QAIN is the administrative headquarters of the very extensive district of Qainat, the south-eastern portion of the province of Khurasan in Persia. This district has the province of Kerman on the south and extends eastwards to the frontier of Afghani stan. The region in which Qain is situated consists mainly of a complicated system of hill ranges of mean elevation 4,000 ft. running north to south and sinking down in the south to the Seistan basin. It is without perennial rivers, the drainage flow ing westward to the Dasht-i-Lut. The rainfall is greater than that of Kerman province, which has an average fall of 4.7 inches, and the population depend largely on deimi crops, i.e., those which are not artificially watered. Great numbers of camels are reared and the principal products are grain, saffron, wool and opium; the assafoetida plant also grows very profusely.
The town of Qain is situated some 200 m. south of Meshed on the main road (passible for motors) to Duzdab, in a broad valley, in N., 8' E., at an elevation of 4,500 feet. The population is variously estimated at 5,00o-15,000; the town, surrounded by a mud wall with bastions in disrepair, appears to have considerably increased in size and importance in recent years, so that the houses of the wealthier inhabitants are found without the walls. The cultivation of saffron is a speciality of the
immediate neighbourhood which supplies nearly the whole of Persia with this commodity. The chief industries are the mak ing of felts and carpets, but the best Qaini carpets are made at Darakhsh north-east of Birjand. South-east of the town, on the summit of two hills rising Soo ft. above the valley, are the ruins of a great fort some 600 yards in length. Qain is undoubtedly a place of great antiquity and chequered history. The present town was built by Shah Rukh to replace an older town which he is said to have 'destroyed. After a time the Uzbegs took possession of and held the place until Shah Abbas I. (1587-1629) expelled them. In the 18th century it fell under the sway of the Afghans and was a dependency of Herat until 1851.
See P. M. Sykes, "A fourth journey in Persia, Geogr. J.
(1902) XIX., pp. 119-73 ; see also KHURASAN. (P. Z. C.)