ABSTRACT
The Holy City of Meshed lies at the broadest part of the valley of the Kashaf Rud, long ranges of mountains, peak rising behind peak, bounding the wide plain on either side. Tracks, worn by the feet of countless caravans that have passed through the centuries, cross and recross what is one of the most fertile districts of Persia, and in the spring the wide stretches of land under cultivation are green with crops of wheat, barley, millet, lucerne, beans, and opium. The greater part of the ground is irrigated, and water is carried from the hills by means of kanats, the shafts used in the boring of these subterranean watercourses being dotted all over the plain. In the course of years, the mouths of these great circles of earth fall in, and assume alarming dimensions, one close to the city being capable of engulfing a carriage and pair with ease as it lies beside the rough track frequented by all who drive.
