Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1896-08-21
A STRANGE PEOPLE oF OLD.



He Met In Eis Travels.
Badashan is province inhabited by
people who worship Mohammed and have
u peculiar language. 1t forms very great
kingdom, and the royalty is hereditary.
All those of the royal blood are descended
from King Alexander and the daughter of
King Darius, who was lord of the vast EN-.
pire of Persia. And all these kings call
themselves in the Saracen tongue Zulcarni-
ain, which is as much as to say Alex
ander," and this out of regard for Alex
ander the Great.
1t is in this province that those fine and
valuable gems the Balas rubies are found
They are got in certain rocks among the
mountains, and in the search for them the
people dig great caves underground, just
as is done by miners for silver. There is
hit one special mountain that produces
item, and it is called Syghinan. The
stones are dug on the kings account, and
no one else dares dig in that mountain on
pain of forfeiture of life as well as goods
Nor may any one carry the stones out of
the kingdom But the king amasses them
all and sends them to other kings when he
has tribute to render or when he desires
to offer friendly present, and such only
as he pleases he causes to be sold Thus
he acts in ordep to keep the Balas mt n high
value, for if no were to allow everybody to
dig they would extract so many that the
world would be glutted with them and
they would cease to bear any value. Hence
it Is that he allows so few to be taken out
and is so strict in the matter
There Is also in the same country anOth-
er mountain in which azure is found. 'Iis
the finest in the world and is got in "A vein
like silver There are also other noun
tains which contain great amount of sill
yer ore, so that the country is a very rich
one; but it is also, it must be said, very
cold one. 1t produces numbers Of excellent
horses, remarkable for their speed. They
are not she'd at all, although constantly
used in mountainous country and on very
bad roads They go at n great pace even
down steep descents where other horses
neither would nor could do the like. And
Messer Marco was told that not long ago
they possessed in that province breed Of
horses descended from AleXander's horse
Rucephalus, all Of which had from their
birth particular mark on the forehead.
This breed was entirely In the hands of an
uncle of the king, and in consequence of
his refusing to let the king have any of
them the latter put him to death. The
widow then in despite destroyed the whole
breed, and it is now extinct.
In the mountains there are vast numbers
OF sheep, 400, 500 or 800 in single flock,
and all Of them Wild and, though many of
them are taken, they never seem to get
scarcer.
Those mountains are so lofty that it is a
hard days work, from morning till even
ing, to get to the top of them. On getting
up you find an extensive plain, with great
abundance of grass and trees and copious
springs Of pure water running down
through rocks and ravines. In those brooks
are found trout and many ptheF fish %
dainty kinds, and the air in those regions
is so pure and residence there so health
full that when the men who dwell below
in the towns and in the valleys and plains
find themselves attacked by any kind of
fever or other ailment that may hap they
lose no time in going to the hills, and after
abiding there two or three days they quito
recover their health through the excellence
OF that air. And Mosser Marco said h6
had proved this by experience, for when In
these parts he bad been i'll for about year,
but us soon as he was advised to visit that
mountain he did 50 and got well at once.
In this kingdom there are many strait
and perilous passes so difficult 60 force
that the people have no fear of invasion.
Their towns and villages also are on lofty
hills and in very strong positions. They
are excellent archers and much given to
the chase. Indeed, most Of them are de-
pendent fer clothing on the skins Of beasts,
for stuffs are very dear among them. The
great ladies', however, nre arI7lyed in stuffs,
and 1 viii tell you the style Of their dress
They all wear trousers made Of cotton
cloth ard into the making Of these some
will put 60, so CT even 100 els cf stuff
Noah Brooks in ST Nicholas,