'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME I' [‎338v] (697/820)

§
I
650
SAR—SAR
of Khorasan. It is situated under the hills, 21 miles from Tun, on the
Birjand road .—(Belleiv ; MacGregor.)
SARAKHS (Persian)—Lat. 36° 31'30"; Long. 61° 16'0'.—(Bwrnm.)
A frontier fortress called Sarakhs-i-Nau (new Sarakhs) or Sarakhs-
i-Nesirl (Nasir-ud-Din Shah’s Sarakhs) situated about 500 yards Jrom
the left bank of the Han Rud. Its trace is that of an irregular polygon,
with eleven bastions and numerous intermediate towers for musketry.
On the south is the ark, or citadel, which is a similar work to the above,
cut off, as it were, from a part of its walls. In the citadel are quarters for
infantry amd artillery ; but many of the former live in lines in the centre
of the fort. Outside the fort are a number of Turkoman towers ; and round
each of these is a small patch of ground, cultivated by the men of the garri
son, and watered from canals. The soil is everywhere of a light, sandy
nature ; but as there is abundance of water at a depth of about 20 feet, no
doubt it would be capable of affording large crops.
The Tejen river in the vicinity of Sarakhs usually dries up in the late
summer or autumn; in the spring or after rain it contains a considerable body
cf water.
The garrison consists of one company (about 100 men) of infantry,
with 6 guns and a detachment of artillerymen. The guns are in complete
disrepair, and could not be moved or fired with ball.
The sole inhabitants besides the garrison are the kdrguzdr and his
assistant, a telegraph official, and 150 families of wretched Arab cultivators.
There are also 30 families of Sistanis 4 miles distant on the Mazdaran road.
There are about 300 houses in the town (i.e., within the walls) and 200
houses in hamlets round about ; in the town, besides the 150 ’Arab culti
vators alluded to, there are about 50 shopkeepers, including Armenians,
Jews, Kirmanis, Khorasanis, etc. The people in the town and outside are
a very mixed lot and include Kirmanis, Sistanis, Persians, Khorasanis, etc.
Drinking-water is obtained from wells sunk only about 20 feet in a
soil which, though clay on top, is shingle below. These wells have con
sequently to be cleared out very frequently, and the water is muddy, but
sweet and good. There is a telegraph office in the centre of the town.
The annual oui put of grain is estimated at 4,000 Indian maunds, and the
inhabitants are said to possess 450 cattle, 1,600 sheep and goats, and
100 horses .—{MacGregor ; Stewart ; Stephen ; Oranoffsky, 1894 ; Mania
Bakhsh, 1897 ; Smyth, 1906.)
SARANl— Elev. 4,900'.
A village on the northern frontier of the Kuchan district in Khorasan
12 miles from Mi anlu-i-Bala and 8 miles from Khairabad.
The village contains about 35 houses of Kurds, and lies in a little has - n
at the head of the defile leading down to Firuzeh. The descent down this
defile is very rapid. Lieutenant Cuningham gives the corrected height
of Firuzeh as 2,294 feet, and if my aneroid is anywhere near correct, there
must be an average fall o : nearly 300 feet per mile—(C. E. Yate, 1894.)
gAR ASIAB (No. 1)—