On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c23.s16.9

v2.c23.s16.9

The *P'o-mi-lo* of our pilgrim is evidently the *Po-mi* (播密) of Wu-k'ung and the T'ang-Shu, and the Pamir of western travellers. There are eight Pamirs in the district which bears this general designation, and geographers are not agreed as to which of these is the "Pamir Valley" of our text. Mr. (now Lord) Curzon from study and personal observation concludes that this is the Great Pamir and that the Dragon Lake is the Victoria Lake or Sar-i-kul.² This identification, however, does not seem to suit the requirements of the narrative and description in the Life and Records. These do not require us to believe that the pilgrim visited either Shighnan or Shang-mi, and it seems probable that he went on from Wakhan into the Pamirs. His account of the "Valley" with its Dragon Lake does not agree with all the particulars in the descriptions of any one of the Pamirs given by western explorers, but it is in substantial agreement with Mr. Curzon's summary of the general features of a Pamir. Much of the pilgrim's information was apparently obtained from books or guides. Thus it was evidently from others that he learned of the hornless dragons, tortoises, and other aquatic monsters which lived in the dark depths of the Lake. He may have seen the wild fowl; the ducks, geese, swans, and great king-fishers (?) and heard the clanging clamour of their cries. The shells of the great eggs left on the marshes or sandy islets are conjectured by the author of the Life to be identical with the "large egg-shells of T'iao-Chih" that is, ostrich egg-shells.¹ The eggs were as large as water-jars and the parent bird with due regard to proportion was ten feet high.