f
the place into slavery! They continue still unworked, unless
clandestinely. In 1866 the reigning Mir had one of them opened at the
request of Pandit Manphul, but without much result.

The locality of the mines is on the right bank of the Oxus, in the
district of Ish Kashm and on the borders of SHIGNAN, the _Syghinan_ of the
text. (_P. Manph.; Wood_, 206; _N. Ann. des. V._ xxvi. 300.)

[The ruby mines are really in the Gharan country, which extends along both
banks of the Oxus. Barshar is one of the deserted villages; the boundary
between Gharan and Shignan is the Kuguz Parin (in Shighai dialect means
"holes in the rock"); the Persian equivalent is "Rafak-i-Somakh." (Cf.
Captain Trotter, _Forsyth's Mission_, p. 277.)--H. C.]

NOTE 3.--The mines of _Lajwurd_ (whence _l'Azur_ and _Lazuli_) have been,
like the Ruby mines, celebrated for ages. They lie in the Upper Valley of
the Kokcha, called Koran, within the Tract called _Yamgan_, of which the
popular etymology is _Hamah-Kan_, or "All-Mines," and were visited by Wood
in 1838. The produce now is said to be of very inferior quality, and in
quantity from 30 to 60 _poods_ (36 lbs each) annually. The best quality
sells at Bokhara at 30 to 60 tillas, or 12_l._ to 24_l._ the pood
(_Manphul_). Surely it is ominous when a British agent writing of
Badakhshan products finds it natural to express weights in Russian poods!

The Yamgan Tract also contains mines of iron, lead, alum, salammoniac,
sulphur, ochre, and copper. The last are not worked. But I do not learn of
any silver mines nearer than those of Paryan in the Valley of Panjshir,
south of the crest of the Hindu-Kush, much worked in the early Middle
Ages. (See _Cathay_, p. 595.)

NOTE 4.--The Kataghan breed of horses from Badakhshan and Kunduz has still
a high reputation. They do not often reach India, as the breed is a
favourite one among the Afghan chiefs, and the horses are likely to be
appropriated in transit. (_Lumsden, Mission to Kandahar_, p. 20.)

[The Kirghiz between the Yangi Hissar River and Sirikol are the only
people using the horse generally in the plough, oxen being employed in the
plains, and yaks in Sirikol. (Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon, p. 222,
_Forsyth's Mission_.)--H. C.]

What Polo heard of the Bucephalid strain was perhaps but another form of a
story told by the Chinese, many centuries earlier, when speaking of this
same region. A certain cave was frequented by a wonderful stallion of
supernatural o