"الطرق في بلاد فارس. (المجلد I.) (خراسان وسيستان.)" [و‎‎٤‎٨] (٥٣٦/١٠٠)

Route No. Ill— contd.
gradients varying from to Two kutals 6,800 and 6,600
feet respectively are crossed at the 8| and 11-| miles.
The road at the 13th mile passes a small hamlet containing
a few huts, trees and a flour mill with a plentiful supply of
good running water.
At the 15th mile the road descends from a high kutal by a
very steep descent into the Kakh river bed where it takes
an abrupt turn to the N. and reaches Kakh at the 16th mile.
Throughout the road is unfit for wheeled traffic although the
surface is hard, the gradients are too steep for loaded camels
and it would necessitate considerable expense and labour to
make the road passable even for the lightest of vehicles. The
hills are in many places covered with grass, affording excellent
pasture for sheep and goats, and there is good camel grazing
on many of the slopes.
Kakh, which is situated at the entrance of a broad ravine
subject to heavy floods is a picturesque little town ; said to
contain 1,500 houses and 10,000 inhabitants.
Wheat and barley are produced on terraced plots but in quan
tities hardly sufficient for local requirements. There are
many gardens of mulberry and various kinds of fruit.
The main street of the town has a few blacksmith shops
and a tinsmith but they are not capable of any really heavy
repair work.
4 JUMIN . • 14 m. The road from Kakh
to Jumin crosses a
64 hard gravel plain
until it reaches the village of Jumin at the 14th mile.
Jumin is the most westerly village of the group of 80 closely
nestling together to form the city, or as it might also be called,
district of Gunabad.*
The area occupied by the various villages of this city com
prises about 9 square miles of fruit gardens and wheat, barley
and poppy fields.
• There appears to be an unlimited supply of water and no
fallow land in the entire area.
Considerable supplies of wheat, barley and bhusa are pro
curable.
Camel grazing fair on the road towards Amrani.
* The wheat grown in this district is famous for its good quality and the
kanats do not dry up in the worst seasons.