The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s1.t13: 8. Bolor, or Balti.
The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s1.t13
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8. Bolor, or Balti.
c5.s1.t13.1
From Dârel Hwen Thsang travelled 500 *li*, or 83 miles, over a mountain range, and up the valley of the Indus to *Po-lu-lo*, or Bolor. This district was 4000 *li*, or 666 miles, in circuit; its greatest length being from east to west. It was surrounded by snowy mountains, and produced a large quantity of gold. This account of the route, compared with the bearing and distance, show that *Po-lu-lo* must be the modern Balti, or Little Tibet, which is undoubtedly correct, as the people of the neighbouring Dârdu districts on the Indus know Balti only by the name of *Palolo*.[*] Balti also is still famous for its gold washings. The name, too, is an old one, as Ptolemy calls the people *Βύλται*, or *Byltæ*. Lastly, both in size and position Balti corresponds exactly with the account of the Chinese pilgrim, as the length of the province is along the course of the Indus from east to west for 150 miles, and the breadth about 80 miles from the mountains of Deoseh to the Karakoram range, or altogether 460 miles in circuit, as measured direct on the map, or about 600 miles by road measurement.
c5.s1.t13.2
∗ Julien's 'Hiouen Thsang,' ii. 168. But he fixes the date at only 50 years after Buddha, for which we should most probably read 250 years.