نسخة مذيلة من "بلاد فارس والشأن الفارسي" بقلم جورج كرزون، مع أوراق مدرجة [و‎‎٢‎٨‎٩] (١٨١٤/٥٨٠)

THE NORTHERN PROVINCES
355
(a Pelilevi, or old Persian word for mountains) and cinderun (within,
the inner part, whence its application to the women’s quarters in a
house), i.e. the hollow between the mountains and the sea. Gilan
has been commonly said to be derived from a word signifying-
mud ; and this would certainly be appropriate to a region in which
that is the chief tangible commodity, and which an experienced and
sympathetic traveller has summed up as ‘ moist, muggy, villainous
Gilan.’ But this derivation is disputed by some professors, though
I am not aware that they have found anything to suggest in its place.
The name is, no doubt, adapted from the Gelee, who inhabited the
south shores of the Caspian, and who bequeathed a title both to
the sea, the country, and the principal local manufacture . 1 The
characteristics of these two provinces are so similar, if not identical
a slight difference of latitude being the only serious disparity to
which they can lay claim, that I propose to treat them in conjunc
tion. Mazanderan starts in the neighbourhood of Astrabad on the
east, and runs for a distance of 220 miles along the coast to an
unimportant river, which is the boundary of Gilan. Prom this
point Gilan continues round the south-west curve of the Caspian
for a further distance of 150 miles, terminating in the mountain
distnct of Palish. It is this transmontane maritime belt, 370 miles
m length and with a breadth varying from twenty to sixtv miles
witli which I am called upon to deal . 2
1 Marco Polo (cap. iv.) called the Caspian ‘Mer de Gheluchelan ’ (i.e. Ghel on
Ghelan), and the silk ‘ Ghelle.’ ' ou
2 As the provinces of Mazanderan and Gilan stand apart from the rest of
Persia in their physical features, so they do in the literature to which they have
gwen birth. I append here, therefore, for the benefit of such travellers on
s udents as wish to make a special study of this part of the country, a small
c ronological bibliography of the principal works which I have found’relating
thereto. General mention of the two provinces is of course frequent in largef
works upon the whole of Persia. For journeys through the country irrespective
of more general observation, vide the routes printed at the end of the chapter
Pietio della Valle (1618), Via^i (Let. iv.), or Zes Fameux Voyages X~c ■ Sir
Thomas Herbert (1627), Some Yeares' Travels, p. 170, et seq ( 3 rd edit V n't
P. H. Bruce (1722-3), Memoirs, Two English Gentlemen (1739), JourL t^oZ t
Russia into Persia, Jonas Hanway (1743-1744), Historical Account of Brim,
Trade over the Caspian, vols. i. and ii.; S. G. Gmelin (1771-1772^ ■ 7
Beeoiivertes vols. ii. and iii.; R. Hablizt (1773-1774), BemerTmnyen’gem.aZindZ
pers'isehen Landsehaft Ghilan (St. Petersburg, 1783) ; G. Forster at
from Bengal to England, vol. ii.; Colonel Trezel (1805-18061 K ,]’ ,
V, .Arnedee Zauloert; Sir W. Ouseley (1812) ( , IZ^ln tlTZ lZZ
aLTY w ; Fr T (1822) ’ ? a - elsmtheSouth Banlts (’» •
(1834), A muter s Journey,™!. 11 . Letters zv„ zvi., xvii.; Colonel W. Monteith