, near the Lataband Pass, and at Daruna, near the
Kokcha, and these supply the whole of Badakhshan, as well as Kunduz and
Chitral. These sites are due _east_ of Talikan, and are in Badakhshan. But
there is a mine at _Chal_, S.E. or S.S.E. of Talikan and within the same
province. There are also mines of rock-salt near the famous "stone bridge"
in Kulab, north of the Oxus, and again on the south of the Alai steppe.
(Papers by _Manphul_ and by _Faiz Baksh_; also _Notes_ by _Feachenko_.)

Both pistachioes and wild almonds are mentioned by Pandit Manphul; and see
_Wood_ (p. 252) on the beauty and profusion of the latter.

NOTE 3.--Wood thinks that the Tajik inhabitants of Badakhshan and the
adjoining districts are substantially of the same race as the Kafir tribes
of Hindu Kush. At the time of Polo's visit it would seem that their
conversion to Islam was imperfect. They were probably in that transition
state which obtains in our own day for some of the Hill Mahomedans
adjoining the Kafirs on the south side of the mountains the reproachful
title of _Nimchah Musulman_, or Half-and-halfs. Thus they would seem to
have retained sundry Kafir characteristics; among others that love of wine
which is so strong among the Kafirs. The boiling of the wine is noted by
Baber (a connoisseur) as the custom of Nijrao, adjoining, if not then
included in, Kafir-land; and Elphinstone implies the continuance of the
custom when he speaks of the Kafirs as having wine of _the consistence of
jelly_, and very strong. The wine of _Kapishi_, the Greek Kapisa,
immediately south of Hindu Kush, was famous as early as the time of the
Hindu grammarian Panini, say three centuries B.C. The cord twisted round
the head was probably also a relic of Kafir costume: "Few of the Kafirs
cover the head, and when they do, it is with a narrow band or fillet of
goat's hair ... about a yard or a yard and a half in length, wound round
the head." This style of head-dress seems to be very ancient in India, and
in the Sanchi sculptures is that of the supposed Dasyas. Something very
similar, i.e. a scanty turban cloth twisted into a mere cord, and wound
two or three times round the head, is often seen in the Panjab to this
day.

The _Postin_ or sheepskin coat is almost universal on both sides of the
Hindu Kush; and Wood notes: "The shoes in use resemble half-boots, made of
goatskin, and mostly of home manufacture." (_Baber_, 145; _J. A. S. B._
XXVIII. 348, 364; _Elphinst._ II.