140 



E. B. Shaw — On the Ghalchah Languages. 



[No. 2, 



History tells us nothing of their arrival in their present seats, nor 

 whence they came. Their own traditions, as far as we know, are equally 

 silent ; but perhaps their language may afford some indications. With this 

 view it is necessary to consider their geographical position. If a line be 

 drawn transversely across the paper from the upper left hand corner towards 



\ 



Indians 



the lower right hand corner, this will represent a portion of the Himalaya- 

 Pamir water-parting. If then on the left of this we draw a horizontal line 

 falling on the former at an angle, we shall have a rough representation of 

 the Hindu-Kush water-parting in its relation to the other. The tribes 

 which we are considering live in the acute angle north of the Hindu- 

 Kush spur; while in the obtuse angle which forms its supplement dwells 

 another group of tribes called the JDards. Beyond the Pamir mountains 

 live the Turkis of Kashgharia. 



With the latter of course the (xhalchahs have no connection of speech. 

 And, if they were simply the foremost tribes of an eastward migration of 

 the Persic race we should expect their language to have no closer radical 

 connection with that of their other neighbours, the Dards, than that of their 

 supposed parents the Persians or Tajiks has. There might have been an in- 

 terchange of words during the centuries that they have dwelt in one another's 

 neighbourhood ; but grammatical connection can only exist where there is 

 previous linguistic affinity and (roughly) in proportion to its closeness. 



If, moreover, the Dards were similarly an offshoot from the Hindu 

 race (sent up into the mountains after the settlement of the latter in India), 

 then as we know that the tongues of Persians and Hindus have diverged 

 from a common original, each successive offshoot from either would probably 

 get further and further apart in point of language. As Persian and Hindi 



