'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎115] (150/714)

FROM KUOHAN TO KELAT-I-NADIRI
115
caused excruciating scrunches to the springs of the light victoria
For the first ten „„ es the country, though at this season destit^
by W y CU Vated ' ^ ^ ^ turned
by the plough. Wrapped up in a shroud of dust, I could scarcely
see a yard in front. At intervals on either side of the plain
occurred small ntnd vllages, clinging to the shade of tiuy clumps
of trees, w nch owed their existence to some stray watercourse or
to a happily unchoked IcanaV Of these villages we passed in
S o n consii, ' ,te
benefit of those who have not seen them, I will describe what th^' the
(identical with the Beluch and Afghan /v/r^ i ■ a if ' ^ are ' ^ ana ^
conducting the water ^ OT ^" ed °<='
where it is required either to promote cultivation or to susteTSe" ' t ^
of construction is as follows. Experimental shafts are first sunk until pl .' oce f s
tapped in the higher ground. Then the labourer begins at the other e l
water is required upon the surface, or at intervening point, and d, n
cutting, on a very slightly inclined plane, in the dhoction rf the imiL f C
goes further and gets deeper underground, circular pits or shnffl g ' w
above, at distances of twenty yards or n^e, by Sh the
up to the surface and heaped round the mouth of the shaft In time thp
ranean tunnel reaches the spring, and the water flows down T ,
slope to its destination. The shafts are subsequeZ u^^fo >
clear and free from obstruction. A village with anv extent f ' ^ cauery
therefore. « a rule, the apex from whichldiate.Tl^K »£ onlt.vable soil is.
several miles in length, to the nearest mountain," the lon^suco^ion oT'Tft"
resembling an array of portentous mole-hills thrown up one after the otl
the plain. The water-way. however, is very easily blocked or cLkedtrTuX^
ways impaired, whereupon the whole labour is repeated vh ,w + m other
kam-t lines being often encountered within a few yards of each othwThe^™]
of which has been totally abandoned. It will easily be understood W dan
are the opeI1 shafts of the laUer The ^ ^ow dangerous
by the ram. so that nothing remains to mark the mouth of the pit; and manyare
the animals that have found a premature death by falling down. Their skeletons
can sometimes be seen wedged half-way down the shafts. Eiders and tS
lorses have had the most extraordinary escapes, and the case is well known at
Teheran of a gentleman who, while out hawking, suddenly disappeared from view
having dropped down a disused shaft, but was hauled up along with his horse
without any damage to either. The kanat shafts are the favourite abode of blue-
next Plge0 ° S . , ' lf the hands be cla PPed at one opening, will dart out of the
next, providing shots that would puzzle even the professors of Hurlingham In
the account of his Persian travels, given by one of the Venetian Ambassadors
Signor Josafa Barbaro, over 400 years ago, occurs an interesting passage about
tin ^ WhlCh WaS fchuS rendered in to English in a quaint transla
^ n of the teenth century; lNeere to the ryverthey makeap q ittl ^ a a
ell, from whense they folowe, diggeng by lyvells towardes the place they meane
bnnge it to; so that it may evermore distende chanell wise; which chanell is
deeper than the botome of the foresaid pytt, and whan they have
i 2