'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME II' [‎138v] (281/706)

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JIL—JUL
JILO (?)— Lat. 35° 41. Long. 52°2 —(Lemm.) (Dshllu ?)
A place apparently identical with Giliard, a few miles due south of the
village of Damavand.— {St. John’s Map of Persia.)
JOKAR—
A small village at the foot of the Kuh-i-Zagheh, to the right of the road
from Hamadan to Daulatabad Malayar {S.)
JULFA— Elev. 2,650
Julfa, the principal ferry over the Aras. The village is about 3| miles
above the ferry on the north of the river. The place, known to travellers
as Julfa ,is that chosen for the ferry which, though the most convenient
for the transit of goods and passengers, is situated in a desert spot where
supplies are scarce. The soil is impregnated with saline matter and no
village has grown up. On the Persian side are a few houses of officials,
the custom and passport officers, a good rest-house and sarai. On the
Russian side are a few houses of officials, custom-houses, etc.
Since August 1905, when the Erivan-Julfa section of the Trans-
, r Caucasian railway was completed, Julfa
‘ > ’ has increased considerably in importance,
Russian troops have constantly been passing through, in and out
of Persia. In March 1910, 2 companies of infantry, 100 Cossacks and
two guns crossed over to Persian Julfa, owing to fear of a conflict bet
ween Russian troops and the Persian Nationalists. In November 1910,
100 more infantry were sent over. At the end of 1911 Julfa was a subsi
diary base for the five or six thousand troops sent to Tabriz and Khoi,
and in July and October 1912 it saw more Russian troops pushed through
it into the Shahsavan country and Khoi. There does not appear to be any
large garrison maintained here.
The road on Ahe Russian side is an excellent one with a carriage
n service to Erivan. A concession was granted
Communications. ^ by ^ Goyer Ae„t to
the Russians [to construct a carriage road from Julfa to Tabriz and
thence on to Tehran, in return for a loan of a million sterling.
In 1911 the road was fit to take motors as far as Tabriz, and at the end
of that year a military automobile section was employed between Julfa
and Tabriz in transporting Russian troops to Tabriz and provisioning
them there. The journey of 98 miles betv/een Julfa and Tabriz occupied
8 hours out and 11 hours back.
The cart road has been specially constructed to allow of a railway being
laid along it, and all the bridges are of railway type. A bridge has also
been built over the Aras at Julfa to take a railway, and earthworks connect
ing the Russian Julfa station, on the Tiflis-Julfa line, with this bridge
were under construction at the end of 1911. In August 1912 Russia
commenced negotiating for a concession for the Julfa-Tabrlz railway with
a branch to Urumieh. It is estimated that the railway will be completed
three years after construction is commenced. There is a tunnel, 1,200
yards long, to be made at a place 13 miles from Julfa, and a detour of
3 miles will be necessary at the Yam pass (8 miles south of Maraud). Mate-