'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎358] (411/714)

358 PERSIA
present a spectacle in singular contrast to the cubical parallelo
grams of mud with which Persian urban architecture has hitherto
familiarised us. At Astrabad, too, the walls are often of stone or
burnt brick, mud being unable to resist the abnormal dampness of
the climate. Many of the houses in the neighbourhood are built
on platforms raised by poles to a height of from two to three feet
from the ground, in order to escape the excessive moisture; and
many have pleasant verandahs beneath the eaves.
The streets are stone paved, a still surviving relic of the davs
of the Great Abbas ; and the famous causeway or Sang farsh (lit.
Shah s ^ one carpet), built by him to facilitate communication
Abbas' through these northern provinces to which he was so much
causeway attached, emerges from the western gate. From here it
ran right through the forest, passing the various palaces and cities
which he created or enlarged in this locality, to a place named
Kiskar in the western part of Gilan. It was composed of big
roughly hewn blocks of stone, sometimes nearly a foot square, and
dwindled from a width of fifteen feet at Astrabad to from eight to
ten feet as it penetrated further into the jungle. 1 None the less it
was once a magnificent work, and worthy of the monarch who
ordered its construction. It has now in parts entirely disappeared;
elsewhere the stones have been broken up, dislodged, or tossed
hither and thither, and the road is a perilous succession of pitfalls
and quagmires. On the other, or south-eastern, side of Astrabad
it reappeared and conducted to the foot of the pass leading to
Shahrud and Bostam. From the summit of this pass began what
may be described as its second section, which ran in an easterly
direction, via Jajarm to a point near Chinaran, about fifty miles
from Meshed. In no part of this extended length has it ever
been repaired; and, where it still exists, the roadway gapes with
a three hundred years' ruin.
Astrabad is said to contain a population of 8,000 persons, and
the surrounding villages 23,000. The Governor's palace is in the
Ark or citadel, a considerable but ruined structure in
-Population
of Astra- the south-east angle, built by Agha Mohammed Shah
in 1791. The remaining public buildings are of no
importance. There is the proper allowance of one reputable
shrine, viz., the sepulchre of Abdullah, a brother of the Imam
Hanway, however, loO years ago, says that 'in some parts it was over twenty
yards broad.'—vol. 1. p. 291.