It is now nine years since these wars have taken place or two years after

the conclusion of the war with Yasin. The Maharaja wrote to Zoraweru

that after all what he wanted to conquer were the countries of Nagyr and

Hunza, as there was no profit to be gained from Gilgit and Yaghistan,

whence hitherto, he said, “we have only reaped stony districts and

loss of men,” [in reality, Gilgit and Yasin are fertile, whilst Hunza

is “stony”]. Zoraweru at once set out for Nômal, which is twelve kôs

from Gilgit in the direction of Nagyr and sent Mehdîn Khan of Bunair

and Sultan Wazir of the Janheri descendants and Saif Ali, Commandant,

with 8,000 infantry. Zoraweru himself remained at Nômal in order to

facilitate communications and bring up help, if necessary. The army

advanced next day to Chaprôt, Guyétsh and Hini, of which the latter is

in Nagyr and the former in Hunza and encamped between these places on

a plain.[101](?) Guyétsh and Chaprôt are on the frontier of Hunza. Its

inhabitants speak the same language as the people of Hunza. Hini was on

the other side of the army and is on the frontier of Nagyr. The Chief

of Chaprôt is Shah Murad Wazir, whilst Sirdar Mamal Beg is at Hini and

Phagoi, the Lumbardar, at Guyêtsh, whose son is Shukar Beg, a brave young

man. The chief command of the invading troops was given to Sultan, who

had previously sent a man, Uruz Ali, to the Hunza Raja, to announce his

arrival. He told him to lie in ambush at Nilamutsh in order to destroy

the troops under the other Kashmir Officers. “I will draw off,” he said,

“half the army in the direction of the Valley.” Uruz Ali was by origin

a Hunza man who had settled at Gilgit. The Raja of Hunza acted on the

advice thus sent. When Wazîr Sultan came to Nilamutsh, he started with

some youths towards Chaprôth. Now Nilamutsh is a place so surrounded by

inaccessible and high mountains that escape from an enemy who occupies

them is impossible and even a great army is helpless. No one prevented

or questioned the movements of Sultan, who advanced about one kôs out of

Nilamutsh—Mahdin and Saif Ali now entered the place when they were at

once assailed with stones and bullets on every side by invisible enemies

and lost 400 young men killed between forenoon and evening. Two Nagyris

only were wounded, one being shot through the mouth who is still alive

and the other receiving a bullet in his thigh from which he subsequently

died at Nagyr. When the surprised Generals consulted at night on the

events of the day, they inferred from the absence of Sultan and the fact

that he had got safely through Nilamutsh, as well as from the unexpected

presence of the enemy, that treachery had been at work. The reason of

this conduct was that Sultan, although the bravest to fight on behalf

of the Maharaja, had not been rewarded with land as Isa and Azmat had

been, but had remained under the direct orders of Zoraweru, who had put

him forward in the war in order to get him killed and who had poisoned

the Maharaja’s mind against him. “However,” the Generals added, “at

present we must think of getting out of this place; otherwise not a man

will remain alive to tell the news at Nômal.” They then decided, on the

suggestion of Saif Ali, to send two Dareylis, Firôz and Kúweti, into

the Hunza lines, as they might have influence with them, being also

Yaghistanis, in order to secure the safe return of the Army. The task

was reluctantly accepted by the Dareylis whose presence in the Sikh Army

naturally compromised them. However, they went and swore on behalf of the

Sikhs that if they were allowed to depart no future invasion should ever

take place. Naudin, the Wazir of Nagyr and Ghazanfar of Hunza refused,

on which the Dareylis requested that they might be shot and their bodies

thrown in the valley, as a proof that they had done their best and failed

in their mission. “We are Mussulmans and you should forgive us and as a

natural consequence those whom we represent.” The men now prepared for

death, when Naudin interposed and got their request sanctioned, on the

understanding that the Sikhs would at once return to Gilgit or else he

would attack within an hour. The Kashmir Army, which had been re-joined

by Sultan in the meanwhile, were only too glad to get away on these terms

and returned to Nômal. Sultan gave out that he had gone ahead in order

to clear the road in advance. However, Zoraweru was informed of the

treachery, and, at once, put Sultan in chains and sent him to Jammu with

a detailed letter under strict charge of Sirdars Baghdùr Shah and Ghulam

Haidar and ten soldiers.

Zoraweru then took the army back to Gilgit. When the Maharaja read the

letter, from which it appeared that no one except Sultan’s _confidant_,

Urùz Ali, who, the Gilgitis said, was always going backwards and forwards

to Hunza, could have gone to inform the Hunza people of an attack, which

must have been successful, had they not been forewarned, he condemned

Sultan to imprisonment for life. I think that it was a got-up affair,

for Zoraweru had often and in vain tried to take Hunza-Nagyr. As a proof

of this I may mention that Hilli Shah of Hunza had come to Gilgit a few

days before the expedition to buy merchandise. The Wazîr sent for him,

gave him money and took him into his confidence. Seven days after he

asked Hilli Shah to assist him in an attack on Nilamutsh which he was

contemplating a month hence. Hilli said that he and his brother Mirza

Khan, an artilleryman famous for his bravery and influence, would guide

the Sikh Army through Nilamutsh into Hunza. So they swore to abide by

this plan and the Wazir dismissed him with a present of Rs. 40 and a

Lungi. He also promised great rewards in the event of the success of the

expedition. Hilli Shah told Mirza Khan, who was delighted. Uruz reached

Hunza after Hilli Shah and told the Raja of it, who sent for Hilli Shah

and enquired from him whether he had heard anything at Gilgit about

the movements of the Sikhs or of an attack on Hunza. Hilli Shah said

that he had not been to Gilgit and had heard nothing. However, the Raja

noticed the Lungi which Hilli wore and which Uruz said had been given by

Zoraweru. When he set out to surprise the Sikhs he sent for the brothers:

Mirza Khan came at once, but Hilli Shah hid himself at Gakkarkôt, five

kôs above Hunza. When Ghazanfar returned from the war, he sent for Hilli

Shah. The messenger found him returning from a hunting expedition and

brought him to Ghazanfar who asked him, why he had not gone to the war

against the infidels; “has the Lungi on your head bribed you?” and added

“it is improper that you should live.” He was accordingly cut into pieces

(literally) before the eyes of Mirza Khan, his brother (who is still

alive and braver than Hilli Shah and also a better artilleryman); as

for Uruz Ali, he was put in prison for a fortnight by the order of the

Maharaja, as soon as he came to Gilgit, although Zoraweru wanted him to

share the fate of Sultan. At that time Kalashmir of Dareyl visited Gilgit

and was well entertained by Zoraweru for twenty days, when he presented

him with a shawl and Rs. 100 and gave cheap shawls to the Sirdars who

came with Kalashmir. Zoraweru then asked them, as he had conquered the

whole of Yaghistan, to collect tribute for the Maharaja. This was agreed

to, but when Kalashmir returned to his country he did nothing. In the war

that will ensue I was present all through.

V.—WAR WITH DAREYL [YAGHISTAN] 1866.

When Zoraweru saw that the Hill, or Yaghistan tribes kept quiet he

thought it a good opportunity for attacking Dareyl, which, he fancied,

would fall easily. He appointed spies to bring to him any Dareylis that

might happen to visit Gilgit. Aziz, a Lamberdár of Manikial, came with

100 goats to Gilgit and when he had sold them, visited Zoraweru, who

received him kindly and entertained him for two days. When he left, the

Kashmir General asked him to remind Kalashmir that he had not sent the

tribute of Dareyl and Tangir, which had been promised two years ago and

gave him an ultimatum of one month in which to come himself or send the

tribute, otherwise Zoraweru would pay Kalashmir a visit with his army.

Kalashmir replied that the Kashmiris had better come and take the taxes

and that there was no occasion for his fellow-countrymen to take the

least notice of the threat. When twenty days of the month had passed, two

other messengers, one a Kashmiri, Kurban, residing at Kiner in Chilás;

the other, Rahm Nur of Samegial—both traders, happening to be at Gilgit,

were sent to announce Zoraweru’s immediate attack and to ask the Hillmen

to prepare themselves, because, as Zoraweru said, “it is my custom to

give my enemy notice three times.” Kalashmir replied he did not care and

next day requested the tribes to assemble at Samegiál—_viz_: the people

of Tórr, Harbenn, Shatiál, Sazîn, Sômer—and of Tangi, Lurok, Dayamur,

Sheikho, Jalkôt, Galli, Kammi, and Korgah. He even sent to the Kandiá

people for help, who, however, replied that their harvest was just

getting ready and that Dareyl was too far off. He also sent to Jagloth,

Chilás, Hudur, Takk, Buder, and Gor. The Chilásis flatly refused on the

ground of being subjects of Kashmir and being helpless. Jalkôt also

did not send, as the notice had reached them too late and the war was

immediately impending. The rest all assembled at Samegiál on the 10th day

and were 7,000 in number; there were also 7,000 men from Dareyl itself.

The Sikhs also started from Gilgit, on hearing which Kalashmir appointed

four scouts at each of the following six posts: in the Kargá valley—at

Karóri-Jóji—at Ruro-Dader, fifteen kos off—at Gitshár, at the same

distance—at Barîga, sixteen kos distance—and at Naranéiga, fifteen kos.

From Samegial the tribes marched over the Dummu-dummu mountain to the

valley of Bariga where they halted. Next morning at about 9 o’clock,

after only a few had taken food, the heavens seemed to become dark.

Looking round we saw a Dareyli waving his dress at the Karori-Joji post,

which was a sign of the approach of the enemy. We all got ready and an

hour afterwards the enemy came up, who had taken 11,000 men from Gilgit.

A Sirdar of Samegial, Kuwéti, who had fled about four years ago to Gilgit

from his village in consequence of the enmity of another fellow-villager,

Dodár, now showed the way to the Sikhs. When the forces reached Yatshotsh

below Dummu-dummu on the Gilgit side, he asked Zoraweru to confide the

guidance of the troops to him, as he alone knew the paths. Zoraweru

assenting, Kuweti divided the forces into three bodies; one under General

Har Chand in the direction of the valley of Dutial, the second under

Sirdar Shahzada he despatched to the Yatshotsh valley—whilst the third

was forwarded with Zoraweru to the Bariga valley—he himself going with

the first column. We did not know these tricks and thought we had only to

deal with the troops advancing on Barîga and rushed on them at once. The

fight lasted till four in the afternoon. Accidentally, a Dareyli looking

in the direction of Jadári-Jùt, saw from that “grassy plain” such a cloud

of dust arise that the sky was darkened and out of which troops emerged.

The Manikialis, whose village is five kos from that plain, fled at once

to defend their homes, as they thought the enemy threatened Manikial.

This was followed by the flight of the Samegialis by the Dareyl valley—an

hour afterwards the people of Phugotsh, then the people of Gayá, also

fled in the same direction. Now the fight ceased and night broke in.

We remained at Bariga. The fugitives on reaching their villages,

fled onwards with their families, some to Sazin, others to Tangîr,

others again to Shatial. Yet we only lost five in killed and three in

wounded—the losses of the Sikhs it is impossible to estimate. I alone

counted twenty from where I stood. The Sikhs during the night surrounded

us and cut off our retreat. At day-break, the fight was renewed and

lasted till noon, when we discovered a mountain path for flight which

we took and came to Samegial. The second day we lost nine men and the

Sikhs thirty. The Sikhs remained for ten days at Jadári-Jùt and then

advanced on Samegial _via_ the District of Manikial, of which they burnt

two villages, Shinó Kot and Yashkunó Kot, and killed the old women and

children who had not been able to get away; four boys were found ill and

also killed. Reaching Samegial, they found that we had fled on to Gayá.

