[101] There is a place called Nilamutsh—green mountain ridge—literally a mountain that has fallen off a still higher one. Chaprôt is three kôs above and Guyetsh two kôs below this place. Hîni is on the other side of the river two and a half kos from Nilamutsh. Chaprôt has 150 houses; Guyêtsh 30 and Hini 80 houses.
[102] I sent the Yarkandi, Niaz Muhammad, (whom I had taken to Europe), by the little frequented Shigar route to find out the truth about Hayward’s murder. His report is a strange and suggestive one, and will be published in my next volume. (See also pages [74], [75] and [105].)
[103] It has also been alleged that in order to get rid of two doubtful friends of the Maharajah, namely, Mir Vali and Mulk-Aman, and to make room for the more trusted Pehliwan, Aman-ul-Mulk, the ruler of Chitrál and supposed instigator of the murder of Hayward through the agency of Mir Vali of Yasin, wrote to the Maharajah to implicate Mulk Aman in the business. Immediately on his flight, his wife and son were temporarily imprisoned in the Fort of Gilgit. Pehliwan and Rahmat interceded for some of the servants, who were set free and sent on to Chitrál. Mir Vali found his way to Chitrál, whose ruler had one of Mr. Hayward’s guns, though the bulk of his property is said to have been recovered. There he was seen by Major Montgomery’s Havildar, who reported that Mir Vali was lame from a kick by a horse. This however, does not seem to have prevented him from resuming the rule of Yasin in conjunction with Pehliwan or, if recent accounts are to be trusted, from turning his nominal suzerain, Aman-ul-Mulk, out of Chitrál. Mulk Aman also figured for a short time on the scene of the war with Aman-ul-Mulk and by the latest report, seems to have fled to Yarkand.
[104] This peak overlooks Bunji and the whole course of the Indus (with a sight of the Gilgit Valley) from its sudden southward bend at the Makpon-i-Shang-Rong, till it again bends westward beyond Chilás.
[105] The last (semi-official) Moscow Gazette says: “Russia will not neglect to avail herself of the first convenient opportunity to assist the people of India to throw off the English yoke, with the view of establishing the country under independent native rule.”
[106] I began to write this paper as an introduction to an academical treatment of the history, language, and customs of Hunza-Nagyr, when the apparently, sudden, but, probably, calculated complications on that frontier compelled me to abandon my task for the present and to discuss instead the ephemeral news as they were published from day to day in the press.
“Agàr qahàt rijál uftad az-sî qaum kam gîrî.
Yakùm Affghan, doyum Kambó, soyùm bad-zât Kashmîrî.”
If there (ever) should be a scarcity of men, frequent little (beware of) three peoples: one the Affghan, the second the Kambó, and the third the bad-raced Kashmîrî.