72 



Jtussian Mission from Orenhourg to Bokhara. 



with, except lapis-lazuli j besides it is not on any of the great com- 

 mercial roads.* 



To go to Cashmere from Badakhchan, the route lays either through 

 Kachghar or Peiehavver,! which appears to indicate that the mountains 

 which separate Badakhchan from Cashmere are impassable. 



In the mountainous country east of Bokhara and north of Hissar, are 

 found the Ghaltcha?, a poor but independent people, professing the 

 Mahomedan religion, of the Sunnie sect. Russian travellers give them 

 the name of Eastern Persians, and they know no other language; their 

 features differ much from those of the Tadjiks, and are even of a dark*, 

 er complexion than the Arabs of Bokhara. They inhabit miserable 

 cabins in the valleys, are all cultivators, possess .some cattle and very 

 few horses. 



Matcha and Ignaou are towns inhabited by the Ghaltchas, and situ- 

 ated to the north of Khokhan. A great number of Ghaltchas frequent 

 this place, to exchange their goods for what they require. 



This people extend further and further into the mountains, which are 

 at present little known. Beyond is the country of the Kafirs, who 

 Ihey represent as a savage and barbarous race. 



After passing Karateghin no more Mahomedans are met with. The 

 inhabitants of this town are, however, not barbarous ; the redoubtable 

 Kafirs dwell in Calei-khoum, called also Derwazeh, and situated on a 

 river of the same name. The country between Hissar and Derwazeh 

 is so mountainous, that it is often necessary to lead the horses by the 

 bridle. The roads are excessively narrow; and the precipices very 

 steep, at the bottom of which the Derwazeh rolls with a thundering 

 stream. Gold is found in the sands of the Derwazeh. For carrying 

 water, skins are generally used in Bokhara, which preserve the form of 

 the animal to which they once belonged. Those of sheep or wild goats 

 are considered the best. They are filled by an opening left at what 

 was the neck of the animal. The Bokharians tie the water-skin to a 

 rope, and throw them into the Derwazeh; the violence with which it 

 runs soon fills the skins with mud, sand, and some gold ; which last it 

 is afterwards easy to separate from the mud by washing ; but as it 

 never without alloy, its relative price to that of pure gold is as 18 to 21, 

 This custom may serve to elucidate a passage in Herodotus, where he 

 describes the means used by the Indians to obtain gold from sand. 



• There is a route through Badakhchan to Cashmere and Tibet, not through Cashghar 

 or Chinese Tartary.— 2Vaw#to<or. 

 + A third road as I before meatioaed asceads tUe Ojtus to its source, and goes by Juduek. 



