the people consist for the greater part of milk and milk dishes. Sometimes a sheep or goat is killed ; but the oxen are not generally killed until they are decrepit. Goat's meat is considered a very poor dish ; mutton is much more highly appreciated. The natives are very fond of fat things, and will frequently be seen drinking with great relish a cup of a decoction of fat.

As a rule it may be said that the lower a people stand the more fond they are of fat and fatty dishes. One of their favourite dishes, which according to the European idea smells and tastes horrible, is a mixture of milk and fat and flour ("shirbad"). Curdled milk and millet-porridge ("bakala"), are, moreover, amongst their favourite dishes in the season when the cattle are at the mountain pastures (" ailak"). The millet is ground and boiled in water ; it is also sometimes eaten dry, like flour, heated in a pan, but it is said that this dish, when eaten too frequently, causes St. Vitus's dance. The bread is baked of the flour of wheat, or rye, or pea. As a rule it is ground in a turbine mill by a man whose only occupation is that of a miller. The people who live far from such a mill use a kind of mortar made of an excavated stone in which they grind the corn with a round one.

The numerous mountain streams yield an abundant water power, and along such streams there will often be five or six water mills all in a row, in idyllic clefts covered with trees and bushes.

The mill is a small clay hut built on a bridge across the stream. A small wooden turbine, driven round by the water, makes two roughly hewn flat stones rub against each other. In spite of the rude primitiveness of the process, the flour is not at all badly ground, even from a European point of view.

Three different kinds of bread are made. One is a small round cake made of a mixture of pea-flour and mulberry flour. This is baked in an earthenware dish, and has often an excellent flavour. Another kind is a large flat biscuit of wheat meal. The most ordinary bread is in the form of an immense, thin pancake-shaped loaf. These loaves the natives carry with them when travelling, rolled up in the cloths ("lungi") which they wear round their waists. They are baked in a special oven made of a small clay vault with a hole at the top, not unlike the cupola of a mosque. The ovens are always built outside the house, and the bread is baked thus : the dough is placed in thin layers on the outside of the clay vault, which is then heated inside -the hole at the top of the vault is the vent. During the summer, at the mountain pastures, the natives often content themselves with slices of dough kneaded together, and baked on the ground near a pile of faggots.

Bread is not, as with us, eaten with meat or other things, but is eaten by itself, and generally eaten hot. It is quite an ordinary custom to invite neighbours to a bread feast, where the dishes consist only of different kinds of bread, the host himself breaking the loaves, and offering them to his guests.

The dish called Pillau, which is known all over Central Asia, is also eaten in these parts, and is considered a great delicacy. It is made of cooked rice, pieces of meat and fat mixed with currants, carrots or quinces, and pepper. The rice is imported from Badakhshan. Tea has been known here from time immemorial. It was, according to the natives and to tradition, brought to these parts by Chinese merchants. It must be remembered that the Chinese once possessed High Pamir ; and at the lake of Yashilkul we found remnants of Chinese fortresses, the stone foundations of which were adorned with Chinese ornaments.

It is only a small part of the population, be it said, that can indulge in this drink, of which they are very fond.

The people do not avail themselves much of the fishing in the Pandsh, though carp abound in its waters. Fish is looked upon as a poor dish, but it is sometimes eaten fried or boiled, being caught in osier baskets turned upside down, a stick being fastened to the bottom of the basket when it is sunk into the river. Sometimes they are caught in small traps made of willow.

It is often very difficult for the natives to procure firewood in the parts where trees are so scarce, and the poor people generally only heat the huts a little whilst the meals are being prepared, or when they have visitors. At other times they wrap themselves up in their fur cloaks and keep themselves as warm as they can in a heap of straw or hay on the platform in the hearth-room.

To make up for this lack of wood the manure is gathered during the autumn in a heap, together with the household leavings and remnants of fruit, and all this is kneaded with the hands and made into cakes, which are stuck on to the roof and walls of the house to dry, and are then kept in store for winter use. It can easily be imagined that a house covered with these fuel cakes does not look very attractive, and has a strangely curious appearance.

There can only be any real home life amongst the natives in the villages during the winter. Spring and summer and autumn see them busy in the fields, sowing, repairing the water channels, tending the cattle, harvesting, and procuring provisions for the winter-indeed, there is no time left to them for any kind of recreation. During the winter, however, the people, especially the men, do hardly any work. They lounge about in the village to hear and tell news, take their meals together, marry, and feast as much as the provisions gathered during the summer will allow. It often happens, unfortunately, that the store of provisions comes to an end too early both for man and beast if the cold weather lasts long, and many cattle perish for lack of food.

During the winter, wolves and panthers come right down to the kislaks, and even break into the open byres and attack the domestic animals. The natives in their wanderings are often stopped by packs of wolves, and the children are very much afraid of being out alone during the winter owing to the wild beasts. During the winter nights there is a perpetual howlinc, of wolves and jackals round about the kislaks.

Wild birds are scarce. Fowls are rather numerous ; of these there are two species-one very diminutive and of the grey colour of sparrows ; the other a larger species, the colour of which is brown with a very pretty pattern on the wings. Both are delicious to eat. These people often put the larger kind in cages as ornamental pets, just as they do in Turkestan. Of other birds, there are rather large numbers of pigeons which have their nests in the rocks, a small grey duck with a blue mark on the wings, and a variety of small and large falcons. When we add to these the magpie, which is found everywhere in the valleys of Pamir, the black crow, and some small birds that feed on seeds and insects, we exhaust the list of the birds of this region.

Mice and rats are so numerous in the houses as to be a serious nuisance. On the mountain terraces, even at considerable altitudes, there are numbers of snakes. On the terraces in Garan, at a height of some 2700 metres, there are many, of which I estimated the longest to be about 69 centimetres. They are of a greyish colour, and, according to the natives, harmless. Lizards run about the rocks in large numbers, amongst them a pretty little specimen with red and yellow spots on the head. A disagreeable animal which is very numerously represented at Vakhan and Garan is the scorpion, the venomous bite of which is much dreaded. They are here found as large as twelve and fourteen centimetres in length, and in some places they were in such numbers that we had to clear the place of them with a broom before pitching our tents. Poisonous spiders are also found ; and in a few places, by the Pandsh and its tributaries, mosquitoes swarmed.

During the winter some of the natives pass the time in hunting, mostly in the way of trapping. Both birds and the larger animals are caught in traps. The children amuse themselves by setting miniature traps for little birds. Traps are made of strong flexible branches, like bows. Two such bows, provided with wooden or bone spikes, are placed together on a board, and by the aid of twisted ropes catch hold of the legs of the animal which is enticed into the trap by a piece of meat or some corn. Sometimes carcases are placed on the snow, and the animals which are enticed to the place by this means are ambushed and killed with a matchlock. In a few places, though this is rare, falcons, of which there are large numbers in the Upper Pandsh valley, are employed for the hunting of birds. In some places the people have iron traps, of the European kind imported from Afghanistan.

Of larger game, there is in the mountains of Pamir, near the Pandsh, the large wild sheep called kiyik, which resembles an immense ibex, of a greyish colour, with a black stripe down the back. Its size is that of an ordinary stag; its horns are large and bent backwards like the horns of the ibex. The flesh, which has a sweet taste, and the skin, with its thick wool, are highly prized by the natives. Its horns are used to decorate the graves of holy men and in all other sanctuaries.

The Ovis Poli, or large Pamir wild sheep, does not come so far south as this-it attains at times to the size of a small Norwegian horse, has immense twisted horns like a ram, and is of the same colour as the kiyik.

In the mountains between the Pandsh and the Shakdarra we find a small brownish grey bear, a large number of almost yellow wolves with short tails and of smaller size than the European or Siberian wolf, a small form of a very light colour with red stripes down the back and a thick bushy tail and very fine fur, also a small species of liare. The long-haired, light-grey panther with black spots is very common here, and is much hunted. One specimen had a height of 70 centimetres, was 130 centimetres from snout to base of tail, and had a tail a metre long. There are besides these animals numbers of jackals.

When marching across the snow during the winter, and when engaged in hunting, both the Tadjiks and the Kirghiz wear a kind of snow-shoe plaited from osier bands, which is tied on to the foot to prevent them from sinking into the snow. In spite of the difficulty in tramping in these troublesome shoes, on which they can only get along by a kind of swinging motion, they will cover twenty to twenty-five kilometres at a time across the snow fields.

