Browsenew guide to Afghanistan → page 153

Page 153

new guide to Afghanistan · pages 1–377


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Scanned page 153 of new guide to Afghanistan

Machine transcription

114 herds are driven back and forth between the lowland and high-land pastures, over routes which they and their ancestors have followed for centuries. In so doing they generally cross international boundary lines, but it is often without objection on the part of the governments concerned. They claim certain grazing rights in pastures which they visit with their flocks, and these rights are seldom disputed. The various tribes wander over definite areas, recognized as their special preserves; but all seek higher districts in the middle of summer to avoid the heat and pests of the plains, and return to lower levels for the winter. In these migrations they carry with them all of their possessions and so they live very simply. A single tent shelters a whole family. During the day time it usually furnishes all the shade to be had, while at night it can be closed to give protection from cold and winds. It is indeed a fine spectacle to meet a caravan of Kochis moving. Huge shaggy camels lumber down the rocky steeps, followed by donkeys, horses, sheep, goats, and fierce-eyed watch-dogs. Among the animals walk the proud Kochis, tall, lean, fiery-looking, often carrying rifles on their shoulders. The women, contemptuous of veil, walk stalwartly along with the caravan, some even carrying guns. Young children, lambs, and hens are tied firmly on the top of the luggage. At night they set up their woven tents, unroll their rugs and set the kettles and cooking pots over their smoky fires. Their only wealth is their livestock. These furnish the staple articles of diet; meat, butter, milk, cheese, curd, and kuroot (dried curded milk). Their wool is spun and woven into cloth for clothing, or is used in making rugs and tents.

Roughly two thirds of characters agree with a modern printed edition of the same text. Much of the disagreement is editorial, not misreading. Treat the transcription as a finding aid and read the page image before quoting. How this was measured.


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new guide to Afghanistan, page 153. Afghanistan Digital Library, New York University Libraries. Machine-transcribed text: Afghan Press Archive, https://afghanpress.org/book/adl0957/153 (accessed [date]).
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