'Collection of journals and reports received from Captain the Hon G C Napier, Bengal Staff Corps, on special duty in Persia, 1874' [‎89] (102/396)

89
the villages are more numerous, and have usually a few sub
stantial houses with neat red-tiled roofs. The crest of a spur
overhanging the road at a point where it touches the hill-skirt
six or seven miles from Ashraf commands a fine view of the
cultivated plain of Ashraf and the forest of Anazan. To the
west far distant the Demavend range forms a white wall on the
horizon, towards the base of which stretches a grand expanse^ of
rich cultivated land and green meadows with wide straggling
hedo-erows, clusters of thatched-roofed villages, and patches of
forest and woodland. To the south the sea was hidden under ^ a
bank of mist. North the wooded spurs of Alburz fall away in
easy undulations to the plain. These lower spurs are little en
cumbered with the dense forest of the upper ranges.^ They
might at no great cost be cleared, and should with their rich soil,
warm sun, and ample rainfall supply Persia with all the most
valuable products of the subtropical regions of Asia. Tea, coffee,
and chinchona would no doubt thrive well, and where the vine
orows wild in such luxuriance, vineyards could scarcely fail in
yield and quality of grapes to rival those of Europe.
Approaching Ashraf the road and the aspect of the country
again improve. The fields are fenced, and have strong wooden
gates and stiles. The ground is _ kept clean and ploughed deep,
two pairs of very fine oxen working in relays, the plough also is
heavier than that used in other parts. Wheat is grown as fre
quently as rice, and the cotton was unusually fine, growing to five
and six feet with heavy pods.
Sth December. Town of Ashraf. —Halt at Ashraf. ^ The
town is now in a far better state than when visited by i 'rasei
and Burnes. It contains from 1,200 to 1,400 families and 40 to
50 shops. Three or four of the leading merchants have trans
actions with Constantinople and Astrakhan, exporting cotton,
sugar, European goods, cutlery, hardware ; importing chiefly iion,
iron vessels, crockery, tea-urns, &c. 1 heir port is JVleshed-i-feer,
distant 19 fursakhs ; the road passing through Sari and Barfarosh
The inhabitants of Ashraf are of mixed race; they are descen- Tribe
dants of a Greorgian colony, brought Irom the Caucasus by Shah
Abbas Seffavi j some families of lalish, a loork tribe from the
coast near Lankeran: lats, a Persan tribe, and a few houses ot
Godars, a peculiar race whose origin is very obscure. They are
the " Pariah" caste of Mazanderan, having a status and occu
pation similar to those of the aboriginal tribes of India, the Coles,
Bheels and Dares. They are village watchmen, _ hunters, fi&lier-
men, and, though nominally Mussulmans, live mainly on the flesh
of wild swine. In summer they wander in the forest when not
employed in watching the distant fields. In winter a small
thatched cabin on the outskirts of some village shelters them
and their families. They rarely marry Persian women, but their
women, if pretty, are occasionally taken by Persians, rrom e
specimens I saw, there can, I think, be little doubt ot then Indian
origin. The men are short and dark, but show a good deal ot
Persian blood. The women, of whom I saw two or three, are