'Military report on Tehran and adjacent Provinces of North-West Persia (including the Caspian Littoral)' [‎236r] (476/610)

10) could maintain about half these numbers, and the Do
Hazar valley of Tunakabun (near route No. 7 ) about l of them.
Elsewhere, e.g., in the overpopulated mountain valleys of
Alamut, Talaghan, Laura, etc., even a party of 50 men and
animals cannot maintain themselves loca ly and avoid fetching
supplies from a distance without inflicting hardship on the
inhabitants. Prices would be high. Apart from their reluc
tance to part with scanty stocks, the peasantry have a keen eye to
business and are suspicious, so it is politic to pay them well
and conciliate them. Requisitioning as in the case of transport
(see below) is very unpopular and, in such an inaccessible coun-
try, most difficult if large quantities or a continuous supply
are required.
In summer the “ Miyanband ’’are almost deserted and even
the smallest parties must either carry supplies for one or two
stages, or arrange previously for them to be brought down from
the villages in the hills. These villages North of the “ Second
ary watershed The boundary between adjacent drainage basins. to the North ” (See Caapter II, p. 94) are gene
rally larger and better supplied than the villages on the South
side of it.
Compared with the Elburz the Caspian lowlands are a land
of plenty. Rice is obtainable throughout in unlimited quan
tities at all seasons.
In the Mazandaran plain during the temperate season all
the above supplies with the addition of fish are plentiful, and
1,099 men and 690 animals should be supplied 1 2 anywhere at
2 days notice, 3 * wheat, flour, and barley being the only commo
dities which might prove scarce and require fetching from the
towns, as the inhabitants and animals are rice eaters.
In the summer the flocks and herds are driven up- to the
mountain pastures and sheep and dairy produce, which are
abundant in winter, become scarce.
Along the coast strip between the Mazandaran and Gilan
plains supplies are less plentiful in summer as the population
1 In July 1920 one troop of Guides Cavalry and 10 Gendarmes were posted
at Dastgird above the Shahrud valley in Itudbar, Forth of Kazvin for a
month. 100 Cossacks also passed through the district, stopping one nwht and a
party of Bolsheviks followed them. Rations for these parties were obtainable as
the harvest had been reaped but the Rudbar villagers in October were lamenting
that their winter store of grain had been consumed and they were obliged tn
go and purchase their requirements from af&r. 8
Supplies obtainable in the towns are mentioned m the description of the
vns of over 3,000 inhabitants at the end of Chapter II 11
3 The good wheat all comes from the hills and flour from plain grown wheat
.Zft m-L~ See VII> paragraph (d) ’ Agriculture (St and