On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c23.s16.7

v2.c23.s16.7

As we have seen the text places the Pamir Valley 700 *li* to the north-east of Shang-mi, but the Life gives the direction as east, the distance being the same. Neither in it, nor in the Records, is there any information as to the bearing or distance of Shang-mi from Dhammasthiti, but the latter was evidently, as in the T'ang-Shu, between Shighni on the north, and *Shang-mi* on the south. There seems to be a consensus of opinion that the modern representative of *Shang-mi* is the Chitral District, and the identification must be accepted, although it does not seem to meet all the requirements of the texts. This district is also known as Kāskār, and Elphinstone relates that the inhabitants, who live chiefly in tents, "belong to a nation called Cobi". This name, as Yule suggests, may be the *Ku-wei* of the Chinese historian although Elphinstone seems to have regarded it as connected with Gobi.¹