DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3909#0115
INTEODUCTION TO PART III.
any one interested in the remnants of an ancient civilization, the absorption of the
Dard races which is now going on is naturally a melancholy event. The legends and songs which
I collected at Gilgit in 1866 will not live for many generations after most of its inhabitants ha\e
been dispersed to more savage or more "orthodox" regions, or have completely come under
foreign rule. The Muhammadan Afghans will encroach on the inhabitants of the Hindu Kusli,
till the last blue-eyed " Kafir " girl has bean sold into slavery (perhaps by her own father as an
act of propitiation of his Muslim neighbour) or till the monotony of Islam has smothered the
national life which resisted the attacks of Timur.
The material which I have collected, although abundant, is not complete. I will,
however, no longer delay its publication in the hope that more and more accurate information
may yet reach me. If it does, I can always " add " " explain " or " correct." If I do not
hasten to publish the information which I still have, it may share the fate of the MSS, which
exposure has already rendered illegible.* Circumstances may also arise which will leave these
fragmentary records as the only ones, regarding races which are disappearing. The interests of
science require that I should publish what I have, at whatever cost to an Author's wish to offer
something complete and in an attractive form.
Therefore, rather than allow the material of 1866 to perish, to which I have had
the opportunity of largely adding in 1872, I am compelled to publish it ( with the addition of
copious notes) almost in the form in which I first committed it to writing. My official work is
heavy and various, and I can obtain no leave from Government to elaborate the results of a
mission on which it sent me in 1866. I am much indebted to the learned world for their recep*
tion of Parts I. and II. of my Dardistan, some years ago, and am very grateful to those Societies
and Savans in England who memorialized the Home Government in 1869 to grant me leave to
finish my book, which under present circumstances, can only come out in fragments and at
uncertain periods.
The unfortunate termination of Mr. Hayward's mission has also influenced my de-
cision to " publish " as soon as possible. This gentleman, instead of being provided with Parts
I. and II. of Dardistan, was forced into the position of being, in 1870, an original explorer on
behalf of the Geographical Society, of what had, to a great extent, already been treated with
considerable minuteness by myself in 1866. He was thus obliged to go oyer the same ground,
as far as he could, in the very brief Vocabularies which he collected. He was not a philologist, but
he might have studied with advantage my Dardu " Vocabularies and Dialogues" previous to starts
ing on his expedition and then would have been enabled to have added something to our knowledge
of one or the other of the Dard languages. It is not likely that Dardistan will soon again be
* Some of my notes, which would have recalled observations, had I been able to write them out in 1867, are now
meaningless to me. A few songs, &c, &c, written down in pencil, have become obliterated either by exposure during ihe tout
or lapse of time, and iC 1 wish to save the bulk of tha material which I have collected, I must be prepared to sacrifice any literary
yanity which 1 may have and merely put my " Dardistan " into a printed form for future elaboration, either by myself or some
(Other enquirer.
any one interested in the remnants of an ancient civilization, the absorption of the
Dard races which is now going on is naturally a melancholy event. The legends and songs which
I collected at Gilgit in 1866 will not live for many generations after most of its inhabitants ha\e
been dispersed to more savage or more "orthodox" regions, or have completely come under
foreign rule. The Muhammadan Afghans will encroach on the inhabitants of the Hindu Kusli,
till the last blue-eyed " Kafir " girl has bean sold into slavery (perhaps by her own father as an
act of propitiation of his Muslim neighbour) or till the monotony of Islam has smothered the
national life which resisted the attacks of Timur.
The material which I have collected, although abundant, is not complete. I will,
however, no longer delay its publication in the hope that more and more accurate information
may yet reach me. If it does, I can always " add " " explain " or " correct." If I do not
hasten to publish the information which I still have, it may share the fate of the MSS, which
exposure has already rendered illegible.* Circumstances may also arise which will leave these
fragmentary records as the only ones, regarding races which are disappearing. The interests of
science require that I should publish what I have, at whatever cost to an Author's wish to offer
something complete and in an attractive form.
Therefore, rather than allow the material of 1866 to perish, to which I have had
the opportunity of largely adding in 1872, I am compelled to publish it ( with the addition of
copious notes) almost in the form in which I first committed it to writing. My official work is
heavy and various, and I can obtain no leave from Government to elaborate the results of a
mission on which it sent me in 1866. I am much indebted to the learned world for their recep*
tion of Parts I. and II. of my Dardistan, some years ago, and am very grateful to those Societies
and Savans in England who memorialized the Home Government in 1869 to grant me leave to
finish my book, which under present circumstances, can only come out in fragments and at
uncertain periods.
The unfortunate termination of Mr. Hayward's mission has also influenced my de-
cision to " publish " as soon as possible. This gentleman, instead of being provided with Parts
I. and II. of Dardistan, was forced into the position of being, in 1870, an original explorer on
behalf of the Geographical Society, of what had, to a great extent, already been treated with
considerable minuteness by myself in 1866. He was thus obliged to go oyer the same ground,
as far as he could, in the very brief Vocabularies which he collected. He was not a philologist, but
he might have studied with advantage my Dardu " Vocabularies and Dialogues" previous to starts
ing on his expedition and then would have been enabled to have added something to our knowledge
of one or the other of the Dard languages. It is not likely that Dardistan will soon again be
* Some of my notes, which would have recalled observations, had I been able to write them out in 1867, are now
meaningless to me. A few songs, &c, &c, written down in pencil, have become obliterated either by exposure during ihe tout
or lapse of time, and iC 1 wish to save the bulk of tha material which I have collected, I must be prepared to sacrifice any literary
yanity which 1 may have and merely put my " Dardistan " into a printed form for future elaboration, either by myself or some
(Other enquirer.