There does not seem any doubt as to the identity of Bardashir with the
present city of Kerman. (See The Cities of Kirman in the time of
Hamd-Allah Mustawfi and Marco Polo, by Guy le Strange, Jour. R. As. Soc.
April, 1901, pp. 281, 290.) Hamd-Allah is the author of the Cosmography
known as the Nuzhat-al-Kulub or "Heart's Delight." (Cf. Major Sykes'
Persia, chap. xvi., and the Geographical Journal for February, 1902, p.
166.) - H. C.]
NOTE 2. - A MS. treatise on precious stones cited by Ouseley mentions
Shebavek in Kerman as the site of a Turquoise mine. This is probably
Shahr-i-Babek, about 100 miles west of the city of Kerman, and not far
from Parez, where Abbott tells us there is a mine of these stones, now
abandoned. Goebel, one of Khanikoff's party, found a deposit of turquoises
at Taft, near Yezd. (Ouseley's Travels, I. 211; J. R. G. S. XXVI.
63-65; Khan. Mem. 203.)
["The province Kerman is still rich in turquoises. The mines of Pariz or
Parez are at Chemen-i-mo-aspan, 16 miles from Pariz on the road to
Bahramabad (principal place of Rafsinjan), and opposite the village or
garden called God-i-Ahmer. These mines were worked up to a few years ago;
the turquoises were of a pale blue. Other turquoises are found in the
present Bardshir plain, and not far from Mashiz, on the slopes of the
Chehel tan mountain, opposite a hill called the Bear Hill (tal-i-Khers).
The Shehr-i-Babek turquoise mines are at the small village Karik, a mile
from Medvar-i-Bala, 10 miles north of Shehr-i-Babek.
