‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [112v] (229/722)
The record is made up of 1 volume (384 folios). It was created in 1886-1895. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
178
peak, also 13,000 fret. The mountain is formed entirely of sandstone and
limestone without a trace of volcanic rock. The slopes are clothed with a
thick forest of oak. The branches of every tree and bush in the rid^e
inclined to the south show the direction of the prevailing wind; which
bearing with it dense clouds of vapour from the sea, keeps the northern face
of the mountains bathed in moisture. The Jahan Numa plateau is 6 50i)
feet high, and is crossed by the road from Astarabad to Chahardeh bv the
Sanduk pass. There is a stream of good water running through it and
there are about 45 wooden huts, each capable of affording cover to from 10
to 20 men.— [Napier, Lovett )
JAHtJL PARS— Lat. , Long. ; Elev. ' <
The ruins of an ancient city, the capital of Isfandiar, situated in a wide
glen, formed by a bend in the Isfian and Kuh Siah hills to the west. It is
in the Nimbuluk district of Khurasan.— [Bellew.)
JA-I-GtLM BAZ.
See GUM BAZ JAI.
JA-I-GHARAK*— Lat. 36° IS' 54", Long. 59° 11'0"; Elev. 4,650
[Lentz).
A villagef in Khurasan in the upper road between Mashhad and Nishapur,
and 18 miles from the former. It contains about 250 inhabited houses, and
is built in the slope of a high slate hill right down to the edge of the
torrent, which, with another farther south, goes to form the Durud or “ two
rivers/’ which flows by Mashhad. The valley in which this stream flows
abounds in orchards, in which the following trees flourish in luxuriant
profusion, viz., the vine, apple, plum, peach, apricot, cherry, filbert, walnut,
and mulberry, with willows and poplars, whilst higher up are found the elm,
ash, and plane tree.— [Belleiv.)
JAJARM, or JlH JARM— Lat. 36° 57' 24", Long. 56° 23' 45"; Elev. 3,094'
( Lemm ).
A village in Khurasan, about half way between the towns of Bujnurd and
Shahrud. It contains about 350 houses, all having domed roofs from the
impossibility of procuring wood for rafters, and the whole is surrounded by
a dilapidated wall. It owns a good deal of cultivation, some of which is
dependent on rain, and some on water brought by karez from the hills.
There are but few gardens. The ruins of an old fort are noticeable in the
centre of the village on a mound about 40 feet high. It seems to have
been a square construction with walls about 30 feet high, and an inner
reef 10 to 15 feet higher. It is surrounded by a deep and broad ditch at
the foot of the mound, and must have been a very strong work originally.
1 rom the great extent of the old wall of the place, it is clear that the popu
lation of 350 families in the year 1874 was small in comparison to that in the
time of Nadir Shah, there were some 5,000 families, and as late as the
reign of hatch Ali Shdh (1834), the town furnished 200 men to the regiment
known as the Lashkar-i-Arab-vva-Ajam. Its decline is attributed entirely
to the furkmans, who destroyed the irrigation works by which only so large
a population could have been maintained. With the water-supply at the
present time available, the crops raised are insufficient for the inhabitants,
* The “ Place of Drowning.”
f The longitude of this place given by Major St. John (1875) on the authority of Lentz is as
above, but its position in Major St. John’s map, 1875, and Colonel Walker’s, 188l) is 59° 18' 10",
About this item
- Content
This volume is Volume I of the four-volume Gazetteer of Persia (1886 edition). It was compiled for political and military reference by Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Metcalfe MacGregor, Assistant Quarter Master General, in 1871, and brought up to 31 July 1885 by the Intelligence Branch, Quarter Master General’s Department in India. It was printed by the Government Central Branch Press, Simla, India in 1886.
The areas of Persia [Iran] covered are Astarabad, Shahrud-Bustan, Khurasan [Khorāsān], and Sistan. The boundaries of the areas covered by Volume I are as follows: the Afghan border from the River Helmand to Sarakhs in the east; and from there a line north-west to Askhabad, due west to the Atrak, which it follows to the Caspian Sea; then along the sea coast to Ashurada Island; then in a straight line to Shahrud; and from the latter south-east to Tabas hill, Sihkuha, and the Helmand, from where the river first meets the south-east border of Sistan.
The gazetteer includes entries on human settlements and buildings (forts, hamlets, villages, towns, provinces, and districts); communications (passes, roads, bridges, canals, and halting places); tribes and religious sects; and physical features (rivers, streams, springs, wells, fords, valleys, mountains, hills, plains, and bays). Entries include information on history, geography, buildings, population, ethnography, resources, trade, agriculture, and climate.
Information sources are provided at the end of each gazetteer entry, in the form of an author or source’s surname, italicised and bracketed.
The volume includes the following illustrations: ‘VIEW OF AK-DARBAND.’ [Mss Eur F112/376, f 12v]; ‘PLAN OF AK-KALA.’ [Mss Eur F112/376, f 14]; ‘ROUGH SKETCH OF ASTARÁBÁD, FROM AN EYE-SKETCH BY LT.-COL. BERESFORD LOVETT, R. E., 1881.’ [Mss Eur F112/376, f 24]; ‘ROUGH PLAN OF BASHRÚGAH’ [Mss Eur F112/376, f 40v]; ‘ROUGH PLAN OF BÚJNÚRD’ [Mss Eur F112/376, f 48]; and ‘BUJNURD, FROM THE S. W.’ [Mss Eur F112/376, f 49v].
It also includes the following inserted papers (folios 51 to 60): a memorandum from the Office of the Quartermaster General in India, Intelligence Branch to Lord Curzon, dated 6 December 1895, forwarding for his information ‘Corrections to Volume I of the Gazetteer of Persia’, consisting of articles on the Nishapur district of the province of Khorasan, and the Shelag river.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (384 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume is arranged as follows from the front to the rear: title page; preface; list of authorities consulted; and entries listed in alphabetical order.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 388, these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
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- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [112v] (229/722), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F112/376, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100107690762.0x00001e> [accessed 24 February 2025]
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- Reference
- Mss Eur F112/376
- Title
- ‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’
- Pages
- front, back, head, tail, spine, edge, front-i, 2r:12r, 13r:13v, 15r:23v, 25r:40r, 41r:47v, 49r, 50r:195v, 196ar:196av, 196r:357v, back-i
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- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
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- Open Government Licence