'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME I' [‎85r] (174/820)

DAR—DAR
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There are in all in the valley, in addition to the three principal villages,
about 30 small, fortified hamlets, bringing up the population to about
10,000 souls.
Resources .—The Ataks are the granary of Kalat and Darreh Gaz. femce
the Persian Government has ceased to exercise control over the region,
and all the surplus harvest produced there has been sent to ^skhabad,
the price of corn in Darreh Gaz has risen from 2 tumans to 5 per Ichar-
wdr, and the population is suffering in consequence. A small quantity
of grain is also exported to Radkan and Meshed, but only the continu
ance of very high prices can ever repay the transport over the difficult
Allahu Akbar pass. The land in the Atak is so fertile, and the water-
supply so abundant, that large numbers of the inhabitants of.
surrounding Persian districts will probably seek refuge there from* the
oppression of their own rulers ; which, as the population decreases, will
become more onerous.
In the valley itself, too, the land is very fertile and water abundant.
With these advantages, and with no scarcity of hands, the construction
of a good road connecting it with the interior would at once stimulate
agriculture, and vastly improve the condition of the people. There is.
room in the valley and glens ascending from it for at least 5,000 families-,
in addition to the present population. In the Atak the grain crops return
from 20 to 25 fold.
Cultivation in the valley and Atak is capable of an almost unlimited
increase, on unirrigated lands in both, on irrigable lands in the latter.
A very small quantity of silk is raised, and some cotton, tobacco, and
opium ; the latter for home consumption. A few years ago its use was
unknown ; now it is largely consumed by all classes, but more especially
by the Khans and their followers. ...
The present annual outturn of grain in the Darreh Gaz district is estimat
ed at about 14,000 kharwars, of which about 5,000 Jcharwdrs are export
ed to Russian territory (Transcaspia).*
The transport available for hire in the district is estimated as follows :
camels, 300; mules and ponies, 1,000 ; donkeys, 100.
The villagers have no horses and the Khan no stud. _
According to the Chief of Darreh Gaz they got all their horses from the
Turkomans in olden days, but since the Russian occupation their inter
course with the Turkomans has entirely ceased, and they have much fewer
horses now than formerly, when the chief used to keep a number of horse
men to check Turkoman raids these, being no longer required, have been
dismissed. • i
Revenue.—The revenue of the Darreh Gaz district is all realized m cash.
Origin of Chiefs family .— Shortly after the birth of Nadir Shah, a petty
Khan of Karshi, Muhammad Baba Khan, Beglarbegi, migrated to Persia
with a few hundred men of Chapashli Turks of his own race, and was.
granted lands at Darreh Gaz by Baba Ahmad Beg, Afshar,. Governor of -
i-Yard and of the country round. They rebuilt the village of Chapashl
which had been destroyed, an d brought its fertile lands into cultivation
^^Oranoffsky in 1894 estimated the annual outturn of wheat and barley at 28,O0d
and 14,790 kharwdrs, respectively. ^
48 IB
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