‘Persia – especially Seistan’ [‎178v] (355/949)

4
The Mohammerah-
A hwaz-Shuster-
T'ehian route.
The Bara-
Bagdad-Khana-
kin-Kermanshah-
Hamadau-Tehran-
route.
with tlie exception of one difficult pass through the
is adapted to carts and even to carriages, though
The Bunder Abbas-
Kerman*Yezd-Nain-
Kashan-Tehran
route.
Tbe Quetta-Nushkh
Chageh-Nasratabad
route into Persia.
The Trans-Cauca
sian-Jul fa-Tabreez
and Shah Takhta-
Tabreez routes, aud
tbe new read
between Juifa and
Tabreez.
somewdiat lower), and then descends, almost perpendicularly, by four passes—
in fact this section has been christened the “ Ladder of Weils.” Prom Shiraz
to Ispahan the distance is 500 versts, after which the road through Kashan
and Kum to Tehran,
mountains of Kohrud,
presenting great difficulties.
Prom the port of Mohammerah on the Shat-el-Arab there is a water-way
of 280 versts by the river Karun to the cataracts at the town Ahwaz, where
goods are unloaded from the steamers and sent on further by railway. After
passing the cataracts they are once more put on board steamers and taken by
water to Shuster. The transport as far as Ahwaz is carried out by the steamers
of the Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Company, and beyond the
cataracts, in the Upper Karun, by the Persian Steamship Company Nasirie,
which owns the horse tramway from the town of Ahwaz. Prom Ahwaz to
Tehran the distance is 750 versts. When the Karun was opened in 1888 to
foreign vessels, the English had great hopes of being able to develop their
trade in Persia, and under the influence of these expectations the Imperial
Bank of Persia undertook the construction of a macadamized road from
Shuster to Tehran, with a branch from Burujird to Ispahan, but these hopes
w T ere not realized, and having built a road from Tehran to Sultanabad, 250
versts, the Bank not only wholly abandoned the completion of the enterprise
on account of the heavy expense of futher construction and its doubtful
ultimate advantage, but even stopped working the section of the road from
Sultanabad to Kum.
The third route starts from Basra and proceeds through Bagdad, whence
goods enter Persian territory. Ascending the Tigris, they reach Bagdad in four
days, and passing into Turkish territory to the frontier town of Khanakin are
carried into Persia, through Kermanshah and Hamadan to Tehran. From Bag
dad to Tehran the distance is H20 versts, which the caravans cover in twenty-
four to thirty-six days, and this route would be preferred by European trade
to all other southern routes, if the robberies by Arabs and the difficulties with
the Turkish custom-houses did not impede the free movement of caravans.
At the present moment a road is in course of construction from Kazvin to
Hamadan in the direction of Bagdad, and is to be finished by January 1904 .*
The work is under the control of the District Loan Bank of Persia, who took
over Poliakov’s Road Concession in 1901 .
The fourth route runs from Bunder Abbas to Kerman and Yezd, a distance
of 850 versts and is traversed by caravans in thirty days. Prom Yezd it goes
to Nain, more than 150 versts, where one branch turns westward to Ispahan
and the other to Kashan on the Bushire-Tehran caravan road. The whole
route to Nain is extremely difficult and dangerous on account of the neighbour
ing robber tribes of Baluchi. Prom Kirman the road bends to the north as
far as Birjand, through which goods pass to Meshed via Gumain.
The English have long since tried to penetrate into Khorasan, avoiding
this dangerous and difficult road, and have latterly succeeded in opening a new
and safe route for their Indian goods through British Baluchistan and Seistan
in the direction of Quetta, Nushki, Chageh, and Nasratabad. In 1899 goods to
the value of 500,000 roubles passed over this road to Persia, and from Seistan to
the amount of 100,000 roubles, but it has a more strategical than commercial
importance for England on account of the ever-present fear of a Russain
attack upon India.
There are also two roads from Bunder Abbas to Shiraz, where goods were
carried in the time of the Portuguese, but they have now no importance.
Prom Trans Caucasia Russian goods enter Persia through the Shah-
Takhta custom-house, a distance of 237 versts, and through the Juifa custom
house, or passing the Caspain frontier at Astara. Prom Juifa to Tabreez the
distance is 120 versts, the first 35 of which run over a difficult mountain
section. Further on the route improves, and takes the direction of the town
of Marand, over a pass to the settlements of Yash and Sofian, and ultimately
to Tabreez. After the transfer of Poliakov’s road Concession to the Discount
* The “ Novoe Vremya ” of the 18th November reports that a party of engineers had arrived at Heeht to
construct the Kazvin-Hamadan road.