Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/615

Rh GILGIT part of the barrier is known as the Niludar Hills, and has to be passed by the traveller who enters Gilgit. from liashmlr, 2'.e., from India. The remotest source of the Gilgit waters is in a lake called Shundar, close above Mastuj, and by which one of the chief passes leads from Gilgit and Yassin to M-astiij and Chitral. The Ghizar river runs out of this, and, after a course of 60 miles, is joined by the river of Yassin, coming from the north. These two may be considered to form the Gilgit river. The Yassin river itself is formed by two streams joining 6 or Smiles above the village of Yassin, by each of which leads a pass. From the north—west comes the Tui or Moshabbar stream, by which lies the Moshabbar pass, probably at least 16,000 feet in height, and traversing a deep crevassed glacier for 8 miles. From where the road reaches the upper stream of Mastiij one path leads down the latter to )1-asti'ij, and another iip-streain, crossing by the Baroghil pass (12,000 feet), over the prolongation of Hindu—Kush watershed, into Vakhan and the basin of the Upper Oxus. By the other stream, called the “far- chagam river, coming from the north, a path leads over the Darkot pass to the very source of the Mastuj river, and so also to the Baroghil pass. Another im- portant stream, the Karainbar, joins the Gilgit river from the north, about 21 miles below the conﬂuence of the Ghizar 72 ‘I3 74 15 mil“. WA K H A_N ,,s5l"gu>’ iu» . 1 _ min-. ¢ .- -mm .1 5 - 4» _s‘.;'.‘é%4, ‘ _§§ P._=~ nee {:iii| -N‘ 1115:‘ _“'R l ,iinlii_J;Mil'J| .i,i§_ win.-.',.‘,§. _'.*"i“.""i*-.’“.‘~”f’5i'?Mli”2i3€»4"- 'Ji.1n.:l, - ii.’ A _ ié V _. );§~.‘-ii‘-Hg 1;”, . «, .,  ‘ g P pg; _;-it 141 7 : W.4.|¥£LCﬂ 59 Chart of Gilgit. and Y-assin river. This flows through the Ishkaman valley, rising in a lake called the Karambar Sar, said to have been formed in recent years by glaciers dammiiig up the stream, and by this runs the most easterly pass of those that lead from the Gilgit basin direct to Vakhan. It is believed to be very lofty and diiiicult, but it has not been explored. About 36 miles below the Ghizar—Yassin confluence, and 25 miles above the conﬂuence with the Indus, on the right. bank, stand the fort and village of Gilgit. Five miles below this the river is joined by the last important conﬂuent, called the N agar river. {ecent information suggests that this stream has a very lengthened course, ﬂowing, in fact, from the northern side of the Muztagh in the vicinity of the Karam- bar lake; and, if this be so, a large addition must be made to the Gilgit basin as a whole. But of this we have no deﬁned knowledge. The states occupying the basin of Gilgit are, or till lately were, the following :— 1_. }:assi'n._—Tliis embraces all the upper or western part of the basin, 1ncludin_g the Islikaman valley. For some generations, at least, the relations of this state with Gilgit were hostile, whilst it was in intimate or dependent connexion with the kings of Cliitral, aml held by a member of the same family. Indeed it was regarded and named as a subdivision of Upper Chitral. Vc have no present information as to the population or even the number of villages in 597 this lofty district ; but the route surveys show about thirty. The height of the chief place, Yassin, is 7770 feet. The country was visited twice in 1870 by a very gallant but not prudent traveller, Mr George Hayward, and on the second visit in July of that year he was murdered by the agents of the chief Mir Wali, whilst on his way to the Darkot pass, in hope of penetrating to Wakhan and the exploration of Pamir. It is believed that Yassin has recently been annexed by the troops of Kashmir. 2. Next below Yassiii is the small state of Pimidl or Punyd, long held by separate rajas, and held by them iioiv in dependence on Kashniir. It occupies the narrow valley of the river for a length of 25 uiilcs, and contains ninc villages, varying in height from 7000 feet down to 5500 feet. The villages are all within little forts, so that (as in Khorasan, and in Marco Polo's nanativc) villages and foits are synonymous. At evening, the people who have been occupied in their ﬁelds come within the wall, and the gates are closed. Sentrics guard the towers all night, and at dawn an armed patrol goes forth and makes the round of all places that might harbour an enemy, before the people issue to their avoca- tioiis. In this part of the valley there are frequent maumis pas on the mad, where passage is difficult, and where a few men might stop a host. 