Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/748

Rh 714 HERAT The city possesses five gates, two on the northern face, the Kutab-chak near the north-east angle of the wall, and the Malik at the re-entering angle of the Ark-i-now ; and three others in the centres of the remaining faces, the Irak gate on the west, the Kandahar gate on the south, and the Khushk gate on the east face. Four streets called the Chahar-suk, and running from the centre of each face, meet in the centre of the town in a small domed quadrangle. The principal street runs from the south or Kandahar gate to the market in front of the citadel, and is covered in with a vaulted roof through its entire length, the shops and buildings of this bazaar being much superior to those of the other streets, and the merchants caravanserais, several of which are spacious and well built, all opening out on this great thoroughfare. Near the central quadrangle of the city is a vast reservoir of water, the dome of which is of bold and excellent proportions. It is stated by General Terrier to have been constructed by command of Shah Abbas, and to be a chef d oeuvre of its kind. It is supposed to contain above a twelve months supply of water for the entire city, but, as M. Khanikoff observes, it is within easy mortar range of the high ground at the north-east angle of the city, and might thus be destroyed by a few well-directed shells, in which case the ruins of the dome would fill up the basin and the water supply would be lost. The only other public building of any consequence in Herat is the great mosque or Mesjid-i-Jiima, which comprises an area of 800 yards square, and must have been a most magnificent structure. It was erected towards the close of the 15th century, during the reign of Shah Sultan Hussein of the family of Timur, and is said when perfect to have been 46 5 feet long by 275 feet wide, to have had 403 cupolas, 130 j windows, 444 pillars, and G entrances, and to have been adorned in the most magnificent manner with gilding, carv ing, precious mosaics, and other elaborate and costly em bellishments. Now, however, it is falling rapidly into ruin, the ever-changing provincial governors who administer Herat having neither the means nor the inclination to undertake the necessary repairs. Neither the palace of the Chirbagh within the city wall, which was the residence of the British mission in 1840-41, nor the royal quarters in the citadel deserve any special notice. At the present day, with the exception of the Chakct)--suk, where there is always a certain amount of. traffic, and where the great diversity of race and costume imparts much liveliness to the scene, Herat presents a very melancholy and desolate appearance. Ths mud houses in rear of the bazaars are for the most part uninhabited and in ruins, and even the burnt brick build ings are becoming everywhere dilapidated. The city is besides one of the filthiest in the East, as there are no means of drainage or sewerage, and garbage of every descrip tion lies in heaps in the open streets. With regard to the population, it fluctuates so rapidly, according to the circumstances of the period, that it is impossible to give any estimate of its normal strength. When Christie visited the city in 1809 it was in a very prosperous condition, having been undisturbed for fifty years, and was supposed to contain 100,000 inhabitants. A. Conolly in 1828 reduced the numbers to 45,000. Before the Persian siege in 1837 the population was estimated at 70,000, but at the close of the war 6000 or 7000 were all that remained. In 1845, at the time of General Terrier s visit, the numbers had increased again to 22,000, and con- tinned to increase to the time of the capture of the place by Do st Mahomed Khan in 1863, when there were at least oO,000 inhabitants within the walls. Since that time Herat has been a mere provincial city governed from Cabul, and its average population has ranged between 20,000 and 30,000, within which, limits must be confined its present estimate. The maximum population of which the enceinte would seem to be capable may be put at Christie s estimate of 100,000, and it is manifest therefore that when Herat contained a population of a million and a half, as is testified by so many contemporary autho rities, the present city could have been only the citadel of this vast metropolis, the great mass of buildings lying along the slopes of the northern hills, where for a space of some 4 miles in length by 3 miles in breadth the surface of the plain, strewed over its whole extent with pieces of pottery and crumbling bricks, is also broken here and there by earthen mounds and ruined walls, the debris of palatial structures which at one time