‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎26r] (56/722)

The territory of Astarahad yields rice and corn; the former is the chief
food of the people; the latter is made into bread only for the richer sort.
The soil yields ten for one, and almost the whole is watered by the deyim or
natural irrigation. On the coast they have a fishery, which is frequented
by Russians only, who pay to the Governor of Astarabad 100 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value.
annually for the liberty. Seven or eight small ships are employed in this
fishery, which consists of sturgeon, from which they extract the caviare.
The most direct route from Baku to India would pass by the bay of
Astarabad. This gulf in its shallowest parts has a depth of at least 14 "feet,
and is therefore accessible to ships drawing 10 feet of water. All parts of
the coast from the village of Saluka northwards to the river Kara-Su, and
even further, are suitable for the establishment of landing stages for troops.
The climate of Astarabad is, as statistics show, very unhealthy; but the
fatality that exists may be chiefly attributed to the faulty construction of
the houses, to the indolent and filthy habits of the inhabitants, to their
gorging themselves in the season with unwholesome fruits such as water
melons and green figs, and to their habit of using water from the gutters
that flow from house to house, gathering an ever-increasing absorption of
abominations.
The temperature inside the British Consulate from April to the end of
October 1881 varied from 100° as a maximum to 49° as a minimum.
It is probable that troops located on the heights overlooking the city to
the south or in gardens inside the town would have no unusual amount of
sickness; all needful sanitary and dietary precautions being specially
observed.
A telegraph line connects Astarabad with Tehran— fKinneir, Fraser, Ches-
ney, Holmes, Stuart, Monteith, Ea-shoick, Napier, Baker, MacGregor, Lovett,
L’ Exploration.)
Extent and nature of
country.
~Nole .—The average
width of the district
would be scarcely more
than 12 miles.
Plain.
ASTARABAD (Dtsttuct)—Lat. , Long. ; Elev.
The greatest width of the district, excluding the tributary Turkman tracts
from the Kara-Su to the borders of Shahrud, is about
40 miles; its greatest length from Gulugah east to
the limits of Kohsar, about 100 miles. By its natural
features it is conveniently divided into two longitud
inal sections—the northern or lower consisting of plain,
the southern or upper of mountain. The plain be
tween the bay of Ashurada and the mountains, known
as the Anizan buluk, has a width of about 8 miles;
between the Kara-Su and the mountains it widens to about 12 miles;
thence eastwards to Naudih, 50 miles in a direct line, it maintains a uniform
width of about 10 miles. Nearly the whole of this area is covered with dense
forest. There is a strip of open country towards the Kara-Su, and some
considerable clearings to the east, which together might perhaps amount to
one-fifth ;• the remaining four-fifths is uninhabited, and almost impenetrable ;
for where the forest is thin a dense growth of thorn bushes takes its place.
The mountainous section includes to the west the upper course of the
Nikah river, the mountains Shah Kuh (10,000 feet*),
Jahan Nama (8,900 feet),and Gez Dagh (7,300 feet),
with all their valleys and plateaux. Eastwards it
takes in only the lower northern slopes of Alburz till
it reaches the valley of Naudih, where the Kohsar plateau stretches out
again to some width, 10 to 15 miles. More than half this area must be
Mountains.
*' Approximate eleva
tion.