'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME II' [‎23r] (50/706)

AM AN—ANAR
3$
a saintly monarch of Mazandaran, who in the 14th century raised himself
to the throne by his virtues and abilities. He was better known as Mir Buzurg,
came into power in 1358 and died in 1379. His descendants ruled Mazandaran
until the begininng of the 16th century. The number of houses is from
4,000 to 5,000. The bazaars are large and well supplied, but beyond mere
local traffic there is little or no trade. The inhabitants cultivate rice and
cotton, or are employed in the canon foundries of the district. In summer
they retire to their summer-houses in the mountains, which approach to
within 5 or 6 miles of the town. In winter, when it is fullest, Amul
contains a population of about 40,000, but in summer only 20,000 souls.
There is here a handsome bridge of 12 arches over the Harhaz.
The revenue derived from Amul, according to Fraser, amounted in 1822
to from 12,000 to 15,000 tumdns. Of this amount not above 3,500 was
derived from the town, the rest arising from the country and villages an
nexed to the district. Holmes, however, who visited the place 20 years
after, says the revenue did not amount to more than 800 tumdns, and there
is no doubt that between the two above-mentioned visits the place fell off
greatly; when Fraser visited it, the Governor was a prince of the blood, but
Holmes only found a Hakim appointed by the governor of the province of
Mazandaran. The decay was owing chiefly to the desolation caused by the
plague of 1831-32. To some extent it has recovered, but it lacks the stimu
lus given by an increasing and active trade with the Russian coasts
enjoyed by the towns nearer the ports of Mashad-i-Sar and Gaz. Amul
was connected with Mahmudabad on the Caspian by rail and it was hoped
to make it a considerable and important place, but the railway is now not
in working order, and the enterprise may be said to be dead. The conces
sionaire of the railway built sugar refinery works and wood-working shops
here in 1890 .—(Fraser ; Holmes; Napier; Stack; Curzon.)
AN AN or ANAND—Lat. 36° 14' O'"; Long. 51° 20' 0".
A village in Mazandaran in the Elburz, about 20 miles from the Caspian,
on a road running from Mount Damavand to ’Abbasabad on the Caspian.—
(Stewart.)
ANARAK (1)—Elev. 4,700".
A town in the Biabanak division of Samnan. It is situated amid
a cluster of low rocky hills which are accessible to infantry and mountain
guns; these hills completely command it within 600 yards range. In the
centre of the city is a steep rock, on which still stand the remains of an
ancient fort.
The town is supplied with water by an artificial stream which flows
from the Kuh Daramgil, a very high and barren rocky range north-west
of the city.
The population consists chiefly of miners and camel owners. The former
work the mines in the neighbourhood, of which there are many, both of lead
and copper. The city is governed by a Naib, who is under the Tehran
Government (not that of Yazd). There is a good caravanserai A roadside inn providing accommodation for caravans (groups of travellers). outside the
walls.
C300GSB