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‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎276r] (558/722)

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. .

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the arms, and is issued to the soldiers on occasions of ceremony, after
which it is again returned.
On service, soldiers are provided with tents. Barracks specially con
structed are scarcely ever provided.
The annual pay of officers is nominally as follows:
Tumans.
General, 1st class (amir-i-tumaii) ... ... 2,000
General, 2nd class (amir-i-fauj) ... ... 1,500
General, 3rd class ... ... 1,000
Colonel ... ... 500
Major (no lieutenant-colonel ! ) ... ... 150 to 200
Captain ... ... 80
Lieutenant ... ... 50
St. John says :
A sarhang gets 500 tumans a year : yawars, equivalent to our majors,
150; sultans, 00 ; naibs, or lieutenants, dO; and sub-lieutenants, 00,—a
tuman being worth about 8 shillings. Each medal gives, right to addi
tional pay at the rate of 10 tumans to a sultan, 5 to a naib, and 2 to a
private soldier.
According to Thomson :
The maximum pay an officer is to receive is stated in his commission;
but it is purely nominal. Each year a paper is made out, either by the
minister of war or the governor of the province in which the regiment
is serving, stating the sum each officer is to receive, of which amount 20
per cent, is retained.
The annual pay of non-commissioned officers and soldiers is 7 tumans,
or 28 rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. . In addition, non-commissioned officers receive a monthly
pay of 5 krans (2 rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. ) ; soldiers, 4 krans.
For economy^ sake, regiments are usually on service one year, and on
leave the next. While on leave their pay is reduced one-kah", and must be
provided by the district in which they were raised.
Few of the generals receive full pay; but gifts to the minister may
secure an increase. When a regiment is ordered on service, which is always
outside of its district, the government provides the soldiers with^a uniform,
valued at 15 krans. Sometimes a money allowance is paid to the colonel,
who then supplies the clothes. _
General remarks .—The soldier, who is too poor to escape the drait, euys
his time from his officers, and frequently remains at home, when lie is
supposed to be in the ranks on the distant frontier. Even when with
his regiment, by relinquishing his pay, he may ply his trade, or free.v
engage in commercial pursuits.
Soldiers are ordinarily small money-lenders. They club together and
establish banks in bazar, &c. They lend for short periods, and smail
loans. Interest varies from 120 to 500 per cent, per annum.
Cavalry soldiers frequently hire out their horses or donkeys, and become
the carriers of the country. . . , ,
It is not uncommon to see workmen (when a review is ordered at
Tihran) drop their tools, don their uniforms, and take their places in the
ranks. The duty completed, they return their clothing and muskets to the
depot, and again resume work. These irregularities are connived at by
tliG officers.
To avoid the danger of false musters, the soldier who is permanently
absent is replaced by a substitute, who serves at a lower price, io enable

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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
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‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎276r] (558/722), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F112/376, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100107690763.0x00009f> [accessed 24 February 2025]

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