![‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎169r] (342/722)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0002d7/Mss Eur F112_376_0348.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎169r] (342/722)")
‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [169r] (342/722)
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.
sufficient thickness for the peikani cut, and being thicker than necessary
for the flat cut, are cut en cabochon; and the higher the convex surface,
the greater the value of the stone. Only very fine and deep coloured
turquoises are cut in the peikani shape : the apex of a bad and pale-coloured
turquoise, if cut peikani shape, would appear almost white. The slabs
of the arabi quality are generally cut plane, without any convex surface.
Smaller stones are used for seals ; the larger sort for armlets, &e. ^ ihe
larger stones are seldom free from flaws, and seldom have a good^ colour ;
but the jewellers very cleverly hide the flaws with a scroll of gold work,
or cover them with characters engraved upon them.
The salt mine of Madan, by supplying all the country as far as
Kuchan and Askabad, has thus the greatest sale of salt of all this north
eastern part of Khurasan. It sells at a low estimate—15,000 loads at £150
to £180 each per annum, or a total quantity of about 1,100 tons. The salt
is sold at the mines at the rate of about one kran per kharwar, which is about
Rs. 9 per ton. The expenditure in obtaining this amount hardly amounts
to £120 per annum. The salt mine, therefore, worked by the people who
held it at a rent of 250 tumans per annum, had yielded an enormous profit
to them. The rent was, therefore, increased to 000 tumans in 1882, and to
1,000 tumans in 1883. ,
Schindler gives his report on the work at the mines during 1882-83 as
follows : TT- AT • 4.
“ I have mentioned that the Mukhbar-ud-daula obtained from liis Majesty
the Shah the concession of the turquoise mines for fifteen years, to begin from
the 21st March 1882. The Shah was to receive 9,000 tumans for the first
year and 18,000 tumans for each of the remaining fourteen years The
Mukhbar-ud-daula took into partnership Amm-ud-daula, Nasir-ud-daula, and
two Tihran merchants, Haji AH Nap and Abdul Bagi, and agreed to about
| of the responsibilities, the other | being divided among the other tour
partners. I was sent tqthe mines in April 1882, as director of names and
The partners then arranged to take
8,000 tumans instead of 5,000 as before,-
and let the others separately to some of
rej —work a few mines themselves,
of the Rish-i-Safids and villagers.
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.
- Written in
- 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’ [169r] (342/722), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F112/376, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100107690762.0x00008f> [accessed 17 February 2025]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- 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
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence