496 



NATURE 



[March 22, 1900 



the "farthest north" tiger ever bagged by an Englishman. 

 On his way back to Kashgar he hunted in vain for the 

 great Tian Shan stag (which he calls a Wapiti), and the 

 close association which this form of sport promoted with 

 the people of the country led to observations of their 

 social life and condition which inspires some of the best 

 writing in the book. At Kashgar he obtained a permit 

 from the Russian Consul to visit the Russian Pamirs. 

 This part of his story, illustrating the present position of 

 the Russians on the Pamirs, is instructive. He followed 

 the footsteps of Ney Elias down the vile mountain passes 

 and pathways of the Bartang (or Murghab) river, reached 

 Kila Wamar, where he was politely stopped by the Russian 

 authorities ; visited the new Russian post at Charog, and 

 the Afghan fort of Kila Bar Panj ; and after a detention, 

 which was as courteously arranged as could well be 

 expected under the circumstances (although the exact 

 reason of the order which prevented him from crossing 

 the Hindu Kush is not clear), he was given an escort of 

 three Cossacks, and sent back again to the Chinese 

 frontier. He recrossed the Hindu Kush by the Mintaka 

 into the Hunza valley, and so returned to India. 



Fig. I. — Ovis poll -iXvi^. 



Of the personal courtesy and hospitality of the Russian 

 officials, Mr. Cobbold has certainly no cause to complain. 

 Whatever may be the political ambition of the Russian 

 nation, or the spirit of international rivalry, it never finds 

 expression in the personal attitude of the Russian towards 

 the Englishman. In this particular, Mr. Cobbold's 

 evidence only confirms that of all English people who 

 have had close personal relations with educated Russians. 

 He was struck with the intelligence of the Russian 

 officers ; their frank avowal of their political views and 

 aims ; their knowledge of the frontier on both sides the 

 border ; and their rough but effective methods of dealing 

 with frontier tribes-people. He was surprised to find 

 that they were well acquainted with certain "confiden- 

 tial" reports of the Indian Government, and that they 

 knew precisely the turn that daily affairs were taking 

 from Kabul to the Afridi Tirah. But he admits that the 

 rough and ready system of local administration, those 

 methods which would enable a Petrovski to pacify our 

 northwest frontier for us "with looo Cossacks," are not 

 popular with the people ; and that on the whole Russian 

 rule is not much preferred to Afghan. One thing is, 



NO. T586, VOL. 61] 



however, tolerably clear from Mr. Cobbold's book, i.e. 

 that both Afghan and Chinese borders are carefully 

 watched against Russian trespass. The officer in com- 

 mand of the Russian outposts at Charog (? Khorokh) was 

 not on visiting terms with the Afghan commandant on 

 the opposite side of the Panja ; neither were matters 

 altogether pleasant for Mr. Cobbold himself when he was 

 mistaken for a Russian officer crossing the Chinese 

 border to Tashkurghan. 



Mr. Cobbold gives us his views at some length 

 on the Russian position in High Asia, and even revives 

 the moribund scare of an invasion from the Pamirs. The 

 keynote of his views is expressed in the title of a photo- 

 graph of the Kilik Pass, which is described as one of the 

 few passes by which India might be invaded. We pre- 

 sume that the Mintaka is another. But both lead to the 

 Hunza river defiles, and Mr. Cobbold, like many other 

 more careful investigators, has failed to reckon up the 

 requirements in provisions of the army of invasion, the 

 number of baggage animals that would have to follow it, 

 the amount of roadway necessary to get them along, 

 and the exceeding facility with which even a small 

 undisciplined force can stop a whole 

 army, when acting in difficult ground 

 and on the defensive. South Africa 

 should emphasise the lessons learnt 

 in Tirah, if such lessons are really 

 necessary.! 



There are just one or two points 

 in this connection which require at- 

 tention. The map given at the end 

 of the book is that published by the 

 Royal Geographical Society in 1896, 

 and is, of course, not authoritative. 

 But this hardly justifies the extension 

 of the boundary between China and 

 (presumably) Kashmir, by the red and 

 yellow line which is depicted to the 

 north-west of the Raskam river run- 

 ning right across the base of the 

 Tagdumbash Pamir. Nor would any 

 Russian authority admit the further 

 extension of that line in yellow and 

 green along the crest of the Sarikol 

 range. These extensions are Mr. 

 Cobbold's own. The Tagdumbash 

 Pamir is thus included in Kanjut, and 

 the Kashmir (or British) boundary is 

 made to march with that of Russia 

 at the Beyik Pass. Such an arrange- 

 ment altogether nullifies the pro- 

 visions of the Boundary Commission 

 agreement ot 1895 (quoted at the end of the book), 

 which provides that the boundary between Russian and 

 Afghanistan frontiers should be "prolonged in an easterly 

 direction so as to meet the Chinese frontier." There 

 is also a photograph of a "boundary pillar" on the 

 Mintaka Pass which is misleading. There is no 

 boundary pillar on the Mintaka. It is probably a 

 pillar erected by Captain Deasy for purposes of observa- 

 tion. There is a curious misprint, too, in page 259, where 

 Karakoram is written for Sarikoram, but as a matter of 

 fact the latter is not a recognised pass at all. It is only 

 a shikari's track. Again, in page 267, the Russians are 

 credited with handing over Wakhan to Bokhara. 

 Wakhan belongs to Afghanistan, and has never been 

 in Russia's possession. Mr. Cobbold's etymology is 

 likewise possibly open to question. In the regions of 

 the Upper Oxus the Tajik meets the Tatar ; the Aryan 

 and Mongolian races here join hands. But the Chitrali 

 of the Yarkhun valley hardly acknowledges affinity with 

 the Tajik of the Oxus. Both are of very ancient Aryan 



1 In the final chapters of his book Mr. Cobbold expresses contradictory 

 opinions, and even advocates the opening of the Kilik as a trade route. 



