[61] This is the plausible Gilgit story, which will, perhaps, be adopted in Hunza when it becomes truly Muhammadan. In the meanwhile, my endeavour in 1866 to find traces of Alexander the Great’s invasion in Dardistan, has led to the adoption of the myth of descent from that Conqueror by the Chinese Governor or the ancient hereditary “Thàm” of Hunza, who really is “_ayeshó_,” or “heaven-born,” owing to the miraculous conception of a female ancestor. “Mogholot” is the direct ancestor of the kindred Nagyr line, “Girkis,” his twin-brother and deadly foe, being the ancestor of the Hunza dynasty. (See Genealogy on pages 69 and 111.)
[62] This designation is really that of the Minister of Finances.
[64] I refer only to the present rule of Kashmir itself and not to the massacres by Kashmir troops in Dardistan, of which details are given elsewhere.
[65] _Vide_ my comparison between Dardu buildings, etc., and certain excavations which I made at Takht-i-Bahi in Yusufzai in 1870.
[66] Seduction and adultery are punished with death in Chilâs and the neighbouring independent Districts. Morality is, perhaps, not quite so stern at Gilgit, whilst in Yasin, Hunza, and even in Nagyr before 1886, great laxity is said to prevail.
[67] Since writing the above I have discovered that the people of Kandiá—an unsuspected race and country lying between Swat and the Indus—are Dards and speak a Dialect of Shiná, of which specimens are given elsewhere in the “Races of the Hindukush.” (See Appendix IV.) The tribe living on the left bank of the Kandiá river is called by its neighbours “Dard.”
[68] The word ought to be transliterated “Gilgit” گلگت and pronounced as it would be in German, but this might expose it to being pronounced as “Jiljit” by some English readers, so I have spelt it here as “Ghilghit.”
[69] In a restricted sense “Shîn” is the name of the highest _caste_ of the Shîn _race_. “Róno” is the highest official caste next to the ruling families.
[70] My Sazîni says that they are really Shîns, Yashkuns, Dôms and Kramins, but pretend to be Afghans. _Vide_ List of Castes, page 62. Kholi-Palus are _two_ Districts, Khóli and Palus, whose inhabitants are generally fighting with each other. Shepherds from these places often bring their flocks for sale to Gilgit. I met a few.