The Turks of Sari
December 12th, 1874.
― Sari is now a flourishing town, in a state very different from that described
by Fraser. Externally there is probably little change, its defences consisting
still of a ditch with a low rampart of easy slope, and cut down by traffic in
many places. Originally it must have been sufficiently protected, for the ditch
is still in places wide and deep, and the rampart of imposing profile, with
some sort of provision for flanking fire in the shape of short irregular
bastions and salients. Even from the crest of the parapet hardly anything is to
be seen of the town, the low houses being buried in masses of orange-trees.
There are four gates, the Barfrush, Astrabad, Farababad, and Chil Dukhtaram.
The second only is in good repair, having a guard-house with two towers roofed
with tiles, in a style similar to that represented in drawings of Chinese or
Thibetan towns. Within the town there is an appearance of neatness, order,
activity, and prosperity quite unusual in Persia. The houses are for the most
part well-built, clean, and spacious, each having its yard and group of
orange-trees. The streets are well paved, drained, and provided with raised
footpaths on either side. There are exceptionally bad places, but they are
exceptional, and not the rule, as in all other towns. The bazaars are covered
and kept clean, and the shops well-stocked. The market-place is a sight worth
seeing in the East. It would lose little by comparison with the “Kermess” of
Quimper or Pau; less order an cleanliness, few women, no gardeners, and
red-breeched slouching conscripts, but an ample display of country produce and
cheap foreign wares set out in tempting array. The stalls were for the most
part covered with clean white tents, and the vendors silent and businesslike,
and not inactive. The fruit and butchers’ stalls were particularly well
provided. The town has no special industry, but almost all the wants of the
country are provided for; a rough white cloth, known as “kattan,” and silk
stuffs are woven, and a good deal done in leather work. The mosques are neat
and picturesque, with coved red-tiled roofs, carved wooden pillars and joists,
squares of green turf, and lines of orange-trees. Repair and paving of streets
was, I found, in the hands of the “Kelanters,” or headmen of the six quarters
or mohullas, a sort of municipal committee, receiving little aid from the
Governor, and dependent on the town for funds. Of the population of 15,000 to
16,000 a large proportion are only winter visitors, driven in from the
mountain-pastures and the villages near the summit of the range. A large number
of Firoz Kuhis come down to work in the farms, brickyards, and bazaars during
winter. They are easily distinguished by their ruddy, healthy colours, from the
sallow, haggard citizens and peasants of the marshy, forest-covered plain.
The
trade of Sari has much increased of late years, cotton and wheat being exported
in exchange for European goods. Silk, formerly a great staple, has declined, I
was credibly informed, as a result of trafficking with the infidels at
Astrakhan, to which port large quantity of eggs used to be sent. Much of the
goods displayed was from Western Europe; English piece-goods, French sugar, and
German chinaware and broadcloth. The Russians have a good hold on the market,
but not a monopoly. With better roads across the mountains, English goods from
Ispahan should supply more than a fair share of the market. The reputation of
our goods is unrivalled, but their price is comparatively too high.
The
population of Sari is of mixed origin, the Zaths, or Persians, probably
predominate, Turks, Kurds, and some few hundred Bungashio, Afghans, and
Turkomans making up the list. The Governor, Mirza Masih Moiz-u-Dowla, is a
native; his authority extends directly only over the eastern parts of the
province; he has also a nominal authority over the coast or maritime tribe of
Turkomans, the principal of which is the Ogurjily, a branch of the Jafar Bai.
Beyond the exception of a light tax on trading-boats, they are not interfered
with.
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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