The Gerayli Turks in Quchan
October 26th, 1874. To Koochan, 18 miles.
― From Jafirabad the country slopes gently away north and west to the Koochan
Stream, which rises in the mountains to the north and flows west to the Koochan
Plain past Shirwan and thence passes into a narrow defile enclosed by high
mountains known as the Germekhous, in which it flows till it reaches the Gurgan
Plain. With an undulating surface and fertile soil the Koochan Plain bears a
very different aspect from that lying at the head of the Mash-had Valley; the
greater part of it is under cultivation. There are many fine villages and
numerous camps of the nomadic clans of Zafaranlu. Cultivation also extended far
up the mountain-slopes, which are easy and well covered with soil. Wheat is
largely exported, and is carried as far as Jahjarm, and occasionally Shahrud,
Mash-had, and Sabzawar.
The
town of Koochan lies on the north side of the plain and south of the stream.
Low hills, with round easy slopes, running out from the northern chain,
approach to within a mile of the walls. On the last mound is a terrace known as
the Takh-i-Shah (Fath Ali Shah’s tents having been pitched there), from which a
good view of the town-wall, bazaars, and a great extent of enclosing vineyards
and gardens is obtained. The town-wall is dilapidated and the ditch filled in,
no attempt having been made to restore the defences since they were destroyed
by the troops of Abbas Mirza. The town itself is in a ruinous state, the result
of an earthquake which happened two years ago. South of the town are the ruins
of an old fortified enclosure known as the Kurd Muhalla, said to have been the
first permanent settlement made in the country. The Geraili Turks, who held the
country before the Kurds were imported by Shah Abbas, were nomads, and lived,
as many of the Kurds do now on these bleak mountains, winter and summer, in
their tents of goat’s hair. West of the town a wide, green fertile plain
covered with villages stretches for many miles. In summer or late spring the
landscape would no doubt be a lovely one. In autumn the bare low hills and
brown ploughed land and leafless orchards give it an appearance of desolation
which there is nothing to redeem. The Khan being absent in Mash-had, and his
son on a plundering party, the town was very quiet, and I entered without
creating the usual stir and commotion. Europeans are so seldom seen in the Kurd
districts that it requires little notice to collect the people in the streets
and on the house-tops in crowds. The crowds are, however, invariably silent and
civil, the word “Orus” passed from mouth to mouth in whispers showing their
familiarity with the name, if not with the nation.
G. C. Napier, Kazi Syud Ahmad — Extracts from a Diary
of a Tour in Khorassan, and Notes on the Eastern Alburz Tract. With Notes on
the Yomut Tribe (1876)
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