'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME I' [‎255v] (527/820)

490
MAD-MAD
worth speaking about. A good turquoise is found, and the money obtained
from its sale is spent at once. Men can often be seen at the mines, who
yearly pay to the Government 60 tumdns, and who gain another 150
tumans besides, having nothing to eat.
The mines belonging to the Ma’dan villlage are—
(1) the turquoise mines; I (3) a lead mine;
(2) a salt mine ; | (4) a millstone quarry. _
(1) The turquoise mines are of two sorts :—
(а) the mines proper, shafts and galleries in rock ;
(б) the khaki mines, diggings in the detritus of a disintegrated rock washed
down towards the plains. ' ,.
(a) The mines 'proper .—1 he most easterly, and according to all accounts
the oldest, mine is the ’Abd-ur-Razaq, which was formerly called the Abu
’Ishaqi, and is mentioned by that name in old books. It is at the absolute
height of 5.900 feet. It is a very extensive mine, and has a depth of about
160 feet vertically from its mouth. For the last few years very few tur
quoises have been obtained from this mine ; but its stones are greatly
esteemed. Close to this mine, and in the same valley, .are the Surkh,
Shahpardar, and Akali Mines, which are at present neglected. A little to
the west of the Abd-ur-Razaq valley is the Darreh-i-Safid, “ the white val
ley,” with the old mine Maliki, the upper and lower Zak, and the Mirza
Ahmadi. The former are immense mines, but almost entirely filled up.
In the lower Zak, now a vertical shaft of 60 feet in depth and about
250 feet in circumference, one can plainly see how the mines have got to
tiieir present ruinous state.
It is apparent that the mines were formerly well directed. Vertical shafts
were cut into the rock for the purpose of lighting and ventilating the
mines, whilst the entjunos to the mine was by lateral galleries driven iti on
the slope of the mountains. Schindler thinks it very probable that the
mines were, as late as the first quarter of the 18th century, worked by the
Government. The mines were then, when the Safavian dynasty came to an
end, neglected and left to the people of the village, or perhaps, as now,
farmed to them. The farmers only thought of getting a quick return for
their money, and cut away the rock wherever they saw any turquo.ses,
exactly as they do at the present day. The result was that the supporting
pillars and the rock between the different shafts were cut away, and the
roof, so to say, of the whole mine fell in, filling it up. The three above-
mentioned mines have been filled up like this. An estimate of the original
depth of the Zak mine can be formed from its present depth, which is only
to the surface of the formerly superincumbent roof, and from a shaft
or burrow dug into the rubbish of the old mine. This burrow commences
where the fallen-down roof begins, at a depth of 60 feet from the mouth of
the mine, and goes down for about another 60 feet vertical. At the end of
this burrow, 120 feet below the mouth of the mine, there are still no signs
of the original old mine. Several attempts have been made to clear this
’mine ; but up to now no one has had the will to provide the necessary funds,
or the patience to wait till the completion of the work. The turquoises
of the “ White Valley ” are also very good ; but not so good as those of the
’Abd-ur-Razaq. Many turquoises, generally small, are found in the rubbish