‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [228v] (463/722)
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.
410
without the English telegraph officer, who at once sent a message to his
superior at Tihran, by whom the matter was reported to the prime minister.
The latter wigged the Imam Juma severely, and ordered him to sell his
grain at a reasonable price ; but the other culprit got off scotfree.
1 do not think that the actual deaths from disease and starvation can have
exceeded half a million (taking population at 10,000,000).— {St. John.)
Manufactures. —Many of the manufactures of Persia are beautiful, parti
cularly their gold and silver brocades, their silks, and their imitation of
Cashmere shawls, which are made of the wool of Karman. They make a
variety of cotton cloths, but not of an equally flue texture as those of India.
They "have also several manufactories of glass, and some of a coarse ware
resembling china; but their efforts have not yet succeeded in bringing
these wares to any perfection.
In. mechanical arts the Persians are not inferior to the other nations
of the East; but they do not surpass them. They work well in steel ; and
their swords, though brittle, are of an excellent temper and edge. They
also make firearms and east cannon ; and would soon rival Europeans in this
branch of manufacture, if it were possible that a government so constituted
as that under which they live could give adequate encouragement to men
of science and to the ingenuity of its own subjects. In the arts of carving
and gilding few nations are more skilful. They also enamel upon gold
and silver in the most beautiful manner ; and their ornaments, which are
made of these metals and precious stones, often display admirable workman
ship.
The following particulars of the manufactures of Persia are extracted
from. Eraser:—
Although few, if any, of the manufactures of Persia can be of much
consequence in enumerating the exportable commodities of the country,
they deserve attention, ns pointing out the tastes and necessities of the
people, vrhich foreign merchants must endeavour to supply. I will there
fore give some description of the principal articles fabricated, which, with
few exceptions, are chiefly for home consumption.
Silk goods. —The chief of these are called alijahs, darvais, kussabs, pirahans,
taftas, and handkerchiefs. The whole of these are made best at Yazd ; and
those of Isfahan, Kashan, and Tabriz are next in estimation.
The sizes and prices are as follow: Alijahs and pirahans are made in
pieces of 2 yards 25 inches long by 25 inches wide, and resemble stout lute
strings, but are fully closer in their texture. The wholesale price of those
from Yazd is 7 reals ( 9 s . 4d.) ; those from other quarters, about 4| reals
(6s.) per piece. They are dyed either blue or red. The latter are nearly
80 jer cent, dearer than the former, on account of the cochineal used in
dyeing them. Thej' are both used for men and women’s shirts, one piece
making a shirt.
Daryais are 3 yards 29 inches long by 29 inches wide, of similar manu
facture to the above, and of different fineness. Those of Yazd sell at 10
reals (13s. 4d.) ; others, for 8 reals (10s. 8d.). They are used for kabas,
the Persian outer vest.
Kussabs, 7 yards 2 inches long by 29 inches wide, somewhat stouter
than those abovementioned, but similar in fabric, sell at about 22 reals
(1/. 9s. 4id.) a piece. They are used for menY and womeiPs trousers.
Taftas—a fabric similar to but stouter than the same stuff with us—in
size and price is the same as the ulijahs.
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.
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- 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’ [228v] (463/722), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F112/376, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100107690763.0x000040> [accessed 21 March 2025]
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- 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