‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎344r] (694/722)

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the province and at the same elevation. It is a desolate-looking 1 spot, the
water-supply being the only thing in its favour.— [GolcUmid, Rozario.)
TON— Lat. 34° O' 7", Long. 58° 6' 45"; Elev. 3,900' {Lentz).
A town of Khurasan, 150 miles south of Nishapur. It is surrounded by
a wall twenty feet high, raised on a rampart of mud thirty feet thick and
forty feet high, and by a ditch which must have been thirty feet deep and
fifty feet broad, but which when visited by Colonel MacGregor in 1875
had been filled up and cultivated. The defences, too, w^ere in so ruinous a
condition as to be only a protection from thieves. There are three gates—
viz., Tabas, south-west; Kain, south-east; and Malik, north—and a clear space
of about 400 yards has been left all round. It contains some 1,500 houses,
inhabited by Persians. It has handsome bazars, mosques, and caravansarais,
built of burnt-brick; and its gardens are large and numerous. A good deal
of trade is carried on. The productions are opium, silk, cotton, tobacco, and
fruits. Water is scarce; and the corn crops are consequently light. In
years of drought, wheat for consumption is obliged to be imported. Camels
and sheep are numerous; horses, scarce.
From Birjand to Tun is 53 miles over a cultivated country, covered with
villages. Some years ago, a Persian army marched from Tun to Tihran
in seven days. Tun is a considerable place, and supplies are abundant;
but the population are principally pastoral, possessing large herds of camels
and goats. Water from karez.
It gives its name to a buluk of the Tabas district.
The valley of Tun could, no doubt, furnish supplies for a considerable
force for any length of time, as there is a very large expanse of cultivation,
and the population is by no means great. Besides silk, of which large
quantities are made, Tun produces very fine tobacco and a great deal
of opium, nearly all of which is exported. It has no manufactures^ of
any value; though the silk is worked up into inferior articles of attire.
The chief of Tun maintains no force, and the people are extremely quiet
and peaceable; and though they generally have arms in their houses, none
are ever seen outside.
The range, which Colonel MacGregor calls the Tun range of mountain^,
he considers a most important one, considering the physical geography ol
Persia. He considers that it is connected with a range that runs to the
south of Turshiz westward, and which itself is a continuation of the
drainage system of Persia. It runs in a direction north-west and south-east
to the south of Bajistan, west of Gunabad and Kain, east of un, an
has considerable elevation. The Tun range from near the Kalat pass
throws off an important spur to the east towards Khaf, after passing
longitude of which place it turns north and runs between the two iur-
bats, and has thence been termed the Turbat range, an len i crosses
road between Mashhad and Turbat-i-Haidari.—(Fkmer, Lumsden, MacGre
gor.)
TTJRAN— Lat. , Long. ; Elev. ’ „
A village in the Daraghaz Atak, about 2 miles from the last low range of
hills at the mouth of the pass leadmg of armed villagers
defended by ^ood walls, with towers and a ditch. A guard of aimed
"at ttegates, and a watch on the wall to '"Sore
it hks happened that the Turkumans have ridden light into a village
the people had time to get to their arms. cipiev.)
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