Marco Polo in Central Asia: 25: The Province of pascia [1]

You are to know 10 days south of Badascian (Badakshan) is a province called Pasciai. The people have peculiar language, they are worshippers of idols and much skilled in enchantments and diabolical arts.  The men wear ear rings and buckles of gold and silver, with pearls and precious stones; they are very artful and malicious people.  The province is extremely hot, and the people live upon rice and flesh. Now let us leave it, and tell of another, which is distant from this seven days towards the southeast.


Notes:-
1. Pascia: Exact identification of the place is not possible with the contradictory narrative of Marco Polo. With ten days journey towards south from Badakshan he must have covered Kabul. The distance from Badakshan to Kabul being 475 kilometres is agreeing with Marco's 10 days journey. But the syllables in Pascio do not match with that of Kabul. Peshawar is about 712j kilometres south of Badascian. It doesn't come within 10days distance. Perhaps he may be talking about Pashyi people of Panjshir province.

End of the Section 

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