In that District the Sikhs also burnt two deserted villages, Dudó Kot and

Birió Kot; they found, however, twelve fugitive women and children _en

route_ and killed them. The Sikhs stayed at Samegial, where 200 of us had

remained concealed at about a mile from the place. A fight took place

with a loss of four on our side and twelve on the part of the Sikhs. We

were not followed up to Gayá. The Sikhs returned to Manikial where they

remained ten days and indulged in eating the grapes which had become

over-ripe and are very abundant in that District. Many died from disease

engendered by this over-indulgence, but the Sikh Sirdars spread a report

that the tribes had scattered poison on the grapes. Winter also set in,

and snow fell, so the Sikhs returned to Gilgit. _En route_ snow-storms

set in, which blinded some and froze others. The Sikhs lost in dead

about 120 men. The fugitive villagers now returned to their homes and

rebuilt the burnt down villages. Six months later, Kalashmîr of Dudokôt

(Samegiál) and Duran of Phugôtsh and Surió of Karînokot (Mánikial) and

Burshù Sirdar of Biliokôt, (Manikial) and Sirdar of Gayá and Nur Muhammed

of Shurôt started for Gilgit and offered allegiance to Zoraweru. He

replied; “Oh! Kalashmir, thou hast given me much trouble and inflicted

much injury. Now I want a goat per annum from every two houses throughout

Dareyl.” He then dismissed them with Khilats and now the tribute is

regularly paid from those villages that I have named as being represented

on that occasion by their Sirdars.

It is necessary to say a few words about the treatment of those who had

assisted Kashmir. After Doulat Shù had arranged matters with Chitrál,

Zoraweru appointed him over the yield of the gold washing of Bakrôt,

Sakwár, Jutial, Deyúr, Minôr, Nomal, and Gilgit. The mode of taxation on

gold washings is as follows: the men work two months in spring and two

months in autumn and have to pay Rs. 3, or 2 gold Rupees = about 5 Chilki

Rupees, for each season per head. Taxes are also raised on the produce,

viz., a third of the whole. Doulat Shù received 10 Chilkis per mensem

for that service. He went one autumn for the first time and brought back

the taxes collected, which were sent to the Maharajah through Baghdur

Shah. Six weeks later, some gold washers came to Gilgit to pay their

respects to Zoraweru, who asked them whether they had had a bad season

as the taxes paid had been small. The goldwashers said that it had been

as good as usual: so Zoraweru, on referring to the accounts of the

preceding year, found a difference of 5 tolas (about 60 Rupees). Doulat

Shu was at once thrown into chains and sent to Jammu in charge of Ghulam

Haidar and Mirza. The Maharajah sent him to the same place in which

Sultan is confined and where both are now. In neither case was there an

investigation. When Isa Bahadur heard of the imprisonment of men who

had rendered such services as Sultan and Doulat Shu he came to Gilgit,

where he found Ghulam Haidar and Mirza and took them to Jammu. They

there interceded for the prisoners with the Maharajah and represented

that brave and faithful men should not be punished with perpetual

imprisonment, one of whom had conquered a country for His Highness, which

the other had kept for Kashmir by his admirable arrangement with Chitrál.

The Maharajah told them to go about their own business. When they heard

this, they left, but, in their correspondence during four years, they

constantly urged the release of the prisoners on His Highness. Two years

ago they again presented themselves at Jammu and represented that the

years that Sultan and Doulat Shu had already passed in prison were a

sufficient punishment. They conjured His Highness by his idol, but the

Maharajah threatened to send them to keep company with the prisoners if

they did not at once desist from their importunities.

When Isa Bahadur heard such words, he left the same night and galloped on

without stopping, till he had got to Sher Kila. He still considers that

he has been very discourteously treated by Kashmir and his correspondence

with the Maharajah has ceased. I have heard him lament over the past.

Ghulam Haidar and Mirza kept on for a whole month importuning His

Highness, who resolved on imprisoning them, when they fortunately asked

and obtained leave to go home to Gilgit. The three Chiefs have not

visited Jammu since the affair which I have related.

PRESENT STATE OF MIR VALI.

A year and a half ago Mir Vali (who drugs himself with charas = a

preparation of hemp) got offended with Pahlivan, (probably on account

of a difference of opinion in _re_ Hayward);[102] went to Kandiá (road

described elsewhere) and to Manikiál [not the village so often referred

to in the account of the Wars] on the borders of Swat. Thence he went to

Tall, Ramta, Berahmar and then to Beïkéy, the Akhûn of Swat, who asked

him why he had come. Mir Vali said that Pahlivan had annoyed him and as

the Akhun was a great Saint he had come to him, having no other friends.

The Akhun entertained him for eight months, after which, on a Friday

(when service takes place at noon instead of 2 P. M.) he told him to

go back to Yasin, “for your heart’s desire has been accomplished.” Mir

Vali at once started off on horseback, taking the bank of the Indus. On

the third day he reached Ghorband; thence he went to Damtirey, Bilkái,

Ranulia and Jajiál; there he crossed the river to Kúi; thence to Palus,

Gagréy Khware (or in Gilgiti, Gabréga), Shogobind (a place for pasture)

Jaglôth, Tekkegá, Parbáh (a place for pasture) Latór, Sazin, Dareyl,

_viz_: Gayá, Samegial (where he stayed a week in order to consult Mulk

Aman, who was there) Manekial, the Matrêt valley (pasture place for

Gujers), and finally to Yasin. There he was well received by Pahlivan

who could not understand why he had left and now the brothers love each

other more than before. The rule is in the hands of Mir Vali who keeps up

friendly relations with the Dogras and would strengthen these relations

still further were it not for fear of Aman-ul-mulk, who is a great enemy

of the Maharajah and who has ordered him to have as little to do with

them or Isa Bahadur as possible. [_Vide_ note on next page.]

MULK AMAN.

When Mulk Aman remembered his country, Yasin, he fell home-sick in

Chitrál and begged Aman-ul-mulk to let him go and, if Aman-ul-mulk

would assist him, he would fight the Sikhs or else die as a martyr.

Aman-ul-mulk said that Mulk Aman could only do the latter, as he had

no army left. “I advise you, he added, to go to Dareyl and ask the

Maharajah’s forgiveness, who may give you some appointment. Serve

him, he said, as Isa Bahadur has done and you may be restored to the

throne of your ancestors.” Aman-ul-mulk said this in order to get rid

of the importunities of Mulk-Aman, who left for Samegial. Baghdur Shah

and Kuweti, the Maharajah’s agents, happened to be there and actually

offered to intercede with the Maharajah on his behalf and to get him an

appointment. Mulk Aman was delighted. The agents spoke in his favour to

the Maharajah who cheerfully ordered him to present himself. They came to

Samegial and brought Mulk Aman to Jammu. His Highness bestowed a dress

of honour, a horse and Rs. 200 on him and a monthly salary of Rs. 100

for himself, Rs. 30 for his son and Rs. 50 for the rest of his family

and requested him to live at Gilgit outside the fort. “Remain there

for 7 years; afterwards I will give you Yasin.” This Mulk Aman did and

built a house about 100 yards from the fort. He did not, however, for

two years send for his family from Samegial where he had left them when

he started for Jammu. When they came he continued serving Kashmir for

four years more. Isa Bahadur, however, happened to tell Zoraweru last

year (for Isa was the arch-enemy of Mulk Aman and feared his getting

back to Yasin) that Mulk Aman intended to escape with his family to

Chitrál, after which, as he had plotted with the Gilgitis, there would

be a general revolt which would end in his sharing the Government of

Yasin with Pahlivan. When Zoraweru heard this he consulted with Isa

Bahadur, who advised him to seize Mulk Aman and send him and his family

to Jammu at once, so as not to give him time to rouse the country. This

pleased the Governor and a suitable hour was left to Isa’s discretion

for surrounding the house and bringing Mulk Aman and his family before

Zoraweru. Isa Bahadur at once went and selected 400 young men whom he

ordered to be in readiness at four in the afternoon. Accidentally a

friend of Mulk Aman overheard the conversation between Zoraweru and Isa

Bahadur and at once informed him of what was contemplated and of the

arrangements made by Isa. The friend advised him to flee at once into the

mountains. Mulk Aman, greatly astonished, went to his house and ordered

his family to get ready to start. Just as his women were coming out of

the house, he saw Isa Bahadur with his soldiers all round it. Mulk Aman

drew his sword, ran a-muck among the troops and after killing a few

soldiers managed to escape alone into the mountains in the direction of

Dareyl.[103] However swiftly pursued he could not be found; the Sikhs

returned from the mountain and took the family prisoners. Mulk Aman,

descending on the other side of the mountain, came to Samegial. Isa

Bahadur then presented the women and children as hostages to Zoraweru who

forwarded them to Jammu, where they still remain. Shortly afterwards the

Maharajah heard that Mulk Aman was perfectly innocent of any conspiracy

and had been got out of the way by the calumny of Isa Bahadur, the enemy

of the house of Gauhar Aman from which he had suffered. The Maharajah

was very sorry at what had taken place and ordered Muhammad Khan of Swat

to bring the brave and unfortunate man back from Samegial under liberal

promises of rewards and appointments. The Swati started and told Mulk

Aman that he was responsible that no treachery was intended. All was in

vain; he insulted Muhammad Khan and raved about the loss of honour, etc.,

which he had suffered at the hands of the Maharajah. “If he makes me his

greatest Sirdar he can not wipe out the stain of having taken away my

wife.” Muhammad Khan returned to Jammu from his fruitless expedition and

told the Maharajah, who was very sorry. Twenty eight days after Muhammad

Khan’s visit, Mulk Aman, considering himself unsafe, went to Harbenn,

which is still Yaghistan [independent, wild]. Zoraweru then advised the

Maharajah to send for him, as he had got among the Yaghis and might

incite them to an attack on Gilgit. “Above all, make him satisfied.”

When the Maharajah read Zoraweru’s letter, he again sent the Swati to

Harbenn and told him to swear on the Koran, on his own behalf and that

of His Highness, that it was all Isa’s fault and that he would give Mulk

Amán his revenge for the wrong suffered and allow him double his former

salary. This Muhammad Khan did and saw Mulk Aman at Harbenn to whom he

brought a shawl as a present from himself. He told him, in private, after

“salâming” to him at a public meeting, all that he was charged to say and

took an oath in attestation of the sincerity of his promises. Mulk Aman

replied that he would not fall a victim to treachery and that if he said

another word or came again he would certainly kill him. So Muhammad Khan

left and again had to report his failure. “Only an army can bring him,

he said, back from Harbenn.” The Maharajah is hoping now that he will

get tired of wandering about and come back of his own accord. During the

last eight months he has sent nobody for him. Mulk Aman is very badly off

and is now at Rimon (Dareyl) and I am quite sure that the Yaghistanis

will never assist him. His brothers will not help him. His wife (Mahtar’s

widow) is now at Jammu and reports have spread about her conduct.”

* * * * *

In connexion with the Sazîni’s account, which in all particulars relating

to the tribes is very trustworthy, may be read the following statements

of S... S... of Kûner, on the borders of Kafiristan, now a Christian.

