'Lord Curzon's Notes on Persia: About 1889-1890' [‎471v] (962/1486)

I
10
passes. These are, commencing south, ihe God-i-Murda pass,
7,050 feet ; it is the easiest of the lot and is crossed by an
excellent bridle path, with easy gradients. Over it leads the most
frequented, but yet little frequented thoroughfare from Isfahan to
Shuster, passing through the Chhar Mahals, Naogun (or Ardal)
and crossing the Kurang at Dopulun. This road is well known ;
it is reported closed 3 to 4 months in the year by snow. The
next pass leaves the last mentioned ‘ through ’ route at Ardal
and goes to the Gurab valley by an excellent, well kept and
bridged bridle path (Photo No. 7 ), and passing between the
Gurab and the Isbiana over a slight undulation, drops sharply
down into the Bazuft valley to Killa Bazuft. This Gurab pass can
also be reached from Kaj by a well kept up path, shewn in the
map.
The next pass is the Cherri its summit being elevated 9,550
feet. On the approach from the east is an ascent of 2,000 feet
in 3 ^ miles. The approach from the south is a steep zigzag ascent
(from Movvaz, the camping place at the foot) of 4,000 feet. Both
the approaches are stony, the southern one especially so, but
even now passable for heavily laden mules without difficulty.
This pass and the roads leading to it have been kept in good
repair until quite lately. The alignments are excellent. If the
surface stones were removed (a very small matter), the pass
w’ould be the most frequented, giving a far shorter distance from
Isfahan to Shuster, between which two places it lies in a straight
line and midway. In the days of Hassan Kuli Khan, the last real
ruler of the Bakhiiaris, every tribe on its upward and downward
journey had to clear up these roads and keep them in thorough
repair. He is said to have enforced this excellent rule with severity.
Under the present regime roads and bridges are fast deteriorat
ing.
d he next two passes are over the Zard-Kuh range, the Gil-i-
Shah touching 11,700 feet, and the Pambakal 11,400 feet. The
approaches to both these from the east are, even in June, over
snow, but for Persian mules and Bakhtiari horses neither of them
so difficult as not to be in daily use. From the Gil-i-Shah the
drop on the south side towards the Bazuft valley is one of 5,000
feet, almost perpendicular as viewed from above. But the well-
marked zigzags are worse in appearance than in reality The
Pambakal is very similar to Gil-i-Shah, if anything more difficult.
d hese five passes, it may be observed, no doubt have high
elevations, and their crests are in winter deep in snow. Not in
demand for 4 to 5 months of the year, they are left to themselves
and have therefore the reputation of being impassable.