'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME I' [‎141v] (289/820)

2b2
JAG-JAG
Its position and productive capabilities give it an importance which
it could not otherwise claim.
On the south it is separated from Sabzawar by a high ridge known as
the Kuh-i-Jaghatai (Juvain) {q.v.). To the north the district is bounded
by a low, rocky ridge, running mostly due east and west across the great
plain that lies between the main ridge of the Elburz and its rocky outer
barriers and it extends with varying width, but in an unbroken level,
from Bustam to Nishapur. At this point it has a width of__not less than
40 miles. Beyond this dividing ridge is the valley of Isfarain ; which, in
common with Juvain, drains west and south past the town of Jajarm
into the Kal Shur, and thence to the kavlr. The width of the valley
at this point is about 20 miles. On the west the valley is bounded by the
Kal Shur and Jajarm, and on the east by the petty districts of Bam
and Safiabad and by Nishapur. Its total length is about 53 miles, giv
ing an area of 1,100 square miles, of which about one-sixth—the extreme
southern portion—is mountainous. The remaining area consists of a plain
sloping gently to its centre and to the west, with a barren bare surface
but a fertile alluvial soil, needing only irrigation to render it extremely
productive. The hill-skirts to the south and a narrow strip of country
following the central line of depression are now alone cultivated ; but
there are evidences in the lines of old qandts that in former days a great
deal that is now waste was under the plough. The general elevation of
the plain is about 4,000 feet which is sufficient to give it a good climate.
Being dependent on artificial irrigation, the district suffered severely
during the famine, and the villages, save a few in the mountains, lost,
it is reckoned, half their population.
Formerly, with a comparatively good supply of water, a large propor
tion of adult males and a very fertile soil, Juvain used to produce grain
enough to supply to some extent the necessities of Jajarm and Sabza
war, as well as a considerable proportion of silk and cotton, but an in
creased population and improved communications have reduced this
surplus to nothing. The people themselves, however, continue in ordinary
seasons to raise enough for their own consumption, for this favourable
climate and good soil enable them to sow unirrigated lands with advantage.
In some seasons in many of the villages the unirrigated sowings were ten
times the extent of the irrigated, and there are evidences of a good crop.
At present the Juvain district is estimated to produce about 7,500
kharwdrs of grain (f wheat and £ barley), the whole of which is consumed
in the country. •
The transport available for hire in the district is estimated at 100 camels
and a similar number of mules and donkeys.
The district is divided into two buluks —Jaghatai and Nikah. The
first includes all the villages along the centre depression from Farishian
on the border, to the Jajarm border, and the barren plain separating
Jaghatai from Nikah which lies 20 miles to the east of it, and those on the
skirts of the mountains, numbering in all about 25 inhabited villages.
Amongst these is Jaghatai (q.v.). The bvluk of Nikah includes all the