'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME I' [‎194v] (399/820)

368
KHO-KHO
Table showing the resources of the Astarabad, Shahrad-Bustam, Samnan,
and Damghan districts .—
Transport animals.
Resources
Distance
Name of district.
Camels.
Mules
and
ponies.
Donkeys.
of grain in
Indian
maunde.
from
Meshed
in miles.
Remarks.
1
2
3
4
5
0
7
Autaraba 1
3,000
2,000
200,000
250 W.
Most of the
grain is rice.
This being a Cas
pian port, its pre -
duce can easily
be taken to Ask-
hfbad, etc.
Shahru 1 and
Bust a n.
7,000*
2,000
5,000
150,000
280 W.
There are more than
3,000 in the village
of Daulata ad.
Damghan
500
100
3,000
20,000
335 W.
Samnan
4,000
30,000
395 W.
Bandar-i-Gaz, a port
on the Caspian, is
only 70 miles north
of Sla'irud and
Bustam. The pro
duce of these
places can go by
that route to the
Turkoma n
country.
The Grain Trap.c of Khurasan. —The long-distance carriage of grain In Ehorasan depends mainly—
(а) On the demands made by Trans-Caspia.
(б) The requirements of Meshed.
(c) The necessity for stocking the Tehran pilgrim route between Sabzawar and Shahrud.
(d) . And in a lesser degree on the deficiency in the food supplies of Jajarm, Shahrud-Bastam, Samnan
andYazd.
(a) Trans-Caspia imports from Kuchan, Bujnurd, and Darreh Gaz.
(ft) The requirements of Meshed are heavy from Kuchan, Kishapur, and the districts east of Meshed.
(c) The Tehran pilgrim route is supplied from Bujnurd, Isfarain, and Nishapur.
(d) The Jajarm, Shahrud-Bastam • from Bujnurd, Isfarain, and the Guklan country ; Samnan from
Damghan ; Yazd from Bujnurd and Isfarain.
Thus, the grain-producing centres being (intheorderofimportance) Kuchan, Bujnurd, Isfarain, Chinaran.
Darreh Gaz, and Radkan, supplies necessarily radiate therefrom to the surrounding less-favoured districts
producing thereby several great currents of grain traffic, one north to Trans-Caspia ; another east to Meshed,
a third .south to the pilgrim route, a fourth south-west to Shahrud, with its two branches to Samnan and Yazd
Trans-Caspia takes the largest share of the surplus, and its steady demand for cereals has given an enor
mous impetus to the grain production of Khorasan. At present the surplus of Kuchan, Bujnurd, Isfarain,
Chinaran, Radkan, etc., is competed for by Trans-Caspia and those districts in or adjoining Khorasan, where the
out-turn of grain is insufficient for local requirements, but there is little doubt Russia could obtain a much
larger proportion of the surplus if she were prepared to pay the price.
The introduction of cotton has not yet materially affected the cultivation of grain. In Kuchan and Bujnurd
the climate has been found unsuitable, and in those districts where its cultivation is regarded more favcura hie,
for instance, in Darreh Gaz and Nishapur, the development has not progressed at the expense of the grainers.
It would seem, indeed, that a greater area of land has been placed under the plough,not that cottonhas oustedthe
wheat and barley.
September 1890.