'Report on the North-Eastern Frontier of Persia and the Tekeh Turkomans' [‎109v] (10/50)

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his way to Birjand, with a caravan of merchandise from Yazd. I made a good deal
of acquaintance with this man, who was a very superior sort of person, and I believe a
bra\rer man than most Persians. He determined to go- on in spite of the Eiluchis,
and I hired a camel from him for the carriage of my saddle bags. He told me he
would not be mixed up with pilgrims, as they were such a helpless set of people. He
kept the hour and route by which he was going secret. He muffled the bells of his
camels, and, as soon as it was quite dark, he set off. Carefully concealing from the
villagers the road he intended to take, he started off across country. In fact he so
concealed his movements that I was almost left behind. He started about one and a
half hours before the time he had told me he would, so that I had to hurry my depar
ture. I very nearly missed the road in the dark, as he started a little before me, but
Aly Kuli Beg had left a man on the road to show me which way he had gone. The
night was very dark, and strict silence was preserved.
There were about 50 camels, but the padded feet of the camels made no sound.
After a weary march of hours we reached a small village called Jafliru or
Jaffirabad. We had travelled over a very rough and desert country, crossing a pass
which was very trying to the camels, known as Tung-i-I)n. Jaffirabad contains
some 60 inhabitants; it is a fairly fertile village. The men go about armed, which
is unusual in Persia. A fine looking man gave me a description of an attack by
Biluchis on this village 20 years ago, when the place was plundered and burnt, and
he himself carried off captive to Seistan, and only released on payment of a ransom of
25 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. . The Biluchis attacked a strong tower which was shown to me in ruins,
piled brushwood, against the wooden door and burnt it and then rushed in, capturing
the garrison. They have now a fine new tower, and in the evening eight of the men
paraded and marched off to garrison the tower. As they were all dressed alike and
were fine men they had a very soldier-like appearance. They told me they did this
every night whether Biluchis were in the neighbourhood or not; they said they were
very much exposed to raids, and that three years ago, when all the men happened to
be out of the village looking after their sheep, the place was plundered by Biluchis.
They spoke most disparagingly of the Khan of Tabbas, saying, he was a woman and
no man, and that though he drew an allowance from the Shah for the purpose of
keeping up 500 cavalry, he pocketed the money and allowed his subjects to be
plundered.
The marauding Biluchis were reported to have taken up their position at some
water near Kalpiarz, on the direct road some 13 miles from Jaffirabad, and might
have a party out to watch for caravans on this road also. As soon as it was dark we
started again with the same precautions as the night before, and had another weary
night march. We were informed that the Khan of Tabbas had sent out a party of
sowars to garrison a place called Shurab Ahmad Sultan through which we should pass ;
this place is some 12 miles from Jaffirabad. When we reached Shurab, however, we
found that there were no sowars there, and that even the two men who ordinarily live
in a tower to sell provisions to travellers had fled from fear of Biluchis. After a
march of 14 hours, though the distance is only miles, we reached a small cluster of
villages known as Char Deh or the four villages. The names of the villages are Jowcar,
Targhinun, Tushkanun, and Madiabad. Jowcar is the largest, and the four villages
contain an aggregate of 800 inhabitants. It is very pleasant to get here and again
taste water that is not salt. In any other country this place would be considered a
very undesirable place of residence, but here it is looked upon as a sort of terrestrial
paradise. The whole country is composed of sand, but there being a fair supply of
good water, with which the sand is irrigated, dates are produced in great abundance,
and a few other trees can also be grown. The date palm is not a handsome tree,
but a clump of date palms does at all events look green, and after the many desert
tracts I have lately passed over, anything green is very pleasant to the eye. A few
mulberry trees and pomegranates are to be seen. Tobacco and grain are grown inr
small quantities, and dates in very large quantities indeed, and exported to all parts of
Persia. Tabbas, the chief town of this district, and the seat of the Governor, is about
10 miles from here.
There are two caravan roads from here to Mash-had, ordinarily used by pil
grims; one via Bajistan, and the other via Nishapur. Neither pass through
Tabbas, which is left 10 miles off by either road. I have, however, determined
to travel by neither of these roads, but to go by Turshiz and Turbat-Hidari,
which is a route very little known. In fact, I believe the road from Chardeh to
Turshiz has never been travelled by any Englishman. I halted two days in Chardeh
to purchase a mule to replace the horse which was knocked up, I had been so
troubled by the difficulty of hiring animals. On the third day I rode into Tabbas, as I