330 Notes on Kitfiristan. [No. 4. 



Griindiit ;* Hunzi ; Nagyr ; the Dardii country ; and other small 

 independent states on the western bank of the upper Indus, from 

 which several rivers flow in a south and easterly direction, and 

 subsequently fall into the latter river. The streams, to which my 

 remarks are principally confined, are the rivers of Kafiristan aud 

 Chitral or Kashkar, the Panjkorah or Lundaey with its several 

 tributaries, and the Gilgitt aud its feeders. All these yielded, during 

 the dynasty of the Persiaus, a great quantity of gold, which was 

 collected by their tributaries, the people of northern ludia.f 



Herodotus states, that the gold was not only collected from the 

 sands of the rivers, but was also obtained from mines; and, that 

 the Indians themselves paid to the Great King their tribute of 

 thirty-six talents in that precious metal. J 



In these regions were placed the fabulous griffins who watched 

 the gold ; and the gold-making ants of the size of foxes — some of 

 which, according to Ctesias, were to be seen in the menageries of 

 the Persian kings — that rendered the collection of the metal a 

 matter of great danger to the Indians. These little animals are also 

 mentioned in the Sanskrit epic poem of the " Mahabharata," or 

 " The Great War ;" and instead of ants might, and indeed in all 

 likelihood, have reference to a large species of marmot existing in 

 these regions: for these, when making their burrows, throw out the 

 fresh earth, amongst which quantities of gold were found. § 



* "There is a district N. E. of Chitral which is called Guujoot from the gold 

 which is found in it." Buunes' Cabool. This is the district called Gunjit by 

 Wood in his " Joueney to the Oxtts." 



f Herodotus : Thalia III. 102-105. 



% Ibid : Thalia III. 106. 



§ " The story has an Indian foundation, although it has been embellished by 

 Grecian fancy, and its native form occurs in the Mahabharata. " On the 

 solemnity of the inauguration of Yudhishthira as universal emperor, his feuda- 

 tories, princes, and people, bring him the natural or artificial products of their 

 several countries, as complimentary offerings. Various mountain-tribes bring 

 large lumps of the native gold denominated Fip-lika, because it is excavated by 

 Pip-likas," that is by large ants, such being the meaning of the term ; the Hindus 

 apparently imagining that the ants cleared away the sand or soil, and left the 

 ore exposed, and this simple notion was wrought into the extravagant marvels of 

 Ctesias and Herodotus." Wilson ; Ariana Antiqua ; pp. 136. 



