‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎338v] (683/722)

produce of a plant called in Persia ‘ anguja/ which grows in the most arid
tracts. The plant is cut down; and a sticky, very evil-smelling gum
exudes, which forms small lumps on the cut stems. This is carefully col
lected, and the stems cut again and again, so as to cause more gum to
exude. A fine plant will bear cutting fourteen times in the season, which
lasts about eight months, from spring until autumn.
“ The town is about half-a-mile long from east to west, and a quarter-of-
a-mile wide. There are two gates at each end; and one street down the
middle of its length. It has no bazars ; and the houses are all of a poor
description. The most pleasing feature of Tabas is the f khiaian/ or ave
nue—a broad boulevard, which runs out from the Darwaza Gulihan towards
the hills, and which has a double avenue of trees down each side, with
streams of water between them. It extends for about a mile in length, and
on either side are the houses and gardens of the wealthier inhabitants. Tabas
is not a place of any importance, and its cultivable land is so small, that
it could never furnish many supplies. The heat is considerable in summer
in the day-time, the thermometer marking more than 100° in a house
furnished with a ‘ badgfr/ or permanent wind-sail. But the nights are
always cool. ”
The inhabitants of Tabas are of the Arab tribe of Ibn Sharban who were
brought here by one of the kings of the Safavian dynasty. The population
of the country is said to number more than 30,000 families ; but many of
these are affluent, and almost all of them possessed of property. From the
chief to the lowest of his subjects, they traffic in sheep and camels ; but
mostly in the latter, which they breed in their arid plains in great numbers.
These they either sell or let ; and the chief of Tabas has generally more
than a thousand camels hired out to the merchants of his own country, or
to others, who dwell in its vicinity.
“ Favoured by situation, " says Malcolm, “ by the valour and attach
ment of their tribe of Ibn Sharban, and by the unsettled condition of the
empire, the chiefs of this race, for centuries, maintained themselves in inde
pendence ; and their rule, at different periods, extended over several other dis
tricts of Khurasan. They usually acknowledged the king of Persia as their
paramount sovereign ; and when the empire was in a settled state, neither
withheld their tribute, nor the service of a quota of their troops. But the
most powerful monarchs of Persia preferred the benefit they derived from
this qualified submission to the hazard of an effort to subdue them. ”
M hatever may ha\e been the case m the time that Malcolm wrote,
there is no doubt but that iabas has ceased to be m any way independent;
nor is it in the least probable that the Khan would be heartily supported in
rebellion. The people are very quiet,—generally have no arms, and certainly
ninety-nine out of a hundred must be utterly unskilled in their use. A
very small force would soon reduce Tabas ; and it is by no means unap
proachable from the north, the direction from which an attack would most
probably come. The ruling Khan in 1881 was Mfrza Muhammad Bakar
Khan, who enjoys the title of Amad-ul-Mulk, or Pillar of the State. ”
Ihe government of labas is hereditary in his family, and has been so
few many generations; though the governor is nominally appointed by the
Shah of Persia. The Khan pays a fixed sum to the Shah; and as long as
t at is paid, ha is leit to do very much as he pleases. No conscripts are
furnished by the Tabas district to the regular Persian army.— (H. B. Lums-
den } Malcolm, Fortier, MacGregor, Stewart.)