'Military Report on Persia' [‎33r] (70/134)

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CHAPTER V.
Communications.*
With the exception of some three or four short Roads,
carriage-roads mentioned below, constructed mainly by
Russian enterprise, there are practically no roads in
Persia which, as regards their suitability for wheeled
traffic, can, according to European standards, be described
as “ good.”
Such as exist are either caravan or mule-tracks, which
have been to some extent improved for commercial
purposes by a slight expenditure of labour, or else
mere natural paths worn smooth by generations of
horses, camels, mules, and donkeys. Long stretches of
sand, rough mountain-tracks covered with boulders and
loose jagged stones, slippery rocks, narrow defiles, and
steep gradients, are the characteristics of most Persian
roads.
The numerous irrigation cuts, which intersect the
cultivated portions of the country, would prove serious
obstacles to troops moving off the roads.
Except on the better class of roads, where carriages
and fourgons are used, the usual method of travelling is
cither by “ cAapar-riding,” or by caravan.
The former is the posting system, by Avhicb relays
of fresh horses are obtained at the chapar-hhanas, or
fixed stations, along the route. By the latter method,
which is less speedy but more independent, the transport
animals and caravan equipment are hired or purchased
for the whole journey.
The charge for post-horses when chapar-riding is
equivalent to about 2d. per mile for each horse. A single
traveller with a servant and baggage requires at least
four horses. Of late years the introduction into Teheran
by the Russians of carriages has led to their more exten
sive use on some of the smoother main tracks, other than
main roads, such as those from Teheran to Hamadan,
Meshed, Kashan, Kerman, Ispahan, and even further