KERMAN  ,

capital of the above province, situated in 30° 17' N., 56° 59' E., at an elevation of 6too ft . Its population is estimated at 6o,000, including about 2000 Zoroastrians, too Jews, and a few Shikarpuri Indians . Kerman has post and telegraph offices (Indo-European Telegraph Department), British and Russian consulates, and an agency of the Imperial bank of Persia . The neighbouring districts produce little grain and have to get their supplies for four or five months of the year from districts far away . A traveller has stated that it was easier to get a mann (61 lb) of saffron at Kerman than a mann of barley for his horse, and in 1879 Sir A . Houtum-Schindler was ordered by the authorities to curtail his excursions in the province " because his horses and mules ate up all the stock." Kerman manufactures great quantities of carpets and felts, and its carpets are almost unsurpassed for richness of texture and durability . The old name of the city was Guvashir . Adjoining the city on hills rising 400 to 500 ft. above the plain in the east are the ruins of two ancient forts with walls built of sun-dried bricks on stone foundations . Some of the walls are in perfect condition . Among the mosques in the city two deserve special notice, one the Masjid i Jama, a foundation of the Muzaffarid ruler Mubariz ed din Mahommed dating from A.H . 1349, the other the Masjid i Malik built by Malik Kaverd Seljuk (1041-1072) .