KĀZerŪN

KĀZerŪN, a district and town of the province of Fars in Persia. The district is situated between Shiraz and Bushire. In its centre is the Kāzerūn Valley with a direction N.W. to S.E., a fertile plain 30 m. long and 7 to 8 m. broad, bounded S.E. by the Parishān Lake (8 m. long, 3 m. broad) N.W. by the Boshavir River, with the ruins of the old city of Beh-Shahpur (Beshāver, Boshāvir, also, short, Shāpūr) and Sassanian bas-reliefs on its banks. There also, in a cave, is a statue of Shapur. The remainder of the district is mostly hilly country intersected by numerous streams, plains and hills being covered with zizyphus, wild almond and oak. The district is divided into two divisions: town and villages, the latter being called Kuh i Marreh and again subdivided into (1) Pusht i Kuh; (2) Yarrūk; (3) Shakān. It has forty-six villages and a population of about 15,000; it produces rice of excellent quality, cotton, tobacco and opium, but very little corn, and bread made of the flour of acorns is a staple of food in many villages. Wild almonds are exported.

Kāzerūn, the chief place of the district, is an unwalled town situated in the midst of the central plain, in 29° 37′ N., 51° 43′ E. at an elevation of 2800 ft., 70 m. from Shiraz, and 96 m. from Bushire. It has a population of about 8000, and is divided into four quarters separated by open spaces. Adjoining it on the W. is the famous Nazar garden, with noble avenues of orange trees planted by a former governor, Hajji Ali Kuli Khan, in 1767\. A couple of miles N. of the city behind a low range of hills are the imposing ruins of a marble building said to stand over the grave of Sheik Amin ed din Mahommed b. Zia ed din Mas‘ūd, who died A.H. 740 (A.D. 1339). S.E. of the city on a huge mound are ruins of buildings with underground chambers, popularly known as Kal’eh i Gabr, “castle of the fire-worshippers.”