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The Road from Baghdad to Baku Author(S): G. S. F. Napier Source: the Geographical Journal, Vol

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The Road from Baghdad to Baku Author(S): G. S. F. Napier Source: the Geographical Journal, Vol The Road from Baghdad to Baku Author(s): G. S. F. Napier Source: The Geographical Journal, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Jan., 1919), pp. 1-16 Published by: geographicalj Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1780395 Accessed: 07-03-2016 04:45 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Wiley and Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Geographical Journal. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 142.51.1.212 on Mon, 07 Mar 2016 04:45:57 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions The Geographical Journal Vol. LIII No. i January 1919 THE ROAD FROM BAGHDAD TO BAKU Lieut.-Colonel G. S. F. Napier, p.s.c, lately British Military Attache at Teheran (Read at the Meeting of the Society, 11 November 1918.) THE conditions of travel in Persia have altered very considerably since I first visited that country some nineteen years ago. Chapar or postriding, so graphically described by Lord Curzon, has practically disappeared. I think that the Kazvin-Zinjan-Tabriz road is the last on which a supply of chapar horses was maintained. The gradual improve- ment of the roads in the north, allowing the free use of wheeled carriages, killed the system. Since the war however the motor has come, and come to stay. Between 1916 and 1918, while Military Attache' in Persia, I covered over 4000 miles by car, carriage, or horseback, and propose to describe briefly a few of my impressions. I will first take the Enzali-Hamadan- Kirmanshah road, which is of special interest at the present moment, as it is that followed by the British Force which went from Mesopotamia to Baku. The mighty Zagros range, forming a buttress between Mesopotamia and Kirmanshah, is crossed at the gap called Tak-i-Girra between Khanikin and Karind: a formidable climb from the Mesopotamian plain to the Persian plateau, but an easy descent when travelling from east to west. This road, which from the frontier to Kirmanshah is in the nature of a bottle-neck, is the natural line of invasion of Persia from the west, and has been so used from time immemorial. Excepting a slight re-alignment over the Asadabad pass, north-west of Hamadan, the road is the identical track of the Royal Road of Darius. There is an extensive pilgrim traffic along this road between Persia and the shrines of Nejef and Kerbela, and it is the natural route for the import of British and Indian goods into Persia vid Baghdad. Previous to the war the Russians, in whose sphere it lay, were averse to seeing this road successfully exploited for trade, which would jeopardize their monopoly in the north ; and they did not use their influence to make it a safe trade artery. The route from Khanikin to the foot of the Sultan Bulagh pass runs through a well-watered fertile area, capable of producing a large surplus of This content downloaded from 142.51.1.212 on Mon, 07 Mar 2016 04:45:57 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE ROAD FROM BAGHDAD TO BAKU supplies, and of raising and supporting very large numbers of transport animals. Given peaceful conditions in Mesopotamia and Western Persia, it should have a great future before it as an important trade route. We will take the road in detail from north to south-west. Up to 1917 the traveller landing at Enzali, on the Caspian, chartered a carriage and ROUTES IN WESTERN PERSIA drove on to Resht, a matter ot 20 miles and three to four hours' time, at a cost of 60 krans or about 40^. at the present rate of exchange. In the summer of 1917, however, the Pir-i-Bazar railway was opened to traffic, and the traveller now embarks on a small steamer which takes him across the Murdab Lagoon; thence he goes by tow-boat to Pir-i- This content downloaded from 142.51.1.212 on Mon, 07 Mar 2016 04:45:57 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE ROAD FROM BAGHDAD TO BAKU 3 Bazar, and thence by a light railway. The time taken is about three hours, the same as before, but the cost has fallen from 60 to 8 krans. There is a large Russian fishery company at Enzali; vast resources of excellent timber await exploitation ; very fair cigarette tobacco and good fruit, especially oranges, are produced in the surrounding country, and as there are very large tracts of rich land, at present virgin jungle, awaiting clearing and draining, the province should have a great future before it, given decent government. Before leaving Resht it will be as well to say a few words on robbers in general, and Kuchik Khan in particular. In Persia, the land of ups and downs, the vocation of a robber has been described as the stepping-stone to the post of Governor. In the south the Persian force raised by Sir Percy Sykes had been successful during 1917 in maintaining safety on the trade routes; but in the vicinity of Isfahan two powerful robber chieftains, Reza Khan Juzdani and Chiragh Ali, had defied the efForts of the Persian Cossacks, under Russian officers, to maintain security on the roads. Further north, on the shores of the Caspian, the Jangali Band under Kuchik Khan practically ruled the whole of the province of Gilan, and ruled it rather well according to Persian standards. From his headquarters at Kasma, some 17 miles north-west of Resht, he played the part of a modern Robin Hood, oppress- ing the rich and securing the adhesion of the poor by remitting their taxation. By kidnapping and other means he extorted very large sums from the rich, all money received being scrupulously paid into a common treasure-chest, from which every member of the band, from himself down- wards, received a definite monthly salary. The pay of a Jangali trooper was 100 krans a month, nearly double that paid by the Russians to a private in the Persian Cossacks. Various abortive Russo-Persian expeditions were organized against the band in 1915-16, but after the revolution they managed to maintain friendly relations with the Russians, and at first scrupulously refrained from all interference with Europeans. Kuchik Khan had considerable dealings with the Turks and Germans during 1917, and many enemy prisoners, escaped from Transcaspia, passed through his headquarters, and some appear to have acted as drill instructors to his men or in other advisory capacities. In the winter of 1917-18 he dismissed the Governor of Resht, nomi- nated by the Shah's Government, and installed his own nominee. Early in the present year he arrested our Vice-Consul, the local manager of the Imperial Bank of Persia, and others, but subsequently liberated them, and since then a modus vivendi has been arrived at. The band purchased large quantities of arms, ammunition, and equipment from the troops returning to Russia in 1917-18, and maintain a partially trained permanent force. At one time Kuchik Khan was anxious to extend his influence south- wards and to win over the powerful Shahseven tribe to his side by giving This content downloaded from 142.51.1.212 on Mon, 07 Mar 2016 04:45:57 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 4 THE ROAD FROM BAGHDAD TO BAKU them the governorship of Kazvin. When I passed through that town in March last I saw a few of his armed troopers, in the uniform of the band, in the principal street. But the main strength of the Jangalis lies in the wooded nature of the country and in their intimate acquaintance with every track. To have left the security of their wooded fastnesses by coming into the more open country south of Manjil would have been to invite disaster. Resht, the capital of the province of Gilan, is a fairly prosperous little town, but owing to its low altitude and heavy rainfall the climate is very depressing for Europeans. From Resht to Kazvin, a matter of 125 miles, is a fairly well-aligned metalled road, constructed and maintained by the Russian Enzali-Tehran Road Company. Before the Revolution Russian cars took about thirteen hours from Resht to Kazvin, and about two hours less the other way, owing to the down gradient. After the Revolution, however, the Russian chauffeurs always insisted on taking at least two days over the journey, stopping to drink tea or eat wherever free food was going. Relays of carriage-horses are maintained at all the posting stages, but owing to the war the horses are deficient in numberj and in wretched condition. This remark applies equally to posting stages on all roads in Persia at present. For the first hour's motor run after leaving Resht, about 18 miles, the road crosses a flat fertile plain, in part cultivated, in part virgin jungle. The rank vegetation, due to the heavy rainfall on the Caspian littoral, somewhat reminds one of Ceylon. Soon afterwards the car enters the valley of the Safed Rud, which flows in the centre of a wide stony bed.
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