'l‘hcse are called by the old Persian name of darbaml (porta clausa), like the famous Iron Gate on the Caspian. The upper village of Puiiial, called Gakuj, was till recently the furthest point to which the power of Kashmir, and therefore the influence of the British Government, extended. It stands 6940 feet above the sea. Between Gakuj and Yassin the road passes through a natural gate of rock. The ruler of Punial is, or was in 1873, R-aja 'Isa Bligdur, an old man who, in his little kingdom of nine villages, displayed some of the best characteristics of a king,— feared by his enemies, liked and implicitly obeyed by his people. On meeting him they go up and kiss his hand. Gilgit occupies the remainder of the main valley down to the Indus, but we shall first speak of Hunza and Nagar, lying in the eastiiiost part of the basin, on the I'agar river. 3 and 4. Nagar lies on the left bank of the river, Hmzza opposite, and the two “capitals,” so to call them, lie just over against one another. They are distinct states under distinct princes, and their people of distinct Mussulman sects. Whilst Nagar sends a small complimentary tribute to the maharaja of Kashmir, Hiinza (also called Kaiijiid), a more warlike country, has often been at active cninity with him, coming down upon his villages in Gilgit, sweeping oil‘ the inhabitants, and selling them into slavery. Though the people of both states seem to speak the same language, Dr Lcitncr says the Nagar people are shorter, stouter, and fairer than the Hunza folk, whom he calls “tall skeletons" and desperate robbers. He says he met a man of N agar whose yellow moustache and general a ipeaiaucc made him believe almost that. he had seen a Russian. T ie Kaiijiidis are the terror of the Kirghiz on the upper waters of the Yarkand, and of the traders from Ladzik to that territory. 5. G'2'lgz't occupies all the lower part of the main valley to the Indus. If we take the whole length of the river, from the source in the Shundar lake to the Indus, at 135 miles (which, like the other distances here, is taken with a 5-iiiile opening of the com- pass, oinitting minor windings), Yassin will occupy 75 miles of this, Punial 25, and Gilgit 35. The lower part of Gilgit is a valley from 1 to 3 miles wide, bounded on each side by steep rocky mountains. The valley contains stony alluvial plateaus of various forms and at various levels above the river, which ﬂows between cliffs worn in these. The greater part of this space is barren, but as usual in those high regions there is in front of each lateral ravine a cultivated space watered by the tributary stream, and on that a collection of houses. The village of Gilgit is 4800 feet above the sea, and stands on a ﬂat plain of the river alluviiiin, forming a terrace 30 or 40 feet above the water. The cultivation hcre covers a square mile or tlicreabouts, irrigated from the nearest lateral stream. The houses are ﬂat-roofed, scattered over the plain in twos and threes, among groups of fruit-trees. The destruction was great in the wars to which Gilgit has been subject in the last half- ccntury, and it will take long before the village recovers the former abundance of fruit—trces. The fort of Gilgit is the chief stronghold of the maharaja of Kashiiiir in Dardistaii. There is very little snow—f-all at Gilgit. The vegetable products are wheat, barley, naked barley, rice (at Gilgit village only), maize, millet, buckwheat, various pulses, rape, and cotton; and of fruits, mulberries, peaches, apricots, grapes, apples, quiiices, pears, greengages, ﬁgs (poor), wal- nuts, pomegranates, and elwcigazzzs, besides musk and water- melons. Silk is grown in very small quantity. There are three fabrics from it,—one half—wool, much worn by those above the common peasant, one half-cotton, and the third all silk, strong though loosely woven, and prized for girdles. Gold is washed from the river-gravels as in many other
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