'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME I' [‎179v] (365/820)

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WMIPIIMBM
338 K.AR—KAS
east of the former place. It contains some 90 horses and possesses 50
cattle and 400 sheep and goats. There is a large amount of cultivation
in the neighbourhood, and in ordinary years the production of wheat tnd
barley amounts to about 2,380 Indian maunds. I he inhabitants are
mostly Barbarls, who are exempt from all taxation. There is an
abundant and excellent water-supply from a Jcdrlz. Fuel scanty. Plentiful
and good camel-grazing.— (C. Wanliss, October 1903.)
KARlZ-I-’UMAR—
A halting place, 9 miles south-west of Zurabad. There is abundant
water of good quality, and a large encampment of black tents (Timurls)
—{MacLean.)
KARlZ-I-ZIMA—
Ruins, about 2 miles south-west of Kariz-i-’Umar.— {MacLean.)
KASHAF ROD—
A river of Khorasan, sometimes known as the Ab- : Meshed, which rises
in the Chinaran sub-district of Meshed, close to the Chashmeh-i-Gnas. It
flows at first in a north-easterly direction, but after it crosses the Kuchan-
Meshed road it turns south-east and fl ,ws fn this direction as far as Ak-
darband, whence it flows due east to Pul-i-Khatun, where it joins the
Hari Riid.
It is quite wrong to call this river Kara Su as it is sometimes marked on
our maps. The name Kara Su or “ black water ” was given to it by the Tur
komans, owing to the belt of tamarisk and thorn jungle that runs along
both banks, supplying an almost unlimited supply of camel-graz : ng and
very fair horse-grazing. Ibis jungle is especially dense between Langarak
and Shurchah or Shurja.
As far as Langarak, the river flows in a w de valley, contracting at that
village about a mile, enclosed by low hills with higher and steeper hills
behind them ; the hills on the north are generally higher and steeper than
those on the south. From Langarak on, the valley steadily narrows, till
at Baghbaghu the river valley or bed is to all intents and purposes a ndld, the
width varying from 25 yards to 1 mile, it being generally enclosed by
steep banks 50 to 100 feet high. I here is a very difficult defile between Ak-
darband and SLurchah through which the river flows, with the track
crossing ,.nd recrossing the river, which is only just passable for horsemen
and quite impassable in flood ; the banks are steep and precipitous, the iiver-
bed in no place being more than 25 yards wide. Old Akdarband and
towers commanding the defile are now in ruins.
From Shurchah to Pas Kamar, the river valley is still narrow and shut
in by fai ly higli lulls but gradually broadening out towards Pas Kamar.
From Pas Kamar to Pul-i-Khatun, the hills on the le t bank get lower
and lower, but on ihe right bank get higher, running up to some spurs
running out from the Jam hills. The total length of the river is some
130 miles.
Ihe quantity and quality of the water in the river between Meshed
and Pul-i-Khatun varies in the most extraordinary manner. In places
it flows in a stream of 20 yards by 2 feet at | mile per hour, and