"دليل بلاد فارس، المجلد I ويشمل محافظات أستراباد، شاهرود-بوستان، خراسان، وسيستان" [ظ‎‎١‎٧‎٢] (٧٢٢/٣٤٩)

293
tlie outer face of the
wall is iu a state of complete
disrepair, and there are
very few places that are not practicable to infantry, even without ladders.
The outline plan of the city is quite irregular, the wall following the
outside of the houses; and consequently the trace is in many parts exces
sively weak.
It, however, more nearly approaches an oblong than any other form; and
the longer sides face the north-west and south-east. The whole exterior
of the city is 10,539 yards, or about six miles, and the greatest length, viz.,
along the Khfaban, is 2,780 yards; while the greatest breadth, which is in a
line drawn at right angles to that street, just north and west of the
Sahan,* is about 2,000 yards.
The main street of Mashhad, called the Khiaban, traverses the city from
north-west to south-east, viz., from the Khiaban Pain (Lower Avenue) Gate
to the Khiaban Bala (Upper Avenue) Gate, a distance of 2,700 yards. It
was originally eighty feet broad, and was planted with tall shady palm
trees ; but the width is now much diminished, and the trees only remain
towards the upper part of the street. Down the centre flows a stream
brought from the Durud river, which the people use indiscriminately for
drinking, bathing, and washing themselves, their horses, and their clothes in.
The sacred quarter is, so to speak, a state within a state. It has its
special administration, police, and jurisdiction, so that the action of civil
authority stops at the palisades, which mark its limits. Even criminals,
robbers, and assassins, once within these sacred precincts, have nominally
nothing to fear from the pursuit of justice. But as the head of this adminis
tration is a secular official, chosen and dismissed by the Shah, arrange
ments can be made with heaven. The criminal is kept three days; then,
if he has no powerful inducements to interest his protectors, the clergy, in
his favour, or if he has not the good sense to make his escape quietly, he is
delivered to the governor. The most extraordinary thing is that the Imam,
who has been dead for over a thousand years, has the credit of taking a very
active part in the alfairs of this world. He receives the applications placed
by the credulous on his tomb, and gives written answers legalised
by his seal—an enormous square one of very modern make. A number
of the lower clergy gain their livelihood by the money they receive for
drawing up these deeds.
It is impossible to determine with any accuracy the number of pilgrims
who go annually to Mashhad, as much from the variability of their number
as from the perfect liberty with which they enter and quit the city without
leaving any official trace ; but if, as is the case, the cooks kept at the
expense of the Mosque of the Imam distribute to poor pilgrims 150 ‘bat
mans/ according to the Mashhad measure of boiled rice, it may be estimat
ed that the figure of the floating population is somewhat over 50,000 souls
yearly, while the stable population is not above 60,000.
With reference to the library attached to the Mosque of the Imam, Khani-
koff gives the following information :—■
The library cannot possibly be older than the reign of Shah Rukh, and
there is only one Kuran that was placed in it during that reign. This
manuscript was copied by Tamerlane’s grandson, Baisongur Mirza, a famous
caligrapher and governor of Mashhad. The next most ancient and
authentic donations are those made by Shah Abbas and Shah Husain. It
was only the last “ Mutawali-bashi ” (“ head of the mosque administration ”),
*
•The square in which all the holy buildings are situated.