He relates that he was once a Sepoy in the Maharajah’s Army and started

on one of the Gilgit expeditions [1860?] with 300 Affghans and 3,000

Dogras, etc., under the command of Samund Khan, Ata Muhammad, Badam

Singh, Man Singh and Dula Singh. He believes that Wazir Pannu was with

the forces. At any rate, the attack on Gilgit was mere child’s play. The

Kashmîr troops bombarded it for two or three days, but the Dards had

no cannon with which to reply. Wahháb, the Wazir, looked out of one of

the fort loopholes and was shot and so was a Bhishti. Wahháb’s body was

stripped and hung to a tree. S... S... adds, “We were well entertained by

the people who treated us to curds and we found grapes and wallnuts in

abundance at Sher Kila’. The women of the country cooked our food, but

our soldiers repayed the hospitality which they received by plundering

and ill-treating the inhabitants. I remained behind, but when my company

came back they told me that the Sikhs wanted to dig out the body of

Gauhar Aman, but were prevented from doing so by their own Muhammadan

comrades. We found caverns in the mountains which were filled with food

for the use of the enemy. It is the custom of this people to heap up

food in caverns to which the owners only know the way. After entrusting

Sher Kila’ (a fort as big as that of Gilgit and constructed of wooden

beams and stone) to the administration of native partisans, we went to

Gao-Kutsh, where we found plenty of sport. Gauhar Aman used to sell

captured Sepoys for hunting dogs.” (This story is repeated from so many

trustworthy quarters that it seems to deserve credence. I heard it from

many at Gilgit in 1866. The kidnapping propensities of Gauhar Aman were

great and one of my own retainers, a petty Chief, had been dragged off

for sale, when he escaped by sliding down a mountain side. Yet the people

of Gilgit preferred his rule to that of Kashmir and revolted in his

favour, when oppressed by Santu Singh in 1852). “We had two Hindustani

rebels of 1857 with us and there were also several with the petty

Rajahs.” [This important statement can be somewhat confirmed by me. What

I understood to be the fourth Light Kashmir Cavalry was said to be almost

entirely composed of rebels of 1857. I found many of the stations in

charge of Swatis and numbers of soldiers of that race at Gilgit. One of

the Maharajah’s Sepoys, who came to see me, admitted that he was formerly

at Hyderabad and then had joined the rebels.]

* * * * *

I can also confirm the statements of the Sazîni with regard to the

atrocities committed in the War with Dareyl. In order to be able to

report victories, men, said to be innocent of complicity in the war,

were hanged and women were dragged into captivity in order to fill the

Zananas of the Kashmîr Sepoys. I saw the body of a tall, and powerfully

built Dareyli, which had evidently been hacked about a good deal,

suspended on a tree by the way-side. It was said to be the body of a man

who was quietly returning to Sai, which had long been in the undisturbed

occupation of the Maharajah. A little further on near Jaglôth [which is

also in long-occupied territory] there is a bridge on one of the poles

of which I saw the skeleton head of a Lumberdar of the place, said to

be perfectly innocent of all participation in the war with Kashmir.

The roofs of the houses in Gilgit had been blown off, and most of the

inhabitants had fled into the mountains (_vide_ “dance at Gilgit” page

36). On the other hand, dreadful stories were related of the retaliation

of the Dard tribes. Sepoys had been sold by hundreds into Badakhshan,

etc.; others had been used as fireworks and blown to atoms for the

amusement of the Kunjûtis. Personally, I found the Dards pleasant enough

and consider them to be superior in many respects to either Dogras or

Pathans, but it is by no means improbable that they have been guilty

of many of the atrocities which are laid to their charge. At the same

time, it must be remembered that the wanton cruelties of the Massacre of

Yasin (_vide_ page 69) and the fact that their country was invaded by

a stranger and an “infidel”—in defiance of treaty obligations—is some

palliation for their conduct. The Kashmîr troops, and more particularly

the coolies sent with them, were also grossly neglected as regards food,

clothing and shelter by their own authorities. It is said that out of

12,000 Kashmiris, impressed for the purpose of carrying loads, only

600 survived in the expedition of 1866. The roads were strewn with the

skeletons of horses, etc. I saw men in the most emaciated condition and

ready to eat “unlawful” food. Three Mussulmans in a dying condition whom

I met below the “Acho” summit,[104] were ready to take a tin containing

pork and could scarcely be restrained till “lawful” food was brought to

them by my servants. Men were forced to go with the troops. One Hakím

Ali Shah, a teacher at Amritsar, was compelled to serve as a physician,

a post to which he had no other claim, except that his name happened to

be “Hakím.” I rescued him. A virulent fever was destroying the troops

at Gilgit, who, even after the siege of the fort had been raised, were

liable to be shot down by prowlers from the tribes within a few yards of

the fort. I ordered the fort, etc., to be cleaned and, although myself

in danger of life from my Kashmîr friends, if not from the tribes, I

insisted on my order being obeyed, the assumption of an authoritative

tone being often a traveller’s only chance of safety among Asiatics. I

distributed medicine among the troops and was afterwards told in Durbar

by the Maharajah that some medicine which I had sent to Wazir Zoraweru,

who was then on his Dureyl expedition, had saved his life.

* * * * *

Since then, the Dards have made the acquaintance of diseases for

which there was not even a name in 1866. I refer chiefly to cholera

and syphilis, which Kashmiri and Indian troops have introduced.

Simultaneously, the indigenous methods of treatment, which are full of

lessons for the impartial learner, are dying out. Industrial handicrafts,

historical superstitions or reminiscences, national feasts which existed

in 1866 exist no longer, and what exists now will soon vanish before

the monotony of orthodox Muhammadanism and the vulgarity of so-called

European civilization. “_Und der Götter bunt Gewimmel, Hat sogleich das

stille Haus geleert._” The fairies and prophetesses of Dardistan are

silent, the Tham of Hunza no longer brings down rain, the family axes

are broken, the genealogists have been destroyed, and the sacred drum

is heard no longer. The quaint computations of age, of months, seasons,

years and half-years, and the strange observations of shadows thrown

at various times are dying out or are already dead. Worse than all for

enquiry into ancient human history, the languages which contain the words

of “_what once was_,” are being flooded by foreign dialects, and what

may survive will no longer appeal to the national understanding. This

result is most lamentable as regards Hunza, where the oldest human speech

still showed elementary processes of development. I fear that my attempt

to commit, for the first time, to writing, in an adapted _Persian_

character, the Khajuná language, has only been followed in a document

of honour which the venerable Chief of Nagyr sent me some years ago.

Already do some European writers call him and his people “ignorant” when

their own ignorance is alone deserving of censure. I deeply regret that

the friendship of so many Dard Chiefs for me has made them unsuspicious

of Europeans, and may have thus indirectly led to the loss of their

independence, but I rejoice that for over twenty-five years I have

not attracted the European adventurer to Dardistan by saying anything

about Pliny’s “_fertilissimi sunt auri Dardæ_,” except in Khajuná

Ethnographical Dialogues in the “Hunza-Nagyr Handbook,” which exploiters

were not likely to read. Now others have published the fact, but not the

accompanying risks.

As Kandiá is learned, Nagyr pious, Chilás puritanical, and all true Dard

tribes essentially peaceful and virtuously republican, so, no doubt,

Hunza was the country of free love and of raiding, that had ceased

in 1865, which _we_ practically revived (see Appendix I.). I doubt,

however, whether picturesque vice, which, unfortunately, may form part

of indigenous associations, is as reprehensible as the hypocrisy of

those hired knights of the pen, who, not practising the virtues which

they preach, take away the character of nations and of Chiefs, merely

because they are opposed to us, and falsify their history. I do not,

for instance, palliate the old Hunza practice of lending one’s wife to

a guest, or of kidnapping good-looking strangers in order to improve

the race, though the latter course may be preferred by a physiologist

to a careless marriage, but I do find a reproach on European or Indian

morality in the fact that not a single Hunza woman showed herself to

the British or Kashmîri invaders, although the men, once conquered,

freely joined them in sport and drinking bouts. Europeans have a worse

reputation among Orientals than Orientals among Europeans, and, in

either case, ignorance, prejudice, want of sympathy and disinclination

to learn the truth, are probably among the causes of such regrettable

preconceptions. At any rate, it shall not be said that the races which

I, so disastrously for them, discovered and named, shall suffer from

any misrepresentation so far as I can help it, although the political

passions of the moment may deprive my statements of the weight which

has hitherto attached to them as authoritative in this speciality. _Væ

victis et victoribus_—for history now marches rapidly towards the common

disaster. _Finis Dardarum._ “It has been decided that CHILÁS is to be

_permanently_ held, and consequently the present strength of the garrison

in the GILGIT district will be _increased_ by one native regiment, while

the 23rd Pioneers will complete the road through the Kaghan Valley

to Chilás, and will then _remain for duty on the advanced frontier_.

This strengthening of the garrison in the sub-Himalayan country will

effectually _secure British influence_ over CHITRAL where an Agent is to

be _permanently_ stationed; it will also insure the _control of the Indus

Valley tribes_” (_Times_ telegram of the 8th July, 1893—the italics are

mine). Alas that British influence should so destroy both itself and the

freedom of ancient races!

* * * * *

_Quem Deus vult perdere prius dementat._ Considering the promises of

redress of all grievances made by the Great Northern Emancipator of

Oppressed Nationalities,[105] whose lightest finger is heavier than our

entire yoke, it would be a great mistake on our part to still further

reduce the independence of Native States, the troops of which are already

at our disposal. Even as regards Kashmir, against the mismanagement of

which I have protested for so many years, and the Agents of which made

several attempts on my life in order to prevent my exposure of their

frontier encroachments in 1866, I am bound to say that our procedure

has been a great deal too peremptory, if not altogether illegal. The

following Treaty between Kashmir and the British Government shows alike

that Kashmir had no right to encroach on Chilás and Gilgit (see preceding

pages), and still less on Hunza-Nagyr, and that the Government of India

has no right to convert Kashmir into a “_semi_-independent State” as

called by the _Times_ of the 8th July, 1893. Kashmir is an _independent_

State, whose independence has been paid for and must be protected by

our honour against our ambition, as long as it is loyal to the British

Government:

“TREATY between the British Government on the one part and

MAHARAJAH GOLAB SING of JUMMOO on the other, concluded on the

part of the British Government by FREDERICK CURRIE, ESQUIRE,

and Brevet-Major HENRY MONTGOMERY LAWRENCE, acting under the

orders of the Right Honourable SIR HENRY HARDINGE, G.C.B.,

one of Her Britannic Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council,

Governor-General, appointed by the Honourable Company to direct

and control all their affairs in the East Indies, and by

MAHARAJAH GOLAB SING in person.

ARTICLE I.

The British Government transfers and makes over for ever, in INDEPENDENT

POSSESSION, TO MAHARAJAH GOLAB SING AND THE HEIRS MALE OF HIS BODY, all

the hilly or mountainous country, with its DEPENDENCIES, situated to the

EASTWARD of the River Indus and westward of the River Ravee, including

Chumba, and excluding Lahul, being part of the territories ceded to the

British Government by the Lahore State, according to the provisions of

Article IV. of the Treaty of Lahore, dated 9th March, 1846.

ARTICLE II.

The eastern boundary of the tract transferred by the foregoing Article

to Maharajah Golab Sing shall be laid down by Commissioners appointed by

the British Government and Maharajah Golab Sing respectively for that

purpose, and shall be defined in a separate Engagement after survey.

ARTICLE III.

In consideration of the transfer made to him and his heirs by the

provisions of the foregoing Articles, Maharajah Golab Sing will pay

to the British Government the sum of seventy-five lakhs of Rupees

(Nanukshahee), fifty lakhs to be paid on ratification of this Treaty, and

twenty-five lakhs on or before the first October of the current year,

A.D. 1846.

ARTICLE IV.

The limits of the territories of Maharajah Golab Sing shall not be at any

time changed without the concurrence of the British Government.

ARTICLE V.

Maharajah Golab Sing will refer to the arbitration of the British

Government any disputes or questions that may arise between himself and

the Government of Lahore or any other neighbouring State, and will abide

by the decision of the British Government.

ARTICLE VI.

Maharajah Golab Sing engages for himself and heirs to join, with the

whole of his Military Force, the British troops, when employed within the

hills, or in the territories adjoining his possessions.

ARTICLE VII.

Maharajah Golab Sing engages never to take, or retain in his service,

any British subject, nor the subject of any European or American State,

without the consent of the British Government.

ARTICLE VIII.

Maharajah Golab Sing engages to respect in regard to the territory

transferred to him, the provisions of Articles V., VI., and VII., of the

separate Engagement between the British Government and the Lahore Durbar,

dated March 11th, 1846.

ARTICLE IX.

The British Government will give its aid to Maharajah Golab Sing in

protecting his territories from external enemies.

ARTICLE X.

Maharajah Golab Sing acknowledges the supremacy of the British

Government, and will, in token of such supremacy, present annually to

the British Government one horse, twelve perfect shawl goats of approved

breed (six male and six female), and three pairs of Cashmere shawls.

This Treaty, consisting of ten Articles, has been this day settled by

Frederick Currie, Esquire, and Brevet-Major Henry Montgomery Lawrence,

acting under the directions of the Right Honourable Sir Henry Hardinge,

G.C.B., Governor-General, on the part of the British Government, and by

Maharajah Golab Sing in person; and the said Treaty has been this day

ratified by the seal of the Right Honourable Sir Henry Hardinge, G.C.B.,

Governor-General.

_Done at Umritsur, this Sixteenth day of March, in the year of our

Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty-six, corresponding with the

Seventeenth day of Rubbee-ool-awal 1262 Hijree._

(Signed) H. HARDINGE

+-----+

|SEAL.|

+-----+

(Signed) F. CURRIE.

” H. M. LAWRENCE.

By order of the Right Honorable the Governor-General of India.

(Signed) F. CURRIE,

_Secretary to the Government of India, with the Governor-General_.

* * * * *

_Note on the Genealogy of the divine Rajas of Nagyr_ (given to me

by Raja Habibulia Khan of Nagyr in 1886).—At Doyur, near Gilgit, on

the mountain-top, three fairy-brothers shot at a calf, which only

the youngest (Azru) hit and was induced to eat, thereby losing his

fairy-hood. The two others flew away and settled on another mountain, but

the crowing of a cock betrayed them to the people of Gilgit who made one

of them, Tura Khan, Raja of Gilgit; the other, Chalis Khan, becoming Raja

of Nagyr. [This account is incorrect as _Azru_ became Raja of Gilgit,

because he had become man by eating meat (_incarnation_), but it is

interesting as showing the desire of Nagyris to be connected with the

Historical Legend of the origin of the neighbouring and more civilized

Gilgit. Some say that Chalis Khan had no son, but that the Rajas of Nagyr

are the descendants of the Makpon rulers of Little Tibet (from which the

Makpon-i-Shang-rong—see page 107—takes its name). Others say that Alladad

was a son of Chalis Khan: at all events, the founders of the Hunza-Nagyr

Dynasty, Girkis-Mogholot, two brothers, whether descended from Mogholot

or Chalis, are called Mogholoti, Girkis becoming the Tham of Hunza, and

Mogholot that of Nagyr. As for Alladad, he was succeeded by Kamal, whom

Rahim and Babar (or tiger) followed in turn. Babar’s son was Ferdûs, and

his son Alif Khan was the father of the present reigning Chief, Zafar

Khan, whose progeny is very numerous]. [The above account, although

very deficient and confused, supplements, as regards Hunza-Nagyr, the

important “historical legend of the origin of Gilgit,” which will be

found on pages 9 to 16, and which chronicles the change in the Shîn rule

in Dardistan. The mystery in the Hunza-Nagyr dynasty fitly entitles it to

be called “ayeshó,” or “heavenly.” I can quite understand that the Chief

of Hunza, unable to convince European disbelievers of his divine origin,

should have claimed a descent from Alexander the Great, _faute de mieux_,

since the more terrestrial chiefs of Badakhshan and other neighbouring

countries claim to be descended from that conqueror.] (See note on page

55 and page 69.)

Colonel Biddulph gives the following interesting version of the above

story:

“The ruling family of Hunza is called Ayeshé (heavenly), from the

following circumstance. The two States of Hunza and Nager were formerly

one, ruled by a branch of the Shahreis, the ruling family of Gilgit,

whose seat of government was Nager. Tradition relates that Mayroo Khan,

apparently the first Mahommedan Thum of Nager, some two hundred years

after the introduction of the religion of Islam in to Gilgit, married a

daughter of Trakhan of Gilgit, who bore him twin sons, named Moghlot and

Girkis. From the former the present ruling family of Nager is descended.

The twins are said to have shown hostility to one another from their

birth. Their father, seeing this, and unable to settle the question of

succession, divided his State between them, giving to Girkis the north,

and to Moghlot the south, bank of the river.

Age did not diminish their enmity, and Girkis, while out hunting, was

one day killed by an adherent of Moghlot, a native of Haramosh, named

Mogul Beg, who, under pretence of a quarrel with Moghlot, took service

with Girkis, and persuading him to look up at some game on the cliff

above him, drove an arrow into his throat. Girkis left only a daughter,

who, according to the custom of the country, became Queen or Ganish of

Hunza. Her first care was to avenge her father’s death. The tradition

relates that having sworn to tear the murderer’s liver with her teeth,

she carried out her vow to the letter. Left without a chaperon, she

was not long without getting into a scrape, as young ladies in similar

circumstances are apt to do. The young prince Kamal Khan of Nager, a

younger son of Moghlot, crossed the river by night, serenaded her and

won her heart. Night after night the lovers met, unknown to the rest of

the world, till serious consequences ensued; and one fine day it was

announced in Hunza that, though Providence had not yet provided the

princess with a husband, it had seen fit to bless her with a son. Morals

in Hunza are not of the strictest even now, so that few questions were

asked, and the good people generally contented themselves with beating

their drums, dancing, and the usual festivities proper on the occasion of

the birth of the Prince Chiliss Khan. Kamal Khan seems to have ‘behaved

badly’ all through, as the above story is concealed in Hunza under the

fiction that a prince of Shighnan became the husband of the princess, but

that his name being forgotten he is known only as Ayeshó (Heaven-sent),

from which the present ruling family of Hunza takes the name. The present

Thum of Hunza is Ghazan Khan” (1880).

APPENDICES.

i. _HUNZA-NAGYR AND THE PAMIRS._

ii. _RECENT EVENTS IN CHILAS AND CHITRAL._

iii. _FABLES, SONGS, AND LEGENDS OF CHITRAL._

iv. _RACES AND LANGUAGES OF THE HINDUKUSH._

v. _ANTHROPOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS AND MEASUREMENTS._

vi. _ROUGH ITINERARIES IN THE HINDUKUSH._

vii. _A SECRET RELIGION IN THE HINDUKUSH._

viii. _THE SCIENCES OF LANGUAGE AND OF ETHNOLOGY AS ILLUSTRATED

BY THE LANGUAGE AND CUSTOMS OF HUNZA (A SEPARATE PAMPHLET)._

[Illustration: SPECIMENS OF THE BURISHKI RACE OF HUNZA (ON A SLOPE OF THE

PAMIR), OF NAGYR, AND OF YASIN.

MATAVALLI, the first Hunza man who came to Europe.

SOME BURISHKIS FROM YASIN separating the Hunza and Nagyri Warriors.

SAYAD ALI, OF NAGYR.]

APPENDIX I.

HUNZA, NAGYR, AND THE PAMIR REGIONS.[106]

I wish to record how from small beginnings, owing to carelessness,

exclusiveness, and official desire for promotion, Northern India may be

lost and British interests in Europe and Asia become subordinate, as they

have often been, to Russian guidance; how statesmanship has laboriously

invited dangers which physical barriers had almost rendered impossible;

and how it may still be practicable to maintain as independent States

the numerous mountain strongholds which Nature has interposed between

encroachment and intrigue from either the Russian or the English sphere

of action in Asia, much to the benefit of these two Powers and of the

peace of mankind.

When, after an enormous expenditure of men and money and during campaigns

which lasted over thirty-six years, Russia had conquered independent

Circassia—a task in which she was largely aided by our preventing

provisions and ammunitions from reaching by sea the so-called rebels,

although we ourselves were fighting against her in 1856, _quorum pars

parva fui_, it was easy to foresee that our conduct, which some called

chivalry, others loyalty, and some duplicity or folly, would give

her the present command of the Black Sea and lead to the subjugation

of Circassia. The same conduct was repeated at Panjdeh, and may be

repeated on the Pamir, much to the personal advantage of the discreet

officers concerned. We have also recently discovered that the holding of

Constantinople by a neutral Power is not essential to British interests,

as we had long ago found out that neither Merv nor Herat were keys to

India. Indeed, as we give up position after position, a crop of honours

falls to those who bring about our losses and, like charity, covers a

multitude of political sins of ignorance or treason.

It seemed, however, that there was one obscure corner which the official

sidelight could not irradiate. Valley after valley, plateau after

plateau, high mountains and difficult passes separate the populations

of India from those of Central Asia. Innumerable languages and warlike

races, each unconquerable in their own strongholds if their autonomy and

traditions are respected, intervene between invaders from either side

who would lead masses of disciplined slaves to slaughter and conquest.

It is not necessary to draw an imaginary line on Lord Salisbury’s

large or small Map of Asia across mountains and rivers, and dividing

arbitrarily tribes and kingdoms whose ancestry is the same, call it “the

neutral zone.” No sign-board need indicate “the way to India,” and amid

much ado about nothing by ambitious subordinates and puzzled superiors

settle to the momentary satisfaction of the British public that Russia

can go so far and no farther. Where the cold, the endless marching

over inhospitable ground, and starvation do not show the frontier, the

sparse population, the unknown tongue, and the bullet of the raider will

indicate it sufficiently, without adding to the number of generals or

knights for demarcating impossible boundaries.

The reassurances given by Lords Lansdowne and Cross to the native Princes

of India indicate the policy that should be adopted with regard to all

the Mountain States beyond India proper. It is by everywhere respecting

the existing indigenous Oriental Governments that we protect them and

ourselves against invasion from without and treachery from within. The

loyalty of our feudatories is most chivalrous and touching, but it should

be based on enlightened self-interest in order to withstand the utmost

strain. The restoration of some powers to the Maharaja of Kashmîr came

not a minute too soon. Wherever elsewhere reasonable claims are withheld,

they should be generously and speedily conceded. The Indian princes

know full well that we are arming them, at their own expense, against

a common foe who is not wanting in promises, and who is already posing

as a saviour to the people of Raushan, Shignan, Wakhan, Hunza, and even

Badakhshan, whose native dynasties or traditions we have either already

put aside or are believed to threaten.

As for the small States offering a fruitful field for intrigue, their

number and internal jealousies (except against a common foreign invader)

are in themselves a greater safeguard than the resistance of a big but

straggling ally, whose frontier, when broken through at one of its many

weak points, finds an unresisting population from which all initiative

has disappeared. The intrigue or treachery of a big ally is also a more

serious matter than that of a little State. What does it matter if

English and Russian agents intrigue or fraternize among the _ovis poli_,

and the Kirghiz shepherds of the Pamir, or advocate their respective

civilizations in Yasin, Chitrál, Wakhan, Nagyr, Hunza, etc. Ambitious

employes of both empires will always trouble waters, in order to fish in

them; but their trouble is comparatively innocuous, and resembles that of

Sisyphus when it has to be repeated or wasted in a dozen States, before

the real defences of either India or of Russia in Asia are reached.

Indeed, so far as India is concerned, the physical difficulties on

our side of the Himalayas or of the Hindukush, except at a few easily

defensible passes, are insuperable to an invader, even after he has

crowned the more approachable heights when coming from the North.

