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

5. The Kirghiz People, the Oey, and the Qorow

5. The Kirghiz People, the OeyJ and the Qorow THE PEOPLE HUMAN BEINGS IN a high-altitude environment are as susceptible to the stresses of the severe climate and the effects of hypoxia as are domestic livestock and other organisms inhabiting the same ecological zone. It is worth noting that at altitudes up to about 8,000 feet (2,440 m.) above sea level there is suf· ficient 02 carried in the blood stream to support the normal physiological functioning of the body's various organ systems. At altitudes above this a lowland· living human faces ever increasing stress on his physiology as he ascends, unless various adaptive mechanisms come into play (haematological, cardiovascular, respiratory, etc.). [Hoff in Baker et al. 1968, p. 97] The immediate and short-term effects of high-altitude or acute hypoxic discomfort experienced by most lowland sojourners, described in the literature as "mountain sickness" or "altitude sickness," is probably the most commonly feared and discussed effect of the highland environment. The common symptoms associated with altitude sickness are severe headaches, high pulse rate, nausea, shortwindedness , and sometimes insomnia. Although altitude sickness is generally considered to afflict only the temporary lowland visitor, Hoff would qualify this position: "Even though the native highlanders may be adapted to a degree to hypoxia, a positive 1,000 feet (305 m.) differential at high altitude may exert a proportionately greater stress than a similar increment at low altitude" (ibid., pp. 97-98). The Kirghiz acknowledge temporary hypoxic discomfort during activities that demand added physical exertion (shoveling snow, 118 The Kirghiz People, Oey, Qorow 119 for example). This discomfort is felt especially when a person engages in physical activity after consuming large quantities of fatty food like qaymaq (cream) and fatty or fried meat. The Kirghiz are fully aware of the debilitating effects upon both people and animals of altitude sickness, or tutak (literally, "being choked"). Kirghiz cultural response to alleviate hypoxic discomfort, as well as to prevent attacks, is based on simple dietary prescriptions and advice. The afflicted are advised to rest and avoid rich and fatty food, and are given chalop (diluted ayran or sour milk), aash (noodles cut from wheat dough and boiled in water with some seasonings), and bread and green tea. Moderate food intake is generally advised to prevent tutak, and the Kirghiz themselves usually eat less food than low-altitude people in Badakhshan. This advice seems consistent with the research of Newsom and Kimeldorf (1960) that "animal experiments have shown . . . a decrease in caloric intake increases hypoxia tolerance by lowering oxygen consumption" (McClung 1969, p. 40).1 Recent studies of human adaptation to high altitudes have emphasized the long-term effects of hypoxia upon human populations, particularly effects on reproduction, fertility, and survival. Although an estimated twenty to twenty-five million people of the world are believed to live above 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) (Dejong 1968), systematic study of how man lives in high altitudes is comparatively recent, and generally limited to South American populations living in the Andes. (Similar studies may possibly have been done in Russia and China, but are not generally available.) De Jong remarks (1968, p. 72) that "very few demographic studies [have] ... explicitly considered altitude as a variable." He claims that serious demographic dialogue, even in South America, began only in 1963 when Stycos (1963) attempted to explain the regional natality differences in Peru between the Indians and the mestizos on a cultural basis. His "cultural natality differential thesis ... was tested by Heer (1964) for Ecuador and Bolivia as well as Peru" (ibid.). But it was not until 1966, De Jong says, that James hypothesized "that natality differentials between the Spanish and Indian-speaking population of Andean countries were [recognized as being] due to the physiological effects of altitude rather than to voluntary socio-cultural factors" [such 1. McClung also suggests that the "low blood glucose in the human high altitude population" may be caused by their decrease in caloric intake. She discusses the correlation between low blood sugar and low birth weight and the consequent increase in neonatal mortality at high altitudes. For further details see McClung 1969, pp. 37-50. 120 Strategies ofAdaptation as mating patterns by Indians and mestizos] (ibid., p. 73). Most of the infonnation on the effects of high altitude on reproductive processes comes from animal experiments rather than those on human beings (d. Donayre 1966; Van Liere and Stickney 1963...