"إضافات إلى دليل بلاد فارس، المجلدات II إلى IV." [و‎‎١‎٠‎٣] (٣٧٠/٢٠٥)

27
YAZD— contd. • -
a small break near Zain-ud-diu by a spur of the Shirkuh to Karman.
From the north and east the winds come down in spring and summer
with great force, bringing such sand storms that the place becomes as dark
as night, while great desiccating heat waves burn up everything in their
way. These sandstorms are to the north and east, gradually engulping
the town; gardens and cultivation bit by bit disappear, and it is probablo
that in course of time Yazd itself will disappear as has been prophesied.
The people say that the original town was some four farsakhs (14 miles)
east of the present one, but that it was completely buried in the sand.
There are three small unimportant maidans, viz., Maidan-i-Khan, where
the executions take place, the Maidan-i-Shnh; and MiUKhatma.
There are 18 mosques ; the Musjid-i-Juma is said to be at least 900
years* old. There are seven colleges. In the bazars and outside the
town possesses 33 caravansarais, 15 of which are occupied by mer
chants and the remainder kept for travellers. There are about 40
hamams in the place. The main feature is the old town, in which
is the Arg or citadel, where the Governor lives; it has walls, with
bastions, gates and a ditch. The Arg is, or rather was, heavily forti
fied, and even to-day is quite strong enough to resist the rush of an ill
armed mob. The bazars are small and uninteresting; the main bazar is
fairly well built and lighted, but the side ones are dark and dirty; the entire
absence of active life in bothjstreets and bazars strikes the traveller, and it
is difficult to believe that the place is a centre of considerable trade which is
yearly increasing. One feature to be noticed when looking on the town
from a height is the number of curious tumuli looking buildings, crowned
by small lanterns, covered with oiled paper, or with a couple of pairs of
staring eyes of bottle glass. These are the places where the various manu
factures are carried on, and which hide the major portion of the population.
In small covered-in rooms, without any ventilation, men, women and
children work at their trades from early morning until sunset.
Parsees .—The contrast to this in the Parsee quarter is very great, the
streets are wider and clean, attention is given to the free circulation of air.
The Parsees are neater in dress and cleaner and more healthy looking than the
Mussulmans. Their houses are good and each one has its well kept garden.
I visited one of their schools, a large well built house, with fine open rooms,
both for winter and summer. There were some 150 boys present, divided
into classes. About seven or eight were being taught English, history
and geography. The latter two subjects do not enter into the regular
course, as they have no books in Zend or Persian to teach from. The
schools are supported from a Bombay Society, called “ The Society for the
Amelioration of the Condition of Zoroastrians in Persia. ** هذه التواريخ تقريبية In the Yazd
district are eight schools, viz., four in Yazd itself and one in each of the
villages of Taft, Kuchabyuk, Nasirabad and Shahabad. In all, some 500
boys are educated in Zend, Persian, Arabic and English. No attention is
given to the education of the girls, it is considered quite unnecessary as
lono* as she can sew and cook. The Zoroastrians of the Yazd province,
according to the census of February 1892, numbered 6,908, exclusive of
those travelling. Besides the town of Yazd they inhabit the following
villages : Taft, Kasimabad, Nainabad, Rahmatabad, Muhammabad,
MaiTabad, Kuchabyuk, Nasirabad, Kasnavia, Madr-i-Sadr, Nasratabad