'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎189] (224/714)

POLITICS AND COMMERCE OF KIIOEASAN
189
roads from Mazanderan and the sea coast, and from the capital.
Teheran. And, thirdly, it would command the sole entry from the
west into Khorasan, into the heart of which run two easy roads, the
one by Jajarm, Bujnurd, and Kuchan more to the north, the other
by Sebzewar and Nishapur 'due east to Meshed. In other words,
the Astrabad-Shahrud position is the key of Northern Persia.
Stationed there, an army severs Khorasan from the rest of the world,
and can effectually prevent any reinforcement from the capital.
North Persia may be likened in shape to a wasp of which the head
is at Teheran and the tail at Meshed. The narrow belt between
Gez and Shahrud is the wasp's waist. Cut it and the head becomes
powerless; while the utmost that the tail can do (and that—not if
it is a Persian tail) is to implant a dying sting. It is in the light
of the physical configuration of this portion of the Shah's dominions
that the presence and the intentions of the Russians at Ashurada
have always been invested with such importance. Their interests
in this neighbourhood are sufficiently guarded by a Consul at
Astrabad, and by Consular agents or representatives at Bunder-i-
Gez and Shahrud.
I pass now to the third or Yomut Turkoman Question, in which
Russia again plays a significant part. By the Boundary Treaty of
Persian 1881, the Russo-Persian frontier in this quarter was defi-
^ nd . nitely fixed at the A trek River, from its mouth as far as
Russian ...
Turko- the junction of the Sumbar at Chat, although it appears
that one of their boundary pillars, for some unexplained
reason, is still placed south of the Atrek. Moreover, Russian officers
have been heard of who since the treaty have crossed the Atrek
Riyer with soldiers, and have endeavoured forcibly to collect tribute
from the Persian Yomuts on the Gurgan. However, for such an
act there can be no excuse in international law, and practically, as
well as diplomatically, the Atrek may be taken as the line of
division. North of that river are settled the Yomut Turkomans
under Russian rule ; south of the river are the Yomuts under
Persian rule, though nomad camps of the latter are in the habit of
crossing the river at certain seasons of the year, and are allowed
by treaty to do so in order to change their pasturages. The
Russian Yomuts are thoroughly subdued, and, whether satisfied or
not with Russian sovereignty, are powerless'to revolt. The Persian
Yomuts, however, who are subdivided into the Ata Bai and Jafir
Bai clans, are far from submitting tamely to the pretensions of