'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME I' [‎29r] (62/820)

AST—AST
49
The above list of villages gives a total of 5,054 houses in round numbers.
Assuming the low rate of four persons per house, the result is a popula
tion of 20,216 souls ; and, applying the proportion quoted above of a
surplus of 500 per cent, on the local consumption of food, we have food
apparently produced sufficient for the yearly consumption of over 100,000
souls. There would, therefore, evidently be supplies sufficient for a con
siderable force, after leaving a broad margin for errors and omissions in
the above calculation.
As regards the possible development of the resources of Astarabad under
a different administration to the present, considering the great fertility
of the soil, not only of the uplands to the south, but of the easily irrigated
tract between the Kara Su and the Atrak ; considering also the untouched
resources in timber, the limitless water power available in the mountain
gorges, and also the mildness of the climate—it is easy to see that by a
proper development of these resources, and by colonization by German and
Russian peasants, the products might be multiplied twenty times.
In 1724 Peter the Great invaded the territory south of the Caucasus, and
having taken Darband entered into a treaty with Persia, by which that
power ceded Daghistan, Shirvan, Gilan, Mazandaran, and Astarabad ; but
the attempt to take over the three latter was never made. Nevertheless the
noteworthy fact remains that the whole of the Caspian provinces of Persia
were ceded to Russia by a treaty, which has never been formally annulled.—
(Holmes ; Kinneir ; Monteith ; Chesnsy ; Eastwick ; Fraser ; Pushchin ; Lovett ;
Astarabad Trade Report, 1990).
ASTARABAD (Town) (No. 5)—Lat. 36° 50' 52" ; Long. 54° 25' 26"; Elev.
377'— (Lemm.)
The chief and only city'of the province of the same name. It is situated
at the foot of the north-west slope of the Elburz and on the river Astar^
which falls into the Astarabad bay in the south-east of the Caspian,
20 miles below. It is enclosed within a crenellated mud wall* about 35 feet
high and from 3 to 4 miles in circumference, flanked by a series of round
towers ; and it had once been strengthened by a ditch, now in most places
filled up. These defences, particularly on the north and east sides of the
town, are in ruins, and would oppose no obstacle to an attack. There are
three gateways—one to the west, where the walls are in the best repair ;
one to the south ; and one to the north-east; they are roofed, and have
small chambers on each side serving as a lodging for the guard.
The present town by no means fills up the space enclosed, which is partly
occupied by gardens and heaps of rubbish, the remains of former habitations..
It is divided into three quarters,■f’ and contains about 1,200 inhabited houses
and about 10,000 inhabitants. The houses are built with mud or sun-dried
bricks of a light, open style of architecture, with projecting fronts and
sloping roofs covered with red tiles or thatch. Many of them have sn all
gardens filled with orange, pomegranate, cherry, and other fruit trees ; and
* Now quite out of dis’opair (1909).
t NaTfcandan, Maidan or Darvazeh Nau and Sabz Moshod (formerly known as
Sukhtoh Chinar).
48 I. B,
G