'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎143] (178/714)

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PROM KUCHAN TO KELAT-I-NADIRI
of communication from valley to valley. T
frequently of almost inconceivable abruptness
Each one pi events a score of positions of absolute impregnability •
and I do not suppose that more savage mountain scenery, in zones
below the snow line, exists anywhere in the world. The base of
these defiles seldom admits more than a torrent bed blocked with
enormous boulders, and the walls are frequently vertical to a height
of from 500 to 1,000 feet. The higher mountains rarely display
even the scantiest vegetation, being sterile, stony, and forbidding.
to a degree, though the loftiest peaks are majestic with splintered
outline, and occasionally some astonishing natural phenomenon
is encountered, like the southern wall of Kelat. Cultivation is
almost wholly confined to the valley bottoms', and is there depen
dent upon precarious streams and watercourses dug therefrom
to the arable plots. Each village is like an oasis in a brown
desert; and the squalid mud huts, with their fringe of green
poplars and orchards, present an appearance almost as refreshing
to the wayfarer as the snuggest of English homesteads.
The ordinary beasts of burden in these mountain villages are
• very small grey donkeys, camels being only seen when belonging
Animal to ^ caravan ' ancl a horse being beyond the means of the
and human poorer people. The arid hill slopes provide a slender
herbage that sustains large flocks of black sheep and
goats, which are met with everywhere, guarded by big dogs.
Mutton is consequently cheap and abundant. Rude wooden
ploughs unshod with iron are drawn by yokes of black oxen; but
cows and milk are not to be met with in ever}' village. Fowls
abound, and can be always bought for about 3d. apiece. The
valley of Kuchan revels in every kind of fruit, but further north
I was not able to procure any, llice appeared to be the staple
food of the peasantry. These struck me as a fine and masculine
race, and as a very different type from the Persian of the towns.
They spring for the most part from a different stock, being not of
Iranian, but of Turkoman or Turkish origin, and are far more like
the Uzbegs or Tartars in appearance than the Persians. They wore
sheepskin bonnets on their heads, not unlike those of the Turko
mans, but less lofty in the crown, canvas bound round their legs
with thongs, and big loose shoes of untanned cowhide similarly
attached. The women were everywhere visible, but, as a rule,
carefully concealed their features, not with a veil, but with the