were the glory and wonder of the East. Of these structures indeed some have survived to the present day in a sufficiently perfect state to bear witness to the grandeur and beauty of the old architecture of Herat. -The mosque, of the Mosella, for instance, originally built in the 12th century, but restored or rather rebuilt at the end of the 15th century, and intended for the reception of the body of the Imam Keza which Shah Sultan Hussein wished to remove from Meshed to Herat, is, even in its present state of ruin and decay, one of the most imposing and elegant structures to be seen in Asia. &quot;The mosque,&quot; says General Ferrier, &quot; is completely covered with a mosaic of glazed bricks in varied and beautiful patterns, and the cupola is of amazing dimensions. Several arcades supported by pillars in brick equal the proportions of the arch of Ctesiphon, and the seven mag nificent minarets that surround it may be said to be intact, for the upper part of them only is slightly injured.&quot; Scarcely inferior in beauty of design and execution, though of more moderate dimen sions, is the tomb of the saint Abdullah Ansari, in the same neighbourhood. This building, which was erected by Shall Kokh Mirza, the grandson of Timur, nearly 500 years ago, contains some exquisite specimens of sculpture in the best style of Oriental art. Adjoining the tomb also are numerous marble mausoleums, the sepulchres of princes of the house of Timur ; and especially deserv ing of notice is a royal building tastefully decorated by an Italian artist named Geraldi, who was iu the service of Shah Abbas the Great. The locality, which is further enlivened by gardens and running streams, is named Gazir-gdh, and is a favourite resort of the Heratis. It is held indeed in high veneration by all classes, and the famous Dost Mahomed Khan is himself buried at the foot of the tomb of the saint.. Two other royal palaces named respect ively agh-i-Shah and Takht-i-Scfcr, are situated on the same rising ground somewhat further to the west. The buildings are now in ruins, but the view from the pavilions, shaded by splendid plane trees on the terraced gardens formed on the slope of the moun tain, is said to be very beautiful. The population of Herat and the neighbourhood is of a very mixed character. The original inhabitants of Ariana were no doubt of the Aryan family, and immediately cognate with the Peisian race, but they were probably intermixed at a very early period with the Saca; and Massaget;e, who seem to have held the mountains from Cabul to Herat from the first dawn of history, and to whom must- be ascribed rather than to an infusion of Turco-Tartaric blood introduced by the armies of Jenghiz and Timur the peculiar broad features and flattish countenance which distinguish the inhabitants of Herat, Seistan, and the eastern provinces of Persia from their countrymen further to the west. Under the government of Herat, however, there are a very large number of tribes, uilcd over by separate and semi-independent chiefs, and belonging pro bably to different nationalities. The principal group of tribes is called the Chaliar-Aimdk, or &quot;four races,&quot; the constituent parts of which, however, are variously stated by different authorities both as to strength and nomenclature. Mountstuart Elphinstone, by far the best general authority on Afghan questions, gives^the original four tribes as the Taimeni s, the Hazarehs, the Taiim ms, and Zuris ; Khanikoff, on the other hand, whose forte was ethno- 12,000); while Pottinger substitutes the Sooni Hazarehs of Kileh- now for the Kipchaks of Khanikoff, and raises the Firoz-kohi Aimaks to 30,000 families. These tribes all dwell in the mountains to the north-east, the east, and the south-cast of Herat, and number in the aggregate perhaps a million souls. Major Taylor, who made special inquiries on the subject in 1856, found that the governor of Herat could raise for fighting purposes from these tribes and the allied Turcomans of Merv 47,000 horse and 23,000 foot, but matters have- very much changed since Herat came under the government of Cabul in 1863, the recent policy being to lower the fighting force of the semi-independent chiefs, and to substitute infantry regiments raised and paid by the central authority. At present there are perhaps ten such regiments, which can be supple mented by about 10,000 horse and 10,000 irregular foot. The trade of Herat is also subject to great fluctuation. From its central geographical position it must naturally be an emporium of commerce between Persia, Turkestan, Afghanistan, and India, while owing to the richness of the valley, which can usually fur nish supplies for 150,000 men over and above the consumption of