CHAPTER VII

Song, Music, and the Dance

THESE people are earnest and severe, a consequence of their hard struggle for very existence; they are rarely heard to laugh or sing, yet they are not devoid of taste both for vocal and instrumental music. They never sing in the open air during the summer ; but in winter, at their parties and feasts, they exhibit their musical talents in the house. When they become enthusiastic their monotonous singing resembles the howling of a dog, but mainly it is a melancholy humming - as they accompany their song the while on guitars and tambourines and sometimes flutes.

The professional musician is unknown; but in the villages there are always some people who can play one of the three instruments, and be hired as fiddlers on festive occasions. In the house of every well-to-do family there is always a guitar and a tambourine. The musicians generally make their own instruments during the winter. The guitar ("rihab") is hollowed out of a piece of apricot wood, which is very hard-it resembles a violin, the cover of which consists of a stretched skin-it has four to five strings of gut and a bridge and screws just like a violin, but is played like a guitar. The tambourine ("darya") is made of wood, also covered with a stretched skin, and is used like the European tambourine for accompanying the ribab (or guitar), or during the dance. The flute ("nai") is made of wood, like a piccolo flute without keys.

Dancing (" rakhas ") is only performed by men. They come forward one at a time, and make gestures with the arms, bending the body and tramping and stamping, whilst they now and again whirl round, often at the same time playing on the tambourine. The dancing is done to the music of guitar and tambourine, or to the clapping of hands by the onlookers. It is rather obscene.

The greatest festivals take place at marriages, and when a son has been born. These festivals are always accompanied with dance and music.

CHAPTER VIII

Marriage-Children and courtesy

MOST likely as a consequence of their busy life during the summer, marriages always take place in winter.

As the official religion is Mahometan, each man is allowed to have four wives; but the men of this people seldom avail themselves of this permission, as they cannot support so many. Polygamy is also allowed in the religion of the Parsees, and concubines are permitted. Some of the men have two wives, but most have only one. Most married women must work hard in this region ; as a rule they have to take charge both of the house and the children, and sometimes tend the cattle ; and they have to take a part in all the work in the fields, whilst the husband often only lounges about. However they seem to have a greater amount of personal liberty than is general in Mahometan countries. The husband as a rule does not decide any important step without asking the advice of his wife ; and we often saw the women meddle in their husbands' affairs in a way that could not be misunderstood. If we were buying cattle from a man, the wife often came to help him to fix the price; and when a quarrel has arisen amongst the men in a village, it has often happened that some of them would be fetched home by their wives-nay, the women did not shrink from interfering in a fight with sticks.

The young women were often very pretty, and would have been more so if their fine Iranian features had not always been covered with dirt. But they become old very early in life owing to early marriage, hard work, and uncleanliness. Often in the early twenties they look like old hags. They are never veiled; but the young women always rush into the houses on the arrival of strange men, or, if they are in the fields, they lie down and cover their heads until the stranger has passed by.

The wife is always bought ; marriage takes place without any regard to social position, and, with the exception of brothers and sisters, relationship is no hindrance. Whilst the son of a rich man often marries very early in life, the poor man's son must often remain a bachelor. As it is very costly to buy a wife, it is considered very grand to have several wives, and on the other hand the man who has none is not considered of much account.

Rape of women therefore often takes place. It happened several times during our stay in these provinces. A few years ago part of the tribute to the liege lords of Shugnan, Badakhshan, or Kabul consisted of a certain number of young women.

Marriages take place very early, often between children. When the marriage is consummated the girl's hair is plaited in two plaits. A young woman is more valuable than an older one, and it therefore depends on the father's means whether his son will get an older or a younger wife. It thus sometimes happens that a boy of twelve years will get for his first wife a woman of forty, perhaps a widow. The sum is always paid down-in cattle and cloth. One Aksakal thus paid ten head of cattle for a wife, another ten sheep, a third eight cows, a fourth two donkeys, and so on.

When a man wants a wife for his son, he sends two men to one of his acquaintances who has a daughter who would be suitable match for his son, and the price is then fixed in the presence of the Kasi and the Aksakal. Then the business is determined, the girl's consent not being asked. Twenty days after the price is fixed the wedding takes place, during which time the bride arranges her primitive trousseau and makes other preparations.

Accompanied by many attendants on horseback, on donkeys, or on foot, the bridegroom and his father go to the bride's house. In front of the procession a singing howling man prances about ; then follow four tambourine players on foot, and after these comes the bridegroom on horseback or on a donkey, in his gayest attire. He is followed by his attendants, who utter wild howls and fire off their matchlocks into the air. In the house of the bride is arranged a banquet for the guests, and the bride and bridegroom are allowed to stay atone in a separate room. It should be remarked in passing that kisses ("bhah") and caresses are given in the European manner ; this is, or should be, the first time that they see each other, but most likely they have already secretly made each other's acquaintance.

During the meal the bride and bridegroom appear before the guests. The bride is veiled. A Mullah and the Kasi read something out of the Koran in Arabic, which is generally not understood either by themselves or the others ; the Mullah then asks the girl if she will have the man who has been chosen for her, and she does not dare to refuse.

The banquet, which consists of mutton, dishes of fat, bread, and dried fruits, is accompanied by the music of tambourines, guitars, or flutes, until towards evening, when the bridegroom and his attendants leave the house.

The next day a similar procession is formed. It is the bride's father taking his daughter to her husband. The bride, who rides a horse or donkey, is dressed in a white robe which completely covers her. Her head is generally covered with a red handkerchief. She rides behind the tambourine players, and her horse is led by one of her relations. As on the day before, a banquet again takes place, but at the bridegroom's house, and the couple are again left alone in a separate room.

On this second day, if the people possess horses, they have games ("At Tamasha") like the Kirghiz. A sheep or goat being tied to a pole in the field, several horsemen gallop past on horseback and fire at the animal with their matchlocks. The one who kills it must lift it on his horse and gallop a certain number of times between two points without the other horsemen being able to get it away from him. If be succeeds, he is the victor, and wins a prize of cloth, which is presented by the father of the bridegroom. It is needless to say that it is only the well-to-do who can afford this sport.

The time is passed with the aid of several meals, music and dance ; and the feasting often lasts till far into the night. The young couple are then considered husband and wife.

The day after the wedding, four elderly women come to the house of the young couple to bear witness that the bride was a virgin before the wedding. If this is not the case, the husband can immediately demand a divorce. They then plait her hair in two plaits as a sign that she is a wife

Most young couples remain at the house of the parents of the husband, and serve them ; but if they are able to do so they get a home of their own.

In these provinces there is a very strange law, that a man who has been away several years on a journey to other countries, if he has rich relatives, shall have the right to demand that they procure him a wife.

The natives seem to live happily with their wives, and the connubial code of morality is high.

A married woman was staying at a house in the kislak of Mishus, with her blind brother, whilst her husband was away. Another Tadjik came into the house and ravished her. Her screams called other women to the house; but they failed to prevent the man from getting away. The young woman asked, weeping: How can I now face my husband when he comes home ? She then went down to the river, put all her clothes on a stone, cut off the braids of her hair, placing them beside her clothes, threw herself into the torrent, and was drowned.

If a man lie with another man's wife with her consent, any one has a right to kill them both. If it be done against her will, and this can be proved, the man is punished with flogging and fines.

Divorce is said to be very rare, yet it is not difficult to obtain. The reason is probably that it is so costly to get another wife. If the husband beat the wife, or if he cannot support her, she can demand a divorce. The case is always judged by the Kasi. If a man demand a divorce, and it be not by reason of adultery, he must pay the woman a certain number of cattle-this number being fixed by the Kasi.

When a husband dies, his widow can demand, after the lapse of four months and ten days, that the brother of her late husband, or if there be no brother, then his nearest male relation, shall marry her, if she does not prefer to marry some other man. When she enters into a new marriage, if she has had children, these children always inherit all their dead father's possessions, the boys' inheritance being double that of the girls'. If she prefer to remain single she inherits all. When a man leaves more wives, the one who marries again gets nothing; but if she has had any children they inherit the part belonging to her, as all the widowed wives divide the inheritance equally. Orphans are maintained by the nearest relations ; but they get no inheritance from the family that supports them.

CHILDREN AND COURTESY

The natives are very fond of children, who are much spoiled, especially by the father, and are considered as a gift from God--the more children they get the greater their bliss. A childless marriage is looked upon as a punishment from God. Boys are especially desired ; and when a boy is born in the kislak all the neighbours rush to the house to congratulate the parents ; there is feasting, with music of guitar and tambourine, whilst volleys are fired outside the house.

