Marco Polo
translation: Henry Yule, Henri Cordier

THE TRAVELS OF MARCO POLO
Volume II.
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THE PLATEAU OF PAMIR.

"On leaving Tash-kurghan (July 10, 1900), my steps, like those of Hiuan-tsang, were directed towards Kashgar…. In Chapters V.-VII. of my Personal Narrative I have given a detailed description of this route, which took me past Muztagh-Ata to Lake Little Kara-kul, and then round the foot of the great glacier-crowned range northward into the Gez defile, finally debouching at Tashmalik into the open plain of Kashgari. Though scarcely more difficult than the usual route over the Chichiklik Pass and by Yangi-Hisar, it is certainly longer and leads for a considerably greater distance over ground which is devoid of cultivation or permanent habitations.

"It is the latter fact which makes me believe that Professor H. Cordier was right in tracing by this very route Marco Polo's itinerary from the Central Pamirs to Kashgar. The Venetian traveller, coming from Wakhan, reached, after three days, a great lake which may be either Lake Victoria or Lake Chakmak, at a 'height that is said to be the highest place in the world.' He then describes faithfully enough the desert plain called 'Pamier,' which he makes extend for the distance of a twelve days' ride, and next tells us: 'Now, if we go on with our journey towards the east-north-east, we travel a good forty days, continually passing over mountains and hills, or through valleys, and crossing many rivers and tracts of wilderness. And in all this way you find neither habitation of man, nor any green thing, but must carry with you whatever you require.'

"This reference to continuous 'tracts of wilderness' shows clearly that, for one reason or another, Marco Polo did not pass through the cultivated valleys of Tash-kurghan or Tagharma, as he would necessarily have done if his route to Kashgar, the region he next describes, had lain over the Chichiklik Pass. We must assume that, after visiting either the Great or Little Pamir, he travelled down the Ak-su river for some distance, and then crossing the watershed eastwards by one of the numerous passes struck the route which leads past Muztagh-Ata and on towards the Gez defile. In the brief supplementary notes contributed to Professor Cordier's critical analysis of this portion of Marco Polo's itinerary, I have pointed out how thoroughly the great Venetian's description of the forty days' journey to the E.N.E. of the Pamir Lake can be appreciated by any one who has passed through the Pamir region and followed the valleys stretching round the Muztagh-Ata range on the west and north (cf. Yule, Marco Polo, II., pp. 593 seq.). After leaving Tash-kurghan and Tagharma there is no local produce to be obtained until the oasis of Tashmalik is reached. In the narrow valley of the Yaman-yar river, forming the Gez defile, there is scarcely any grazing; its appearance down to its opening into the plain is, in fact, far more desolate than that of the elevated (...)

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