‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎16r] (36/722)

Tine Eastern Allairz may be said to commence from the latitude of
Astarabad, whence it extends in a serried, unbroken line eastward for about
100 miles to the point where the Naudih valley cuts deep into the chain.
Thence they spread out forming a broad expanse of hilly country, extending
north to the banks of the main stream of the Atrak, and each for about 70
miles.
To the west this tract is supported by the Kuh-i-Zirkai, which abuts on
the Gurgan plain. A line of heights connected by low ridges divide it from
the Jah Jarm plain on the south. It is traversed from east to west by
numerous plateaux, more or less level, forming the Gurgan drainage basin,
but draining also south to the desert and north into the Atrak. Beyond the
Kuh-i-Zirkai the range loses its covering of forest, and the hill slopes
become bare and rugged; but the plateaux are for the most part fertile,
well-watered, and capable of supporting a considerable population.
From the Shaughan and Samalghan plateaux rises the Ala-Dagh, a high
mass of mountains which, together with the Kuh-i-Salik to the south-east,
of about the same height and of greater extent, drops its northern spurs
into the plain of Bujnurd, and its southern spurs into the Jah Jarm or
Isferain plain.
East from Ala-Dagh and Salik the range extends in a high unbroken line,
falling abruptly into the plain of Isferain, and with easy undulations into
that of Kuchan. Takht-i-Mirza and IShahjahan, the two highest points,
reach an absolute elevation of 10,000 or 11,000 feet, while above the plains
north and south they rise 5,000 feet and 4,000 feet respectively.
East of Shahjehan the range bends south-east, and is broken by the
pleateaux of Sultan Maidan, Bam, and Saffabad. Rising from there it forms
a high mass known as the Kuh-i-Mirabad, dividing the districts of Nisha-
pur'and Mashhad, falls again at Sharifabad where the Lower Mashhad road
crosses it, and continues south-east, about 1 SO miles further to Bakharz,
where it attains again a considerable elevation, and thence on in a broken
line neaily to Far hat on the Herat and Farah road. This chain may be
said to form the southern branch of the East Alburz.
The northern chain is connected with it by an open elevated tract dividing
the Mashhad or Hari-Rud basin from that of Kuchan on the. Atrak. A line
of peaks stretches from a point -30 to 40 miles north of Bujnurd along the
“ AUk,” and thence south-east towards Kalat, supporting to the south an
elevated expanse of down, of easy slope and cultivable, reaching to the val
ley of Kuchan and Shirvan ; to the north falling with a steep slope to the
Atak, and throwing out north-west a line of heights extending for about
100 miles into the desert in low ridges and sandhills, but falling just
short of junction with the Balkhan ridge, and the elevated pastuies on the
shore of that bay. Eastward extend several long rugged spurs, the most
northern one overhanging the Atak as far as Daraghaz, to the south of
which it falls into the plain; a second running north of Daraghaz into
the plain between Daraghaz and Ab-i-Yard, across which lies the pass of
Allah-u-Akbar ; a third, a low ridge connecting with the Kalat range.
In the north-east slopes of this line of peaks rises the Daraghaz stream
flowing to the Atak. In the south-west the different tributary streams of
the Atrak enclosed by spurs extend far into the Atrak-Guigan plain.
East of the Allah-u-Akbar pass the Kalat range extends south-east
for about 180 miles to the Hari-Rud, falling north into the Atak, and south
into the plain of Mashhad. It has a uniform width of about 45 to 50 miles,