‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎192r] (388/722)

we^t of Nfsliapur, in wliicli tlie town of Nishapur is situated, 12,000; (8)
Darb-i-Kazi, 24,000; (9) Zabar Khan, 8,000; (10) Durud, to the east,
12,000; and (11) Urdkish, south of Mshapur, with 8,000. The district,
notwithstanding its former prosperity, has at the present day but few
resources. Its outturn in grain but barely suffices to feed the people; and
here, as in most parts of the province, forage and fuel are very scarce, though
water is more abundant. The forces of the district are all irregular,
numbering not more than 5,000 men ; but these are mostly Turks of good
physique and fairly armed. Its villages and hamlets are reckoned at
1,200 ; and it is said to possess twelve different mines that yield turquoise,
salt, lead, copper, antimony, and iron, also marble and soapstone. There
are twelve ever-running streams from the hills; and it is said that eight of
the twelve thousand kanats of former days are still remaining. But there
is so little water in these, that they are not equal to a fourth as many of the
ordinary fullness.
By their own account, the proportion would stand much higher.
The figures given may, as regards population, be relied on as a fair
p . . approximation above, rather than below, the truth.
1 " ‘ ‘ They have been arrived at in a manner before described.
The elements composing the population are the same as in the Mashhad
district, but stand in different proportions.
The Kurds form a smaller portion of the whole, and the Turks pre
dominate over the Ajam, Tajik, or Persians. The nomadic element and
the town population are both inconsiderable.
In the extreme north of the district in the mountains are the Amanlut
Kurds—a thievish tribe, whose numbers were much reduced by the famine.
They are chiefly nomads, said to number now about 2,000 tents. But other
sections of the tribe appear in Ivuehan and Chinaran.
The village population are Baiyat Turks—once a powerful tribe, whose
chief seat is Nishapur.
In the plains the Baiyat element is much mixed with the Ajam. They
appear to stand in the proportion of about five to four.
There are in different parts of the district about 1,000 tents of Baluch
nomads. # .
The town population has a basis of mixed Baiyat and Ajam origin,
with the usual agglomeration of strangers. _ , ,
When Hasan Alf Mfrza was governor of Persian Khurasan, 60,000 Irak
tumans (39,000^.) were paid him annually from the province of Mshapur.
The turquoise mines* were rented for 1,000 tumans, and the rock saltmines*
for 300 In addition to the cash assessments, the prince took yearly from the
province ten thousand kharwars of grain, which (at the crown rate of compo
sition of two tumans per maund) gives a further sum of 20,000 tumans.
Prom this a guess may be made at the yearly harvest, ihe bhah
levies from a tenth to a fifth upon the produce of his country, according
to the fertility of the soil in different countries, or the degree of favour that
he is inclined to show the people, it being the endeavour of every governor
to return as deplorable an account as possible of the agricultural state of
hl Knowing that the Shah received ten thousand kharwars, we may make
a calculation between the abovementioned extreme rates, and suppose tnat
* Vide account of mines under “ Madan.”
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