"الطرق في بلاد فارس. (المجلد I.) (خراسان وسيستان.)" [ظ‎‎٨‎٩] (٥٣٦/١٨٣)

170
Route No. Yll—contd.
Gurgan defile. Lofty hills on either side wooded to their summits
with mdzu, a kind of oak, and the valley, which, as a rule, does
not exceed 200 yards in width, full of trees of various sorts
more or less covered with moss, lichen and mistletoe. The
road is stony in places, and in others, to judge from the holes,
it must be very muddy in wet weather. The jungle is so dense
that nothing but a pack animal could get through and a
regular road would have to be cut through the wood before it
could be made passable for wheels. Laden camels must have
difficulty in getting through. The descent is gradual, but
about 3,100 feet in the 11 miles. The stream for the first half
of the way is very small, but lower down it increases in size
to some 12 feet in width, and nearly a foot in depth. The
village of ’Ishaqi lies away up in the hills to the S. and is not
visible from the road. It contains some 20 families of Turks.
Supplies procurable. The road continues on down the defile
through thick wood. The trees on the hill-side are of fair but
not great size, but the oaks in the valley rise to a height in
places of 100 and 120 feet with a circumference of 14 or 15 feet
at the base. In addition to the oaks there are species of beeches
and sycamores and a dozen other kinds of trees, and the dades
are full of brambles, ferns and bracken. Some 4 miles below
Ishaqi the defile gradually widens, and the narrow pass may
be said to end there. Gurgan. like Simalqan, is the name
given to a group of villages. Tangrah is the first at 17 miles.
There are many encampments of Goklan Turkomans in the
valley of the Gurgan river.
Water .—
miles from Tangrah the road branches, the one to left leads to
Gumbad-i-Kabus about 18 miles from last stage ; the other,
which should be followed, keeps on right bank of Gurgan river
and goes on to Baba Shir. At Tusa (right bank) 2 miles from
where road branches, there is a ford, and from here to Passang is
about 4 miles.
Fuel .—
Fodder .—
Supplies. —Obtainable.
13 PASANG 180
.. 17 m. Every few miles there
180
are Turkoman,
villages. Fourteen