'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOL. III.' [‎378v] (761/982)

746
RAC—BAF
R
RACHEH—
A village in the Mugwi Bakhtiari country near the principal village of
Kaleh Huma (vide this Gazetteer).— (Sawyer, 1890.)
RAFAR— Lat. 27° 33' 36". N. Long. 52° 40' 45" E. Elev.
A village on the coast of Laristan, on the south side of the Bay of Naband,
near the cape of the same name ; it contains about sixty men of the A1
Aram tribe.—(Brwc&s.)
RAFl’lBlD— Lat. Long. Elev.
*
A village in Fars, 24| miles from Tashk, on the road to Shiraz.— (Preece,
1892.)
RAFSINJlN— Elev. about 5,000<.
A district in Kirman, of which Bahramabad (q. v.) is the chief town.
The district consists of a plain about 80 miles long and 20 miles broad,
lies roughly east and west, and receives on the north the drainage of the
Kuh-i-Badaman mountains and on the south that of the ranges situated
to the north of Pariz and Saidabad. The plain is a bare expanse of hard
clay, and rises gradually from the east from about 4,700 to 5,500 feet.
There are about 90 villages in the district with an aggregate population of
about 60,000.
Some 3,000 Jeharwars of cotton are produced, which (after deducting
about 500 kharwdrs for home consumption) is
p ’ exported to Russia via Shahrud, and to India
via Bandar Abbas, in the proportion of about 9 to 1.
Almost all transport is done by camels and donkeys, the former doing
the journey from Rafsinjan to Bandar Abbas in 40 days, the latter in 25
days.
The cost of carriage from Rafsinjan to Shahrud is 13 to 20 tumdns
per kharwdr, as compared with 6| to 12 tumdns from Rafsinjan to Bandar
Abbas. This difference in the cost of carriage is due, apart from the greater
length of the Shahrud journey, to the fact that camels going to Shahrud
have mostly to return empty, whilst those going to Bandar Abbas can
always find loads to bring back. The cotton is short stapled. Attempts
have been made to introduce a long-stapled cotton, but these (up to
1905) have met with no success, owing, it is thought, to the summer being
too short.
A considerable quantity of wool is produced by the nomad tribes, but
is all used locally in the manufacture of carpets.
The other chief products are :—
Gum Tragacanth. —100,000 maunds produced. All sent to Londofi.
Price, first quality, krdns 8 to 10 per maund.
Opium. —500 to 600 maunds. All used locally. Price 12 tumdns
per maund.
Asafoetida .—About 100,000 maunds produced. Nearly all goes to India