An old woman assists at the birth-a kind of midwife, of whom there is one in every kislak. Only women are allowed to be present at birth ; the father is not allowed into the room until the child is born. He then receives in his house the congratulations of the neighbours-but if the child is a girl there is no banquet, nor are volleys fired.

If a child be still-born, it is at once buried.

For three days the new-born child is nourished on fat then the mother nurses it until its third year-if she has no other child in the meantime.

Boys are always circumcised, at the age of four, with a knife by an old practised man, and the wound smeared with burnt wadding or felt. Eunuchs are not made amongst these peoples.

When the child has lived three days on fat, it receives its name, which is given by its father in the presence of a Mullah, if there be one in the neighbourhood. On this occasion a banquet is given. Some of the most common names given to boys are: Ali, Mahommad, Aman, Tana, Salil, Tamasha, Yusuf, Ramasha, Shaker ; and to girls : Kurban, Begin, Sadji, Damah, Dawlat-Mah, Ashurmah, Niashbibi, Madian, and Suleika.

The little children are the only members of the family who sleep in a kind of bed ("gahvarra") ; all the others sleep in their clothes on skins, rugs, straw, or hay. The children's bed is, like the beds in Turkestan, Bokhara and Khiva, a small oblong wooden box on four legs. A kind of awning is made with some wooden hoops, covered with cloth, to keep the sun and wind off the child when it stands outside the house. Between the hoops is a cross-bar which forms a handle to carry the cradle or bed, which is painted as a rule in bright red and green colours. The bedclothes are rags and pieces of cloth and skin. For the removal of the urine there is, with the Kirghiz, a hole in the bed, through which, in the case of boys, the urine is conducted by the aid of a tube made out of a hollow bone, which is placed on the sexual organ.

During their youth the children do odd jobs of a small kind about the house-tend the cattle and so on ; and, if possible, they attend a kind of school, which is generally only temporary, and kept by a wandering Mullah. In the larger kislaks there are also professional teachers who can read and write. Mullah is a title which in the Mahometan countries of Central Asia, is bestowed on a man when he can read the language of the country, and Mirza is the title of a man who can both read and write. These titles do not in the least mean that the man belongs to the clergy-this, of course, he cannot do without certain qualifications.

In these schools the children learn to read the language of the country, sometimes also a little writing and arithmetic, and the recital of some Mahometan prayers by rote. The language the children learn to read and write is Shugnan (the Tadjik). Many children, however, get no other instruction than what their parents can give them, and, in consequence, only speak Vakhan.

In some houses little wooden slates hang on the walls with the Persian alphabet for the instruction of the children, and as a useful memorandum for the adults. If there be a school in the kislak or in its neighbourhood, both boys and girls are sent there at the age of seven or eight. If a man does not send his children to school or to the wandering Mullah, the elders of the town remonstrate with him in the matter ; but he is quite independent, and can do as he likes in this respect.

The poor people often send their boys into the service of the rich ; but never the girls. As soon as the children are able to run about and take care of themselves they are allowed to do so. During the summer the boys as a rule go about quite naked, and flock together on the flat roofs or in the gardens to play. One of their games, Bushull (Shugnan) or Shitik (Vakhan), is played with bone pegs, which they throw into the air, and the winner is he whose peg falls so that it stands on end in the ground. Another game, Djigand (Shugnan), is played with pins on which there is a hook. The children, dividing into two sides, fling the pins from one party to the other, who try and catch them on sticks by the hooks.

The children and young people are remarkable for the great modesty of their conduct towards their parents and elders. They are rarely heard to meddle in the conversation of their elders ; and when the grown-up people go to their meals the children always keep at a respectful distance. When a son receives an order from his father he always bows to him. It may be said that implicit obedience and respect is common both in the family and the community. Great respect is always paid to old people, and each old white-beard is called Baba (grandfather).

The ordinary salutation of the natives to their superiors consists in crossing the hands over the breast and bowing, after which both hands are drawn down past the face, one after the other. If they want to show an exceptional respect they kneel down on the ground. The Vakhans salute their superiors by placing both hands on the forehead and bowing.

They salute their equals by pressing both hands together, and kissing their fingers to them ; and when saluting a very dear friend they touch him under his chin with one hand and then kiss the hand which has touched him-sometimes they kiss both his hands.

If a man of quality comes to a kislak, whether he be a foreigner or a native, he is always received outside the kislak by a deputation of the men of the town, headed by the Kasi and Aksakal and the elders, who welcome him with a Salam Aleikum. They also bring him gifts consisting of bread, and fruit, and eggs, and the like. Whether he be foreigner or Mussulman, he is entertained free for three or four days, but if he remain longer he has to pay or work for his food.

CHAPTER IX

The Administration-Punishment-Caste-Slavery-Coins-

Weights and measures-Commerce

IN these provinces the customs are most patriarchal. just as the father is the unrestricted master of the family, the Aksakal (chief magistrate of the village) has the executive power in the village, whilst the Kasi is the judge-all under the rule of their changing sovereign princes. The Aksakal has an assistant, Harbab, which means "in every way." The Harbab has the responsibility of seeing that strangers who come into the town get what they need for their support.

For all minor crimes and offences the Kasi of the village pronounces the sentence, which is executed by a person commanded to do so by the Aksakal. These punishments generally consist of fines and floggings ; more severe punishments can only be executed by permission of former sub-princes under the Emir of Afghanistan, and capital punishment only by the Emir of Afghanistan.

Slight crimes are often very severely punished. Thus a Kasi told us that a man who confessed a theft, or was caught in the act, was flogged the first or second time, and the third time his eyes were put out and his hands cut off.

If a man, accused of theft, deny his guilt, he must place his hands on the Koran and swear that lie is innocent by his own death and the death of his wife and children and cattle.

If a man kill another man, a sentence of death is pronounced by the Kasi ; and when the sentence has been ratified by the prince of the province the punishment is executed with a knife by an executioner ("djalat"). If the relations of the slain man demand it, the prisoner may be stoned to death or killed by the axe of a man appointed to this office ("quatil"). If the family of the man that was killed agree, the accused may free himself by paying a large fine.

During the time of the former Shahs or Mires, caste existed, so that all offices were inherited, and the poor man, whatever his talents, was as a rule forced to remain in the same social position which his father had occupied. There is still left a remnant of this division into castes, and the descendants of the former officials, who, as a rule add the title Beg to their name, are the only ones who can occupy the leading positions in the villages. These people all employ the Shugnan (Tadjik) language, but they also speak Vakhan.

Until the middle of the last century slavery existed throughout this country. Each Kasi and Aksakal had both male and female slaves ("k'galam"). The slaves were sold and bought. The Siaposh generally provided them with these slaves, whom they robbed from the neighbouring districts, especially from Chitral and Kundut. A good male slave was worth about seven pounds. Payment was, as indeed was the case with all other wares, made by barter, for the provinces have never had coin of their own. Yet, as a rule, Afghan money was known here, and Chinese coins were common, brought here by Chinese merchants who from olden time visited the provinces.

For weights and measures, primitive units are employed. A stone of the size of a clenched fist ("gharr") represents the unit pau-a pound ; and four paus make one nimkhurd. As a measure of length, the arm's length from the shoulder is employed, called one ghaz.

Commercial intercourse with the outer world is, and has always been, very slight-partly by reason of the secluded situation of the provinces, shut off as they are from civilisation by the most mighty mountains of the world, and partly on account of the poverty of the people. The foreigner-Chinese, Afghan, or Indian merchant-has seldom come to these parts, where he could only expect to get cattle in exchange for his wares, whilst the native for the same reason has been unable to perform long travels in search of commercial adventure. Perhaps this seclusion is one of the reasons why epidemic illnesses are so rare. Yet the healthy mountain climate, at these high altitudes presumably quite devoid of infection, must be considered chiefly responsible for this immunity.

CHAPTER X

Sickness, death, funerals, tombs-Mazars and holy altars

THE natives everywhere look strong and healthy. They are a lean, hardy, muscular people, bearing the stamp both bodily and mentally of the hard struggle for daily bread and of their sportsmanlike climbing of the mountains. Stout jolly people are never met with-the type is a slender, sinewy sportsman of earnest countenance.

These mountain valleys have from time immemorial been famed for their healthiness, and the people live to a hale old age. To this reputation everything bears witness ; we met old men walking about, hale and active, at the age of a hundred years-and some few were even a hundred and twenty-five. But I also suspect that the delicate and the fragile die very young, killed by lack of hygiene and of delicate food, the strong alone surviving childhood.

