'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎42] (73/714)

42
PERSIA
Name of Station
Distance
in
Farsakhs
Approxi
mate dis
tance in
Miles
Name of Station
!
Distance
in
Farsakhs
Approxi
mate dis
tance in
Miles i
Tabriz .
Saidabad
Haji Agba
Gejin
Turkomanchai
Mianeh .
Jemalabad
Serchem
Ak Mazar
20
13
20
19
24
12
12
ISi
Nikbey .
Zinjan .
Sultanieb
Khiah or Hidej
Kirveh .
Siahdahan
Kazvin .
3
6
6
5
4
5
6
12
I84
231
20|
19|
17f
18|
Total
72 263 1 -
' * l 2
The total distance from Tabriz to Teheran is accordingly about
360 miles, and from Julfa to Teheran, 440 miles.
Upon the above route a few places are worthy of special note.
Turkomanchai is the village where on February 21, 1828, the
p lacf ^ famous treaty between Russia and Persia was signed by
of note Paskievitch on behalf of the Mmperor, and by Abbas
Mirza on behalf of his father Path Ali Shah. By this treaty was
concluded a war of two years' duration. Persia lost Erivan and
Nakhchivan, and was mulcted in a war indemnity ot three and a halt
millions sterling. It set the seal upon the victories of Russia in
this quarter since the opening of the century, and established the
conqueror in a position of overwheming armed preponderance upon
the north-west. Since that date Azerbaijan has always lain under
the cold shadow of the Colossus of the North.
Mianeh is the traditional head-quarters and favourite hunting
ground of the redoubtable gherih-gez, or Arrjas Per sums, and appalling
The Mia- stories are here related of its achievements. It is a
neh bug curious fact, however, that its selection of Mianeh as the
chief scene of its devastations appears to have been of comparatively
modern occurrence; for in none of the travels of the seventeenth
century, from Chardin downward, and even later, have I found any
mention of the insect when Mianeh has been alluded to, or
described. Its bite, which is dangerous, and alleged sometimes to
be fatal to strangers, is foolishly said to have no effect upon the
natives, although they occasionally guard against its possible con
sequences by a system of homoeopathic inoculation, which consists
in administering the insect itself to the new arrival, wrapped up
in a piece of bread. The creature, of which slightly different
types are found in different parts of Persia (e.g. Mazreh, Shahrud,