. 9.)[2] Can this title have been a trace of their rule?
Or is it Indian?

NOTE 2.--This chapter is one of the most interesting in the book, and
contains one of its most splendid anticipations of modern exploration,
whilst conversely Lieutenant John Wood's narrative presents the most
brilliant confirmation in detail of Marco's narrative.

We have very old testimony to the recognition of the great altitude of the
Plateau of PAMIR (the name which Marco gives it and which it still
retains), and to the existence of the lake (or lakes) upon its surface.
The Chinese pilgrims Hwui Seng and Sung Yun, who passed this way A.D. 518,
inform us that these high lands of the Tsung Ling were commonly said to be
midway between heaven and earth. The more celebrated Hiuen Tsang, who came
this way nearly 120 years later (about 644) on his return to China, "after
crossing the mountains for 700 _li_, arrived at the valley of _Pomilo_
(Pamir). This valley is 1000 _li_ (about 200 miles) from east to west, and
100 _li_ (20 miles) from north to south, and lies between two snowy ranges
in the centre of the Tsung Ling mountains. The traveller is annoyed by
sudden gusts of wind, and the snow-drifts never cease, spring or summer.
As the soil is almost constantly frozen, you see but a few miserable
plants, and no crops can live. The whole tract is but a dreary waste,
without a trace of human kind. In the middle of the valley is a great lake
300 _li_ (60 miles) from east to west, and 500 _li_ from north to south.
This stands in the centre of Jambudwipa (the Buddhist [Greek: oikoumenae])
on a plateau of prodigious elevation. An endless variety of creatures
peoples its waters. When you hear the murmur and clash of its waves you
think you are listening to the noisy hum of a great market in which vast
crowds of people are mingling in excitement.... The lake discharges to the
west, and a river runs out of it in that direction and joins the _Potsu_
(Oxus).... The lake likewise discharges to the east, and a great river
runs out, which flows eastward to the western frontier of _Kiesha_
(Kashgar), where it joins the River Sita, and runs eastward with it into
the sea." The story of an eastern outflow from the lake is, no doubt,
legend, connected with an ancient Hindu belief (see _Cathay_, p. 347), but
Burnes in modern times heard much the same story. And the Mirza, in 1868,
took up the same impression regarding the smaller lake called Pamir Kul,
in which the so