‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎62r] (128/722)

4,000 regular footmen, who receive from 8 to 10 tumans (£4 to £5) year
ly. They are esteemed among the best of the royal troops, and are known
by the name of the Lokar-i-Arab-wa-Ajam (Arab and Persian). There
are said to be 4,000 families of Arab extraction resident in this district.
They are chiefly of the Amiri tribe; the remainder of 12,000 tents brought
from Arabia during the Bani-Abbas Khalifat; now they live in houses
and talk Persian. The Governor of Bustan keeps a few soldiers in his
pay, and the inhabitants were formerly obliged to be on the alert against the
Turkmans, who furnish every third man for the militia (iljari). Good fruits
are grown, and much cultivation is carried on at the villages in the district;
and care is taken to have large supplies stored. Sixty thousand pilgrims
pass through the district yearly for M.ashhad. 1 ormerly Bustan was the last
dependency of the district of Little Kamus on the east. The possession of
this district would give a power from the north, based on the Caspian, a
most formidable influence in the affairs of either East or West Persia.
{MacGregor.)
BTJSTAN, on BCSTAM— Lat. 36° 29' 20", Long. 55° O' 45"; Elev. 4,631'
[Lemm).
A town in Khurasan, ayiniles north-east of Shahrud. It is renowned for
the great fertility of it^ soil, delicious streams of water, and excellent
horses. The cotton goods of the locality are also held in much repute.
r l he town of Bustan lies on a level plain enclosed by mountains, distant from
4 to 10 miles; it is watered by a small stream and numerous kanats, or
mud walls of some height, with a thickness of 6 or 8 feet at the base,
and numerous flanking towers enclose it; its circuit may be about one and
a half miles. The gateways are defended by strong towers of burnt brick.
A circle of gardens and groves of “ sinjud” (sweet willow) trees gives cover
right up to the walls. W ithin the first wall is another, veiy thick and solid,
there are chambers cut in its base to a depth of 10 to 12 feet, this second
wall is not complete; but the gaps are backed by irregular mud walled en
closures, and it would form a very serviceable inner line of defence. In the
centre of the town is the arg or citadel; a square enclosure with substantial
mud walls, and a good ditch of about 30 feet by 15 feet. The bazaar and
inhabited part of the town covers a comparatively small space near the arg ;
and the remainder of the enclosure is filled with strong walled gardens.
There is space for a large number of men ; and the valley, in ordinary seasons,
would afford ample supplies of grain. In the square of the citadel were, in
1874 four old field guns. The governor in the same year was Kmmurz
Mirza. a son of Fateh Ali Shah. ^ He has been long resident in Tehran,
and speaks a little French. „ ,. . .
The ancient town of Bustan was the residence, the scene of the miracles,
and the place of burial of the famous Shaikh Baiazid Bustani, who died in
the year 261 of the Hijra. His tomb is in the court of a beautiful mosque,
much ruined, but preserving still in many places the rich ornaments in plas
ter which are found on all Arabian buildings constructed during the latter
years of the khalifat. At the north-west of the mosque is the Mmar-i-Jun
ban or trembling minaret. It can be made to vibrate, like the two minarets
at Isfahan, by rocking it at the base, the vibrations extending to one or one
and a half degrees.— [Napier, MacGregor, Khanikoff.)
Bustan is an important position ; for, supposing a Russian force were to be
disembarked near Astarabad, there is at present nothing to prevent As occu
pying the whole of Khurasan; whilst by seizing the important position of