"دليل بلاد فارس، المجلد I ويشمل محافظات أستراباد، شاهرود-بوستان، خراسان، وسيستان" [ظ‎‎٣‎٣‎٣] (٧٢٢/٦٧٣)

620
which affords a good pasture for cattle. Very superior carpets are manu
factured in this district.— (Bellew.)
S1HFARSAKH*— Lat. 34° 40' 30", Long. 58° 21' 30"; Elev.
{Napier).
A village in Khurasan, 12 miles from Bajistan, on the road to Mashhad
It is situated at the foot of a white marble hill on the east of the road.—
{Bellew.)
SIHGUMBAZf— Lat. , Long. • Elev.
A village in northern Khurasan, about 15 miles north-west of Kuchan on
the road to Slnrwan.— {Napier.)
SIHKtJHAJ— Lat. 30° 45' 0", Long. 61° 27' O"; Elev. '{Walker)
A town in Persian Sistan, which derives its name from three clay or mud
hills in its midst, and which is built in an irregular circular form around
the base of the two principal ones. The southernmost of these hills is
surmounted by the £ arg/ or citadel, which in 1872 was neither armed nor
garrisoned, though kept in excellent repair. Adjoining this and connected
with it is the second hill called the Burj-i-Ealaksar (“Tower of the heavenly
head”), on which stood the governor's house in 1872; and about 150 yards
to the west is the third hill, not so high as the other two, undefended and
with no buildings on it but a mud caravansarai.
The two principal hills thus completely command the town lying at their
base, and are connected with one another by a covered way. Sihkuha is quite
independent of extramural water-supply, as water is always obtainable
by digging a few feet below the surface anywhere inside the walls which
are .25 feet high, strongly built of mud, and in 1872 were in o-ood
repair. The houses are half dome-shaped and half flat-roofed and in
almost every courtyard are generally tethered two or more excellent donkeys,
ihe population, which is somewhat migratory, numbers about 5,000 all
told, living in 1,200 houses. '
Hie innabitants (Sarbandis) are entirely engaged in agriculture there
being no manufactures of any kind. Wheat, barley, beans, and cotton are
produced, while stunted tamarisks afford the only fuel. The gardens
outside the town, surrounded with high mud walls to protect them against
„ ie wind, produce excellent melons and grapes, with some mulberries
and pomegranates; and there are several solitary trees of considerable
growth, ihe climate of Sihkuha is said to be the best in Sfstan during the
summer. The town has no garrison of Persian soldiers, and pafs no
revenue The ground belongs to the chief for the time being, who takes
one-third of the whole produce. *
Tradition says that the heel-ropes of Rustam's famous horse were secured
at a mud building near Sihkuha, while the head-ropes at a castle, 6 miles
oif-— {Lumsden, Rozamo, Goldsmid.)
SIHTJKRI, or SIHKTJRI— Lat. , Long. • Elev.
A castellated hamlet in the main buluk subdivision of the Kain’district of
huiasan, 6 miles from Dasht-i-Biaz, on the road to Kahkh. It has 20 houses
{Bellew) fed ^ a Stream ‘ It 18 970 feetl % her than Basht-i-Biaz.-
Sfj—LAT. 36° 46' 40", Long. 59°44'0"; Elev. ' (Namer)
of th^rld 1 f Kh 4 r fi n .' ^°, ut . 35 miles nortl1 °£ Mashhad and a little east
ot the road to Kalat-i-Nadin. It would afford a good site for the
* The <! Three Farsakhs. 5
t The “ Three Hills.”
t The “ Three Domes.”