The only policy worthy of the name is to leave the Pamir alone. Whatever

line is drawn, it is sure to be encroached upon by either side. Races

will be found to overlap it, and in the attempt to gather the fold, as

with the Sarik and Salor Turkomans, a second Panjdeh is sure to follow.

Intrigues will be active on both sides of the line; and, as in Kashmîr,

the worried people will hail the foreigner as a saviour, so long as he

has not taken possession, when they find his little finger heavier than

the whole body of the indigenous oppressor. I have suffered so much from

my persistent exposure of the misrule and intrigues of Kashmîr by those

who now hail the _fait accompli_ of its practical annexation, that I may

claim to be heard in favour of at least one feature of its former native

administration. With bodies of troops averaging from 20 to 200, the

late Maharaja, who foresaw what has happened after his death, kept the

Hunza-Nagyr frontier in order. It certainly was by rule of thumb, and had

no dockets, red tape, and reports. Indeed, his frontier guardians were,

as I found them, asleep during a state of siege in 1866, or, when war

was over, were engaged in storing grain _outside_ the forts; but peace

was kept as it will never be again, in spite of 2,000 Imperial troops,

first-rate roads, and suspension bridges over the “Shaitan Naré,” instead

of the rotten rope-way that spanned “Satan’s Gorge,” or of boats dragged

up from Srinagar over the mountains to enable a dozen sepoys to cross

the Indus at a time, or to convey couriers with a couple of bullets,

some dried butter-cakes, and an open letter or two, who ran the siege at

Gilgit and brought such effective reinforcements to its defenders!

[Illustration]

Nor has our diplomacy been more effectual than our arms, as the encounter

at Chalt with Hunza-Nagyr, hereditary foes, but whom our policy has

united against us, has shown. To us Nagyr is decidedly friendly; but

a worm will turn if trodden on by some of our too quickly advanced

subalterns. That, however, the wise and amiable Chief of Nagyr, a

patriarch with a large progeny, and preserving the keenness of youth in

his old age, is really friendly to us in spite of provocation, may be

inferred from the following letter to me, which does credit alike to his

head and heart, and which is far from showing him to be our inveterate

foe, as alleged by the _Pioneer_. His eldest son began to teach me the

remarkable Khajuná language, which I first committed to writing in 1866,

during the siege of Gilgit, and another son continued the lessons in

1886. The latter is a hostage in Kashmîr, to secure the good behaviour

of his tribe, which is really infinitely superior in culture and piety to

those around them. The father, who is over 90, writes in Persian to the

following effect, after the usual compliments:—“The affairs of this place

are by your fortune in a fair way, and I am in good health and constantly

ask the same for you from the Throne which grants requests. Your kind

favour with a drawing of the Mosque has reached me, and has given me much

pleasure and satisfaction. The reason of the delay in its receipt and

acknowledgment is due to the circumstance that, owing to disturbances

(_fesád_) I have not sent agents to Kashmîr this year. After the

restoration of peace, I will send [a letter] with them. In the meanwhile,

I have caught your hem [seek your protection] for my son Habibullah

Khan, a beloved son, about whom I am anxious; the aforesaid son is a

well-wisher to the illustrious English Government.—ZA’FAR KHAN.” [The

letter was apparently written in June last, when _The Times_ reported a

“rising,” because the British Agent was at Chalt with 500 men.]

It seems to me that none but a farseeing man could, in the midst of a

misunderstanding, if not a fight, with us, so write to one in the enemy’s

camp, unless he were a true man alike in war and peace, and a ruler

whose good-will was worth acquiring. As for his son, I know him to be

indeed well-disposed to our Government. He was very popular among our

officers when I saw him in Kashmîr, owing to his modesty, amiability, and

unsurpassed excellence at Polo. In fact, my friendship with several of

the chiefs since 1866 has aided our good relations with them; and it is a

pity if they should be destroyed for want of a little “_savoir_,” as also

“_savoir faire_,” on our part.

Between the States of Nagyr and Hunza there exists a perpetual feud.

They are literally rivals, being separated by a swift-flowing river on

which, at almost regulated distances, one Nagyr fort on one bank frowns

at the Hunza fort on the other. The paths along the river sides are very

steep, involving at times springing from one ledge of a rock to another,

or dropping on to it from a height of six feet, when, if the footing

is lost, the wild torrent sweeps one away. Colonel Biddulph does not

credit the Nagyris with bravery. History, however, does not bear out his

statement; and the defeat inflicted on the Kashmîr troops under Nathu

Shah in 1848 is a lesson even for the arrogance of a civilized invader

armed with the latest rifle. The Nagyris are certainly not without

culture; in music they were proficient before the Muhammadan piety of the

Shiah sect somewhat tabooed the art. At all events, they are different

in character from the Hunzas with whom they share the same language, and

their chiefs the same ancestry. The Hunzas, in whom a remnant of the

Huns may be found, were great kidnappers; but under Kashmîr influence

they stopped raiding since 1869, till the confusion incidental to our

interference revived their gone occupation. Indeed, it is asserted on

good authority, that even our ally of Chitrál, who had somewhat abandoned

the practice of selling his Shiah or Kalásha Kafir subjects into slavery,

and who had so disposed of the miners for not working his ruby mines

to profit, has now returned to the trade in men, “with the aid of our

present of rifles and our moral support.” Nor is Bokhara said to be

behind Chitrál in the revival of the slave-trade from Darwáz, in spite of

Russian influence; so that we have the remarkable instance of two great

Powers both opposed to slavery and the slave-trade, having revived it in

their approach to one another. Nor is a third Power, quite blameless in

the matter; for when we worried Hunza, that robber-nest remembered its

old allegiance to distant Kitái and arranged with the Chinese authorities

at Yarkand to be informed of the departure of a caravan. Then, after

intercepting it on the Kulanuldi road, the Hunzas would take those they

kidnapped from it back for sale to Yarkand!

As a matter of fact, we have now a scramble for the regions surrounding

and extending into the Pamirs by three Powers, acting either directly or

through States of Straw. The claims of Bokhara to Karategin and Darwáz—if

not to Shignán, Raushan, and Wakhan are as little founded as are those

of Afghanistan on the latter three districts. Indeed, even the Afghan

right to Badakhshan is very weak. The Russian claims through Khokand on

the pasturages of the Kirghiz in two-thirds of the Pamirs are also as

fanciful as those of Kashmir or China on Hunza. As in the scramble for

Africa, the natives themselves are not consulted, and their indigenous

dynasties have been either destroyed, or dispossessed, or ignored.

* * * * *

In an Indian paper, received by to-day’s mail (29 Nov., 1891), I find

the following paragraph: “Col. A. G. Durand, British Agent at Gilgit,

has received definite orders to bring the robber tribes of Hunza and

Nagar under control. These tribes are the pirates of Central Asia, whose

chief occupation is plundering caravans on the Yarkand and Kashgar.

Any prisoners they take on these expeditions are sold into slavery.

Colonel Durand has established an outpost at Chalt, about thirty miles

beyond Gilgit, on the Hunza river, and intends making a road to Aliabad,

the capital of the Hunza chief, at once. That he will meet with armed

opposition in doing so is not improbable.”

For some months past the _mot d’ordre_ appears to have been given to the

Anglo-Indian Press, to excite public feeling against Hunza and Nagyr,

two States which have been independent for fourteen centuries. The

cause of offence is not stated, nor, as far as I know, does one exist

of sufficient validity to justify invasion. In the _Pioneer_ and the

_Civil and Military Gazette_ I find vague allusions to the disloyalty

or recalcitrance of the above-mentioned tribes, and to the necessity

of punishing them. As Nagyr is extremely well-disposed towards the

British, and is only driven into making common cause with its hereditary

foe and rival of Hunza by fear of a common danger,—the loss of their

independence,—I venture to point out the impolicy and injustice of

interfering with these principalities.

I have already referred to a letter from the venerable chief of Nagyr, in

which he strongly commends to my care one of his sons, Raja Habibulla, as

a well-wisher of the English Government. Indeed, he has absolutely done

nothing to justify any attack on the integrity of his country; and before

we invade it other means to secure peace should be tried. I have no doubt

that I, for one, could induce him to comply with everything in reason,

if reason, and not an excuse for taking his country, is desired. Nagyr

has never joined Hunza in kidnapping expeditions, as is alleged in the

above-quoted paragraph. Indeed, slavery is an abomination to the pious

and peaceful agriculturist of that interesting country. The Nagyris are

musical and were fond of dances, polo, ibex _battue_-hunting, archery and

shooting from horseback, and other manly exercises; but the growing piety

of the race has latterly proscribed music and dancing. The accompanying

drawing of a Nagyri dance in the neighbouring Gilgit gives a good idea of

similar performances at Nagyr.

The country is full of legendary lore, but less so than Hunza, where

Grimm’s fairy tales appear to be translated into actual life. No war is

undertaken except at the supposed command of an unseen fairy, whose drum

is on such occasions sounded in the mountains. Ecstatic women, inhaling

the smoke of a cedar-branch, announce the future, tell the past, and

describe the state of things in neighbouring valleys. They are thus

alike the prophets, the historians, and the journalists of the tribe.

They probably now tell their indignant hearers how, under the pretext of

shooting or of commerce, Europeans have visited their country, which they

now threaten to destroy with strange and murderous weapons; but Hunza

is “ayeshó,” or “heaven-born,” and the fairies, if not the inaccessible

nature of the country, will continue to protect it.

The folly of invading Hunza and Nagyr is even greater than the physical

obstacles to which I have already referred. Here, between the Russian and

the British spheres of influence in Central Asia, we have not only the

series of Pamirs, or plateaux and high valleys, which I first brought

to notice on linguistic grounds, in the map accompanying my tour in

Dardistan in 1866 (the country between Kashmir and Kabul), and which

have been recently confirmed topographically; but we have also a large

series of mountainous countries, which, if left alone, or only assured

of our help against a foreign invader, would guarantee for ever the

peace alike of the Russian, the British, and the Chinese frontiers.

Unfortunately, we have allowed Afghanistan to annex Badakhshan, Raushan,

Shignan, and Wakhan, at much loss of life to their inhabitants; and

Russia has similarly endorsed the shadowy and recent claims of Bokhara on

neighbouring provinces, like Darwáz and Karategin.

It is untrue that Hunza and Nagyr were ever tributaries of Kashmîr,

except in the sense that they occasionally sent a handful of gold dust

to its Maharaja, and received substantial presents in return. It is to

China or Kitái that Hunza considers itself bound by an ancient, but

vague, allegiance. Hunza and Nagyr, that will only unite against a

foreign common foe, have more than once punished Kashmîr when attempting

invasion; but they are not hostile to Kashmîr, and Nagyr even sends one

of the princes to Srinagar as a guarantee of its peaceful intentions. At

the same time, it is not very many months ago that they gave us trouble

at Chalt, when we sought to establish an outpost, threatening the road to

Hunza and the independence alike of Hunza and Nagyr.

Just as Nagyr is pious, so Hunza is impious. Its religion is a perversion

even of the heterodox Mulái faith, which is Shiah Muhammadan only in

name, but pantheistic in substance. It prevails in Punyál, Zebak, Darwáz,

etc. The Tham, or Raja, of Hunza used to dance in a Mosque and hold

revels in it. Wine is largely drunk in Hunza, and like the Druses of the

Lebanon, the “initiated” Muláis may consider nothing a crime that is not

found out. Indeed, an interesting connection can be established between

the doctrines of the so-called “Assassins” of the Crusaders, which have

been handed down to the Druses, and those of the Muláis in various parts

of the Hindukush. Their spiritual chief gave me a few pages of their

hitherto mysterious Bible, the “Kelám-i-Pir,” in 1886, which I have

translated, and shortly intend to publish. All I can now say is, that,

whatever the theory of their faith, the practice depends, as elsewhere,

on circumstances and the character of the race.

