BARFURUSH, a town in the Persian province of Mazan daran, 36° 32' N. and 52° 42' E., situated in a low-lying district on the eastern side of the River Babil. It is on the high-road from Tehran to the coast and about 15m. distant from the roadstead of Meshed-i-Sar on the shore of the Caspian sea. The population is variously estimated at 35,o0o-4o,0oo, of whom nearly i,000 are Jews. The Babil is crossed at Barfurush by a fine masonry bridge. The town obtained importance during the reign of Fath Ali Shah, although Abbas I. had previously laid out a pleasure garden and summer palace south of the town the remains of which bear the name of Bagh-i-Shah. Barfurush is the most populous town of the province owing to its flourishing trade which, in normal times, is carried on all the year round. The bazaars, fully a mile in length, are crowded, but badly built, dark, and inferior to those in the great trading centres of Iran. Many streets are paved and the houses being built largely of burnt brick, give the town an unusual aspect of cleanliness.
The Babil is navigable for small craft up to Barfurush. At Meshed-i-Sar, the port of Barfurush and principal coast town of Mazandaran, steamers call weekly, anchoring in the roadstead and loading into river craft, as the bar is undredged. There is here a customs house, telegraph and post office, and a fishing station. The tonnage of trade in 1925-26 was 19,000, and the exports con sisted mainly of raw cotton, dried fruits, oranges and lemons, rice, hemp and flax, and nuts.