Tuberculous diseases do not seem to exist. A few pockmarked persons proved that small-pox has claimed victims. Diseases of the stomach are common, perhaps owing to the scarcity of salt, which has to be imported from distant parts and is very expensive. It is often used for payment instead of money. Rheumatism and rheumatic affections are rather common in Vakhan, probably due to the perpetual strong western wind, and to the fact that the people rest and sleep on the ground with little but a rug or some rags of skin to lie on. Weak eyes and headache are easily explained by the perpetual wind, the sun's glare, the sand and dust, the smoky hearth-room, and the utter lack of cleanliness.

In the village of Nut a great many of the people suffered from an illness which took the loathsome form of horrible ulcerating yellowish white sores and tumours, which spread all over the body. This is presumably a form of leprosy. They attribute it to some springs whence the village gets its water, as the people in another part of the village who get their water from a mountain stream do not suffer from this loathsome disease at all. We therefore took samples of the water from these polluted streams, and had them examined upon our return to Denmark; but they were only found to contain salts of natrium, callum, calcium and magnium.

These people know of scarcely any medicines except those which are connected with their religion or superstition. Now and again a wandering "medicine-man" comes from one of the neighbouring provinces of India or Afghanistan with a bag of herbs, which he prescribes quite promiscuously against all ills. The natives also bathe in the hot springs, to which, not without good reason, they attribute a healing influence. I have already touched upon the prayers written upon scraps of paper which are attached to a string and fastened over the part where the disease has its seat, which are procured from Ishans, wandering Mullahs, Dervishes, and Calenders ; besides these there are numbers of other superstitious preventions against sickness used by these folk. Thus it is a safeguard against all disease to wear a piece of a bear's heart, or an amulet of a bear's or an eagle's claw. It is as good as a blessing to carry about the horns of snakes. They believe that snakes with horns are found in the mountains, and they will produce a piece of bone or the old tooth of some animal found on a mountain slope, which they believe to be the horn of a snake ! When they are ill they tear a piece off their clothes, touch the suffering place on their body with it, and then place the rag on the grave of some holy man, believing that his spirit will take away the illness. Sometimes they tie this rag to some fantastic-looking tree in a lonely place, believing that the disease will be transplanted into the tree.

Sick people, or those who are in distress, often go to a lonely place, some strangely shaped rock, some mystically formed ravine-some place where there is a good view or a high pass being preferred. Here they build a cairn, either just a pile of stones, or a pile of stones in the shape of a chimney, and then they smear the stones with fat. In Arabia they have this same custom of smearing the holy stones with fat. The rags I spoke of are also placed on these cairns ; and the people who afterwards pass such a cairn always add a stone, or decorate them with the horns of the kiyik. These cairns are found all over Pamir, for the Kirghiz nomads have the same custom. To sleep near one of these cairns during the night is very common, as the people think that the place is safe against wicked men or against evil spirits, which play a great part in their life.

When a man is very ill he is often carried by his friends to such a cairn, an old one being preferred, or to the grave of some holy man. If he seems to be at death's door, he is brought to his home where, if possible, he dies out of doors on one of the mud-built platforms outside the house, to prevent his spirit haunting the house after his death.

When a man is dead, or in the agonies of death, all his relations come to mourn his loss, and prayers are said at the body, and earthenware lamps kept burning. The corpse is washed in hot water, and if the dead be a man his body is dressed in a white costume consisting of three articles of dress, the Sinaposh, the Hajaposh, and the Chaudir-this last garment covering the whole body and being tied together in a knot on the head ; a long handkerchief is also tied above the outer garment and round the head. For a woman the white shroud consists of the Piran (chemise), the Tumbun (trousers) and the Chaudir (tent)-this last covering the whole body like the man's, and round the head also is wrapped the handkerchief (Chil).

The body, upon a primitive bier of willows, is carried to the grave on the shoulders of four men, and is placed in the tomb so that it is stretched out at full length, the head resting much higher than the body. The head is to the north, and the body is so turned that the eyes are almost towards the west, and, to prevent the body from turning round in the grave, clods of earth and stones are placed on the eastern side of it. A man's grave is the depth of the height of a full-grown man to his waist. A woman's is to the depth that would reach to her neck.

The men, women, and children of the dead man's family are present at the funeral. Prayers are read at the grave, lamps are lighted, and all kneel down numberless times and pass their hands over their faces.

Then the shroud is opened a little, so that the face, hands, and feet shall be free, and the dead be able to arise on the Day of Judgment. If this be omitted, it is said the dead will bite the shroud asunder, when all his relations and their cattle will die.

When the grave has been filled up, a mound is always made over it, and it is sometimes surrounded by a high stone or clay wall, according to the social standing of the dead man, his riches, or his holiness. If his piety were remarkable, the grave is especially ornamented.

On all graves there is erected a mound of clay, and sometimes this mound is covered with white stuff, whereon are placed flowers, berries, and corn. On the top of the mound is generally placed a round or rounded stone. I cannot discover whether this stone, which is also often found on graves in other parts of Pamir, has any connection with the holy black stone at Mecca (the natives themselves could give no reason for its use), but there is just the possibility that this is the case, as it is also found in holy places, as we shall see later on.

On the side of the clay mound facing the cast there was always a small rectangular niche wherein earthenware lamps or torches were placed at the festivals. In some places several rectangular mounds were placed in terraces, one above the other. This way of adorning the graves we also find in some places along Amu Darya in Transkaspia, and in Khiva.

The graves of the well-to-do are surrounded by a high stone wall with a small wooden door, yet in most places there was no entrance to the grave ; one could only look at it through some crescent-shaped holes in the southern part of the wall. I was told that, on festival days, prayers were said through these holes to the dead.

In many places in Vakhan, Ishkashim, and Garan, the common graves (gur, Persian for grave; guristan, the burial place) are often grouped round a so-called mazar. The mazar is the grave of a man who by reason of his holy life is looked upon after death as a saint who can intercede with God for the people on earth. This mazar is always adorned in a special way-just in the same way that the Kirghiz in Pamir and the people of Turkestan, Khiva, and Bokhara adorn the graves of their holy men.

As a token of its holiness, masts are raised, on which wave tails of the yak-ox ("tok") or red and white rags, as banners ("alam") ; and if the place is especially holy, a metal or earthenware pot ("kobba") is placed on top of the masts. These vessels are of the same shape as the so-called weeping pots. The mazar is also adorned with horns of the kiyik and of oxen, and with strangely shaped stones, and lamps.

The mazar Khodja Radiab in the kislak of Barshar is such a saint's grave. It consists of a small mud hut, to which leads a small wooden door. The edges of the flat roof are covered with horns of the kiyik, and in the middle of the roof is a collection of these horns twisted into a figure that makes one think of a crown. In the sepulchral chamber was the usual clay platform to the memory of the dead teacher, the righteous Khodja Radiab, who was said to have lived one hundred years ago ; and on top of the platform, which was overlaid with plaster, was a strange figure formed of plaster. I cannot make out whether this figure, the broadest end of which lay just above the head of the saint, where offerings are burnt on festival days in the hook-formed figure, has any special religious meaning. This was the only one found in South Pamir. It resembled somewhat a sword or staff-it may possibly be meant to represent the staff of a dervish. Beside the platform was placed a wooden log on which stood two little earthenware bowls for torchlights made of the same brown dough of which the torches used in the houses of Vakhan are made.

In all difficulties, in sickness, poverty, and accidents, or in order to get certain wishes fulfilled, both men and women come to the mazar to pray to the dead saint to intercede for them with Allah. They offer up sacrifices on the grave, of the most extraordinary things-horns, wreaths of apricot kernels, wooden spoons, wooden dishes, and so on-and festivals are often celebrated in the sepulchral chamber itself, when sheep are killed and given to the poor, whilst torches are burnt on the grave.

Besides the mazars there is in almost every kislak a small house of prayer-a little low mud hut with a clay altar, on which stand little bowls or lamps ("chirak") of earthenware or copper or iron, to hold a wick and fat, as in Turkestan. These bowls or lamps are religiously kept burning by people when in trouble. Often round black stones or old cowhorns are placed beside the lamps.

In 1896, in a wild romantic narrow ravine in Garan, through which a small mountain stream runs to the Pandsh, I found some ten or eleven little black clay bowls of the size and shape of an ordinary Indian-ink bowl on a terrace in the rocks. They were undoubtedly placed for use in this ravine, for there were remains of the combustible black torch-dough in some of them, and small burnt wooden sticks lay beside them. They were probably employed in some religious rites, in which the fantastic dark ravine, blasted by the frost into weird shapes, undoubtedly played a part. A specimen of these bowls, which I pocketed to examine, is now in the National Museum of Copenhagen. The rest were lost, being packed in a box with other baggage which was lost, being on the horses that fell from a mountain slope in Garan into the Pandsh river.