The language of Hunza and Nagyr solves many philological puzzles. It

is a prehistoric remnant, in which a series of simple consonantal or

vowel sounds stands for various groups of ideas, relationships, etc. It

establishes the great fact, that customs and the historical and other

associations of a race are the basis of the so-called rules of grammar.

The cradle, therefore, of human thought as expressed in language, whether

of the Aryan, the Turanian, or the Shemitic groups, is to be found in the

speech of Hunza-Nagyr; and to destroy this by foreign intervention, which

has already brought new diseases into the Hindukush, as also a general

linguistic deterioration, would be a greater act of barbarism than to

permit the continuance of Hunza raiding on the Yarkand road. Besides,

that raiding can be stopped again, by closing the slave-markets of

Badakhshan, Bokhara, and Yarkand, or by paying a subsidy, say of £1,000

per annum, to the Hunza chief.

Indeed, as has already been pointed out, the recrudescence of kidnapping

is largely due to the state of insecurity and confusion caused by our

desire to render the Afghan and the Chinese frontiers conterminous with

our own, in the vain belief that the outposts of three large and distant

kingdoms, acting in concert, will keep Russia more effectively out of

India than a number of small independent republics or principalities.

Afghanistan may now be big, but every so-called subject in her outlying

districts is her inveterate foe. As stated in a letter from Nevsky to

the Calcutta _Englishman_, in connection with Colonel Grambcheffsky’s

recent explorations:

“One and all, these devastated tribes are firm in their conviction that

the raids of their Afghan enemies were prompted and supported by the gold

of Abdur Rahman’s English protectors. They will remember this on the

plateau of Pamir, and among the tribes of Kaffiristan.”

However colourable this statement may be as regards Shignán, Raushan, and

perhaps even Wakhan, I believe that the Kafirs are still our friends.

At the same time it should not be forgotten that, owing to the closing

of the slave-markets in Central Asia, the sale of Shiah subjects had

temporarily stopped in Chitrál. The Kafirs were being less molested by

kidnapping Muhammadan neighbours; the Hunzas went back to agriculture,

which the Nagyris had never abandoned; Kashmîr, India, and the Russian

side of Central Asia afforded no opening for the sale of human beings.

The insensate ambition of officials, British and Russian, the gift of

arms to marauding tribes and the destruction of Kashmîr influence, have

changed all this, and it is only by a return to “masterly inactivity,”

which does not mean the continuance of the Cimmerian darkness that now

exists as to the languages and histories of the most interesting races

of the world, that the peace and pockets of three mighty empires can be

saved.

In the meanwhile, it is to the interest of Russia to force us into

heavy military expenditure by false alarms; to create distrust between

ourselves and China by pretending that Russia and England alone have

civilizing missions in Central Asia, with which Chinese tyranny would

interfere; to hold up before us the Will-o’-the-wisp of an impossible

demarcation of the Pamirs, and finally, to ally itself with China

against India. For let it not be forgotten, that once the Trans-Siberian

railway is completed, China will be like wax in her hand; and that she

will be compelled to place her immense material in men and food at the

disposal of an overawing, but, as far as the _personnel_ is concerned,

not unamiable neighbour. The tribes, emasculated by our overwhelming

civilization, and driven into three large camps, will no longer have the

power of resistance that they now possess separately.

Let us therefore leave intact the two great belts of territories that

Nature has raised for the preservation of peace in Asia—the Pamir with

its adjacent regions to the east and west, and the zone of the Hindukush

with its hives of independent tribes, intervening between Afghanistan on

the one side and Kashmîr on the other, till India proper is reached. This

will never be the case by a foreign invader, unless diplomatists “meddle

and muddle,” and try to put together what Nature has put asunder. What

we require is the cultivation of greater sympathy in our relations with

natives; and, comparing big things with small, it is to this feeling that

I myself owed my safety, when I put off the disguise in which I crossed

the Kashmîr frontier in 1866 into countries then wrongly supposed by our

Government to be inhabited by cannibals. This charge was also made, with

equal error, by one tribe against the other. Then too, as in 1886, the

Indian Press spoke of Russian intrigues; but then, as in 1886, I found

the very name of Russia to be unknown, except where it had been learnt

from a Kashmîr Munshi, who had no business to be there at all, as the

treaty of 1846, by which we sold Kashmîr to Ghulab Singh, assigned the

Indus as his boundary on the west. Now, as to the question as to “What

and where are the Pamirs?” I have already stated my view in a letter to

the Editor of the _Morning Post_, which I trust I may be allowed to quote:

“As some of the statements made at the Royal Geographical Society are

likely to cause a sense of false security, as dangerous to peace as

a false alarm, I write to say that ‘Pamirs’ do not mean ‘deserts,’

or ‘broken valleys,’ and that they are not uninhabitable or useless

for movements of large bodies of men. They may be all this in certain

places, at certain periods of the year, and under certain conditions;

but had our explorers or statesmen paid attention to the languages of

this part of the world, as they should in regard to every other with

which they deal, they would have avoided many idle conjectures and the

complications that may follow therefrom. I do not wish them to refer to

philologists who have never been to the East, and who interpret ‘Pamir’

as meaning the ‘Upa-Meru’ Mountain of Indian mythology, but to the people

who frequent the Pamirs during the summer months, year after year, for

purposes of pasturage, starting from various points, and who in their own

languages (Yarkandi, Turki, and Kirghiz) call the high plain, elevated

valley, table-land, or plateau which they come across ‘Pamir.’ There

are, therefore, in one sense many ‘Pamirs,’ and as a _tout-ensemble_,

one ‘Pamir,’ or geographically, _the_ ‘Pamir.’ The legend of the two

brothers, ‘Alichur and Pamir,’ is merely a personification of two

plateaux. Indeed, the obvious and popular idea which has always attached

to the word ‘Pamir,’ is the correct one, whether it is the geographical

‘roof of the world,’ the ‘Bám-i-dunya’ of the poet, or the ‘Pamir-dunya’

of the modern journalist. We have, therefore, to deal with a series of

plateaux, the topographical limits of which coincide with linguistic,

ethnographical, and political limits. To the North, the Pamirs have the

Trans-Altaic Mountain range marking the Turki element, under Russian

influence; the Panja river, by whatever name, on the West is a Tadjik

or Iranian Frontier [Affghan]. The Sarikol on the East is a Tibetan,

Mongolian, or Chinese Wall, and the South is our natural frontier,

the Hindukush, to go beyond which is physical death to the Hindu, and

political ruin to the holder of India, as it also is certain destruction

to the invader, except by one pass, which I need not name, and which

is accessible from a Pamir. That the Pamirs are not uninhabitable may

be inferred from Colonel Grambcheffsky’s account [which is published

at length elsewhere in this issue of the ASIATIC QUARTERLY REVIEW]. A

few passages from it must now suffice:—‘The Pamir is far from being a

wilderness. It contains a permanent population, residing in it both

summer and winter.’ ‘The population is increasing to a marked extent.’

‘Slavery on the Pamir is flourishing: moreover, the principal contingents

of slaves are obtained from Chatrar, Jasen, and Kanshoot, chanates

under the protectorate of England.’ ‘On descending into Pamir we found

ourselves between the cordons of the Chinese and Affghan armies.’ ‘The

population of Shoognan, numbering 2,000 families, had fled to Pamir,

hoping to find a refuge in the Russian Provinces’ (from ‘the untold

atrocities which the Affghans were committing in the conquered provinces

of Shoognan,’ etc.). ‘I term the whole of the tableland “Pamir,” in view

of the resemblance of the valleys to each other.’

“The climate of the Pamirs is variable, from more than tropical heat

in the sun to arctic cold in the shade, and in consequence, is alike

provocative and destructive of life. Dr. G. Capus, who crossed them from

north to south, exactly as Mr. Littledale has done, but several months

in the year before him, says in his ‘Observations Météorologiques sur le

Pamir,’ which he sent to the last Oriental Congress,—‘The first general

fact is the inconstancy of severe cold. The nights are generally coldest

just before sunrise.’ ‘We found an extreme amplitude of 61 deg. between

the absolute minimum and maximum, and of 41 deg. between the minimum

and the maximum in the shade during the same day.’ ‘The thermometer

rises and falls rapidly with the height of the sun.’ ‘Great cold is less

frequent and persistent than was believed to be the case at the period

of the year dealt with’ (March 13 to April 19), ‘and is compensated by

daily intervals of elevation of temperature, which permit animal life,

represented by a fairly large number of species, and including man, to

keep up throughout the winter under endurable conditions.’ Yet ‘the

water-streak of snow, which has melted in contact with a dark object,

freezes immediately when put into the shadow of the very same object.’

... The solution of political difficulties in Central Asia is not in a

practically impossible, and certainly unmaintainable, demarcation of the

Pamirs, but in the strengthening of the autonomy of the most interesting

races that inhabit the series of Circassias that already guard the

safety alike of British, Chinese, and of Russian dominion or spheres of

influence in Central Asia.”

* * * * *

WOKING, _Nov. 29_.

It is not impossible that the tribes may again combine in 1892 as they

did in 1866 to turn out the Kashmîr troops from Gilgit. The want of

wisdom shown in forcing on the construction of a road from Chalt to

Aliabad, in the centre of Hunza, as announced in to-day’s _Times_,

must bring on, if not a confederation of the tribes against us, at

any rate their awakened distrust. It is doubtful whether it was ever

expedient to establish an outpost at Gilgit, and the carrying it still

farther to the traditional apple of discord, the holding of Chalt, which

commands the Hunza road, is still more impolitic. As in Affghanistan,

so here, whatever power does _not_ interfere is looked upon as the

saviour from present evils. Once we have created big agglomerations

under Affghanistan, or China, or Kashmir, we are liable to the dangers

following either on collapse, want of cohesion, treachery from within,

the ambitions of a few men at the respective courts, or, as with us,

to serious fluctuations in foreign politics due to the tactics of

English parties. The change, therefore, from natural boundaries to the

wirepulling of diplomatists at Kabul, Peking, or Downing Street is not

in the interests of peace, of our empire, or of civilization. Besides,

it should not be forgotten that we have added an element of disturbance,

far more subtle than the Babu, to our frontier difficulties. The timid

Kashmîri is unsurpassed as an intriguer and adventurer among tribes

beyond his frontier. The time seems to have arrived when, in the words

of the well-known Persian proverb,[107] the sparseness of races round

the Pamirs should bid us to be on our guard against the Affghan, the

“bad-raced” Kashmîrî, and the Kambó (supposed to be the tribe on the

banks of the Jhelum beyond Mozaffarabad). Perhaps, however, the Kambó is

the Heathen Chinee; and the proverb would then be entirely applicable

to the present question. After the construction of the Trans-Siberian

Railway, Russia will be able to exert the greatest pressure on China.

The Russian strength at Vladivostok is already enormous, and when the

time comes she can hurl an overwhelming force on what remains of Chinese

Manchuria, before which Chinese resistance will melt like snow. Peking

and the north of China are thus quite at the mercy of Russia. She will

find there the most populous country of those she rules in Asia, and with

ample supplies. China has a splendid raw material, militarily speaking;

and Russia could there form the biggest army that has ever been seen in

Asia, to hold _in terrorem_ over a rival or to hurl at the possessions of

a foe.

It is against such possibilities that the maintenance of “masterly

inactivity,” qualified by the moral and, if need be, pecuniary or other

material support of the Anglo-Indian Government is needed. This is

the object of this paper, before I enter into the more agreeable task

of describing the languages, customs, and country of perhaps the most

interesting races that inhabit the globe.

