‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎192v] (389/722)

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the amount was, say, a seventh of the gross produce, or seventy thousand
kharwars.
It is said that the actual quantity of grain annually raised in the prov
ince might be fairly calculated at one hundred thousand kharwars. The
soil of Nishapur is generally supposed to be much richer than it appears
to be. It is generally tilled for one year, and left fallow for two; and some
parts of the district are cultivated only every fourth year. The average
return of the seed sown is tenfold.
Under altered conditions of government, and improved communications
with the grain-producing tracts to the north and west, the Nishapur dis
trict might become prosperous by the cultivation of such valuable staples
of commerce as silk and cotton,—support a considerable population and
pay somewhat more than a nominal revenue. But it can never be relied
on as a source of foodsupply. Even now, with its diminished population
the produce, which will be proportionately larger than before, barely
suffices. For instance, I found on enquiry that the amount of the outturn
of wheat of Ishkabad, said to be the best village of the district, was 800
kharwars (or 650 lbs.)—not more than one-ninth in excess of the quantity
required to feed the 150 households of the village. The season also was
a favourable one and the crops were abundant, the only complaint beino-
the want of lands.
The surplus that would be in the market, and available yearly, I esti
mate at 10,000 kharwars.
This may be expected to decrease slightly with the increase of cultivation
of silk and cotton for the Russian market, but not to any great extent •
for there can be no considerable increase in the production of these staples
until a vast improvement has been made in existing communications with
the corn-growing districts.
I could hear of no extensive natural pastures in the district. In the
Forage, wood, and mountains there are a few green oasis, and the barren
' slopes are in spring covered with a thin growth of
reioage, fit only for flocks. Horses and cattle are fed on chopped straw.
VVood is as scarce as in Mashhad; and water in the wider valleys and in
the plain to the south scarcely more plentiful.
Nfshapur is celebrated for its fruits, which are considered the best in
llhurasan; and it also produces gram in large quantities, and silk and cotton—
the rewass too, a plant which grows in all parts of Persia and Afghanis
tan where the climate is cool, but nowhere so well as on the gravelly hills
in this neighbourhood. This plant is a species of rhubarb, and the seed of
ig should be obtained by botanists, as it appears to thrive where little else
would, and, besides medical properties, it contains considerable saccharine
matter.
Nishapui and Sabzawar^ formerly furnished an infantry regiment to the
Forces. Shah s army. As a mark of special favour after the
return of His Majesty from Khurasan, eight years
ago, the men were allowed to return to their homes, and have not since
° U ^* ^ le regiment, Nishapur furnishes a body
of 200 horse, chiefly of the Baiyat tribe, one-half of which is stationed
permanently in Sfstan.
-n having been abandoned, there are no regular levies.
But it is probable that 4,000 or 5,000 armed villagers could at any time
be speedily collected; and a levy masse of adult able-bodied males