'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎265] (304/714)

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FROM MESHED TO TEHERAN
winch is rich in mineral deposits, there being a productive salt
mine, a neglected lead mine, and sandstone quarries within the
same area. The turquoises are found in a range of hills, consist
ing ot porphyries, greenstones, and metamorphic limestones and
sandstones, at an elevation above the sea which has never exceeded
5,800 feet or tallen below 4,800 feet. They are obtained in one
of two ways, either by digging and blasting in the mines proper,
which consist of shafts and galleries driven into the rock, or by
search among the debris of old mines, and amid the alluvial detri
tus that has been washed down the hill-sides on to the plain. The
finest stones are now commonly found in the last-named quarter.
The mining, cutting, &c., give occupation to some 1,500 persons,
who inhabit the two principal villages of Upper and Lower Madan
and several small hamlets in the neighbourhood.
It is believed that in former times and under the Sefavi dynasty,
when Persia touched the climax of her wealth and renown, these
History of ruines were worked directly by the State. In the anarchy
working and turbulence of the eighteenth century they were either
neglected or left to the villagers, who extracted from them what
they could. As order was re-established, control was resumed by
the Government, which throughout this century has farmed them to
the highest bidder. Abundant relics, however, exist of the reign
of every man for himself that preceded. There was no system
or science in the working, and the clumsy and sporadic efforts of
individuals have resulted in the roofs and sides of most of the old
mines falling in and thus completely choking the most lucrative
sources of produce. Moreover, the march of science has itself
tended to make the work more unscientific, for gunpowder is now
used at random where the pick once cautiously felt its way; and
many of the stones are smashed to atoms in the process that brings
them to the light.
Conolly relates that when Hasan All Mirza was Governor of
Khorasan the turquoise mines were rented for 1,000 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. , and
Financial
the rock-salt mine for 300 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. per annum. In Eraser s
return time (1821), 2,000 Khorasan tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. or 2,700Z., were asked
for the whole mines, and 1,300 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. for the principal mine. In
1862, Eastwick says the rent was only 1,000 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. , or 4001. Ten
years later the Seistan Boundary Commissioners found the total
rent of all the mines to be 8,000 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. , or 3,200^., though in 1874
Captain Napier reported the figures to be 6,000 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. , or 2,400L