‘Military report on Persia Volume I 1930’ [‎21v] (47/154)

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village, tHe buildings of which were in a fair state of repair
in 1930.
Kuchan .—Elevation 4,280 feet, Post and Telegraph
office, population (1929) estimated at about 15,000 com
posed of Kurds, Turks, and Persians. The town, which is
the Headquarters of the district of Kuchan, lies about 7§
miles east of the site of the old city which was repeatedly
destroyed by earthquake and finally abandoned in 1895,
The town is well built and regularly laid out with wide
straight streets and has no fortifications. The Atrek river
passes the north end of the town under a three-span stone
bridge 180 feet long. The town is an important trade
centre and is the junction of the roads from Bujnurd,
Askhabad, Meshed, and Sabzawar. There are six water
mills for grinding corn. The surrounding country is very
productive and may be said to be the granary of Khurasan.
Meshed .—The Capital of Khurasan, elevation 3,197 feet.
Post and Telegraph office, population (1929) estimated
120,000. The city which measures about 2 miles from west
to east, and 1 £ miles from north to south, is surrounded
by a mud wall, with a circumference, roughly circular, of
some fi miles. At the angles are bastions in the shape of
round mud towers, and other smaller towers have been
constructed at intervals along the walls.
The wall which is now in the most dilapidated condi
tion was originally 9 feet thick at the base and 4 feet at
the top. There is a small ditch below the rampart, a low
parapet on the crest of the counterscarp, and a wide deep
ditch beyond. This ditch has been filled up in many places
and only presences its original dimensions near the Arg
Gate. A good motor road encircles the city on its northern,
eastern, and western sides, while on the south side it cuts
through the outskirts of the city.
Great Britain, Soviet Russia, and Afghanistan have
Consulates General in the Town. In 1923 a Turkish Consu
late General was opened, but was abolished in 1924.
During the year 1929 various schemes were put into
force to improve the city, particularly its streets.
It was decided to demolish many of the buildings and to
Widen some of the narrow lanes. New wide avenues of the
European pattern are being cut through the city, and
when completed, the appearance of the city, and the com
munications within it, will have been improved very consi
derably.