too far east--in fact,
beyond the city which forms the subject of the next chapter. The apparent
hesitation, however, between the forms _Casem_ and _Scasem_ suggests that
the Kishm of our note may formerly have been termed S'kashm or Ish-Kashm,
a form frequent in the Oxus Valley, e.g. _Ish-Kimish, Ish-Kashm, Ishtrakh,
Ishpingao_. General Cunningham judiciously suggests (_Ladak_, 34) that
this form is merely a vocal corruption of the initial _S_ before a
consonant, a combination which always troubles the Musulman in India, and
converts every Mr. Smith or Mr. Sparks into Ismit or Ispak Sahib.

[There does not seem to me any difficulty about this note: "Shibarkhan
(Afghan Turkistan), Balkh, Kunduz, Khanabad, Talikan, Kishm, Badakhshan."
I am tempted to look for Dogana at Khanabad.--H. C.]

NOTE 5.--The belief that the porcupine _projected_ its quills at its
assailants was an ancient and persistent one--"_cum intendit cutem
missiles_," says Pliny (VIII. 35, and see also _Aelian. de Nat. An._ I.
31), and is held by the Chinese as it was held by the ancients, but is
universally rejected by modern zoologists. The huddling and coiling
appears to be a true characteristic, for the porcupine always tries to
shield its head.

NOTE 6.--The description of Kishm as a "very great" province is an example
of a bad habit of Marco's, which recurs in the next chapter. What he says
of the cave-dwellings may be illustrated by Burnes's account of the
excavations at Bamian, in a neighbouring district. These "still form the
residence of the greater part of the population.... The hills at Bamian
are formed of indurated clay and pebbles, which renders this excavation a
matter of little difficulty." Similar occupied excavations are noticed by
Moorcroft at Heibak and other places towards Khulm.

Curiously, Pandit Manphul says of the districts about the Kokcha: "Both
their hills and plains are productive, the former _being mostly composed
of earth, having very little of rocky substance_."

NOTE 7.--The capital of Badakhshan is now Faizabad, on the right bank of
the Kokcha, founded, according to Manphul, by Yarbeg, the first Mir of the
present dynasty. When this family was displaced for a time, by Murad Beg
of Kunduz, about 1829, the place was abandoned for years, but is now
re-occupied. The ancient capital of Badakhshan stood in the Dasht (or
Plain) of Baharak, one of the most extensive pieces of level in Badakhshan,
in which the rivers Vardoj, Z