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

Chapter I.—In Westernmost Färs

82 IN WESTERNMOST FA RS [Chap. I where least decayed still stands to a height of 5-6 feet with an average thickness of about 5 feet. From the cliffs on the north it runs for about 830 yards down to the lowest portion of the saddle. There it is crossed first by an old canal descending from the valley of Darra-i-Anjlreh in the north-east and then by the road. Here for some 80 yards it has been completely effaced by erosion. Thereafter the line of the wall is traceable right up to the foot of the cliffs to the south for an estimated distance of some 450 yards. Judging from its position on the slope below the watershed and from its rough construction, the wall seemed to have been intended more for a barrier to control traffic passing through the defile than for effective defence. All the same it bears the character of a regular chiusa. The far advanced decay of the portion exposed to erosion and the massive, if rough, construction point to considerable age. Taking into account the fact that the line passing through the defile is the one which the important ancient high road was bound to follow owing to geographical features, the conclusion suggested itself that the wall marked a place where the hillmen in ancient as well as in modern times could conveniently levy dues on traffic passing through their territory.

1 These considerations make me strongly inclined to believe that we may safely locate here an episode related by Arrian and Diodorus on 1 The name of Sangar-i-Nädiri which Professor Herzfeld {Petermann's Mittheilungen, 1907, p. 84) notes as being applied to the wall, indicates local tradition about the great age of the chiusa. Popular belief all over Persia is apt to connect remains of any antiquity with the great name of Nadir Shah. It is obvious that so powerful a ruler had no need to build such a wall either to defend the passage or to have transit dues levied.