"ملاحظات اللورد كرزون عن بلاد فارس" [و‎‎٣‎٨‎٤] (١٣٨٦/٧٦٨)

during the dark hours, as well as the discovery, in the sunlight, of
camels grazing in an unusual place.
Lieutenant Vaughan bears honourable testimony to the usefulness of
his escort when he says that, “ although they are only villagers, they
seem well up in military knowledge, and while on the march always
throw out an advance guard and flankers of their own accord. The
head man has a small toy telescope, which he is immensely proud of,
and constantly brings into use.”
The country traversed was much as before—mountains and plains,
with a salt-water river, but scant vegetation. Before the descent to the
village of Fadumi the watershed crossed was at an elevation of 3750 feet.
On the 10th January the diary states:—
" After twenty hours’ incessant rain, which I was supposed by the
inhabitants to have brought with me, I left the village, and skirting
the Shur river (flowing south-east) for 31 miles, we came upon a ford,
and succeeded in crossing its swollen waters with some difficulty. The
water was salt, intensely cold, and flowing rapidly. After going half a
mile up its banks, we reached the point where the fresh-water river of
Forg joins it, coming down through a narrow valley, up which we pro
ceeded between barren rocky hills. The river is almost hidden by long
rushes, which shelter the wild boar and other game. After travelling
eight miles, we emerged on to the Forg plain, covered with cultivation
and studded with hamlets, and at 101 miles entered the town of Forg.”
A halt of nearly four weeks, occasioned by the set-in of excessively
cold weather, and the necessity of replacing broken thermometers in
communication with Shiraz, was made available for shooting and ex
ploring excursions in the neighbourhood. I take advantage of the same
opportunity to remark that at this particular stage of his journey
Lieutenant Vaughan had come upon the track of other travellers.
Among the more recent may be mentioned Mr. Preece, who visited Forg
in 1884; but I had rather compare the account now received of the place
with that of M. Dupre, an intelligent Frenchman, in 1808, or at the
commencement of the present century. This traveller, estimating the
population as under 2000, states that there are but few shops, in which
nothing is sold but fruits and cotton stuffs brought from Lar or Karmau,
but that cotton cloths are manufactured there and dyed in blue. The
fields, he adds, are irrigated by the waters of a mountain stream, and
yield wheat, barley, rice, and cotton, the surplus of which is sent to Lar
to be exchanged with iron, lead, and fire-arms.
Lieutenant Vaughan’s account of Forg makes it “a walled town in
a very dilapidated condition, containing about 150 people. The total
population of the plain does not exceed 500.” It is “ governed by a
Naib, a nephew of the Khan of Lar. Corn, barley, and opium are grown
there.”
In .d'Anville's map there is an indication, in this immediate neigh
bourhood, of a “ Chateau du Roi Bahmen,” of which M. Dupre takes
note. He describes it as a partly ruined castle, flanked with towers,
built by King Bahram,* and states that Abdullah Khan, the governor of
Laristan at the time of his writing, having revolted against Agha
Muhammad Shah, shut himself up there. But the fort having been
taken, the rebellious chief escaped by flight, and had received his pardon
at the hands of Agha Muhammad’s successor, Fath-Ali-Shah. Now after
a lapse of eighty years, Lieutenant Vaughan writes at Forg:—“ There
are some fine ruins in the neighbourhood, one called Kaleb Bahman, an
ancient fortress perched on the top of a low detached ridge. On the
side from which we approached it the ground rose gently towards the
summit, and was enclosed by several lines of masonry walls flanked by
round towers, all, however, in the most ruinous condition. Near the
summit was a cavern, in the centre of which was an immense well,
sunk through the solid rock, whence the garrison used to draw their
supply of water, the well being filled from a subterranean channel con
ducting a stream to it from outside. The walls in many places were
* This is probably the correct name, Bahman being identified with Artaxerxes Longi-
manus; whereas there were many Bahrams (Vahrahran) of the Sasanian dynasty who
lived in the centuries after Our Lord.