"دليل بلاد فارس. مجلد II" [و‎‎٢‎٢‎٣] (٧٠٦/٤٥٠)

MAZAN—MAZAR 433
Communications. —In a country so difficult as Mazandaran, with a Gov
ernment so apathetic as that of the Shah, it is only to be expected that
communications would be indifferent, and such they are. There are two
made roads in the province ; from Amul to Tehran, skirting the eastern
base of Damavand, constructed by the Austrian enigneer, General Gastei-
ger Khan by order of the late Shah and from Barfarush also to Tehran
via Firiizkuh : both are tolerably good.
The roads of the interior occasion great fatigue and destruction of the
horses. The only tolerable route, and the one, which is always adopted
by muleteers when possible, lies along the sands on the sea-shore; but
experienced guides are necessary to point out the fords of the numerous
rivers, which are full of quicksands ; and the fatigue of crossing these
streams may be conceived when the number of them between Langarud
and the Harhaz is 136.
Fraser, who visited the province before the existence of these two roads
thus describes the internal communications of Mazandaran :—
“ Certainly I never saw, nor can I imagine, a stronger or more impractic
able country, from a military point of view, than these provinces. Roads
—that is, made roads—there are none, except the great causeway, made
of old by Shah ’Abbas, and this has now so nearly disappeared, that it
requires a guide to find it ; and, even when found, it would be useless for
military purposes, from the numerous breaks and gaps in its course, and
from the impenetrable jungle which surrounds it on all sides, and affords
cover for all sorts of ambuscades and surprises. But for their paths, who
except themselves, could discover them ? A dense hedge, a perfect wall
of bramble, blackthorn, and thick boxwood, cemented with wild vine
and other creeping plants that r in up and overtop the trees. It is of great
thickness, often approaches within 30 yards of the water’s edge, and usuallv
terminates in one of those swamps and jungles I have described. No one
ir his senses would be mad enough to attempt to penetrate it, but a guide
will show you a “hole in the wall,” a crevice, a thing like a rabbit run
through which he introduces you to a pathway at first scarcely percep
tible, winding like a snake through the bushes, but which increases "in size
as you get on, not, however, in facility, for it is intersected by at least a
dozen deep natural creeks, through the mire and water of which your horse
must flounder, or he may have the choice of a precarious bridge of boughs •
or, for variety, after a little space you may have to tread through artificial
ci ts, made for irrigation no less deep and difficult than the natural creeks as
your poor lo.d-horses soon find out, and which flood the whole vicinitv
so that you travel girth-deep in the soil; and thus, if you survive after a*
circuitous and perilous pilgrimage, you reach the mahalleh or village.”
MAZAR—
A river in Mazandaran which flows into the Caspian at the village of
Mazar, 5 miles west of Khurramabad. It has a considerable stream in the
summer, though in December it does not contain much water. At its
mouth are fisheries of azad-mahi, the Caspian salmon.
The fish are caught all the year round, either in wires or with a lonff-
CSOOCSR 1 three '2 ron S 9d fork : but tke Principal seasons are during the