s Mission._)--H. C.]

The _J. A. S. Bengal_ for 1853 (vol. xxii.) contains extracts from the
diary of a Mr. Gardiner in those central regions of Asia. These read more
like the memoranda of a dyspeptic dream than anything else, and the only
passage I can find illustrative of our traveller is the following; the
region is described as lying twenty days south-west of Kashgar: "The Keiaz
tribe live in caves on the highest peaks, subsist by hunting, keep no
flocks, said to be anthropophagous, but have handsome women; eat their
flesh raw." (P. 295; _Pelerins Boud._ III. 316, 421, etc.; _Ladak_, 34,
45, 47; _Mag. Asiatique_, I. 92, 96-97; _Not. et Ext._ II. 475, XIV. 492;
_J. A. S. B._ XXXI. 279; Mr. R. Shaw in _Geog. Proceedings_, XVI. 246,
400; _Notes regarding Bolor_, etc., _J. R. G. S._ XLII. 473.)

As this sheet goes finally to press we hear of the exploration of Pamir by
officers of Mr. Forsyth's Mission. [I have made use of the information
collected by them.--H. C.]

[1] "Yet this barren and inaccessible upland, with its scanty handful of
wild people, finds a place in Eastern history and geography from an
early period, and has now become the subject of serious correspondence
between two great European Governments, and its name, for a few weeks
at least, a household word in London. Indeed, this is a striking
accident of the course of modern history. We see the Slav and the
Englishman--representatives of two great branches of the Aryan race,
but divided by such vast intervals of space and time from the original
common starting-point of their migration--thus brought back to the lap
of Pamir to which so many quivering lines point as the centre of their
earliest seats, there by common consent to lay down limits to mutual
encroachment." (_Quarterly Review_, April, 1873, p. 548.)

[2] Ibn Haukal reckons Wakhan as an Indian country. It is a curious
coincidence (it can scarcely be more) that _Nono_ in the Garo tongue
of Eastern Bengal signifies "a younger brother." (_J. A. S. B._ XXII.
153, XVIII. 208.)

[3] According to Colonel Tod, the Hindu bard Chand speaks of "Pamer, chief
of mountains." (I. p. 24.) But one may like and respect Colonel Tod
without feeling able to rely on such quotations of his unconfirmed.

[4] Usually written _Polii_, which is nonsense.

[5] ["The Tian Shan wild sheep has since been described as the _Ovis
Karelini_, a species somewh