1916
Autumn
With respect to dialect, the inhabitants of Shugnan and Rushan differ from the people in Darvaz, who speak a purely Tajik language. This circumstance attracted my attention since in addition to the difference in language there were also some things concerning the appearance of the composition of the cultivated flora, used by the Pamiri Tajiks, which were different from what is common to the inhabitants of Darvaz and Kulyab. Rye is only grown by the Pamiri Tajiks and the epithets of rye are there completely different. It is called ‘loshak and the straw of the rye is named ‘kal’k', while in all of Persia, Afghanistan, India and Turkestan, rye is called ‘dzhoudar’ or `choudar’. According to information from [?Aginson], rye is also called `gandum dora’ in Afghanistan, which literally denotes ‘a plant that infests barley or wheat.‘
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As far as nourishment in the form of grain is concerned, the Tajiks are at a ‘low level.’ According to a scheme set up by Mauritio [1] and compiled on the basis of information from many countries, these are the following stages in the development of alimentation: [1] a kind of soup, prepared from boiled raw or roasted grain; [2] the stage of gruel, a concentrated type of soup; [3] the stage of baking flat cakes [without leavening]; [4] preparation of leavened bread from a mixture of grains; [5] the stage of black rye bread; and [6] the stage of white, wheaten bread. This is only an outline. Some of the initial stages of alimentation are, of course, common in Europe as well, but in general this outline of the progress of food preparation is probably correct.
The Tajiks are ‘little advanced’ according to this scale. The main food of the Pamiri is a soup made of peas, barley, wheat and millet. They make mainly flat cakes. The preparation of bread with yeast is entirely unknown. As already stated, the flat cakes are made from practically everything: millet, foxtail millet, peas, vetchling, [2] barley, rye and wheat. A mash of a mixture of grains is also used, to which seeds of flax or safflower are often added. Meat is consumed only at feasts. The preferred meat is mutton. In this part of the agricultural Pamirs, cattle raising is little developed. Horned cattle increase towards the East. In the zone of mulberry trees, the bread called ‘tut-pikhe is used not only as a sweetmeat but also as a serious source of nourishment. Walnuts, almonds, or apricot pits and dried apricots are also included as important component of the diet.
I made the acquaintance of the Pamiri plant breeder, Abdul Nazarov, from Porshnev. This is a very intelligent man. Under suspicion because of illegal dealings with the Afghani, he was exiled by the Russians to the province of Saratov. [3] The suspicion turned out to be groundless, but he profited from the journey to Russia and now he is the most educated chief in all of Shugnan. Through his Afghan wife from the left bank of the Pyandzh river he learned that near Kabul an unusually early-ripening wheat was grown, which ripened up to 20 days before the ordinary Pamiri wheat. With great difficulty, seeds of this wheat were obtained, which turned out, indeed, to be very early. Now it is grown all over the Pamirs under the name ‘dzhindam-dzhal’-dak,’ i.e. literally, ‘early-ripening wheat.’
Several kinds of wheat could be seen on the fields of Abdul Nazarov. He was able to characterize every kind. One furnished a good flour, another yielded many grains. In addition to wheat he had also obtained peas from Afghanistan, among which he noticed both black and white seeds. He planted them separately and now he had crops of pure white and pure black peas. [4] I also discovered attempts at plant selection among other Tajik farmers. Once I watched the careful sorting of a sheaf with a mixture of rye and wheat. The wheat was carefully picked out for sowing the following year.
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