Edward Harper Parker

“ The people are ingenious carvers, good cooks, and clever at weaving ki (shawls and rugs of hair) . In the bazaars silver and gold coins are used, the obverse showing a riding-horse, and the reverse a man's face. The whole of this account refers to the period when the Săk rulers were still in possession, and before the Kushans, advancing over the Hindu Kush, or Paropamisus, carried their conquests up to the Indus. The same record adds that China had her first relations with Ki-pin between 141 and 87 B.C. 'The king frequently robbed our missions. ”

“ It is stated that the Ki-pin rulers were in the habit of impressing the young men of Zabulisian to repel the incursions of the Turks, and that the population of Zabulistan was made up of three races—Turk, Ki-pin, and Tokhara men. West India is said to be conterminous with Persia and Ki-pin, and Udyâna was 400 li east of Ki-pin, which again was 3,000 li north of S'râvastî. These statements seem contradictory; for, according to Bishop Bigandet, [19] Udyâna was on the Indus, between Cabul and Cashmere, and other western writers of repute have placed it between the Jhelum and the Indus. ”

“ Again, there was no other considerable country south of the Hindoo Kush besides Ki-pin known to the Chinese of 2,000 years ago; and it is plain that the situation they assign throughout the course of ages to this land in relation to India, Gandhâra, Udyâna, Balti, &c., corresponds perfectly to the traditional site of the Greek and Roman Cophes and Cophene of Alexander's generals, whose personal observation was after all the main evidence utilised by Arrian, Pliny, &c. ”

“ It is distinctly identified in 580–606 with the Ki-pin of Han times, but nothing is said of its capital city, except that it was over a mile in extent, and moreover it is plainly stated to be, or to have recently been, under the rule of the Indo-Scythian princes of Samarcand and the Oxus region—that is, of the later Kushans or Ephthalites. In other words, although previously to Sui times the Turks and the Persians between them had annihilated the Indo-Scythian or Ephthalite empire, the Sui history, as is the Chinese wont, continues to repeat partly obsolete stories. ”

“ The monks have a patriarchal look, like the Chinese pictures of the saint Dharma. They live on vegetable diet and spend their whole time in religious contemplation.
On the ancient Mongol map given to the world by the late Dr. Bretschneider [33] Cashmere is placed outside the empire, whilst K'o-pu-li (Cabul) , K'o-tsi-ning (Ghazni) , and Badakshan are included in the middle empire of Jagatai, instead of in Hulagu's empire.
The Ming dynasty of native Chinese, which ejected the Mongols in 1368, had extensive relations with Tamerlane's empire, and also with India by sea. ”

“ Finally it is added most distinctly that neither the Parthians nor the Kushans nor the Ki-pins are in any way vassals to China.
The next dynastic history, the Hou Han Shu, or Continuation of the Han Shu, of which parts were not published until the fifth century of our era, deals with the period A.D. 1 to 200, but tells us very little of Ki-pin. The five Indo-Scythian kingdoms had now been united into one great empire by one of the five rulers, the prince of Kwei-shwang. This union seems to have taken place before B.C. 100 ”

“ Marco certainly never visited either place, and his description seems to have been taken in part from Chinese tradition or history.
They have passes so strong that they have little dread of an invader. . . . In this country are hermits, who observe great abstinence . . . they have abbeys and monasteries . . . from this place you may go to the sea of India, and if we went further we should enter into that country ”

“ Plano Carpini, nearly a generation before Polo, enumerated 'Casmir' among the Mongol conquests, probably alluding to the attempts of the two Cashmerian brothers to bring that country under Mongol influence. In fact in 1257 the 'sultan' Huli of the K'in-shih-mi tribe submitted to the Chinese general Kwoh K'an, [31] employed by the Mongols when the young Prince Hulagu, Mangu's brother, was conquering the highlands of Persia. In 1259 Mangu despatched a Chinese envoy named Ch'ang Teh [32] to his brother Hulagu, and this envoy also mentions K'ih-shih-mi as being north-west of India. ”

“ Now, 2,000 years ago, we are told that from P'i-shan you go east to Khoten 380 li (120 miles) , and from P'i-shan you go north-west to Yarkand exactly the same distance. Hence both ancient and contemporary P'i-shan must be the first considerable town north of Shahidula, in the immediate neighbourhood of Sanju. ”

“ Gold, silver, and copper are plentiful, and are fashioned into utensils. There are humped cattle, water buffaloes, elephants, large dogs, monkeys, and peacocks. Pearls, coral, amber, agate, and glassware are to be found. ”

“ It adds, however—what is important in estimating topographical positions—that Ki-pin was surrounded by mountains, and that it was 300 li (100 miles) north and south by 800 li east and west in extent. In 520 the Chinese pilgrim Sung Yũn, after visiting Udyâna, proceeded to Gandhâra, whose king he found at war with Ki-pin, on the left bank of the Indus, elephants being employed in the war. Sung Yün does not mention Kapiça or Cashmere by those names. ”

“ Ki-pin was 3,790 li west-south-west of P'i-shan on the way to U-yih-shan-li. We know from Mr. Stein's recent observations [5] that from Rawal Pindi to S'rînagur is 200 miles, from S'rînagur to Leh 260 miles, and from S'rînagur, viâ Skardo, northwards to Misgar 500 miles. Hence from S'rînagur viâ Skardo to Shahidula would be about 700 miles; or, say, 900 to 1,000 miles from Rawal Pindi to Sanju. It is well known that Chinese li are calculated as though shorter in distance but longer in time over mountainous roads, ten li being, in fact, under all varying conditions, the German Stunde. ”