‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎346v] (699/722)

side—one called the Gumbaz-i-Safid, and the other Masjid-i-Karmani—
leads to a long’ court from north to south. In this couit is buned
the shaikh, several members of his family, and certain individuals, who,
by giving donations to the establishments, have been enabled to have
their last resting-place by the side of the patron saint of Jam. He lies
under the shade of a huge pistachio tree, near a mosque opposite the gate
by which you enter. His tomb is surrounded by those of his children;
and each grave is enclosed by a railing. A large mosque, built against
the northern wall of the court, separates it from another enclosure of
the same size, wdnch was formerly suirounded by sawed buildings,
hospitals, &c., but is now a heap of ruins. Beyond the first court, near
the southern wall, are the ruins of a small ‘ khangah/ or darwesh’s
convent, the only edifice that was built during the shaikh's lifetime. It
has since been twice repaired and enlarged by the shaikh's grandson
Taimuridi Sulian Husain Mirza, who died A.H. 911. The mosque, which
faces the shaikh's tomb, was built by a descendant of Sultan Sand jar,
A.H. 6133 ; but was enlarged and embellished by Malik Giath-ud-din
Muhammad, A.H. 730. A large madrassah, facing the principal mosque,
was built A.H. 816, during the reign of Shah Rukh, by a certain Amir
Shah Malik. To the west, and beyond these edifices, are the remains
of a darwesh convent, founded by iamerlane.
A large and beautiful garden lies to the east of the principal court,
in the centre of which is a basin, shaded by a large cupola full of fish.—
{Conolly, Clerk, Khdnikoff.)
TURBAT-I-SHAIKH JAMI (District)—Lat. , Long. ;
A district in north-eastern Khurasan, on the Afghan border. It is bounded
on the north and south by low ranges of hills, and watered by a small stream
rising south-east of Mashhad in the Sarjam plain. Ihe border line is still
the Hari Rud.
The following posts for its protection exist at least in name :—
Kakriz,—20 cavalry. I Tuman Agha20 cavalry.
Namak Zar,—20 cavalry. | Kalir Kala, 20 cavalry.
To support these posts, there is at the town of Turbat-i-Shaikh Jami, 20
to 25 miles in rear of the north of the line, a force of 400 horse, chiefly
Hazaras and Taimuris, in the pay of the Persian government, and an armed
population, numbering 2,500 houses and tents, capable of furnishing per
haps 2,000 matchlockmen. The principal villages are Turbat-i-Shaikh
Jami and Fariman. At Kakriz, a large post on the Herat road in rear
of Kafir Kala, but now forming the actual frontier post, is a nominal
force of 200 horse, chiefly Hazaras, furnished from Bakharz.
The force of the district may be reckoned at 600 horse and 200 footmen.
The population of the district consists chiefly of Taimuris ; but the 2,500
families include also Heratis, fugitives from Ghurian and Kuhsan, Karais,
and a local tribe called Jamis, of Persian origin. They live in Turbat-i-
Shaikh Jami and a small circle of hamlets, and in Fariman, a large village
on the Sarjam plain at the head of that stream.
The district is said to be barren ; the water-supply, deficient. The annual
revenue paid by the district is the trifling sum of 400 tumans and 300
kharwars of grain; and this, though a border assessment, may be accepted
as a fair measure of its resources. There are altogether about twelve
or fourteen villages in the district.— [Napier.)