Just as the most holy place in Garan is at the springs with the altar by the river Garm-chashma Darya, so in Vakhan and Ishkashim an altar, or rather a monument, to Hazreti Ali, seems to be the holy of holies. The natives do not know to which Ali the monument was erected ; but there is scarcely a doubt that he was the son-in-law of Mahomet; indeed he plays a greater part in the religion of the Shiites than Mahomet himself.

The Persians who are Shiites always call on the name of Ali when in distress. When they lift a heavy weight, they cry at each pull : "Ali ! Ali ! " and the Persian pirates on the Caspian likewise shout at each stroke when they pull the oar very hard Ali ! Ali!

This monument in Vakhan is said to have been erected in memory of the holy Ali having once rested in this place. It is a small mud-built house about six feet high and nine feet square. The entrance to the house is through a small wooden door, and on each side of this door are the platforms so common in Vakhan, which are used for seats. In the house is a cubical clay altar about three feet high with a base one metre square, chalked all over. On the altar were placed two large rounded black stones of seventeen centimetres diameter; and between these two stones was another like them but smaller, of the size of a hen's egg. Beside the large round stones lay two cow-horns for tooting-horns; round one of these was a copper ring. On a small shelf at the top of the altar was placed a small earthenware bowl which was used as a lamp. On the front of the altar was placed a small lamp in a little triangular niche. It was made out of a hollow stone, and beside it was an iron lamp with a wick ("chirak"). At the foot of the altar, on a shelf, were placed two candlesticks of copper, or rather two bowls which were fastened by some twisted copper branches to stands, the pointed ends of which were fastened to a piece of wood on the shelf. In a hole in the wall, to the left of the entrance, was a white yak-ox tail, which is a still more holy symbol than a dark one. On staffs, which pass from the altar through a hole in the roof, wave red and white banners over the building, and on the end of these three flagstaffs were the so-called kobba, two of tinned copper and one of glazed clay. The house was surrounded by a shady well-kept orchard, enclosed by a high stone wall. Judging by the good state of repair of the house from the Vakhan point of view, and the care with which the house was cleaned and the orchard kept, and that an old man was appointed to guard the sanctuary-a Sait, a descendant of the prophet-this must be considered the very holiest place of the Vakhans. Later on we will go into its origin.

The Aksakal of the village told me that at the festivals of the new moon, which are celebrated at the house and in the garden, sheep are killed and eaten on the spot, the lamps are lit on the altars, and all present, men and women, stand bowing before the altar, their faces covered with their hands. At each New Year a great festival was celebrated at which a bull was killed. During the festivals they tooted on the cow-horns placed upon the altar.

The people have a story about the round black stones upon the altars to the effect that when Ali now and again dwells in the house he uses them to play at ball. This is probably a legend to show that the stones are a symbol of the strength of the saint. The horns which are placed on mazars and other holy places are a sign of strength.

In Bokhara they say that in some place in Asia there is a religious sect called Lakhe, of which the people have sanctuaries of a kind similar to that of Hazreti Ali, where both men and women come together at the festivals. From the men present there is one chosen, and his eyes being bandaged, he now, whilst blindfolded, chooses one of the women present, and this woman stays in the house twenty-four or twenty-five days, the man visiting her blindfolded every night, and living with her during that time as if she were his wife.

The native Kasi and Aksakal, however, denied that such a custom existed here. I cannot say whether the word of the Kasi and Aksakal can be trusted. It is, however, certain that amongst the so-called Fire-Extinguishers, a sect or variety of the Parsians, the Lures and Dushikkurds of Persia, it is the custom, in buildings erected for the purpose, to meet once a year, extinguish the holy fire, and mix sexually, regardless of age or position-unmarried women and children not being present at these orgies. The Mahdak sect, and the Avesta religion which had formerly many worshippers in Transoxania, had similar religious orgies. According to a later statement of a Kasi in Garan, it is probable that this custom has also been followed in Vakhan in the sanctuary of Hazreti Ali.

Besides the altar Hazreti All, there is still another sanctuary in Vakhan which is held in special awe by the people. This is the so-called " mazar " situated about two hundred metres west of the cleft through which runs the road from Vakhan to Garm-chashma. Both in the valleys of Pamir and in High Pamir amongst the nomads the name mazar is given to the sepulchral chamber or the specially adorned tomb of some righteous or holy man. But this sanctuary was called "mazar," though nobody knew why it was here; it had no special name ; the Vakhans only knew that it was very old, and that no one was buried under the monument -a statement most likely correct, as the place for a great distance round about was solid granite. A Beg from Bokhara, Mirza Abdul Kader, who by order of the Emir came with us on both expeditions as an interpreter, told us that the sanctuary was not a "mazar" but a "kadamga"- footprint - erected in memory of a holy man having set foot on this place. This is most probable, as there are many places in Arabia and Transkaspia where such holy footprints have led to the erection of monuments of many different forms. This one was a stone enclosure on a small rock- the stones were heaped up loosely on each other, and on top of the wall was placed one kiyik horn beside the other. At one end of the enclosure was a cairn ornamented with horns of the kiyik and with staffs, on the top of which was a kobba of glazed clay. Before entering the enclosure the natives cover their faces with their hands ; but they only knew concerning the place that it was good to visit it. Rags, which were hung up, showed that the people appeal here for cures against disease.

CHAPTER XI

The Siaposh and their fortresses in Vakhan

BEFORE we proceed to touch upon the religion of this people, it is necessary to understand the Siaposh, for the remains of their fortresses and carved designs on the rocks, together with the tradition of the Vakhans that the Siaposh of Kafiristan once lived in Vakhan, or rather were masters of the country, compel us to examine what remains of their power, for it is almost certain that their customs, religion, and mode of life have influenced and left more than a trace upon the life of these peoples.

These Siaposh, or Kafirs as they are also called-Kafir meaning infidel, being a term commonly employed by Mussulmans about people of other religions-are one of the most interesting tribes in Asia. They are not very much known, its the European explorer has been kept away from their territory, partly on account of their bloodthirstiness and partly on account of Russian and English political interests. Many wonderful reports are abroad about these people- amongst others, they are said to be descendants of the soldiers of Alexander the Great ; and their colour is said to be lighter than that of their neighbours, due to the fact, according to the Kafirs, that they had come from the West, from a country far away from Kafiristan.

A few travellers have succeeded in getting a glimpse of their country : the Mullah Nudjib, who was sent there by the British Embassy in Kabul in 1808; Captain Wood, who, in 1840, paid a visit into their mountain valleys ; Colonel Lockhart, who, in 1885, went from Chitral to the upper part of the valley of the Bashgul, a tributary of the Chitral river, and stayed there some days; and, finally, Dr. G. S. Robertson, who, in 1893, visited some of the Kafir or Siaposh tribes that live near English territory in North-West India. Much of the following information culled from these explorers I have had the opportunity of getting confirmed, and am able to add some information from the Kasi Khoda Da, who paid me a long visit during the wintering of the second Danish Pamir Expedition at Khorok, on the river Gund, in 1898-99. Born in Vakhan, and having studied at the Medressi in Faisabad, he had got an appointment in Badakhshan under the Afghans, but had fled to Russian territory, where he was appointed kasi in Ishkashim. This man, during his stay in Afghanistan, had often come in contact with the Kafirs, whom he knew well.

The country of Kafiristan, which is about 20,000 square miles, with a population of about 250,000, is situated directly south of the western part of the Hindu Kush, about 35' and 36' lat. N. and 70' and 71' long. E. of Greenwich. The country is chiefly narrow, deep mountain valleys of a north and south direction, watered by mountain streams of rapid current. The river valleys are separated by mountain ranges, which are very difficult of access-spurs from the Hindu Kush towards the south. The passes between the valleys are orjy devoid of snow a few months of the year, so as to be passable ; consequently the intercourse even between the inhabitants of the valleys is comparatively slight. Towards the north the country is entered partly by the pass of Mandal along the Koksha river to Badakhshan, which is very difficult of access, and partly by the more easy pass of Dora, by way of Sebak to Ishkashim, Vakhan, and Garan. Reckoned from west to east, the most important valleys are the Ramgul and Kulam valleys, through which run some tributary streams of the Kabul river ; also the Pressuia and Bashgul valleys, with tributaries to the river Chitral.

