'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME II' [‎17r] (38/706)

AJAB—AJI-C
21
To the south-west of the village is a range of hills which supply Tehran
with salt. The salt is got by blasting, and is pure without adm ixture of earth,
the supply is inexhaustible. In these hills are numbers of deer which
are very fond of the saline springs. The rains of the ancient city of Kai
Kans (Cambyses) are situated about 2 miles south-west from the village, and
between it and the hills above-mentioned. There are also ruins of two forts,
the larger of which was 115 yards long by 100 yards broad with very thick
walls. This village pays 200 tumans in cash, 250 khanv 'rs of wheat and 300
of straw. The name of the village sign'nes the ‘ portals of delight.’ No
villages are seen for miles round it. (Clerk — Holmes — Gibbons — Ferrier —-
Felly — Eastwick — McLachlan.)
AJABSHAHK or AJABSHIR— Lat. 37° 28' 37", Long. 45° 53'; Elev. 4,250'.
A large and flourishing village in Azarbaljan close to the south-east coast
of lake Urumieh with a population of 1,500 souls, 59 miles from Tabriz on
the road to Maragheh, and 66 miles from Sauj Bulagh. Cultivation, water
and supplies. (Gerard — Napier — Schindler.)
’AJAMIAN—
A sect of the Sufis. They chiefly dwell in mountains, are very abstemious,
and wear only sufficient dress to cover their nakedness. They attach them
selves to animals and birds, with which they form friendships.— (Malcolm.)
AJARLtJ—
A tribe inhabiting the district of Khalajistan, about 60 miles south of
Tehran.— (Abbott.)
AJlCHAI (The bitter river) (1)—
A river in Azarbaijan which rises east of Sarab near Ardabll on the southern
slopes of the Savalan Dagh, and after watering the Sarab and Badavistan
districts passes within three miles of Tabriz and winding about over a bed of
sand and gravel in a south-westerly direction flows mto the Urumieh lake,
west of Gugan.
In the spring, on the melting of the snows, it is a rapid and considerable
river ; later in the season most of its water is lost in irrigation, and in the
summer its bed near the lake is frequently dry. The water is clear, but gets
salt in passing through the salt plain 20 miles north-west of Tabriz and be
comes more and more so on its approach to the lake, owing to the extensive
saline marshes surrounding it. Close to the northern gate of Tabriz a brick
bridge of 12 arches and 230 paces in length crosses one of its tributaries.
From this bridge the roads to BayazTd and Tiflis separate. The river is
sometimes so hard frozen and hidden by snow in the winter as to be indis
tinguishable from the surrounding country. The total length of the river
is 140 miles ; in August it is usually dry.— (Holmes — Morier—Gerard —•
Schindler — Picot.)
AJl-CHAI, (2) also erroneously HAJl-CHAl—
A river in Kurdistan. It rises in the hills of the Chahardauleh district in
the Isfandabad buluk. Five farsakhs from its source it passes the village
Qaslan at a distance of one farsakh, and six/arsaMs further enters the Ab-i-
Talvar.— (Schindler.)