Volume II Part 109 (1/2)

APPENDIX L.--_Sundry Supplementary Notes on Special Subjects_.--(H.C.)

1.--_The Polos at Acre_.

2.--_Sorcery in Kashmir_.

3.--PAONANO PAO.

4.--_Pamir_.

5.--_Number of Pamirs_.

6.--_Site of Pein_.

7.--_Fire-arms_.

8.--_La Couvade_.

9.--_Alacan_.

10.--_Champa_.

11.--_Ruck Quills_.

12.--_A Spanish Edition of Marco Polo_.

13.--_Sir John Mandeville_.

1.--THE POLOS AT ACRE. (Vol. i. p. 19. _Int._)

M. le Comte Riant (_Itin. a Jerusalem_, p. xxix.) from various data thinks the two sojourns of the Polos at Acre must have been between the 9th May, 1271, date of the arrival of Edward of England and of Tedaldo Visconti, and the 18th November, 1271, time of the departure of Tedaldo.

Tedaldo was still in Paris on the 28th December, 1269, and he appears to have left for the Holy Land after the departure of S. Lewis for Tunis (2nd July, 1270).--H.C.

2.--SORCERY IN KASHMIR. (Vol. i. p. 166.)

In _Kalhanda's Rajatarangini, A Chronicle of the Kings of Kasmir translated by M.A. Stein_, we read (Bk. IV. 94, p. 128): ”Again the Brahman's wife addressed him: 'O king, as he is famous for his knowledge of charms (_Kharkhodavidya_), he can get over an ordeal with ease.'” Dr.

Stein adds the following note: ”The practice of witchcraft and the belief in its efficiency have prevailed in Kasmir from early times, and have survived to some extent to the present day; comp. _Buhler, Report_, p.

24.... The term _Kharkhoda_, in the sense of a kind of deadly charm or witchcraft, recurs in v. 239, and is found also in the _Vijayesvaramah_ (Adipur.), xi. 25. In the form _Kharkota_ it is quoted by the _N. P.W._ from _Caraka_, vi. 23. _Kharkhota_ appears as the designation of a sorcerer or another kind of uncanny persons in _Haracar_., ii. 125, along with Krtyas and Vetalas....”

3.--PAONANO PAO. (Vol. i. p. 173.)

In his paper on _Zoroastrian Deities on Indo-Scythians' Coins_ (_Babylonian and Oriental Record_, August, 1887, pp. 155-166; rep. in the _Indian Antiquary_, 1888), Dr. M.A. Stein has demonstrated that the legend PAONANO PAO on the coins of the Yue-Chi or Indo-Scythian Kings (Kanishka, Huvishka, Vasudeva), is the exact transcription of the old Iranian t.i.tle _Shahanan Shah_ (Persian _Shahan-shah_), ”King of Kings”; the letter P, formerly read as P(_r_), has since been generally recognised, in accordance with his interpretation as a distinct character expressing the sound _sh_.

4.--PAMIR. (Vol. i. pp. 174-175.)

I was very pleased to find that my itinerary agrees with that of Dr. M.A.

Stein; this learned traveller sends me the following remarks: ”The remark about the absence of birds (pp. 174-175) _might_ be a reflex of the very ancient legend (based probably on the name zend _Upairi-saena_, pehlevi _Aparsin_, 'higher than the birds') which represents the _Hindu Kush_ range proper as too high for birds to fly over. The legend can be traced by successive evidence in the case of the range north of Kabul.”-- Regarding the route (p. 175) from the _Wakhjir_ (sic) Pa.s.s down the Taghdum-bash Pamir, then via Tash-kurghan, Little Karakul, Bulun Kul, Gez Daria to Tashmalik and Kashgar, Dr. Stein says that he surveyed it in July, 1900, and he refers for the correct phonetic spelling of local names along it to his map to be published in _J.R.G.S._, in December, 1902.

He says in his _Prel. Report_, p. 10: ”The _Wakhjir_ Pa.s.s, only some 12 miles to the south-west of _Kok-torok_, connects the Taghdumbash Pamir and the Sarikol Valleys with the head-waters of the Oxus. So I was glad that the short halt, which was unavoidable for survey purposes, permitted me to move a light camp close to the summit of the Wakhjir Pa.s.s (circ. 16,200 feet). On the following day, 2nd July, I visited the head of _Ab-i-Panja_ Valley, near the great glaciers which Lord Curzon first demonstrated to be the true source of the River Oxus. It was a strange sensation for me in this desolate mountain waste to know that I had reached at last the eastern threshold of that distant region, including Bactria and the Upper Oxus Valley, which as a field of exploration had attracted me long before I set foot in India. Notwithstanding its great elevation, the Wakhjir Pa.s.s and its approaches both from west and east are comparatively easy.

Comparing the topographical facts with Hiuen-Tsiang's account in the _Si yu-ki_, I am led to conclude that the route followed by the great Chinese Pilgrim, when travelling about A.D. 649 from Badakshan towards Khotan, through 'the valley of Po-mi-lo (Pamir)' into Sarikol, actually traversed this Pa.s.s.”