The valleys are said to be most picturesque ; many of them are so narrow and deep that the sun only reaches into them a few hours a day, and during winter they are always in shade, which gives them a most mysterious appearance. The main roads are always along the river banks, and are often very difficult on account of the fragments of rocks. Across the rivers bridges are built in several places, which above the water, very narrow, and with a very low parapet. Sometimes they use, as in the Pandsh valley, a tree hanging out over the river, or the bridge is only a row of poles rammed into the river, over which one has to go very carefully. In the Pressun valley there is said to be a kind of pontoon bridge, and in a few places there arc wooden bridges.

In the valleys grow various fruit trees-pomegranates, mulberries, apricot and peach, grapes which the Kafirs make into wine, and horse-chestnuts. On the higher slopes there are wild olives and evergreen oaks, besides forests of fir and cedar, whilst the highest slopes are only covered with grass and moss.

The people live by agriculture, cattle-breeding, and hunting; and they rear bees. Wine, honey, and wax arc their most important exports.

The Kafirs, who are of Aryan origin, are divided into several tribes, each with its chief ; and the tribes are again divided into families. The tribes have each languages of their own, which, in spite of their common origin (see Trumpp, Burnes, Lister, and Elphinstone), are so unlike each other that, with the exception of the Siaposh proper, one tribe cannot understand the other.

As far as regards the main tribe, the Siaposh, the men are all agile, well-trained sportsmen, wearing black goatskins with a leather belt round the waist, in which hangs the indispensable dagger. In other tribes, white woollen garments are considered to be finest. The women, who are said to be very beautiful in youth, are short, and wear a kind of tunic. The hair is dressed in a hornlike way, or is worn hanging down the back under a small white woollen cap. Most of the Kafirs are dark-haired, yet, in some of the tribes, fair and red-haired people are found. Dr. Robertson tells that the Kafirs wear their hair long, hanging down their backs, which gives them a wild look. Our Kasi told that they shaved their heads, with the exception of a small round spot at the top of the head where it grows long, and is plaited. He told me that the men were very ugly but we must remember that he himself was a Mussulman. He also told me that the women wear a turbanlike head-dress, adorned with various metal plates.

The Kafirs are said to be more intelligent than their neighbours, to be of a reserved character, and to love intrigues and secret plots. Their religion is a kind of Buddhism mixed with many ancient Shamanistic elements. Idolatry, with sacrifices to carved wooden images erected in memory of dead people, within which images are supposed to dwell the spirits of the dead, holy song, dancing ceremonies on the graveyards, all play a great part in their religion.

Imra is the maker of all things, and besides him there are numbers of sub-gods of whom the god of war, Gish, created by Imra, is the most important. Valour is considered the greatest of all virtues, and, in connection with wealth, it is the best recommendation for becoming a chief ("yast"). Until 1896, when their country was occupied by the Emir of Afghanistan, they had maintained their independence of the neighbouring Mahometan tribes, whom they detest heartily, and whose religion they could never be made to adopt. The Mahometans, and those of their countrymen who had adopted Islam, always suffered heavily from the Kafir love of war - it is said that no Kafir marries until he has killed at least one Mussulman, whose head he carries home as a trophy. This is perhaps exaggeration. To kill their own fellow believers is considered a great sin, as their force against the Mussulmans is thereby diminished. Murderers stay in special sanctuaries, and can return by paying great fines. Each Kafir wears the same number of feathers in his headdress as the number of Mussulmans he has killed. Their weapons are bows and arrows, daggers, and old matchlocks. Besides the god of war, Gish, they have several other gods who each have their appointed task - thus cows, goats, and sheep have a god or goddess each to themselves. There are numbers of evil spirits, amongst whom a lord-demon and several sub-demons, who closely resemble Angro Mainyus (Ahriman) and his staff in the Zoroastrian religion.

They have a game which is played by throwing balls of iron, and the one who throws the best has to give the others a treat ; for they say Imra has given him the strong arm, therefore he must give a feast in honour of Imra.

It will be remembered that the altar of Hazreti Ali had stone balls like these.

The wife is always obtained by purchase, and by applying to the girl's father. As a rule a Kafir has several wives. If the husband die, his wives are sold by his relations. All births take place in special houses outside the villages, and the name-giving is carried out by an elderly woman, saying by rote all the names of the babe's ancestors-the name which is pronounced when the child begins to feed being its name. Our Kasi, Khoda Da, told us that the ordinary Kafir names were Darwah, Kamruk, Shotor, and Shurwah. He also told us that the Kafirs, some years ago, were frequently to be seen in Badakhshan, where they came to trade. They do not bury their dead, but place the bodies in wooden coffins on the hills or mountain slopes, often even near the road beside their houses, where the putrified corpses poison the air. By the coffins of the chiefs is placed a small staff bearing a rag; and often a wooden figure, or stone, is erected by the resting-place of the dead man. They make sacrifices to this figure, and victuals are placed there for the dead, especially by sick members of the family.

It is difficult to determine how far the dominion of these martial Kafirs extended. They were slave-traders and slave-robbers, and much dreaded by their neighbours. It is said that a few names of places in the northwest of Pamir originate from them. Possibly the advance of the Kafirs toward the north-west is connected in some way with the propagation of Buddhism to Khulm and Balkh - or Balikh, an old Turkish word which means supreme capital where Buddhistic drawings and pictures have been found. But if there be any connection between these two things, the Kafirs must have lived in Kafiristan at a much earlier period than the eleventh century, for the collision of the Buddhistic faith the Parsee religion at Balkh, the former Mecca of the Avesta people, and in Transoxania, must have come about in the first century. Buddhistic influence, however, may possibly have made itself felt for a long time in these parts. In Bokhara, Buddhistic idols were sold at the fairs during the earliest period of Islam, and not until the eighth century does Islam seem to have penetrated to the borders of Pamir.

Buddhism seems to have been the first religion which fought against the Parsee faith, and it is most likely that a fight raged in Transoxania and the more accessible parts of Central Asia between the Turans, who brought Buddhism from Tibet, and the Avesta people. Nor is it at all unlikely that the Kafir conquest of their present country took place through a war with the former inhabitants, and that they tried to extend their dominion further to the north of the Hindu Kush.

As the valleys of Pamir can never have had any special material interest owing to their poverty, a consideration which has not been wholly excluded even from religious wars, the Parsee faith has no doubt survived up here to a later period than in any other places. The Zoroastrian religion has undoubtedly existed in Vakhan up to the end of the nineteenth century-of course in a much corrupted form, and with many later additions, which, however, was already the case even two thousand years ago.

While it is very difficult, therefore, to decide whether the Kafirs have really extended their dominion to the north of Pamir and the mountainous parts in the neighbourhood, there is not the slightest doubt that they, not so very long ago, possessed Vakhan, where certain traces of them are found in the fortresses and strongholds they have left behind them. The present generation in Vakhan have from their forefathers the story of the conquest of Vakhan by the Siaposh ; indeed, they themselves have known the Siaposh to rob slaves from the province whilst it was under Afghan supremacy. It is said that Captain Wood, without knowing it, met with some of the Siaposh near Ishkashim, where they had their easiest access to the Upper Pandsh valley through the pass of Ishkashim.

When, in 1896, I passed through Vakhan, I paid a short it to some ruins of old fortifications which the Vakhans told me were built by the Siaposh - Siapush they called them. A closer examination of them was not made until 1898 by the second Danish Pamir Expedition, as I had then neither the time for it nor interpreters.

After a detailed examination of all the fortresses, and a thorough interrogation of the natives, we made sure that almost all the fortresses in Vakhan were built by the Siaposh. They were easily distinguishable from the others, for they were constructed with great military ingenuity and skill, which is in accordance with the tradition of their intelligence and very warlike disposition. Some of the older amongst the Vakhans can remember their grandparents speaking of the Siaposh living here when they were children ; and a comparatively well-instructed Kasi told us that it was at least 300 years since the Siaposh had reigned in Vakhan. Though one cannot attribute too much importance to the numerical statements of the natives, the condition of the fortresses seemed to indicate that they cannot date from a much earlier period. However, they may possibly be 500 to 600 years old, as even walls made of stones dried in the sun will last very long in this dry climate.

Besides the Siaposh fortress spoken of, which was possibly connected with the cave fortress situated about 200 metres east of Varang, there are still some others. These are the large Siaposh fortress of Zengi-bar at Zunk -, a very large fortification west of Yemchin ; a smaller fort about 1000 metres east of Darshai, at the ravine already spoken about, which is a road to the river Garm-chashma Darya's upper course ; the fortress of Ka'a-Ka, about 1000 metres west of Namatgut, near the Pandsh ; a fort on the southern side of the Pandsh, near the river, on the hill at the middle of the pass at Ishkashim ; and a smaller fort about seven kilometres north of Nut, on the eastern bank of the Pandsh, in the province of Ishkashim. Here the line of Siaposh forts ceases, and no Siaposh ruins whatever are found further north in the Pandsh valley than this fortified place north of Nut.

