‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎27r] (58/722)

Eastern Minks.
the men
Minks.
of the eastern
W ell, and tlieneo as far as Orta Ivina^ has be6n traversed by a Russian
column, the retreat of which appears to have resulted from failure to
bag-gage animals rather than from want of water.
The difficulties of any such routes are nevertheless, no doubt, enormous—■
a fact that enhances the value of the desert steppe as a political boundary.
The urban, or the population of Astarabad itself, is taken from an official
computation of the number of houses now inhabited, said to be 1,000. Six
souls are allowed to each house. As one result of the famine was the immi
gration of a number of starved-out people from the highlands, who remain
in various servile capacities.
The population of the eastern buluks—Katul, Finderisk, and Kohsar—I
estimate at about 31,000, which may be a little under
the mark. Anizan is for its extent thinly peopled,
and Shah Kuh Sawar has scarcely any population.
Its quota for the Astarabad regiment being only 130 men, the tracts
, , ,,,, about Astarabad and the base of the hills have a com-
v\ estern duiuks. i • i i i j •
paratively large population.
The people of the eastern buldks are chiefly Geraili Turks, and speak Turk-
C'nracter ^ as we ^ as Persian. They are a fine hardy race,
of good physique, and for the most part well armed.
They have a great reputation for courage, and I believe a well deserved one.
It was impossible to look ar their fine active forms and
Military qualities of bold faces, and note the speed and wonderful endur
ance with which they made their way through the
tangled forest and thorn brakes on either side of the
line of march, and doubt that they would, with proper arms and leading,
give a good account of their Turkman enemies, or in fact on their own
ground of any troops that might be brought against them.
There was not a man of the several hundred peasant guards with me at
various times under a high average standard in size, development, and activ
ity ; and every man was undoubtedly full of self-confidence and daring.
With their keen eyes piercing the depths of the forests, gun in hand and
hatchet in constant use, they would keep for hours on the flanks and ahead
of a party, marching a fair pace on a cleared path. It would be difficult
to find, in fact, in any country better raw material for foot soldiers.; and the
confidence that they would lose when removed from their native forests
could be easily restored to them by discipline.
The conditions under which these, admirable natural qualities in the
population have been produced and fostered having greatly altered, another
generation will find the men of the eastern border in much the same peace
able condition and temperament as the peasantry of Mazandaran; but, in
the meantime, they might be utilized by Persia in the extension of her fron
tier to the Atrak.
The task would be, I was assured, gladly taken up by them and carried
through well; for they have the necessary moral equality with their enemy,
which is more than can be said of any other men in Persia save the
Kurds.
Estimating the population of the eastern buluks at 30,000 men, about
6,000 to 7,000 adults would be found fit to bear arms and ready at very
short notice.
In the Kohsar, I was informed, 1,500 men might be had in a day; at
Naudfh 1,000 ; and at Ramujan 1,000. Between Finderisk and Katul,