'The lands of the Eastern Caliphate Mesopotamia, Persia, and Central Asia from the Moslem conquest to the time of Timur' [‎316] (355/586)

3i6
KIRMAN.
[chap.
One march to the north-east of Jiruft, and half-way to Darjin,
lay the large hamlet of Hurmuz-al-Malik ( £ of the King/ so called
to distinguish it from the port of Hurmuz), which was also known
as Kariyat-al-Jawz, 4 Nut Village.' According to Idrisi—but it is
not clear whence he got his account—this was an ancient city
founded by the Sassanian king Hurmuz in the third century a.d.,
and it had been the chief town of the province of Kirman, until,
falling to ruin, the administration had been transferred to Sirjan,
which remained the capital of the province under the later
Sassanians. The position of Hurmuz-al-Malik is indicated by
Mukaddasi and other early geographers, but they give no details;
Idnsi adds that in his day (or more probably in the time of the
unknown author from whom he takes his account) this Hurmuz
was a handsome though small town, inhabited by a mixed popu
lation, having abundant water, and good markets with much
merchandise. It lay, he says, one march distant from Bam 1 .
A day's march to the north of the ruins of Jiruft lies Dilfarid,
which Mukaddasi calls Darfani, and Ibn Hawkal Darfarid. It
lay in a fruitful valley producing crops of both the hot and cold
regions, and, as already stated, was the granary of Jiruft. One
march to the north-west of this again was the Jabal-al-Ma'adin—
4 Hill of Mines J —where silver was found, more especially in a
gorge that ran up into the Jabal-al-Fuddah or 'Silver Hill 2 .'
To the eastward of Jiruft was the hill country called Jabal
Bariz, described as clothed with great forests in the 4th (10th)
century, and here at the time of the first Moslem conquest the
hunted Magians had found safe refuge from the troops sent
against them by the Omayyad Caliphs. This country was only
brought under the Moslem yoke by the Saffarid princes; it was
afterwards famous for its iron mines. Nearer the coast, and to
470. Yak. ii. 57. Mst. 182. Ibn Ibrahim, 48, 49, 83. Schindler,y.i^.//.5.
1898, p. 43 ; and TAe Book of Ser Marco Polo (Yule), i. 98.
1 1st. 161, 189. I. H. 219, 225. Muk. 473. Idrisi, Jaubert, i. 423, and
text in Paris mss. Arades, No. 2221, folio 157^; No. 2222, folio 104^. Yak.
ii. 151. Major Sykes (Persia, p. 444) would identify Hurmuz-al-Malik (which
no longer exists under this name) with Carmana omnium mater of Ammianus
Marcellinus.
2 1st. 165, writes the name, probably merely by a clerical error, Durb&y.
I. H. 221, 222. Muk. 467, 471. A. F. 335.