"دليل بلاد فارس، المجلد I ويشمل محافظات أستراباد، شاهرود-بوستان، خراسان، وسيستان" [ظ‎‎٢‎٣] (٧٢٢/٥١)

Zone V, from 12 to 16 miles radius.
Village.
Pu4-Kurda
Naudih ... . ...
Kuliabad
Balajadih
Sarkala ... ...
Kasimabad
Kurd Mahalla ...
A.lang ...
Chahardeh
Vl'Var
Zirbat Maballa
Jiashumabad
Houses.
12
30
50
200
30
10
1,200
50
100
50
10
10
Total
1,752
Tae above list of villages gives a total of 5,054 houses in round numbers.
Assuming the low rate of four persons per house, the result is a population of
20,216 souls; and, applying the proportion quoted above of a surplus of 500
per cent, oil the local consumption of food, we have food apparently pro
duced sufficient for the yearly consumption of over 100,000 souls. There
would therefore evidently be supplies sufficient for a considerable force, after
leaving a broad margin for errors and omissions in the above calculation.
As regards the. possible development of the resources of Astarabad under
a different administration to the present, considering the great fertility
of the soil, not only of the uplands to the south, but of the easily irrigated
tiaet between the Kara-Su and the Atrak; considering also the untouched
resources in timber, the limitless water power available in the mountain
gorges, and also the mildness of the climate,—it is easy to see that by a pro
per development of these resources, and by colonization by German and
.Russian peasants, the products might be multiplied twenty times.
In 1721 Peter the Great invaded the territory south of the Caucasus, and
having taken Darband entered into a treaty with Persia, by which that
power ceded Daghistan, Shiran, Gilan, Mazandaran, and Astarabad; but
the attempt to take over the two latter was never made. Nevertheless the
note worthy fact remains that the whole of the Caspian provinces of Persia
were ceded to Russia by a treaty which has never been formally annulled •
[Hotones, Kinneir, Monteith, Che&ney, Eastwick, Fraser, Pushchin, Lovett 1
AST All A BAD*— Cat. 36° 50' 52 ,/ , Long. 54° 25' 26"; Elev. 377' {Lemm).
The chief and only city of the province of the same name. It is situated
at the foot of the north-west slope of the Alburz and on the river Astar
which falls into , the Astarabad Bay in the south-east of the Caspian, 20
miles below. It is enclosed within a crenellated mud wall about 35 feet hioffi
and from 3 to 4 miles in circumference, flanked by a series of round towei?;
and it has once been strengthened by a ditch now in most places filled up’
These defences, particularly on the north and east sides of the town, are in
ruins, and would oppose no obstacle to. an attack. There are three gateways—
one to the west, where the walls are in the best repair, one to the south, and
one to the north-east; they are roofed, and have small chambers on each
side serving as a lodging for the guard.
the present town by no means fills up the space enclosed, which is partly
occupied by gardens and heaps of rubbish, the remains of former habitations.