'Collection of journals and reports received from Captain the Hon G C Napier, Bengal Staff Corps, on special duty in Persia, 1874. Includes revised index. London: HMSO, 1876' [‎16v] (36/409)

20
Coal.
Chalchalyan
Tass.
Bostam Plain.
the highest inhabited point in Persia, and is probably 7,800 to
8,000 feet. Both villages lie under the shadow of the high ridge,
bearing the local name of Shahkoh-Gokshan. r lhis ridge, rising
at Chashma Ali and attaining a height of 13,000 to 14,000 feet, runs
about due east and west, and falls away into the plain of Shahrood ;
unlike most of the highest points of the range, it has a sharp
serrated ridge with a sheer face to the north, in the hollows ol
which large beds of snow lie all through the summer—an un
fortunate proximity for the people of Shahkoh, who have to keep
the Governor of Astrabad supplied with it at the rate of three
loads per house per month ; of this they complained loudly. At
Shahkoh Bala there are said to be seams of coal, never worked.
The lower spurs of Shahkoh are composed almost entirely of clay,
chalk, and conglomerate.
2\st July. Task (Task ).—From Shahkoh descending again
to the stream and following it for a few miles, the defile narrows,
and is at one point enclosed by hills of pure white chalk, clay, and
sand. The faces of the spurs were much worn by weather and
their formation exposed. The thickness, strike, and dip of successive
strata down to the level of the valley might be accurately measured.
Three seams of coal and coal mixed with clay were visible at
various elevations. One bed of blue clay cut away by the stream
showed a seam of good coal which might be worked from the
surface. The people of Shahkoh appear not to know the use of
the mineral, and had never worked it, but I found that at Tash a
few miles off* (10 or 12), there was a mine which had been worked
for some time, the coal being carried to Gez to supply the Russian
steamers. The working of the mine had ceased with the demand,
the steamers being supplied from some nearer source, or using
et Baku oil ” (petroleum). Following this stream to its head the
road crosses the Chalchalyan pass, 8,600 feet, over an elevated
open spur of Shahkoh, and descends a stream known as the Gandab
above, and the Ab-i-Tash lower down, to the junction of the main
road and telegraph line to Astrabad, where is a good camping
ground half a mile from the village of Tash. The village of Tash,
a mere hamlet of 40 houses, lies high up on the mountain. The
people were formerly subject to constant incursions of the Turko
mans, but for now 30 years have been at peace.
22nd July. To Shahrood, 19^ miles .—March down the defile
of the Ab-i-Tash, the hills opening and getting more barren at
every step. At about five miles the defile opens on to a wide
plain enclosed by mountains utterly barren and destitute of vege
tation. Traversing this plain, which is without villages and sweet
water (the Ab-i-Tash being rendered brackish by a tributary
from the south), the road enters the Shahrood Bostam plain which
extends eastwards to the desert, scarcely broken by the last un
dulations of the Alburz. There are many large villages on the
plain, all walled and surrounded with watch towers, but the state
of these defences shows that the need for them has passed. It is
now 11 years since a Turkoman has been seen on the plain save
in the guise of a peaceful trader. Turning south from Bostam