‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎191r] (386/722)

with the plain of Nishapdr as a base. On the east of the triangle the bound
ary is formed by the watershed of the Mirabad or Nfshapur range_, known
also locally as the Kiih Binalun, which runs about north-west to south-east,
dividing the district from Mashhad. The highest point of the ridge,
rising to 10,000 or 11,000, bears almost north-east from the town of Nisha-
pur. It falls away on the eastern boundary of the district into the plain
of Biwajan, and at the apes of the triangle into the Sultan Maidan
plateau. It is the drainage of this fine mass of mountains that supports
almost the entire district, and might with proper management restore it
to its former prosperity. The west side of the triangle crosses alternately
bare ridges and barren strips of plain, the lower portions of the southern
spurs and valleys of the Mirabad valleys. Beyond it lies the districts
of Bam, Safiabad, and Juvain. The southern boundary is formed by a low,
barren, rocky, isolated ridge, running nearly due east and west, and known
as the Kuh Surkh, beyond which lies the desert and district of Turshiz.
The eastern boundary is formed by the declining spurs of the Mirabad
range, the Biwajan plain, and the broken country south of it. The western,
by a low, barren ridge, dividing the Nishapur plain from that of Sabzawar.
The triangle forming the northern portion of the district includes roughly
800 square miles, of which about two-thirds consist of mountains, barren and
rocky, wooded in parts only with juniper scrub, and furnishing what would
in any other country be considered the poorest pasturage for sheep and
goats. There are a few spots favourably situated, but would vie with the
greenest meadows of countries with which nature has dealt more kindly,
and a few nooks in the lateral glens of the main valleys, retired deep in the
recesses of the range, that charm the eye, with masses of verdant orchards,
groves, and vineyards rising high up the terraced mountain slopes. But
the general aspect is barren, parched, and forbidding in the extreme.
The remainder, the south-western portion of the area, consists of barren
wastes expanding gradually to the plain, as the rocky spurs and ridges
enclosing them subside.
The buluks comprised in this portion of the district, of which some
further details are given elsewhere, are (1) Sar-i-Vilayat; (2) Marusk; (3)
Bar-i-Madan, and a portion of Tagan Kuh.*
The southern portion of the district is undulating plain, bounded as
before mentioned, having an area of about 2,000 square miles.
The upper or north-eastern section, wKich the drainage of the Mirabad
range traverses and fertilises about one-fourth of the whole, is fairly culti
vated, and in spite of drought and famine still covered with villages. In
its centre, distant 10 to 12 miles from the base of the mountains, stands the
town, with its circle of gardens, groves, and ruins. It is famed as the seat
of population of the Pfshdadian, Arab, and Saffavian times; but the elements
of its former prosperity do not appear now to exist. There are no relics
older than the Arab period ; and it seems probable that its resources were
first developed by the energy and skill which that race has exhibited where-
ever the battle of human subsistence was to be fought under the most
adverse conditions that nature could oppose. The energy appears to have
entirely departed with the Arab blood, and probably much of the old skill
is lost also. . .
The lower or south-eastern section is a sandy, saline waste, sloping down
to the Kal-i-Shor, or salt stream, which drains it into the Kavir and up
* or “ Taghanakuh.”