'Report of Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Edward Stewart, Bengal Staff Corps, on Special Duty on the Perso-Afghan Frontier.' [‎136r] (27/80)

inquiry, I feel certain that the markhor is found nowhere in Persia, though tekeh
markhor is sometimes used for a fine specimen of the Persian ibex. At Karat the
people had seen the horns of a true markhor which had been brought from Afghan
istan. A curious concretion is found in the stomach of the Persian ibex, of the
wonderful properties of which the people have the most fabulous ideas. They call it
Pa-zahr. It is believed to be an antidote to all poison, more especially to snake
poisons. To poisonous substances taken internally it is also supposed to be an
antidote, being taken rubbed down and mixed with a little milk. The stone itself is
applied outwardly to snake bites and stings of scorpions, it is also believed that
a childless woman will soon be blessed with a child if she swallows a small quantity of
this precious stone. It is the stone known in medieval Europe as the Bezoar stone,
and the Persian ibex is called the Bezoar goat. The concretion is, I believe, only
found in old animals, and is caused by some disease. The sportsman who brought
me the young wild goat told me they had often found these concretions in ibex which
they had killed. At Birjand I procured a fine specimen of the stone. These Bezoar
stones are sometimes worn as amulets or charms hung around the neck by women
in Persia. I was sorry not to ascend the Kwaja Shahz mountain so as to take its
height. It must be lofty, as it is a remarkable object from Khaf, which is more than
50 miles off.
On the 17th April I marched 19 miles to Bamrud. The road for the first three
miles skirts the Kwaja Shahz range of mountains, and is very stony indeed. It then
passes near the small village of Mehrabad. At four and a half miles the village of Isfad
is reached. From Isfad the road leaves the neighbourhood of the hills and passes
over a sandy plain for 14 miles. At three miles from Isfad the village of Abiz is seen
some two miles to the right of the road, close to the mountains. At four miles from
Isfad a garden with a tank of water, known as Khur-i-Sarhang, is passed. At
19 miles from Fundukht Bamrud is reached. Bamrud is a fortified village of con
siderable size, and contains probably about 400 inhabitants. Outside the fort there
is a lofty mosque, partly in ruins. There is a small canal of water which is brought
from the neighbouring mountains, and which never dries up. The water is slightly
brackish.
On the 18th, I marched seven miles to Charaks, the last village on the road between
Kaian and Ghurian. It is a large village, and contains probably 700 inhabitants. A
good many caravans pass through this place on their way from Ghurian to Birjand.
Charaks is celebrated for its good tobacco, but it has not a great deal of cultivation.
Grain is brought from Ghurian, and from the villages in the district known as
Zir Kuh or cc under the hills.” The distance from Charaks to Ghurian is about
77 miles, and the route followed by caravans is as follows :—
Gul Haoz
Charaks to
15 miles.
Ghurian.
No inhabitants.
A well and a haoz or
Shukur Chasm a
- 15 „
reservoir.
No inhabitants.
A spring of water.
Robat-i-Shah Baluch
- 8 „
No inhabitants.
Four wells of brackish
Haoz-i-Bandan
- 23 „
water.
A haoz, which is
sometimes dry in summer.
Ghurian -
- 16 „
Total - - 77 miles.
On the 19th April I marched from Charaks, 35 miles, to the fort of Yazdun. The
road for the first 18 miles was over a plain, with good grazing for camels and sheep.
At the end <>f 18 miles a piece of salt desert is reached. It is about four miles wide,
and probably 15 or 16 long. It can be seen extending to nearly the foot of the
Ahinguran range of mountains. After crossing the salt desert, a piece of firm ground
is reached, a id on the edge of this there is a spring of very slightly brackish water.
This sprim: is called Petirgun. About half a mile from the spring a curious depres
sion or hoi ow in the country is reached. It would in any land less arid and desert
than Persia, he the bod of a large lake, and even here it attempts to be a lake. These
depnssions, vvhii h receive the drainage of a considerable tract of country, and are
alternate ly lakes and salt swamps, are known in this part of the country as daks.
This one is ea lied Dak System of postal communication used in Moghul India and later by the East India Company. -i-Khurshab by people at a distance, though the inhabitants of
the neighbourhood call it simply Dak System of postal communication used in Moghul India and later by the East India Company. , as we would say, “the lake. Ihis is not the