n that bend from the rest of Badakshan. Its chief affluent is
the Minjan, which Sir George Robertson found to be a considerable stream
where it approaches the Hindu Kush close under the Dorah. Like the Kunduz,
it probably drains the northern slopes of the Hindu Kush by deep lateral
valleys, more or less parallel to the crest, reaching westwards towards the
Khawak pass. From the Oxus (1000 ft.) to Faizabad (4000 ft.) and Zebak
(8500 ft.) the course of the Kokcha offers a high road across Badakshan;
between Zebak and Ishkashim, at the Oxus bend, there is but an
insignificant pass of 9500 ft.; and from Ishkashim by the Panja, through
the Pamirs, is the continuation of what must once have been a
much-traversed trade route connecting Afghan Turkestan with Kashgar and
China. It is undoubtedly one of the great continental high-roads of Asia.
North of the Kokcha, within the Oxus bend, is the mountainous district of
Darwaz, of which the physiography belongs rather to the Pamir type than to
that of the Hindu Kush.

A very remarkable meridional range extends for 100 m. northwards from the
Hindu Kush (it is across this range that the route from Zebak to Ishkashim
lies), which determines the great bend of the Oxus river northwards from
Ishkashim, and narrows the valley of that river into the formation of a
trough as far as the next bend westwards at Kala Wamar. The western slopes
of this range drain to the Oxus either north-westwards, by the Kokcha and
the Ragh, or else they twist their streams into the Shiwa, which runs due
north across Darwaz. Here again we find the main routes which traverse the
country following the rivers closely. The valleys are narrow, but fertile
and populous. The mountains are rugged and difficult; but there is much of
the world-famous beauty of scenery, and of the almost phenomenal
agricultural wealth of the valleys of Bokhara and Ferghana to be found in
the as yet half-explored recesses of Badakshan.

[v.03 p.0183] The principal domesticated animal is the yak. There are also
large flocks of sheep, cows, goats, ponies, fine dogs and Bactrian camels.
The more important wild animals are a large wild sheep (_Ovis poli_),
foxes, wolves, jackals, bears, boars, deer and leopards; amongst birds,
there are partridges, pheasants, ravens, jays, sparrows, larks, a famous
breed of hawks, &c.

Badakshan proper is peopled by Tajiks, Turks and Arabs, who speak the
Persian and Turki languages, and profess the orthodox do