Route I.
From Gilgit to Kabul, viâ Dareyl, Tangir, Kandiá, Ujù, Torwál, Swat, Dir, Maidán, Jandūl, Bajaur, Muravarri, Pashàt, Kunèr, Jelalabad, Kabul.
Gilgit to Sherkila, 9 katsha (rough) kôs[124] (1½ miles), ruled by Isa Bahadur’s son, Raja Akbar Khan, under Kashmīr, a faithful ally, contains 70 zemindars’ (peasants’) houses on the Yasin river.
Sherkila to Patàri (is uninhabited), over a ridge Pīr (17 katsha kôs) called Batrèt, which is a plateau on which the Dareylis graze their flocks in the spring.
Patàri to Yatshōt (12 katsha kôs), road stony and jungly. Yatshōt is a village of Dareyl of one hundred houses, occupied by zemindars who have cattle, sheep, goats, and buffaloes (which are not found in Badakhshan). The ground produces much white maize (from which bread is made), wheat, barley, grapes growing to a gigantic size, nuts, etc. There is excellent water, but it is very cold. The people are Sunnis, and speak Shiná (the dialect of Chilás). [The Shins appear to have been a Hindu tribe expelled from Kashmir territory and converted to a sort of Muhammadanism, both Shiah and Sunni. They are the highest caste in Dardistan; but, instead of the Brahminical veneration for the cow, they abhor everything connected with it—its flesh and milk—and only touch its calf at the end of a prong.] Yatshōt has two mosques, and Mullas who understand Arabic well. The Dareylis are very religious, and attentive to their ceremonial practices. The streamlet of Dareyl runs past it.
Yatshōt to Manikál, 3 katsha kôs, a plain easy march through a prairie. Manikál has two forts, one of which has about 500 houses, and is called Dòrkans; and the other, Manikál proper, which has 300 houses and an old Mosque. Manikál is surrounded by forests. When the Kashmīr troops reached Manikál, the Dareylis, after fighting, burned down their old fort rather than surrender. There are many Mullas and disciples there, some coming from Peshawar, Swat, etc.
Manikál to Samangál, 3 katsha kôs, over an inhabited plain. The fort contains 800 houses. A great elder (Djashtero) called Kalashmīr resides there, whom all the Dareylis respect and follow, although there are many other Djashteros, like Muqaddams (elders, mayors), in Kashmir villages. He is wise and rich, possessing, perhaps, in addition to cattle, etc., 5 or 6 thousand tolas of gold; and he has one wife and two or three children. Persian is read there in addition to Arabic. There is also another fort containing 500 houses, also called Samangál, a few hundred yards from the first. In fact, Dareyl, although a small country, is thickly populated.
Samangál to Pùgutsh, a fort, with 500 houses, 2 katsha kôs—thence 1 katsha kôs to Gayál, a fort with 600 houses—all an easy road.
Gayál to Kàmi, Fort Tangīr, over a high mountain called Kùbbekunn, very windy, and wooded. Water must be taken with one when starting from Gayál, as none is found before reaching Rîm, a small village of 20 houses, on the Tangīr side. The road for 8 kôs is difficult, being an ascent of 4 kôs on each side. From Rîm to Tangīr the road is good, water abundant, and habitations numerous. Kàmi fort has 1,000 houses of Gujars (a shepherd and cowherd tribe that is found following its peaceful occupation, either as settlers or nomads, in the most dangerous districts), and zemindars, who are tributaries to Yasin, paying taxes in gold and kind. There is a direct road from Tangīr to Yasin, viâ Satìl—6 kôs, plain, with many Gujars, paying their grazing tax in gold; thence over a small peak, Mayiréy, to the plateau of Batrêt, 8 katsha kôs. (See second stage of this route.)
From Batrêt to Ràushan, over a small mountain. Ràushan is a small fort of Yasin, whence there are roads to Yasin, Chitrál, Gilgit, etc. Gold is washed from the Indus, which is 3 katsha kôs from Kàmi. The Tangīris are braver than the Dareylis and equally religious, having many Mullas; but the country, although larger, is not so well populated as Dareyl, the people of which are also rather shepherds than hunters. The Gabár are the ruling people in Tangīr, about 1,000 families, of which 500 are in Kàmi. They are the old proprietors of the country, and are all Shins who now have given up their old aversion to the cow, its flesh and milk.