enjoys an unenviable reputation because of the poisonous bug of Persia, shahgaz^ whose bite occasions severe fever, and some- times even results in death. ^
Change after change of horses had been effected since our start at daylight ; and now, as we began the long ascent of the plain rising towards the city of Shahrud, the sun glowed with a scorching blaze, while clouds of suffocating dust filled the air. We breathed a sigh of relief from our choked throats when, about noon, we caught a glimpse of the soft green jujube trees (sinjid^ rising in thick clusters behind the walls of the city.
Shahrud lies at the foot of a mountain spur, and is washed by the river Shah-rud, ' King River,' from which it derives its name. No mention of the city appears to be found in the early Arab and Persian geographers, although they all refer to its neighbor, the historic Bustam, so that it may have come into prominence later. 2 It is the capital of the district Shahrud-Bustam, and a successful business rival to its senior, although Bustam remains the residence of the governor. ^ Shahrud owes much of its com- mercial welfare to its advantageous position, for it lies nearly midway between Teheran and Mashad, on the great Khurasan route, and forms the meeting-place of a number of important highroads, especially those leading to Astrabad and the Caspian on the north, and from Yazd, Tabbas,and other places on the south. The strategical importance of the place, as well as its mercantile value, has been recognized by military authorities, but its old fortress of mud would offer little defence in present-day warfare.*
1 See Euan Smith, in Goldsmid, p. 158, Bustam ; Eraser (1822), p. 342, Eastern Persia, 1. 381, and O'Dono- Shahrud; Euan Smith (1872), 1.378, van, Merv Oasis, 1. 393-394. Bustam ; Curzon (1889), 1. 283, Bus-
2 On this matter see Le Strange, tam ; but Shah Nasir ad-Din (1865), Eastern Caliphate, p. 366, n. 1. Diary, p. 89, expressly notes, ' The
- The question of the relative su- population and place of Bustam is
premacy between Shahrud and Bustam smaller than Shahrud, but its build- has been variously answered by differ- ings are larger and better. ' This was ent writers during the past century, my own impression, preference to the one or the other be- * See Curzon, 1. 282 ; Eraser, pp. ing given as follows : Truilhier (1807), 342-343.
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