* * * * *

_The Times_ of the 30th November publishes a map of the Pamirs and an

account of the questions connected with them that, like many other

statements in its articles on “Indian affairs,” are incorrect and

misleading. Having been on a special mission by the Panjab Government, in

1866, when I discovered the races and languages of “Dardistan,” and gave

the country that name, and again having been on special duty with the

Foreign Department of the Government of India in 1886 in connection with

the Boorishki language and race of Hunza, Nagyr, and a part of Yasin,

regarding which I have recently completed Part I. of a large work, I

may claim to speak with some authority as regards these districts, even

if I had no other claim. The point which I wish to specially contradict

at present, is the one relating to the Russians bringing themselves into

almost direct contact with “the Hunza and other tribes subject to Kashmîr

and, as such, entitled to British protection and under British control.”

[Illustration: DR. LEITNER AS A BUKHARA MAULVI, WHEN CROSSING THE

FRONTIER IN 1866 DURING THE KASHMÎR WAR WITH THE DARD TRIBES.]

When I crossed the then Kashmîr frontier in 1866, in the disguise of

a Bokhara Maulvi, armed with a testimonial of Muhammadan theological

learning, I found that the tribes of Hunza, Nagyr, Dareyl, Yasin, and

Chitrál had united under the leadership of the last-named to expel the

Kashmîr invaders from the Gilgit Fort. My mission was a purely linguistic

one; but the sight of dying and dead men along the road, that of heads

stuck up along the march of the Kashmîr troops, and the attempts made on

my life by our feudatory, the late Maharaja of Kashmîr, compelled me to

pay attention to other matters besides the languages, legends, songs, and

fables of the interesting races with whom I now came in contact under

circumstances that might not seem to be favourable to the accomplishment

of my task. I had been warned by the then Lieutenant-Governor of the

Panjab, Sir Donald McLeod, whose like we have not seen again, not to

cross the frontier, as the tribes beyond were supposed to be cannibals;

but as I could not get the information of which I was in search within

our frontier, I had to cross it. My followers were frightened off by all

sorts of wild stories, till our party was reduced from some fifty to

three, including myself. The reason for all this was, that the Maharaja

was afraid that I should find out and report his breach of the Treaty by

which we sold Kashmîr to him in 1846, and in which the Indus is laid down

as his boundary on the west. In 1866, therefore, at any rate, even the

tenure of Gilgit, which is on the other side of the Indus, was contested

and illegal, whilst the still more distant Hunza and Nagyr had more than

once inflicted serious punishment on the Kashmîr troops that sought

to invade districts that have preserved their autonomy during the last

fourteen centuries, as was admitted by _The Times_ of the 2nd November,

1891, before its present change with the times, if an unintentional pun

may be permitted.

Then, as ever, the Anglo-Indian newspapers spoke of Russian intrigues in

those regions. I am perfectly certain that if, instead of the fussiness

of our statesmen and the sensationalism of our journals, the languages,

history, and relations of these little-known races had been studied by

them, we should never have heard of Russia in that part of the East. It

is also not by disingenuousness and short cuts on maps or in diplomacy,

but by _knowledge_, that physical, ethnographical, and political problems

are to be solved; nor will the bold and brilliant robberies of Russia be

checked by our handing over the inhabitants of the supposed “cradle of

the human race” to Affghan, Kashmîr, or Chinese usurpations. Above all,

it is a loss of time to palm off myths as history in order to suit the

policy or conceal the ignorance of the moment.

Just as little as Darwaz and Karategin are ancestral dominions of

Bokhara, and, therefore, under Russian influence, so little did even

Badakhshan, and much less so, Raushan, Shignan, and Wakhan, ever really

belong to Affghanistan. As for the Chinese hold on Turkistan, we

ourselves denied it when we coquetted with Yakub Khush Begi, though Kitái

was ever the acknowledged superior of Eastern Turkistan. If Hunza admits

any allegiance, it is to China, and not to Kashmîr; and the designations

of offices of rule in that country are of Chinese, and not of Aryan

origin, including even “Thàm,” the title of its Raja.

As a matter of fact, however, the vast number of tribes that inhabit

the many countries between the Indus and the Kuner own no master except

their own tribal head or the tribal council. From kidnapping Hunza,

where the right to plunder is monarchical, hereditary, and “ayeshó”

= “heaven-born,” to the peace and learning of republican Kandiá or

Gabriál, all want to be left alone. If a neighbour becomes troublesome,

he is raided on till an interchange of presents restores harmony. It

is impossible to say that either side is tributary to the other. The

wealthier gives the larger present; the bigger is considered the superior

in a general sort of way, and so two horses, two dogs, and a handful of

gold dust are yearly sent by Hunza to Kashmîr or to Yarkand as a cloak

for much more substantial exactions in return. Nagyr sends a basket of

apricots instead of the horses and dogs. In 1871 Chitrál still paid a

tribute to Badakhshan in slaves, but it would be absurd to infer from

this fact that Chitrál ever acknowledged the suzerainty of Jehandar Shah,

or of the Affghan faction that dispossessed him. Nor were the Khaibaris,

or other highway robbers, our rulers, because we paid them blackmail, or

they our subjects because they might bring us “sweetmeats.”

The points in which most Englishmen are as deficient as Russians are

generally proficient, are language and a sympathetic manner with natives.

That, however, linguistic knowledge is not useless may be inferred from

the fact that it enabled me, to use the words of my Chief, Commissary

General H. S. Jones, C.B., during the Russian War in 1855, “to pass

unharmed through regions previously unknown and among tribes hitherto

unvisited by any European.”

Also in topography and geography linguistics are necessary; and the

absurd mistakes now made at certain learned societies and in certain

scientific journals, regarding the Pamirs, would be avoided by a little

study of the Oriental languages concerned. In 1866, the map which

accompanies my philological work on “Dardistan” shows, on linguistic

grounds, and on the basis of native itineraries, the various Pamirs that

have been partially revealed within the last few weeks, or have been

laboriously ascertained by expensive Russian and British expeditions

between 1867 and 1890. The publication of my material, collected at

my own expense and which shall no longer be delayed, would have saved

many complications; but when, _e.g._, I pointed out, in 1866, that

the Indus, after leaving Bunji, ran west instead of south, as on the

then existing maps, I got into trouble with the Topographical Survey,

which “discovered” the fact through its well-known “Mulla” in 1876. The

salvation of India that is not made “departmentally” is crucified; and

whoever does not belong to the regular military or civil services has no

business to know or to suggest. Mr. Curzon, when presiding at a meeting

of the late Oriental Congress, assured us that a new era had risen; but

only the other night, at the Royal Geographical Society, a complaint was

made of the reluctance of official departments in giving the Society

information. As a rule, the mysteriousness of offices only conceals their

ignorance, of which we have an instance in Capt. Younghusband being sent

to shut the passes after the Russians had already stolen a march on, or

through, them.

* * * * *

The neutralization of the Pamirs is the only solution of a difficulty

created by the conjectural treaties of diplomatists and the ambition of

military emissaries. Left as a huge happy hunting-ground for sportsmen,

or as pasturage for nomads from whatever quarter, the Pamirs form the

most perfect “neutral zone” conceivable. That the wanderings of these

nomads should be accompanied by territorial or political claims, whether

by Russia, China, Affghanistan, Kashmir, or ourselves, is the height of

absurdity. As for Hunza-Nagyr, the sooner they are left to themselves the

better for us, who are not bound to help Kashmîr in encroaching on them.

Kashmîr managed them very fairly after 1848; and when it was occasionally

defeated, its prestige did not suffer, for the next summer invariably

found the tribal envoys again suing for peace and presents. The sooner

the Gilgit Agency is withdrawn, the greater will be our reputation for

fair dealing. Besides, we can take hostages from the Chiefs’ families

as guarantees of future tranquillity. Hunza-Nagyr are certainly not

favourable to Russia, whilst Nagyr is decidedly friendly to us. The

sensational account of Colonel Grambcheffsky’s visit to Hunza, which

he places on his map where Nagyr is, seems to be one of the usual traps

to involve us in great military expenditure and to alienate the tribes

from us. It is also not creditable that, for party or personal purposes,

the peaceful and pious Nagyris,—whom our own Gilgit Resident, Colonel

Biddulph, has reported on as distinguished for “timidity and incapacity

for war,” “never having joined the Hunza raids,” “slavery being unknown

in Nagyr,”—should be described as “kidnappers,” “raiders along with

Hunza,” “slave-dealers,” “robbers,” and “scoundrels,”—statements made by

a correspondent from Gilgit in a morning newspaper of to-day, and to all

of which I give an unqualified contradiction.

The establishment of the Gilgit Agency has already drawn attention to

the shortest road for the invasion of India; and it is significant that

its advocate at Gilgit should admit that all the tribes of the Indus

Valley “sympathized with the Hunzas,” from whose depredations they are

erroneously supposed to have suffered, and that they were likely “to

attack the British from behind by a descent on the Gilgit road” to

Kashmîr. Why should “the only other exit from Gilgit by way of the Indus

Valley be through territories held by tribes hostile to the British”?

Have the Gilgit doings already alienated the poor, but puritanical

Chilásis, tributaries of Kashmîr, who adjoin our settled British district

of Kaghan? Are we to dread the Republic of Muhammadan learning, Kandiá,

that has not a single fort; pastoral Dareyl; the Koli-Palus traders;

agricultural Tangir, and other little Republics—one only of eleven

houses? As for the places beyond them, our officials at Attock, Peshawur,

Rawalpindi, and Abbottabad will deal with the Pathan tribes in their own

neighbourhood, which have nothing to do with the adjoining Republics of

quiet, brave, and intelligent Dards, on both sides of the Indus, up to

Gilgit, to which I have referred, and which deserve our respectful study,

sympathy, and unobtrusive support.

G. W. LEITNER.

_16th December, 1891._

* * * * *

The following account, published by Reuter’s Telegram Company, will

supplement the preceding article:—

“WOKING, _Dec. 13_.

“A representative of Reuter’s Agency interviewed Dr. Leitner at his

residence at Woking to-day, with the object of eliciting some information

on the subject of the Hunza and Nagyr tribes, with whom the British

forces are at present in conflict.

“Dr. Leitner, it is needless to say, is the well-known discoverer of

the races and languages of Dardistan (the country between Kabul and

Kashmir), which he so named when sent on a linguistic mission by the

Punjab Government in 1864, at a time when the various independent tribes,

including Hunza and Nagyr, had united in order to turn the troops of the

Maharaja of Kashmir out of Gilgit. At that time it was considered that

the treaty of 1846, by which Great Britain sold Kashmir to the Maharaja,

had confined him to the Indus as his westward boundary, and had therefore

rendered his occupation of Gilgit an encroachment and breach of treaty.

“Dr. Leitner, although the country was in a state of war, which is

not favourable to scientific research, managed to collect a mass of

information, and a fine ethnographical collection, which is at the museum

at Woking. He has also made many friends in the country, and is doubtless

the highest, if not the only, authority regarding these countries.

“Dr. Leitner, who was quite unprepared for to-day’s visit, said that the

relations which he had kept up with the natives of Gilgit, Hunza, Nagyr,

and Yasin forced him to the conclusion that a conflict had been entered

into which might have easily been avoided by a little more sympathy and

knowledge, especially of the Nagyr people. Indeed, it was not a light

matter that could have induced the venerable chief of Nagyr to make

common cause with his hereditary foe of Hunza, unless he feared that the

British threatened their respective independence.

