| English | bread. |
| Phrygian | bekos. |
| Armenian | khaz. |
| Akush | kaz. |
| English | water. |
| Phrygian | hydôr. |
| Armenian | tshur. |
| Greek, &c. | ὕδωρ, water, &c. |
There is no denying that these affinities are Indo-European rather than aught else, and that they are Armenian as well—an objection to several of the views laid down in the preceding pages which I have no wish to conceal. However, all questions of this kind are a balance of conflicting difficulties. As a set-off to this, take the following table, where the Armenian affinities are Turk, Dioscurian, and Siberian also.
| English | man. |
| Scythian | oior. |
| Uigur | er. |
| Kasan | ir. |
| Baskir | ir. |
| Nogay | ir. |
| Tobolsk | ir. |
| Yeneseian | eri. |
| Teleut | eri. |
| Kasach | erin. |
| Casikumuk | ioori. |
| Armenian | air. |
The watershed of the Oxus and Indus.—We are in the north-eastern corner of Persia. The Púshta-Khur mountain, like many other hills of less magnitude, contains the sources of two rivers, different in their directions—of the Oxus that falls into the Sea of Aral; and of the right branch of the Kúner, a feeder of the Cabúl river—itself a member of the great water-system of the Indus. Its south-western prolongation gives us the corresponding watershed. This is a convenient point for the study of a difficult but interesting class of mountaineers, who may conveniently be called Paropamisans from the ancient name of the Hindu-kúsh. Their northern limits are the heights in question. Southwards they reach the Afghan frontier in the Kohistan of Cabúl. Eastward they come in contact with India. There is no better way of taking them in detail than that of following the water-courses, and remembering the watersheds of the rivers.
I. The Oxus.—At the very head-waters of the Oxus, and in contact with the Kirghiz Turks of Pamer, comes the small population of Wokhan, speaking a language neither Turk nor Persian—at least not exactly Persian; and, next to Wokhan, Shughnan, where the dialect (possibly the language) seems to change. Roshan, next (along the Oxus) to Shughnan, seems to be in the same category. Durwaz, however, is simply Tajik. All are independent, and all Mahometan.
II. The Indus.—1. The Indus.—The Gilghit[42] river feeds the Indus—two other feeders that join it from the east being called the Hunz and the Burshala, Nil, or Nagar. The population of each of these rivers is agricultural, and is, accordingly, called Dunghar, a Hindu, but no native term. Their Rajah is independent; their religion a very indifferent Mahometanism. On the Gilghit and the parts below its junction with the Hunz and Nagar rivers, the dialect (perhaps the language) seems to change, and the people are known as Dardoh (or Dards) and Chilass Dardoh—the Daradæ of the Greek and the Daradas of the Sanskrit writers. These, too, are imperfect Mahometans. The Dards and Dunghers carry us as far as Little Tibet (Bultistan) and the Cashmírian frontiers.
2. The Jhelum.—This is the river of the famous valley of Cashmír—the population whereof (with some hesitation) I consider Paropamisan.