National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

as Gabr-k̲h̲ānabā, the 'houses of Gabrs (Zoroastrians)', and probably of some
antiquity. Ruined cisterns were said to exist among the fields. A gentle ascent,
in places over bare rock, then brought us to the watershed situated on a broad
ridge at an elevation of approximately 2,900 feet, and about 2 miles distant
from camp.

The descent was easy at first, leading down the open head of a valley where a
ruined dwelling known as Mirzābūn was to be seen to the west. Then a very
steep track led down over step-like layers of limestone into the narrow winding
gorge of Tang-i-bēdū. Large stone blocks placed to form a kind of parapet along
parts of the narrow track marked its use as an old caravan route. From the point
where the bottom of the gorge was gained, about 2 miles beyond the watershed,
going between precipitous rock walls on either side was very rough. A small
grove of date-palms was passed below a little spring, and in places where bare
water-worn rock makes the passage down the narrow flood-bed of the gorge
particularly difficult, there were to be seen traces of an old road carried on walls
along the foot of the cliffs. At last, after having followed the gorge for close on
4 miles, we emerged on more open ground and from a low ridge, overlooking
the date grove of Tawakali and bearing much-decayed remains of roughly built
dwellings, gained our first sight of the wide Galehdar valley.

The remaining portion of the march took us past shallow troughs where
marshy streamlets feed reed beds and small scattered plantations of date palms.
Remains of ruined aqueducts showed where this precious water had been carried,
at a time not very distant, to cultivation now wholly abandoned lower down in
the main valley. Finally we crossed a wide scrubby plain to the north-east inter-
spersed with grassy patches bearing little flowers, signs of a modest primavera,
and after having covered altogether some 12 miles reached 'Abbās Khān's forti-
fied residence at the hamlet of Nauba.

The welcome offered by the young Shaikh was warm, and his wish to make
himself useful obviously genuine. But it did not take us long to realize that his
ability to give effect to this good intention was greatly limited. His father, 'Alī
Akbar Khān, who as the chief landowner of the Galehdar tract had exercised
recognized local authority, had a year or two before on the passage of troops
from Shīrāz been removed to Tehrān. Such nominal control as 'Abbās Khān was
entrusted with in his stead had been greatly impaired by the general unrest
which the reported rising of 'Alī Khān, brother of Saulat-ud-dauleh, the late
Īlkhānī, or chief, of all the Qāshqai tribes, had produced. The valleys to the
north and north-east formed part of the regular winter grazing-grounds of
Qāshqai tribal sections, and as the late Īlkhānī when in power had acquired a
good deal of landed property both in Galehdar and in the adjoining tracts to the