‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎153r] (310/722)

Villages of the south
ern mountains.
The valleys descending from the plateaux and the elevated ridges of the
mountains north of Kuchan have many fine villages*
ern^valkTs ° £ tlie nortl1 " They are well watered, have fertile soil and extensive
groves and vineyards. The higher elevations are
wooded with juniper and the ravines with the barberry, wild pomegranate,
and thorn brakes. In spring there is good pasturage. The principal
villages of this tract are—Shurak andDarbadan, in a wild glen at the head
of the Daraghaz stream, numbering, with hamlets, 150 houses of Turks and
Kurds; Gifian, to the south-west of the last, so named from a small
stream which flows past Slnrwan into the Atrak; and the Khushkhana
villages, Firuga, Garmab, and other large villages lying on a plateau
just south of the crest of the Atak range, draining into the Atrak.
The southern mountains have on their slopes many large villages, with
gardens and vineyards and large extents of unirrigated
arable land. The limit of cultivation extends far up
towards the crest of the range, and the slopes afford
fine pasturage. The upper villages are inhabited chiefly by Jaraili* Turks;
the lower, in common with the villagers in the plain of Kuchan, by
Zafaranlu Kurds. The villages in this tract number from 20 to 30, exclu
sive of many small hamlets. It is known as the Buluk-i-Janubi.
The mass of the population of Kuchan are Zafaranlu Kurds, who may
be estimated at about four-fifths of the whole.
Population. Thg balance includes Turks of the Jaraili tribe, a
few families of the old Atak tribes, now known, from the names of the
towns they inhabited, as Anauis, Ishkabadis, Mihnais, and probably also of
Turk origin, and a sprinkling of Ajams or Persians.
There are from 2,000 to 3,000 tents of nomads of the Zafaranlu and
Amanlu tribes, moving for the most part about the skirts of the plain and
in the southern mountains. The Zafaranlu at the time of their first settle
ment had, according to their traditions, 24,000 families, or about 120,000
souls. If so, they must have decreased much in numbers; for at the highest
estimate they cannot have, now, more than hair that numbei.
Prom an average of the population of the villages passed through, and
from careful local enquiry, the following computation, which is probably
near the truth, though possibly slightly excessive, was made
Town of Kuchan ... 9,000
Town of Slnrwan ...
Kuchan and Shirwan plain
Mountains north
Mountains south
Nomad ...
Total population
6,000
40,000
10,000
8,000
15,000
88,000
The numbers estimated by several of the officials were much in excess of
this amounting to 200,000 5 and there certainly is more appearance of life
in the landscape than in most other parts of Persia. The plain is an almost
unbroken sheet of cultivation, and the villages cover a large extent of
ground ; their size being, however, exaggerated by the fine gardens and
groves surrounding them. , , ,
The Zafaranlu are a fine, robust race, the men of good stature and stout,
with usually fair complexions as compared with the
people of other parts. They appear invariably
Material condition.
or “ Gerailid