'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎381] (434/714)

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T1 IE NORTHERN PROVINCES 3 81
Fifteen miles from Barfurush is the port or roadstead of
Meshed-i-Ser, at the mouth of the river Babil. Here the Russian
Me shed- i- steamers of the Caucasus and Mercury touch in their
er circumnavigation of the Caspian, and there is a very
considerable trade, both export and import, principally with
Astrakhan. The harbour accommodation is of the most meagre
description, or, rather, does not exist. The rival influences of river
and wind have, m a manner before described, created a formidable
bar which no effort is made to pierce or dredge. The steamers are
obliged to he out in the offing at a distance of between two and
tree miles from the shore; and passengers and cargo, as at
nzeh, can only be disembarked in calm weather, when they are
transferred to native, flat-bottomed barges. ' The coast here is a
me of low sandhills, overlooking a steep and narrow beach of
ark-grey sand. There are no shells on the shore, no birds in
t e air, no seaweed, no fish, nothing but green water-snakes,
tortoises and frogs.'* There is a Persian Custom-house at
Meshed-^Ser, and a lighthouse, with no light. The only other
ec mce worthy of notice is an imamzadeh of a brother of Imam
ieza who appears to have strewn his dead relatives about this
neighbourhood as thick as autumnal leaves in Vallombrosa.
Amol, the third town of Mazanderan, and the present residence
ot the Governor of the province, is, unlike Barfurush, but like
Amol an ' a P lace tliat ha 8 figured in history. In the time of
\ akut it was the first city in Taberistan; and it lono-
retained a celebrity for its cotton and carpet manufactures. It is
situated on the banks of the Haraz, about twenty-three miles west
of Barfurush, the river being crossed outside the town by a very
old stone bridge, between 80 and 100 yards long and not more
than a yard in width. Gmelin, 120 years ago, found the popula-
ron of Amol to be only 800 persons, but 50 years later Eraser,
still m his generous mood, reported from 35,000 to 40,000, although
on his second visit in 1834 the place was ' a ruin, a desert-the
streets grown with jungle, and not a soul to be seen.' 2 The
population now is said to be about 8,000. There are the ruins here
o a mausoleum, erected by Shah Abbas, over a Seyid, called by
raser Mir Buzurg, who was his mother's ancestor, and raised
Stack, Six Months in Persia, vol. ii. p. 202.
vol^HS 6 TraVelS SoUth 0f the Cas P ian ' ca P- with A Winter's Journey,