Jee 
Vet L,/ts 
sKando 
306 On some reputed Descendants [Junz, 
will be said to excite the utmost curiosity, and it will be seen that I found 
ample encouragement in the investigation of such traditions while in 
the very seats of their existence. 
If it was believed that the chiefs of Badakhshdn and Darwdz 
alone laid claim to these hereditary honors, what was my surprise to 
find that there were six other personages established in them, at least 
to the satisfaction of the people. The chiefs that extend eastward of 
Darwdz, and occupy the provinces of Kilab-shagndn and Wakhan, north 
of the Oxus, assert the same descent. The Mersr or chief of Badakh« 
shan receives in modern times the honors mentioned by the Venetian 
traveller. He has the title of Shah and Malik, or king, and his chil- 
dren, that of Shdhzdda or Prince; but this ancient house has been 
subverted within these twelve years by the Muzr of Kiindaz, and Ba- 
dakhshan is now held by a Turk family. To the eastward of Badakh- 
shdn, and extending to Kashmir, lie the hill states of Chitral, Gilgit, 
and’ Iskardo, where the claims to a Grecian descent are likewise con- 
ceded to each of the princes. The first of these has the title of Shak 
Kator. The present ruler is of small stature, and possesses as great a 
celebrity in these countries for his long beard as the Shah of Persia. 
The chief of Iskardo occupies a singular fortress on the Indus and N. 
E. of Kashmir, which he has the hardihood to assert was constructed 
in the days of Alexander himself! This country borders on little Thi- 
bet or Baliz. Nor is this the ultimate limit of the tradition; for the 
soldiers of the Tuingané tribe, who are sent from the western provin- 
ees of China, and garrison Yarkand and the neighbouring cities, also 
claim a Grecian origin. They however seek with greater modesty a 
descent from the soldiers of ALEXANDER’s army, and not from the con- 
queror himself. 
Such is a correct list of the reputed descendants of ALEXANDER 
THE Great, and it is insome degree confirmatory of their claim, that 
the whole of these princes are Tajiks, or the aborigines of this country 
before it was overrun by Tiirki or Tatdr tribes. But how shall we 
reconcile these accounts with the histories that have travelled down 
to our times, whence we learn that the son of Puruip did not even leave 
an heir to inherit his gigantic conquests, much less a numerous list of 
colonies that have survived a lapse of more than two thousand years in 
a distant quarter of Asia? Whether their descent is viewed as true or 
fabulous, the people themselves acknowledge the hereditary dignity of 
the princes, and they in their turn claim every royal honor and refuse 
their children in marriage to other tribes. These Tajiks, being now con- 
verted to Islam, view ALEXANDER as a prophet, and to the distinction 
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