É. Apor (ed.): Stein, Aurel: Old Routes of Western Iran. (Budapest Oriental Reprints, Ser. B 2.)

Chapter I.—In Westernmost Färs

Sec. i] FROM BUSHIRE TO ARDAKAN 5 five years before of gendarmerie posts at regular intervals this road had suffered a good deal from marauding exploits of the powerful Buyair Ahmad tribe in the north-west. For a considerable distance a succession of vineyards, whether still planted or abandoned, bore witness of that wine for which Shlräz has been famous since early times. The best of it was said to be produced in the Kulär valley on the opposite side of the hill range to the north. A route leading to Kulär was passed a couple of miles below Shül when we resumed our march on November 21st, after a cold night passed at an elevation of some 7000 feet. On descending the valley a wide view was obtained across the broad trough of Ardakän overlooked on the north by the high snowy peaks of Rünj. The stream fed by them brings down an abundant supply of water on to the elevated plateau of Ardakän, affording for its length of some 10 miles an ample expanse of fertile land. On moving along the northern rim of this trough past the village of Dälin there were to be seen extensive debris-covered terraces marking old village sites. On the slope high above them there could be traced the line of a large canal which had at one time helped to irrigate a great part of the gently sloping land below. It is now all scrub-covered waste. In Karlm Khän Zand's time this canal was said to have carried its water across a low saddle eastward into the valley of Kulär, and thence even to a western portion of the Marw-dasht plain. Its construction may well date much further back. While following the road towards Ardakän town I had noticed a small conical mound, obviously artificial. It rises amidst cultivated flat ground low down in the basin drained by branching channels of the stream which farther down