‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎111r] (226/722)

destroy all vegetation not protected by a covering of snow, leave the villagers
dependent on their wheat crops. In the famine years 1870—72 the wheat
failed, and the village was almost destroyed ; only 30 families, remaining.
It contained 40 houses in 1874, with abundant supplies j but the water is
slightly brackish.-— {Napier.)
JAFIRA.BAD— La.t. 34° 46' 30", Long. 59° 25' 0"; Elev.
{Napier ).
A village in Khurasan, 42 miles from Khaf, on the road to Turshiz.— [Tay
lor.)
JAGATAT—Lat. 36° 37' 40", Long. 57° 3' 20"; Elev.
[Napier).
A town in the Jagatai mountains in Khurasan. It is enclosed by a double
wall, with sides of about one-third of a mile, and substantial flanking towers.
H aving very little irrigated cornland, the population was nearly destroyed
by the famine of 1870—72, and only 100 houses were left inhabited. There
is an ample supply of potable water; and since the famine years there have
been excellent crops of grain. There is a good camping ground here.—
[Napier.)
JAGATAI JTJVAlN, on JTjVAIN.
A small sub-district in Khurasan between the district of Sabzawar and
Isfarain.
Its position and productive capabilities give it an importance which it
could not otherwise claim.
On the south it is separated from Sabzawar by a high ridge known as
the Kuh-i-Jagatai Juvain {q. v.). To the north the district is bounded
bv a low rocky ridge running mostly due east and west across the great
plain that lies between the main ridge of the Alburz and its rocky outer
barriers, and it extends with varying width, but in an unbroken level, from
Bustan to Mshapur. At this point it has a width of not less than 40
miles. Beyond this dividing ridge is the plain of Isfarain ; which, in com
mon with juvain, drains west and south past the town of Jah Jarminto the
Kal Shur, and thence to the Kavir. The width of the plain at this
point is about 20 miles. On the west the plain is bounded by the Kal
Shur and Jah Jarm, and on the east by the petty districts of Bam and
Safiabad and by Mshapur. Its total length is about 53 miles, giving an area
of 1,100 square miles, of which about one-sixth, the extreme southern por
tion, is mountainous. The remaining area consists of a plain sloping gently
to its centre and to the west with a barren bare surface; but a fertile
alluvial soil needing only irrigation to render it extremely productive. The
hill skirts to the south and a narrow strip of country following the central
line of depression are now alone cultivated ; but there are evidences in the
lines of the old kanats that in former days a great deal that is now
waste was under the plough. The general elevation of the plain is about
4,000 feet, which is sufficient to give it a good climate. Being dependent
on artificial irrigation, the district suffered severely during the famine, and
the villages, save a few in the mountains, have lost, it is reckoned, half their
P °Under present conditions, with a comparatively good supply of water,
a laro-e proportion of adult males and a very fertile soil, Juvain produces
o-rain enough to supply to some extent the necessities of Jah Jarm, Sabzawar,
and Mshapur, as well as a considerable proportion of silk and cotton ; but