‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎191v] (387/722)

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southward to the Kuh Surkh ridges, which extend, with a breadth of 10 to
15 miles, south to the desert.
It has many villages scattered over its surface and enclosed in the hollows
of Kuh Surkh. They are generally small and poor ; but a few, having
exceptional advantages of water, are populous and prosperous,—the most
productive village of the whole district, for instance, being situated in the
desert.
The road from Nfshapur to the capital is too well known to need com
ment. It is level throughout, and practicable for any wheeled carriage.
Supplies are scarce at some points, and the water is brackish and scanty at
many; but there are no serious obstacles to the passage of the largest
force.
From Nishapur to Mashhad there are two roads, also well known. From
Nishapur north-west through the Kurd districts to the
Caspian provinces is one of the oldest trade routes in
Persia. The commerce of China and India with the West was probably in
the remotest times confined to this route. It is now neglected and untrav
ersed ; and it would be possible to pass through the country without witness
ing a single evidence of its former existence. The towns that formerly
marked the stages are now in ruins, and their names almost forgotten. From
Nishapur the line passes north-west over an undulating plain for 80 to
100 miles to Isfarain, the site of an Arab town, near which are some ruins
bearing the name of Sabah, probably of far more ancient date. It then
passes by a gap into a long valley or chain of plateaux, and gently
descending reaches in 100 miles the gorge of the Gurgan, whence a march
of 80 miles across a verdant plain leads to the shores of the Caspian.
The itineraries of Isidore, of Charax, and Istakhri give the stages on
the route, which still bear the same names; and the caravansarais, built
by Shah Abbas Saffavi, stand to the present day. As a natural passage
through the very rugged and unbroken chain of the Alburz, the gorge
of the Gurgan is unequalled, and affords every facility for the passage
of an army, or for the construction of a railway.
South of Nishapur is the road already mentioned to Turbat and Turshiz,
and east to Flerat.
The divisions of the districts are—(1) Sar-i-Yilayat-i-Nishapur; (2)
Div-sions of district Marusk; (3) Bar-i-Madan; (4) Taghan Kuh; (5) Tahat
. j ulga _ i _ Taghan Kuh; (6) Iskhabad; (7) Riwand; (8)
Darb-i-Kazi; (9) Zabarkhan; (10) Buluk-i-Darud; (11) Urdkish. The
details regarding them will be found under their own headings. In a
rapid passage of four days through this district, it was difficult to obtain
exact information regarding its resources and population, or to form more
than a rough estimate. The amount of revenue noted, which is the
nominal land revenue assessment with water rates only, is hardly a fair
test of the resources of the country; for the people probably pay without
difficulty, though not without complaint, one-fourth more in the shape
of fees and illegal exactions, in cash and in kind.
The total population of this district amounts to about 118,000 souls. It
has eleven subdivisions, viz. —(1) Sar-i-Vilayat, which has about 8,000
Turks ; it is situated on the hills in the direction of Sultan Maidan; (2)
Marusk is another division in the same direction, inhabited by Kurds ; (3)
Bar-i-madan, 2,800Turks, west of Marusk; (4) Tahat Julga-i-Taghan Kuh,
with 8,000 Bay at Turks. And the others are—(5) Taghan Kuh, next to
Sabzawar and to Juvain, 8,000; (6) Ishkabad, 8,000; (7) Riwand, south-