1895.] H. Gr. Raverfcy —Tibbat three hundred and sixty-five years ago . 117 
ravens of those parts, which doubtless, they banqueted upon to their 
hearts’ content. In this way we continued to proceed by conjecture, 
and next day we killed another wild yah, very much larger and finer 
than the previous one; and the following day it so happened that the 
Provider of Daily Bread furnished us with food in plenty. 
“ From the account given of this route by Jahan Shah, I conjec¬ 
tured, that in six days more we might reach inhabited tracts; but on 
the third day after separating from Iskandar Sultan, at about break¬ 
fast time [between sun rise and noon—the early forenoon], we reached 
a place where several men were, some of whom, household by household, 
came forward to meet us with great cheerfulness and good will. We 
inquired of them about the route and our destination. They told us 
that the darali or valley we were then in was called Ras-kam, 1 * and that 
from where we then were to the Pa-mir was five days’ journey. 
Having now reached the habitations of men, and such men as we here 
met with, we recovered from the hardships and troubles of years in 
the rest and ease we here obtained. The people took from us every 
horse whose strength had been exhausted, and exchanged with us, and 
replaced them with others very good and strong. Of food and drink 
they placed before us the best of every thing they possessed, and 
pressed us to partake. The men on beholding me would weep involun¬ 
tarily, and in passing me would say, in their own idiom: “ Thanks be 
to Grod, that of our sovereign’s descendants of four hundred years, thou 
at least art left. We are thy sacrifice, and we dedicate ourselves to 
thee with our families, and people, and all we possess.” At every 
place we reached, the whole of the people, with their families, used to 
accompany us, notwithstanding I forbade them to do so, and would 
willingly have excused them, but it was of no use, and for the space of 
seven days, they conducted us, with the utmost honour and kindness, 
and endearing expressions, to the Pa-mir, 3 and they even wanted to 
1 The route taken by the Mirza led nearly due west into the Darah of Ras- 
kam, through which a considerable river flows, which, in about the parallel of 76° 
east longitude, turns towards the north, and unites with the river of Yar-kand. On 
the south side of this darah a range of high mountains separates the Ras-kam from 
the Kanjut Darah, which routes are described in that part of my Notes on 
Afghanistan, etc., which has not yet seen the light; but some information respecting 
these parts will be found at page 315 of that work. 
This route taken by Mirza Haidar three hundred and sixty odd years ago, is 
that which, in the account of “ the Pevtsof Expedition,” given in the “ Geographi¬ 
cal Journal ” for July 1893, page 62, is said to be absolutely unknown ! I gave 
an account of it, from Mirza Haidar’s description, thirteen years before, in 1880, 
in my Notes which see. 
3 See Note 2, page 87. 
