'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME I' [‎381r] (786/820)

The river here is a miserable little bit of stream hardly 10 feet wide, and
Width and depth of Atrak even now (November 1894), when in flood
near Taushan Kir. after the recent rains, it is only two or three
feet deep, and the bed is so shallow that the water is almost on a level
with the bank.
From the halting i place opposite Taushan Kir we went 11 miles and
camped at a place on the telegraph line, 4
Sangar Tappeh. miles south of Sangar Tappeh.
Our road led through a dried up swamp the whole way, and our camp
on the telegraph line is still amongst dry reeds.
Want of supplies and fire- We had to bring all supplies with us, even
wood. wood is not obtainable here.
A Ja’afarhai Chumur did on
left bank of Gurgan.
Some camels belonging to the Ja’afarbal were grazing about, but we did
not see a man the whole way.
From the camp on the telegraph line we went
Gum,* Tappeh. H miles to Gflmish Tappell (? 8 >
Our road led across the level plain.
We passed large numbers of camels out grazing, and at about the 10th
_ , . _ mile we came to the first obas of their owners,
Ja afarbai GVwrw. T , , ^ _ rp, , ’
Ja afarbai Charva. ihese people live some 2
farsalchs away from the nearest sweet water, and have to take their
sheep and camels all the way to Gurgan to drink
every third day. From Gumish Tappeh we
proceeded 13 miles to Oba-i-’Aneh Khan Ja’afarbal on the left bank of the
Gurgan.
Our readied up the right bank of the Gurgan the whole way, and we did
not cross the river till we arrived at this village.
Dry lagoon between Gumish Some way out we crossed the bed of what 1
Tappeh and the Gurgan was told was a lagoon in former days,
river.
Twenty years ago, so our guide told us, the whole country was mostly
under water, and covered with reeds and swamps full of fish and fowl.. Now
these have all dried up, and the ground is being brought under cultiva
tion, and men were to be seen ploughing with either a camel or a pony in
all directions.
The river Kara Su, 5 miles from Oba-i-’Aneh Khan Ja’afarbai, forms the
limit of the Yamut country north-west of the
town of Astarabad. The Ja’afarbai in Persian
territory are said to number 3,000 families. Of
these about 500 are Chart'd and are located
on the right bank of the Gurgan within a
radius of 8 or 10 miles from the river; of the
Chumur, some 50 families are said to have
settled at a place lately left dry by the sea
called Tazehabad, about 3 farsalchs to the
north of Gumish Tappeh, but with that excep-
Kara Su river.
Ja’afarbai in Persian terri
tory.
Ja’afarbai Chdrvd on Gur-
gan.
Ja’afarbai Chumur settle
ments.
Tazehabad.
Gumish Tappeh.