"دليل بلاد فارس. مجلد I" [و‎‎١‎٣‎٥] (٨٢٠/٢٧٦)

ISF—ISF M
and good soil. To the south of Miandeh it is some 8 miles in width, with
the ruined walls of the old city of Isfarain (now called Shahr-i-Bilus)
standing out prominently in the centre of it. Near Chehar Burj the val
ley widens out to some 12 or 15 mile-s. A low clump of hills to the south,
about 14 miles from Ch har Burj, forms the end of the Isfarain valley in
the direction of Sankhas.
Isfarain is mentioned by Ibn-nHaukal as one of the dependencies of
Nishapur.
At present the Isfarain district is said to contain about 50 villages.
The annual Government revenue is 4,500 tumuns in cash, 1,800 khar-
nnrs of grain (| wheat and | barley), 500 khaiudrs of rice, and 1,780 khar-
tedrs of chopped straw. Much more than this, however, is actually
realized by the Governor, the villages and the cultivation having been
largely increased of late. •
Cotton and opium are now largely grown, and the people of Isfarain—
men, women and children—are almost all addicted to opium-smoking.
Formerly Isfaram was under Bujnfird. then for many years it had a
separate Governor of its own, and though about the year 1888 A.D. it
was again restored to the chief of Bujnurd, under whom it is at present, it
might at any time be taken away from Bujnurd and placed under a
separate Governor at the pleasure of the Governor-General of Khorasan.
The chief village of the district is at present Mlanatad, where head
quarters of the Governor are. Though this village is sometimes called
Isfarain, the name Isfaram applies to the district, and there is now no
village of Isfarain.
The annual production of grain of the Isfaram district is estimated at
14,400 kharudrs, of which about 8,400 kharwdrs are consumed in the
country, and the balance exported to Sabzawhr, and to the Tehran pil
grim route for stages between Sabzawar and Sfcahrud.
The transport available for hire in the district is estimated at 400
camels, 200 mules and ponies, and 200 donkeys.
The Isfarain valley is mostly populated by Shadillu Kurds of the Kanl-
kanlu, Izillu, and Pehlavanlu sections. There are also a few Persian
villages and some Turks.—(C. E. Yate; Mania Bakhsh.)
ISFARAIN (.Town) (No. 2)—
See Shahr-i-Bilqis.
ISFARAIN or AB-I-ISFARAIN (River).—
A tributary of the Kaleh-i-Mura. Its source is at Sar-i-Chashmeh, a large-
spring in the Zu-i-Nishiravan (on the north-east of the Mianabad village),
which is a valley running up behind the Shah Jehan range, between
that and the range called Aleh Dagh. After coming out of the hills it
irrigates the lands belonging to Mianabad, and then flows through the
Isfaram plain .from which it takes its name.— {MacGregor) Napieri C. E.
. Yate.)
tSFlAN—
A range of hills in Khorasan, in the district of Kain, being a continuation
of the Bihad range. It runs north-west and south-east, to the north
west of Dasht-i-Bavaz, and at one point rises into a high mountain, the