'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎123] (158/714)

FROM KUCHAN TO KELAT-I-NADIRI
123
liim; but we neither saw nor heard any more of the latter. He
was probably the solitary representative of the Imperial Govern
ment in these parts, and did not care to assert its majesty in the
face of a numerous caravan.
October 17.—Undeterred by the fate of his predecessor, another
guide was forthcoming this morning. For an hour we were occu-
Bolghor to
pied in climbing and descending the ridge immediately to
Vardeh t i ie north of Maresh; and then, facing due northwards,
we struck the track from Meshed to Kelat, the passage of which
along a deep gorge was marked by telegraph poles and a single
wire, so loosely hung that we had frequently to dip our heads in
order to avoid being struck in the face. At this point I joined the
principal caravan route from Meshed to Kelat-i-Nadiri, which has
been followed by most English visitors to the stronghold of Nadir. 1
It runs here through a profound and narrow gorge, whose sides are
so close that in places there is only room for a single horseman to
pass between. 2 The pass is called Dahaneh-i-Zaupirzan, 3 or Old
Woman's Gorge, any peculiarly horrible piece of country in Persia
being described, as I shall have reason again to observe later on,
by this quaint but in Persia most apposite simile. After an hour's
laborious marching, we emerged upon a more open valley, where
two roads diverged, to the east and to the west. I was informed
that the latter also led to Kelat, but was very rough and almost
impassable for horses, and that the other was the easier and more
ordinary way. Accordingly we turned our faces towards the sun
and struck eastwards along a rolling upland valley, having upon
our left hand the main range of the Kara Dagh (Black Mountains),
whose splintered limestone crags were dotted on their inferior
1 The Englishmen who have visited and described Kelat are as follows (Fraser,
who endeavoured to come here with Yalantush Khan from Meshed in 1834, having
been compelled to desist from the attempt) :—Colonel Val. Baker (1873), Clouds
in the East, pp. 194-210; Captain Hon. G. Napier (1874), Journal of the R.G.S.,
vol. xlvi. pp. 75-79, 149-150; (Sir) C. MacGregor (1875), Journey through
Ahorasan, vol. ii. pp. 38-62 ; E. O'Donovan (1881), The Merr Oasis, vol. ii. p. 82;
Captain A. C. Yate (1885), ' Through Khorasan ' in the Daily Telegraph, August
27, 1885. It was also visited by Mr. A. Condie-Stephen (1881), when a Secretary
of the British Legation at Teheran, but his report was not made public.
2 The lower and even more rugged portions of this tremendous defile will be
described upon my return journey to Meshed, where also I shall quote MacGregor's
opinion as to its astonishing strength.
3 The distinction between Dahaneh and Teng, both Persian words applied to
passes, is strictly as follows: Dahaneh is the space or pass lying between the
base of two hills; Teng is a narrow defile between vertical walls of rock.