The town of Ashraf in Mazandaran (G. C. Napier, 1876)

The town of Ashraf in Mazandaran

December 8^th, 1874. Town of Ashraf. ― Halt at Ashraf. The town is now in a far better state than when visited by Fraser and Burnes. It contains from 1200 to 1400 families and 40 to 50 shops. Three or four of the leading merchants have transactions with Constantinople and Astrakhan, exporting cotton, sugar, European goods, cutlery, hardware; importing chiefly iron, iron vessels, crockery, tea-urns, &c. Their port is Mash-had-i-Sar, distant 19 fursakhs, the road passing through Sari and Barfrush. The inhabitants of Ashraf are of mixed race: there are descendants of a Georgian colony brought from the Caucasus by Shah Abbas Seffawi; some families of Talish, a Turk tribe from the coast near Lankeron; Tats, a Persian tribe, and a few houses of Godars, a peculiar race whose origin is very obscure. They are the “Pariah” caste of Mazanderan, having a status and occupation similar to those of the aboriginal tribes of India, the Coles, Bheels and Dares. They are village watchmen, hunters, fishermen, and, though nominally Mussulmans, live mainly on the flesh of wild swine. In summer they wander in the forest when not employed in watching the distant fields. In winter a small thatched cabin on the outskirts of some village shelters them and their families. They rarely marry Persian women, but their women, if pretty are occasionally taken by Persians. From the specimens I saw, there can, I think, be little doubt of their Indian origin. The men are short and dark, but show a good deal of Persian blood. The women, of whom I saw two or three, are short, dark, and slender, with irregular, small features, and little, graceful figures; their costume very much that of Indian women of the lower castes. The children were very dark, and far more slender and spare than the Persians. They appear to have no traditions of their origin, but I was not able to question any but young men of the tribe. They speak the Mazanderani dialect. The Governor of Ashraf is a native, by name Abbas Guli Khan, Sarhang (Colonel), who is also in charge of the irregular troops of the district, and has the customs contract for the ports of Gez and Mash-had-i-Sar. From its situation, Ashraf should be unhealthy; it is enclosed in a hollow of the mountains formed by a projecting spur, on which stands the castle of Seffiabad. Fever, however, is not more prevalent than in other towns of the province. Cholera appears frequently, and is much dreaded. The famous garden of Shah Abbas is now entirely neglected; the buildings, fountains, and raised stone terraces in ruins. Its natural beauties are, perhaps, unequalled. It is backed by lofty wooded spurs; to the north is a fine view over the blue bay of Ashurada. Several springs rising under the hill-slope flow through it. The Cyprus-trees are of gigantic growth, and several of them covered with massive wreaths of wild vine. Orange and citron-trees grow in wild luxuriance; their fruit is left to fall, and literally covers the ground; every house in the town being provided with its own garden or group of orange-trees; there is no market, and it is worth no one’s while to export. The old castle of Seffiabad has been replaced by a new building in the European style, with fine rooms. It is decorated outside without taste, in the Persian style, but commands a fine view of the bay and plain. It is already, even before completion, falling to ruin. Though now of little note, Ashraf should some day be the centre of one of the most important agricultural districts of Persia. Everything is there but the energy and capital which, perhaps, can only come from the West.

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)