![‘Gazetteer of Persia, Part III, including Fārs, Lūristān, Arabistān, Khūzistān, Yazd, Karmānshāh, Ardalān, Kurdistān’ [‎332v] (669/686)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000239.0x00011a/IOR_L_MIL_17_15_1_0669.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "‘Gazetteer of Persia, Part III, including Fārs, Lūristān, Arabistān, Khūzistān, Yazd, Karmānshāh, Ardalān, Kurdistān’ [‎332v] (669/686)")
‘Gazetteer of Persia, Part III, including Fārs, Lūristān, Arabistān, Khūzistān, Yazd, Karmānshāh, Ardalān, Kurdistān’ [332v] (669/686)
The record is made up of 1 volume (336 folios). It was created in 1885. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
612
YAZ—YAZ
It is situated in the middle of a sandy plain, about 50 miles broad,
bounded by high ranges of picturesque mountains. The town is
surrounded by a wall, but a large proportion of the inhabitants live
outside. The town itself is very uninteresting, and contains hardly
any building worthy of note. The only remarkable one is the Jama
Masjid, a very old building now ruined, the front of which, however,
is still handsome. The bazars are narrow and irregular, but well
stocked with goods and crowded with people. The Governor lives
in a fortified enclosure outside the town.
Christie states the population of Yazd to have lived in 1810 in
20,000 houses, besides 4,000 more for the Gabrs; but if this esti
mate was correct, the numbers have since then very much decreased,
as Smith, writing in 1868, says it only amounts to 30,000 souls, of
whom 4,000 are Gabrs and 1,000 are Jews.* A large proportion
of the inhabitants are engaged in the manufacture of silk,
which is said to be superior to any other made in Persia. The raw
material is obtained from the villages in the neighbourhood, and large
quantities are also brought for manufacture from Gllan. Henna and
rang for dyeing the hair, brought in a raw state from Minab and the
neighbourhood of Bandar Abbas, are ground and prepared for use and
exported to all parts of Persia. Sugar is also refined and sent chiefly
to Isfahan. Wool is also exported.
The external trade appears to be very considerable, and the mer
chants of Yazd are reputed to be among the most enterprising and
respectable of their class in Persia. Some of their agents have lately
gone, not only to Bombay, but to the Mauritius, Java, and China.
The manufactures of Yazd consist of hash and aluhi (two sorts of
silk cloth), and are superior to any of the kind in Persia; the Gabrs
also make excellent candied sugar, and the namads, or felts, from Taft
(a small village within 8 miles) are equal to the best made at
Karman.
Sheep are brought to this place from Shiraz, and grain from
Isfahan. There are at least fifty thousand camels in the city; and a
donkey will here sell as high as 15 tumans, or 15 pounds sterling,
ihe city has a mean appearance, and has once had a wall, part of
which still remains. Most of the trade comes from Bandar Abbas
and goes to Tihran, some to Isfahan; some comes from Shiraz.
( Christie — Smith.)
Commerce.
Opium Trade .—Pour thousand chests said to have been exported in
1869. Eight thousand in 1881 [Piorieer’s Correspondent)=V6,^^)
maunds. Complaints made of heavy duty on opium, levied at
Bombay, when ships carrying it touched there, Rs. 600 per chest.
In Persia opium is obtainable at comparatively little cost. For sale in
t * Th °™ s ° n > \ 868 ’ S'f 68 40,000. In 1859, there were, according to Khanikoff, 850
families of Gabrs here, and 15 villages of them in the district. Their numbers were then
rapit y c.immislnng, owing partly, probably, to the custom prevalent that when Mussalman
marries a t*abr girl, he becomes the principal heir to her father’s property.
About this item
- Content
The third of four volumes comprising a Gazetteer of Persia. The volume, which is marked Confidential, covers Fārs, Lūristān [Lorestān], Arabistān, Khūzistān [Khūzestān], Yazd, Karmānshāh [Kermānshāh], Ardalān, and Kurdistān. The frontispiece states that the volume was revised and updated in April 1885 in the Intelligence Branch of the Quartermaster General’s Department in India, under the orders of Major General Sir Charles Metcalfe Macgregor, Quartermaster-General in India. Publication took place in Calcutta [Kolkata] by the Superintendent of Government Printing, India, in 1885.
The following items precede the main body of the gazetteer:
- a note by Lieutenant-Colonel Mark Sever Bell, Deputy Quartermaster General, Intelligence Branch, requesting inaccuracies, omissions and suggestions for the gazetteer be reported to the Deputy Quartermaster General;
- a second note, dated 26 November 1885, describing the geographical scope of the four volumes comprising the Gazetteer of Persia , and also making reference to the system of transliteration used (Hunterian) and authorities consulted;
- a preface, containing a summary of the geographical boundaries of the Gazetteer, a description of the Persian coast of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , an abridged account of trade in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. for the year 1884, and a description of telegraphs in the regions described by the Gazetteer.
The gazetteer includes entries for human settlements (villages, towns and cities), geographic regions, tribes, significant geographic features (such as rivers, canals, mountains, valleys, passes), and halting places on established routes. Figures for latitude, longitude and elevation are indicated where known.
Entries for human settlements provide population figures, water sources, location relative to other landmarks, climate. Entries for larger towns and cities can also include tabulated meteorological statistics (maximum and minimum temperatures, wind direction, remarks on cloud cover and precipitation), topographical descriptions of fortifications, towers, and other significant constructions, historical summaries, agricultural, industrial and trade activities, government.
Entries for tribes indicate the size of the tribe (for example, numbers of men, or horsemen), and the places they inhabit. Entries for larger tribes give tabulated data indicating tribal subdivisions, numbers of families, encampments, summer and winter residences, and other remarks.
Information sources are provided at the end of each gazetteer entry, in the form of an author or source’s surname, italicised and bracketed.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (336 folios)
- Arrangement
The gazetteer’s entries are arranged in alphabetically ascending order.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 341; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
Pagination: the volume has two printed pagination systems, the first of which uses Roman numerals and runs from I to XIII (ff 3-10), while the second uses Arabic numerals and runs from 1 to 653 (ff 12-338).
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
Use and share this item
- Share this item
‘Gazetteer of Persia, Part III, including Fārs, Lūristān, Arabistān, Khūzistān, Yazd, Karmānshāh, Ardalān, Kurdistān’ [332v] (669/686), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/17/15/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100033249834.0x000046> [accessed 25 April 2024]
https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100033249834.0x000046
Copy and paste the code below into your web page where you would like to embed the image.
<meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100033249834.0x000046">‘Gazetteer of Persia, Part III, including Fārs, Lūristān, Arabistān, Khūzistān, Yazd, Karmānshāh, Ardalān, Kurdistān’ [‎332v] (669/686)</a> <a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100033249834.0x000046"> <img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000239.0x00011a/IOR_L_MIL_17_15_1_0669.jp2/full/!280,240/0/default.jpg" alt="" /> </a>
This record has a IIIF manifest available as follows. If you have a compatible viewer you can drag the icon to load it.https://www.qdl.qa/en/iiif/81055/vdc_100000000239.0x00011a/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images
Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/MIL/17/15/1
- Title
- ‘Gazetteer of Persia, Part III, including Fārs, Lūristān, Arabistān, Khūzistān, Yazd, Karmānshāh, Ardalān, Kurdistān’
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:340v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence