"دليل بلاد فارس. مجلد I" [ظ‎‎٣‎٤‎٦] (٨٢٠/٧١٣)

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SHA—SHA
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miles on the Shahrud side of Ziarat there is a difficult pass over the
main range of the Elburz mountains. In wet weather, owing to the soil,
laden mules progress with difficulty ; in dry, guns might be taken over it
with labour.
From Shahrud there are four roads to Meshed ; one by Jajarm, Buj-
Roads to Meshed. nGrd and Kacll ^ n > 306 mile8 1 another via Sab-
zawar and Nishapur, 286 miles ; the third by
M ghz, Kalateh-i-’Arab-u-’Ajam, the Juvain plain, and Nishapur, about
the same distance. Another road, which may be called the fourth, goes
off from Jajarm through the Isfarain plain and, passing Sultan Maidan,
comes out into the Meshed plain near Radkan ; it would be about 290
miles. Regarding supplies, the first road is the best, the next best is
the fourth, the second is the worst. The second and the third roads
are the easiest, the first is most difficult in regard to transport.
The hills about Shahrud, which form the lower part of the Elburz
HiUs about shahrud. ran S e > con ] si8t oi .red and white sandstone
and several varieties of lime.
A salt desert runs along the south side of the read all the way from
g a j t Tehian to Shahrud ; and salt is very abundant
in the soil and in the hills to the north.
Shahrud lies so near Ashurada, that it could be immediately seized
, r bv the Russians. There is plenty of water in
Shahrud. t* 16 height of summer for a force of 60,000 men.
The district is very productive; and it would be
impossible to invest it, if properly fortified.
After seizing the Shahrud-Bustam defile, the force could advance up
the valley of the Gurgan and over the Kafr and Sultan Maidan passes
on Meshed. The routes connecting Shahrud' with the Caspian are im
practicable.
Its possession secures the observation of the valleys lying between it
and the Caspian ; and if held in force, and its communications with the
Caspian Sea were assured, no force that Persia could bring into the field from
the west could pass eastward of Shahrud so as to reinforce her army in
Khorasan. Persia could virtually be cut in half ; yet nothing has been
done to protect it.— (Fraser’, Morier; Clerk’, Taylor’, East wick ; Forster’,
Conolly; Gibbons’, Ferrier ; Bellow, Marsh’, MacGregor’, N a'pier’, Lovett \
Stewart ; Schindler.)
SHAHRUD-BUSTAM (District)—
Formerly a district of Khorasan, now a separate district, together with
Boundaries. Damghan and Samnan. under one Governor. It
extends from Deh-i-Mulla on the west to Tur-
shiz in the east, and from the Kkush Yailaq Kuh in the north to beyond
Rishm, more than 100 miles south of Shahrud. On the north-west it
extends to Task and on the south-east to the Kaleh-i-Mura stream, a dis
tance of 150 miles. Its area is more than 12,000 square miles, the greater
part being desert.
I ha t portion of this tract which fe drained by the Rud-i-Shah is known
as the Julgeh-i-Bustam ; and this consists of a fine alluvial tract with