“Not many weeks ago Dr. Leitner received a letter from the chief of

Nagyr, in which he recommended to his kind attention his son, now in

Kashmir, on the ground that he, even more so than any other member of his

numerous family, was a well-wisher to the British Government. At that

time the chief could not have had any feelings of animosity, although

he might have protested, together with his rival of Hunza, against the

British occupation of Chalt. In fact, it was not true that Nagyr and

Hunza were really subject to Kashmir, except in the vague way in which

these States constantly recognised the suzerainty of a neighbouring power

in the hope of getting substantial presents for their offerings of a

few ounces of gold dust, a couple of dogs, or basket of apricots, etc.

Thus Chitrál, the ally of Great Britain, used to pay a tribute of slaves

to the Ameers of Badakshan; but it would be absurd on that ground to

render Chitrál a part of Afghanistan, because Badakshan now, in a manner,

belongs to Abdurrahman. Hunza, again, sends a tribute to China; and, in

a general way, China is the only Power that ever had a shadow of claim

on these countries, but it is a mere shadow. Dr. Leitner said, the only

policy for Great Britain is, in the words of the Secretary of State or

Viceroy, ‘to maintain and strengthen all the indigenous Governments.’

This policy he would extend to the triangle which has Peshawur for its

base, and thereby interpose a series of almost impregnable mountainous

countries, which would be sufficiently defended by the independence of

their inhabitants. If Circassia could oppose Russia for thirty years,

even although Russia had the command of the Black Sea, how much more

effective would be the resistance of the innumerable Circassias which

Providence had placed between ourselves and the Russian frontier in Asia?

We ought to have made these tribes look upon us as a distant but powerful

friend, ready to help them in an emergency; but now, by attacking two

of them, we caused Russia to be looked upon as the coming Saviour;

indeed, the people of Wakhan, on the Pamir side of Hunza, were already

doing so, whilst Shignan and Roshan, which had been almost depopulated

by our friends, the Afghans, had already begun to emigrate into Russian

territory. Here Dr. Leitner added that the Russian claims through Bokhara

were as illusory as those of Kashmir, and historically even less founded

than those of China. Indeed, no one had a right to these countries

except the indigenous peoples and chiefs who inhabited them; and in

this scramble for the regions round the Pamir, great Britain was simply

breaking down her natural defences by stamping out the independence of

native tribes and making military roads; for it was the absence of those

roads on the British side that rendered it impossible to an invader to do

England any real harm or to advance on India proper.

Asked why the trouble had broken out at the present time, Dr. Leitner

said, that he had been kept without information of the immediate cause,

but he felt certain that it was owing to the attempt to construct a

military road to Hunza, whereby England would only facilitate the advent

of a possible invader from that direction, besides making Hunza throw in

its lot with that invader. It was perfectly untrue, as alleged in some of

the Indian papers, that the Nagyris were kidnappers, and that our attack

would be an advantage to the cause of anti-slavery. The fact was just

the other way. Kidnapping had been stopped in 1869 as far as Hunza was

concerned.

The Nagyris never raided at all; Chitrál also gave up selling its Káfir

or Shiah subjects into slavery when the markets of Badakshan were closed;

but now that confusion had caused the English and Russian advance,

Hunza had again taken to raiding, and Chitrál to selling slaves. As for

Nagyr, the case was quite different; they were an excellent people and

very quiet, so much so that Colonel Biddulph, the Resident, described

them as “noted for timidity and incapacity for war,” whereas in his

“Tribes of the Hindu Kush” he also states that the people of Hunza are

not warlike in the sense in which the Afghans are said to be so. No

doubt the Nagyris dislike war, but would fight bravely if driven to do

so. Colonel Biddulph adds: “They are settled agricultural communities,

proud of the independence they have always maintained for fourteen

centuries, hemmed in by lofty mountains, and living under rulers who

boast of long, unbroken descent from princes of native blood.” He also

bears testimony to the fact that “the Nagyr people were never concerned

in these raids, and slavery does not exist among them.” At the same time

Dr. Leitner fully admitted that the Hunza people were not a model race,

since they used to be desperate raiders and kidnappers, and very immoral

and impious. The father of the present king used to dance in a state of

drunkenness in the mosque; but, on the other hand, we were not bound to

be the reformers of Hunza by pulling down one of the bulwarks to our

Indian Empire. Hunza was a picturesque country in every sense; it was

nominally governed by fairies: ecstatic women were the prophetesses of

the tribe, recounted its past glories, and told what was going on in the

neighbouring valleys, so they were its historians and journalists as well

as its prophetesses. No war was undertaken unless the fairies gave their

consent, and the chief fairy, Yudeni, who protects the “Tham” (a Chinese

title), has no doubt already struck the sacred drum in order to call the

men of the country to defend the “Heaven-born,” as their chief is called.

The two “Thams” of Hunza and Nagyr, who have a common ancestry, are also

credited with the power of causing rain, and there would certainly appear

to be some foundation for this remarkable fact.

The two tribes are great polo players; archery on horseback is common

amongst them; and they are very fair ibex hunters.

The people of Nagyr are as pious and gentle as those of Hunza are the

contrary. Their language went back to simple sounds as indicative of

a series of human relations or experiences, and clearly showed that

the customs and associations of a race were at the basis of so-called

rules of grammar. Nothing more wonderful than their language could be

conceived; it went to the root of human thought as expressed in language,

but the language had already suffered by foreign influences between 1866,

when one son of the Rajah of Nagyr taught him, and 1886, when another son

of the Rajah continued his lessons.

As regards religion, the Hunzas are Mulais, a mysterious and heretical

sect, akin to the Druses of the Lebanon, practising curious rites,

and practically infidels. He had obtained a few pages of their secret

Bible, the Kelam-i-pir, which throws much light on the doctrines of

the so-called “assassins” during the Crusades. The Nagyris are pious

Muhammadans of the Shiah denomination.

Dr. Leitner then showed the map accompanying his linguistic work on

Dardistan. After comparing it with the most recent Russian and British

maps, that of Dr. Leitner gives the fullest and clearest information,

not only as regards Hunza-Nagyr, where all the places where fighting

has occurred are marked, but also as regards the various Pamirs, thus

anticipating in 1866 on linguistic grounds and native itineraries the

different Pamirs that have recently been settled geographically. It

shows that the ethnographical frontier of the Pamirs to the north are

the Turki-speaking nomads of the trans-Altaic range (now Russian); to

the west the Persian, or Tajiks (now Afghan); to the south the Aryan

Hindu Kush [British]; and to the east the wall of the Serikol Mountains,

dividing or admitting Chinese, Tibetan, or Mongolian influence. The

indeterminate river courses through the Pamir, or a line stretched across

its plateaux, valleys, and mountains, are obviously an unmaintainable

demarcation, which is liable to be transgressed by shepherds under

whatever rule; but the whole of the Pamirs together, as a huge and

happy hunting-ground, are, no doubt, if neutralized by the three Powers

concerned, the best possible frontier, as “no man’s land,” and a perfect

neutral zone. “What matter,” continued Dr. Leitner, “if the passes are

easy of access on the Russian side, it is on the descent, and on the

ascent on our side that almost insuperable difficulties begin. Where we

are now fighting in Hunza-Nagyr only the low state of the river which

divides Hunza from Nagyr enables us to make a simultaneous advance on

both. Otherwise we should have to let ourselves man by man down from one

ledge of rock to another, and if we miss our footing be whirled away

in the most terrible torrent the imagination can conceive. Why, then,

destroy such a great defence in our favour if Hunza is kept friendly,

as it so easily can be, especially with the pressure exercised on it by

the Nagyris, whose forts frown on those of Hunza all down the river that

separates their countries? I cannot conceive anything more wanton or

suicidal than the present advance even if we should succeed in removing

one of the most important landmarks in the history of the human race by

shooting down the handful of Nagyris and Hunzas that oppose us. They

preserve the pre-historic remnants of legends and customs that explain

much that is still obscure in the life and history of European races.

A few hundred pounds a year judiciously spent and the promise of the

withdrawal of the Gilgit Agency, which was already once before attacked

when under Colonel Biddulph, would be a far better way of securing

peace than shooting down with Gatlings and Martini-Henry rifles people

who defend their independence within their crags with bows, arrows,

battleaxes, and a few muskets; and promise of the withdrawal of the

Gilgit Agency might be contingent upon the increase of the number of

hostages belonging to the chiefs’ families that are now annually sent to

Kashmir as a guarantee of friendly relations.

The Hunzas and Nagyris are not to be despised as foes; they are very

good marksmen. In 1886, when the Kashmir troops thought they had cleared

the plain before the Gilgit Fort entirely of enemies, and not a person

was to be seen outside it, the tribesmen would glide along the ground

unperceived behind a stone pushed in front of them, and resting their

old flint muskets on them shoot off the Maharajah’s Sepoys whenever they

showed themselves outside the fort. Indeed, it was this circumstance

that induced Dr. Leitner to abandon the protection of the fort and make

friends with the tribesmen outside. All the tribes desired was to be

left alone in their mountain fastnesses. They had sometimes internecine

feuds, but would unite against the common foe. It was merely emasculating

their powers of resistance to subject them, either on the one side to

Bokhara, which meant Russia, or to Afghanistan or Kashmir, which meant

Great Britain, or to China, which meant dependence on a Power that might

be utilized any day against Great Britain after the completion of the

trans-Siberian railway. Diplomatists, frontier delimitation commissions,

and officers, both British and Russian, anxious for promotion, had,

continued Dr. Leitner, created the present confusion; and it was now high

time to rely rather on the physical obstacles that guaranteed the safety

alike of the British, Russian, and Chinese frontiers than on the chapter

of political accidents.

Dr. Leitner, who is going to give a lecture at the Westminster Town-hall

to-morrow afternoon on “The Races, Religions, and Politics of the Pamir

Regions,” then showed our representative Col. Grambcheffsky’s map,

which put Hunza where Nagyr ought to be, and ignored the latter place

altogether, just as did the last map of the Geographical Society in

connection with Mr. Littledale’s tour. Grambcheffsky’s map, however, had

since been corrected by evidently an English map, and it was strange that

Russians had easier access to English maps than Englishmen themselves.

In fact, all this secrecy, Dr. Leitner maintained, was injurious to

the acquisition of full knowledge regarding imperfectly known regions.

Attention was then directed to a number of maps, that of Mr. Drew, a

Kashmir official, showing Hunza-Nagyr to be beyond Kashmir influence.

This was practically confirmed by several official maps and the

statements of Colonels Biddulph and Hayward, the latter of whom placed

the Kashmir frontier towards Hunza at Nomal, whilst the British are now

fighting sixteen and a half miles beyond in front of Mayun, where the

first Hunza fort is. The Nagyr frontier Dr. Leitner places at Jaglot,

which is nineteen miles from Nilt, where we are simultaneously fighting

the first Nagyr fort.

Dr. Leitner, in conclusion, expressed his conviction, from his knowledge

of the people concerned, that any one with a sympathetic mind could get

them to do anything in reason; but that encroachments, whether overt or

covert, would be resisted to the utmost. Indeed, England’s restlessness

had brought on the present trouble.

In 1866, he stated, the very name of Russia was unknown in these parts,

and in 1886 was only known to a few. Yet the English Press in both these

years spoke of Russian intrigues among the tribes. He did not fear them

as long as the Indian Empire relied on its natural defences, its inner

strength, and on justice to its chiefs and people, and as long as its

policy with the tribes was guided by knowledge and good feeling.

APPENDIX II.

NOTES ON RECENT EVENTS IN CHILÁS AND CHITRÁL.

In 1866 I was sent by the Punjab Government on a linguistic mission to

Kashmir and Chilás at the instance of the Bengal Asiatic Society and

on the motion of the late Sir George Campbell, who hoped to identify

Kailás or the Indian Olympus with Chilás.[108] Although unable to

support that conjecture, I collected material which was published in