All these military constructions are based on the defence of the provinces of Vakhan and Ishkashim, and are built most ingeniously. The fort of Zengi-bar, from its situation, barred the way against any invasion either from Vakhan or the valley of Pamir Darya. The fortress on the road from Darshal to Garm-chashma Darya barred the passes from Garan. The fortress north of Nut was alike calculated to stop the attacks of the Shugnans and Garans. The main fortress of the Siaposh, Ka'a-Ka, at Namatgut, is built just near the Pandsh, and was most likely so placed to bar the entrance to Vakhan from the south, through the pass of Istragh. It is situate only about twelve kilometres from the pass at Ishkashim, through which the Siaposh themselves poured into Vakhan, so that, in the event of being forced to retreat, they were near the line of retreat by way of Sebak and the Dora or Nuksan passes, or the pass of Istragh, along the river Chitral to Kafiristan.

The possibility that the Siaposh have gone further north along the valley of the Pandsh to Garan, Shugnan, Roshan, and beyond is not excluded by the fact that their fortifications cease at Nut, for they may have been driven back from the north at an earlier period and their fortifications pulled down after their retreat, whilst their large fortifications in Ishkashim and Vakhan on their line of retreat would enable them to hold their ground in these parts for a long time. In the fort in the pass at Ishkashim they had a kind of fortified repli for the garrisons of the forts north of Nut and Ka'a-Ka, which secured their retreat towards the south.

It seems, however, most probable that they advanced no further north than the southern boundary of Garan-the narrow poor ravine, difficult of access, would not tempt them to advance further north-besides, in the pass of Darbatid, where the valley narrows exceedingly, the northern tribes would be able to defend themselves easily enough to be a match for them. Indeed, they would perhaps be content to conquer the larger and populous valley in Vakhan and Ishkashim, and to settle down therein as the masters of the country.

Not only do the whole system and the skill in choice of the situations fur the fortresses in Vakhan bear witness to their high military ingenuity, but the fortresses themselves are based on a carefully made plan, as we shall see by examining the three largest, Zengi-bar, Yemchin, and Ka'a-Ka.

It is said in Vakhan that Ka'a-Ka was a powerful Siaposh chief, who conquered all Vakhan and Ishkashim, and built many fortresses. His two chief generals were Zengi-bar and Rondh, or Rang, after whom the fortress at Zunk and the kislak of Rang got their names. In the pass of Darband, south of Barshar, the Tadjiks from Shugnan and Garan are said to have stopped the advancing Siaposh and to have built forts which are now in ruins ; later on they attacked the chief Ka'a-Ka, and the tradition is that Hazreti Ali himself descended to earth to head the Tadjiks against the Siaposh. Ka'a-Ka had to retreat with his whole army through the pass of Ishkashim to Kafiristan. It was in memory of this event that the sanctuary to Hazreti Ali was erected near the destroyed Siaposh fortress of Ka'a-Ka.

This seems to indicate that Islam came to Vakhan after the Siaposh were driven out, when the northern Pamir people of Shugnan, Badakhshan, and Roshan, by force of arms, compelled the Vakhans to adopt their religion. If we go by the story about Hazreti Ali's combat with Ka'a-Ka, it seems to be the Shiite sect which supplanted the Parsee religion in Vakhan, as Ali is the chief prophet of the Shiites, and the recognised successor of the prophet. This agrees with Captain Wood's statement that the Vakhans, during his journey along the southern bank of the Pandsh, at any rate officially belonged to the Shiite sect.

The people of quality amongst the Vakhans-Kasis, Aksakals and greater landowners-form, together with their families, a kind of superior caste. They only speak Shugnan amongst themselves, and the old Vakhan language seeins to have degenerated into a peasant-dialect. The lower classes generally can only speak Vakhan.

It is probable that this governing class came into Vakhan with the Shiite Tadjiks coming from the north, and that they kept their dominion over the native Vakhans after the Siaposh were driven out.

THE SIAPOSH FORTRESSES AND CARVINGS ON STONES

Zengi-bar is situated about three kilometres from Langarkish, between that kislak and Zunk, on a high isolated slaty rock about a hundred metres high, and very difficult of access. The rock, judged by the position of the layers, looks as if it might have slid down from the mountain slope to the north. The rock falls steeply away on all sides, and in several places its sides are perpendicular as walls. The fortress is built on the upper plateau of this rocky eminence, which has a circumference of some 458 metres, its walls and towers standing right at the sheer edge of the plateau. It dominates the surrounding territory, and it was clearly intended to defend the people against attack from the north-east-from Pamir and Vakhan Darya. It is built exclusively of flat pieces of slate, without any framework ; this slate being formerly cemented with mud. The walls and towers, which are still well preserved, in some places rise to a height of seven metres above the plateau and are a metre in thickness. The square towers are provided with loopholes and are ornamented with a belt of stones placed edgewise and running round the entire fortress. All the way round the wall is flanked by twelve main towers, besides some smaller ones, and the walls are thus shaped in accordance with the form of the plateau so that there is not a single place outside the fortress which was not raked from the walls. Inside, along the whole wall, there are remains of buildings with rooms for the garrison, and in these are still well-preserved hearths, and niches in the walls for the storing of household utensils and weapons. In the middle of the fortress, within the line of houses throughout its length along the outer wall, are the remains of a larger building, the walls of which still indicate that they have been coated with plaster, and in which we find the niches so common in Central Asia for the storage of household utensils.

GROUND-PLAN OF THE RUINS OF THE SIAPOSH FORTRESS ZENGI-BAR

A-B: irrigation channel. C: outer walls and towers. D: Ascent to the gate. E: brick cistern. F: ruins of a dwelling, probably the one occupied by the chief.

This building is so large that it would hold several hundred people. It was divided into four halls, and was probably the residence of the chief. In three places in the fortress were found remains of three cisterns of brickwork to hold the water supply, and remnants of vaults built over them showed that they were covered over to hinder the evaporation of the water and to keep out the dust and dirt blown hither by the wind. The covered wells are also found in Bokhara, Khiva, Persia, and the neighbouring lands. Besides this large building for the chief were some smaller ones inside the walls, which presumably were occupied by the garrison with their horses and cattle and provisions. A whole little township was within these walls, and it is most likely that all the Siaposh quartered in this town had their dwelling here. The entrance to the fortress was to the south-west, by an artificial rampart formed by the heaping up of stones and fragments of rocks, and along this rampart a road led to the only gateway of the fortress. This gateway, which was vaulted, is built of a very solid material of large roughly hewn granite blocks-as was the case also with the two towers which defend it. The gateway was shut most likely by strong wooden doors, but of these there is now no trace. Inside the gateway are several houses with numbers of rooms connected by small doors-the plaster on their walls is partly preserved. Several of these rooms seem to have had arched ceilings. They were most likely occupied by a strong force for the defence of the entrance. As in Parthian and Sassanide buildings, so here also, corridors are never found, the rooms opening into each other. The vaults of the buildings seem to have been round, not pointed, as was ordinarily the case everywhere in Central Asia. The roofs, which are all fallen in, or have been removed, were most likely flat and built of beams, with a layer of clay on top, as in other places in Central Asia; but the beams have been removed, either to be employed by the Vakhans for the building of their own houses or for firewood. A watering channel is led past the north-western side of the fortress along the foot of the rock, and an underground passage led from the rampart to the water channel; this passage has now fallen in almost completely. All the walls of the fortress are provided with loopholes constructed in such a way that the garrison were able to shoot downwards as well as along the walls.

