نسخة مذيلة من "بلاد فارس والشأن الفارسي" بقلم جورج كرزون، مع أوراق مدرجة [و‎‎٢‎٩‎١] (١٨١٤/٥٨٤)

, blC ^ Pai'allelo,
^ re ha s luth ert0
often of ston e or
ma ^ a ®pness of
>urh°o(J are b .
two to three feet
6 mois ture ;and
relic of the days
' ® an g farsh (lit,
! communication
1 l ie wa s so much
e- From here it
places and cities
) a place named
composed of big
foot square, and
to from eight to
None the less it
ie monarch who
■ely disappeared;
odged, or tossed
ession of pitfalls
side of Astrabad
pass leading to
pass began what
bn in an easterly
ibout fifty mibs
[gth has it ever
dway gapes with
se-CJ&J
t
(5q\)
Jh-S*
, sV-r A o , ** هذه التواريخ تقريبية *+
v x r j ** هذه التواريخ تقريبية "2
THE NORTHERN PROVINCES
Reza, Who appears to have gracidiisly distributed his relations iiffv^j / ^
the places which lie could not patronise himself. This is situated^^^'" ^ ,
outside the walls on the north, a little to the west of the Ak Kaleh
gate. Six madressehs, or colleges, communicate a stinted and f , /?#-?
obsolete education to such pupils as take advantage thereof; but V / w* .
the vakf or religious endowments, in which the place is rich, sus- fe^ffa** ** هذه التواريخ تقريبية - h
tain a dissolute crowd of mullahs and seyids, who appear to be a
curse to any spot which they afflict with their sanctity.
Soap boiling and the manufacture of gunpowder are the chief
local industries. The former is conducted in a very rude and
Local clumsy fashion, the potash employed being extracted
industries f rom a pi ant t p at g rows on t p e p an Es of the Atrek ; nor
is the article, when manufactured, of a character or quality that
has ever warranted exportation. Gunpowder is made of sulphur
brought from Baku, nitre from Meshed, and willow charcoal locally
procured. A certain amount of felt carpets are also made, com
pounded of a mixture of camel’s hair, goat’s hair, and sheep’s wool,
beaten together into a solid mass.
1 he abatement of Turkoman ravages has resulted in the
bringing under cultivation of a much larger area than heretofore
Peasant ffi® province of Astrabad. The soil is so extraordinarily
llfe productive that emigrants from a great distance, even
fiom Afghanistan, come and settle here. The climate is gentle ;
fuel is abundant; there is no lack of water; and the land has
merely to be scratched in order to produce a manifold return.
Wheat, barley, and rice are the chief crops; and the rent of land
under grain cultivation is only about 8 s. an acre. Partition of
property in equal moieties between the male and female members
of the family is here the law of landed inheritance ; and accord-
5 fh e several properties, not large at the commencement, have
shrunk into narrow plots, some fields of six acres having not less
than nine partner landlords. 4 This state of things,’ as Colonel
Lovett said in his Consular Report, 4 tends not only to impoverish
the country, but is a fruitful source of the indolence and apathy
that characterise the inhabitants of this province, and also accounts
for the rarity of handicraftsmen.’ Many of the villages encountered
m the forest or in the open clearings are curious places, surrounded
by impenetrable bramble hedges ; and the homesteads of the
peasants, 4 constructed of split poles, wattle, and mud dabbing,’
thatched or tiled, and elevated above the ground, suggest
r
IC^
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