The Kirghiz and Wakhi of Afghanistan: Adaptation to Closed Frontiers and War

4. The Kirghiz Pastoral Subsistence System

4. The Kirghiz Pastoral Subsistence System THE PAMIR ECOLOGICAL zone, as described in chapter I, lies well above the altitudes of agricultural production, and so is at best a marginal high-altitude, mountain-plateau zone in which resources for the support of the human population can be best utilized only through nomadic adaptation. The ecological relationship between the human population and this marginal environment is mediated by a particular subsistence strategy: the raising of, and caring for, specific types and breeds of animals adapted to the stresses of severe cold, high-altitude effects (hypoxia), and the meager vegetation . The ecological conditions in the Pamirs are dominated by altitude, which in tum affects the climate and vegetation. The climate is, of course, influenced also by latitude, the extent of daily and seasonal insolation, location within the continental mass, seasonal hemispheric movements, and local topography. It is characterized by extremes of daily and seasonal fluctuations in temperature, and sudden changes in wind direction and velocity. The amount of precipitation varies tremendously from place to place, season to season, and from one year to the next. Other physical factors affecting the growth and perpetuation of organisms in the Pamirs are the relative scarcity of oxygen, low barometric pressure, and ultra-violet radiation. Plants, animals, and human beings are subject to the strains and stresses of all of these elements in the process of adapting to this high-altitude environment. Since clinical data on the biological and physiological responses of the human and animal population to the environmental constraints 87 88 Strategies ofAdaptation were not obtainable,l this discussion of adaptability is based on my own field observations. Substantiation of the remarks about animal adaptability lies in the reproductive success or failure of each type of animal, and the demographic data that was obtained about the Kirghiz supplements my empirical conclusions about the responses of the human population. HERD COMPOSITION, VIABILITY, AND UTILIZATION Unlike most low-altitude nomads, the Kirghiz of the Afghan Pamirs do not specialize in herding a particular type or species of animal. The composition of Kirghiz herds is influenced by environmental limitations-the adaptability of each species to extreme temperatures and to hypoxia, as well as its ability to exploit efficiently the meager and diverse pasturage-and its socioeconomic value and use to the Kirghiz herders. The Kirghiz, like most Central Asian, Turkic-speaking nomads, have mixed herds, consisting of yak, sheep, goats, Bactrian camels, and horses, each of which differs in its adaptability to the environment. As a result, the care required for the survival and multiplication of each species varies a great deal. The animals best adapted to high altitude are the yak and the sheep, which are protected by their long, thick, and heavy coats. Goats, although less able to tolerate the cold and wind, are agile animals capable of utilizing a wide range of pasture. While Bactrian camels can withstand cold, the ill effects of hypoxia limit their reproduction . Horses are the least adaptive of the Kirghiz animals. They cannot survive the cold without the care and help of man, and cannot successfully reproduce in the altitudes of the Afghan Pamirs. Of the animals kept by the Kirghiz, sheep, goats, and yak constitute the largest proportion, and form the basis of their pastoral subsistence. Camels, raised in decreasing numbers under the present conditions, are of secondary importance. The Kirghiz buy horses and the few donkeys they keep from Wakhi agriculturalists or itinerant traders since they cannot breed their own in the Pamirs. Each species has its particular value: in capital, in prestige, and in wealth for its owners. A more detailed discussion of the Kirghiz domestic stock as units of pastoral capital resource is essential for an understanding of the Kirghiz system of subsistence and adaptation to the high altitude and the closed frontiers. 1. For bibliographic information on the physiological effects of the stresses of cold and hypoxia from the Andean studies see fn. 5, chapter 1 (also see chapterS ). Kirghiz Pastoral Subsistence System 89 Sheep and Goats (qoey and echki) At the time of this research the mixed goat and sheep herds of the Kirghiz numbered about forty thousand. The sheep, the most important of the three animals that provide the basic subsistence of the Kirghiz, outnumbered the goats by about three to one. The proportion of any type of livestock in a pastoral subsistence system is influenced by a multitude of...