The Siaposh fortress at Yemchin is situated about two kilometres west of the kislak of Yemchin, on a mountain slope which is very difficult of access, about 600 metres above the Vakhan valley. One can only reach it by almost crawling on all fours. The walls of this fortress have the considerable circumference of about 12 kilometres. It is built ingeniously on a terrace that juts from the mountain slope, and is surrounded by two very rapid mountain streams, the deep ravines of which, worn out by their erosion, are some hundred metres deep, forming a natural moat round the mountain fastness. Highest upon the mountain top, where the rivers go past at a distance of only some 200 metres from each other, and where the ground round the banks furthest away from the fortress is quite inaccessible, is the reduit of the fortress, which consists of an independent fort, something like Zengi-bar, with a high wall flanked by towers. From this reduit there is a long wall along the western stream right down to the edge of the terrace, where it bends and runs along the edge of the slope to the eastern stream. At the eastern stream, where the ground is easier of access, are two walls, one behind the other, so that the garrison were able to defend themselves behind the second wall in case the first was carried by the enemy; and, in order to further strengthen this wing, an independent fort was built on a small island in the eastern stream. The walls were built so that they could fire upon the whole of the ground in front, and were curved in accordance with the shape of the ground so that they were able to rake it lengthwise. The walls, whereof several were still left to a height of seven or eight metres, had loopholes in two stories, and the towers flanking them, which were of a corneal form and ornamented on the outside by zigzag-formed figures, even had three stories of loopholes. These loopholes were all directed downward, and narrower at the outside than at the inside, just like our modern ones. Smaller towers are built here and there at the foot of the larger flanking towers.

They hang like a gallery on the perpendicular precipice down to the rivers, and are provided with machicolations and loopholes for the raking of the riverbeds thing it was impossible to do from the larger towers. Along the whole length of the wall, from tower to tower, there were, and still partly are, covered rooms for the defenders, and the whole slope on which the fortress is situate, both inside and outside, is laid out in terraces, which were most likely employed for growing corn, a fact of which there were still some traces left, so that the garrison in case of siege had a provision of corn. The irrigation was easily performed by leading in the water from the upper course of the rivers. The fortress is built entirely of flat pieces of slate cemented with mud ; in several places in the walls, and on almost all the towers, the clay covering is still partly undamaged. In some of the towers the beamed ceilings, with their cover of flat stones and mud floors, are still in existence, but otherwise all the roof constructions have been removed. When we look at the finely polished towers, it is borne in upon us that the whole fortress must have had a very handsome appearance, and it seems almost incomprehensible that they were able to build such a mighty construction in defence of this poor mountain province, and still more incomprehensible that they were able to support a garrison large enough for its defence. It was clearly an enormous work. It must have taken several years to build such a fortress at a height of 600 metres above the Vakhan valley, on a mountain slope so difficult of access, even if the whole population of Vakhan had worked at it.

The fortress of Ka'a-Ka is situated about 1000 metres west of the kislak of Namatgut, on an isolated rock some forty metres high, near the Pandsh. Right opposite to it, on the southern side of the river, is the pass road from the kislak of Istragh across the Hindu Kush to Chitral. The whole edge of this isolated rock is crowned by the mighty wall of the fortress, with loopholes in stories, in some places three stories, in others only two, strengthened here and there by square or conical flanking towers, ten metres high. In the middle of the circle of the outer wall, at the highest part of the rock, is the reduit, or main fortress, where Ka'a-Ka is said to have lived. The fortress has, with its walls and towers, a circumference of some 450 metres, and in its western part there are still ruins of a large square tower, which was most likely used as a watch-tower. The reduit is flanked towards east and west by walls with towers. These flanks were connected with the outer wall so that the fortress was divided into two parts. Its defence was undoubtedly based on attacks from the southern river bank in Vakhan, for there is still another wall to strengthen this frontage below the general outer wall near the river Pandsh. The ends of this wall were probably connected with the periphery of the proper outer wall, so that it formed a complete whole with the main fortress. There were thus three lines of defence towards the south-the lower wall by the river ; the outer wall ; and the recruit with its flanking walls -whilst towards the north there was only one line of defence-the outer wall.

The reduit is situate higher up, dominating the rest of the fortress, and between this and the outer wall is a deep valley round it, so that it would have been very difficult for an enemy to storm. The valley seems to have been made deeper by artificial means, and possibly the stories of the walls and towers were got therefrom. Through the valley, at the northern part of the fortress, was led a channel which provided it with water. As attacks were expected from the south, the channel is of course in the northern part of the fortress, for thus the fastness would still be supplied with water, even if the southern wall were taken by the enemy. This wall, having been won, the fight would be continued from the reduit and its flanks, which still formed an independent fortress owing to its communicating with the northern wall as well as with the southern one.

This Siaposh fortress, being built so near the Pandsh, and so evidently being based for defence not only against the Indian people as they crossed the pass of Istragh, but also against the Vakhans on the southern side of the river, seems to indicate that the Siaposh had only conquered the northern river bank in Vakhan. Whether similar Siaposh fortresses are found on the southern side of the Pandsh we could not personally discover; but the Vakhans denied the existence of any such. Perhaps the Siaposh occupation of Vakhan was only of short duration, the conquests of Ka'a-Ka possibly remaining under Siaposh sway only so long as Ka'a-Ka lived-a thing which is common in realms founded by an eminent commander.

The fortress must have been exceedingly imposing in its original form. Several of its walls and towers still stand to a height of ten metres ; they are all built on a solid stone foundation on which stand the walls of unbaked clay, being everywhere at least a metre thick. From the larger towers and the walls of the reduit they were able to shoot through three stories of loopholes ; whilst, in the outer wall, there were only two stories of loopholes. Sloping brick descents, both in the reduit and below the outer wall, indicate the presence of underground passes from the reduit to the outer wall, and from the outer wall to the wall at the banks of the Pandsh. In a few places ramparts are constructed for the passage from the inner walls to the outer ones, and along the outer wall there are remains of buildings which show that all alone this wall there were covered rooms for the garrison.

On the middle of the smooth outer front there were ornamentations resembling a ribbon or border, made of small pyramidal figures stamped on the clay in rows, one above the other ; and above this border were semicircular figures with rays from the centre to the periphery. If the few and simple remains of Siaposh art be compared to the art of any other people, it must be said to be most closely allied to that of the Parthians.

These Siaposh fortresses far surpass the fortresses of the Vakhans in size and in their solid and ingenious construction. The Vakhan fortresses are also very primitive, and generally only consist of a high square stone wall built on some mountain terrace very difficult of access. But the Siaposh fortresses also surpass those in the more fertile provinces of Darvas and Kai-ategin, though these be situated nearer the centres of Asiatic culture ; for, whilst in those provinces we still find some old fortresses in good repair and the ruins of others, yet, from a military point of view, they cannot be compared to the Siaposh fortresses in the Upper Pandsh valley; indeed, these are only surpassed by the largest old fortifications of Turkestan, Bokhara, and Khiva, and only in regard to size, not with respect to the ingenious employment of ground.

No articles were found in any of these fortresses which could remind one of their former defenders, but possibly excavations here might lead to the unearthing of things of interest.

Other older remains which may possibly originate front the Siaposh, but about the origin of which we could learn nothing whatever from the Vakhans, were some stones of granite which we found in several places, and on which figures and signs were carved, which we carefully copied. Near the northern end of Langarkish, where a small tributary stream flows into the Pandsh, we found three such stones. On one is a figure which is a little difficult to determine, but is probably meant to represent a kiyik with the two backward-bent horns ; on another were two distinctly carved kiyiks ; and on the third were some strange signs resembling the figures on old Indian coins, and some hands. As has been said, the hand is constantly found in the flour drawings in the houses of Vakhan ; moreover, it is found in the figure erected above the altar at the hot springs of Shund in Garan, and on a monumental stone with a Persian inscription which was brought from Shugnan to the National Museum at Copenhagen. It is also found as a wall decoration in the temples of the Parsee of the present day in Yezd in Persia ; but whether it is connected with the Parsee faith or with the Siaposh sect cannot be determined-most probably, however, with the Siaposh.

A large block of granite, about a metre and a half high, which stood near the ravine, about 1000 metres east of Darshai, where there are the ruins of a Siaposh fortress, had, on its front side, which was smooth from the hand of nature, carved drawings representing a hunting of the kiyik with bows and arrows. On the top picture the figure furthest to the left probably represents a kiyik killed by the archer to the right, who is now aiming at the next kiyik. Below the upper design is carved the picture of a dog. As the Siaposh used bows and arrows, the drawings are possibly meant to represent their hunting exploits.

Near the waterfall at Darband, formed by the Pandsh, south of Barshar, we found a granite stone about a metre high, on which were carved four kiyiks. As all these stones were of hard granite, the figures may be of considerable age ; but whether they ivere carved by Vakhans or by the Siaposh it is very difficult to determine. Besides these stones we found one at a path between Hazreti Ali and Ka'a-Ka, on which there was a Tadjik inscription, and under the heart-shaped figure a carved frame in which there was writing in Shugnan (Tadjik): "Hussini-ai-ari mara tamasha kuni"; "Nai babari mara tamasha kuni" - which our interpreter translated : "A good wife and good children give a merry face" ; "A man with a merry face speaks well."