KIRMAN is situated in lat. 29° 56' N., and long. 56° 6' E., on the western side of a capacious plain, so close to the mountains, that two of them, on which there are ancient decayed forts, com pletely command it.
It is the chief town of a large province of Persia, the northern part of which is a salt and barren desert, but in the south the land is fertile. Many sheep are bred here, and their fine wool is an article of great trade. The capital of this province is a city of the same name, and it is cele brated for its beautiful shawls, carpets, and stuffs. The climate of this province is as varied as the face of the country, and it is accounted the least salubrious of any part of Persia. They have seldom any heavy falls of rain, but snow lies to a great depth on the mountains in winter, and from their loftiness it 'does- not melt for the greater part of the year.
The province is the ancient Carmania, and is bounded on the east by a part of Seistan and Baluchistan ; west by the province of Fars ; south by parts of Luristan, Mekran, and the Persian Gulf ; and north by Irak and Khorasan. Kirman fills up the space between Khorasan, Fars, Afghanistan, and Mekran. The surface of Kir wan (including Luristan) contains about 72,741 square miles. The southern portion of .Kirinan, viz. Luristan and Moghostan, formed the chief part of the II imyaritic kingdom of Hormuz, through which ran an important commercial line from the Capital, Harmozonte. These districts, together with the different islands, formed part of the territory of Mithrophrastes at the time of the visit of Near elms, who learned from this monarch that the tomb on the island of Tyrina (Kishm) was that of Erythras, son of Ariarius, satrap of Phrygia, who was banished to this place by Darius (Strabo, lib. xvi. p. 776), whose name was given to the ad joining part of the sea. Artemidorus, however, thought the name was derived from the reflection of mountains glowing with the heat of a vertical sun (Strabo, lib. xvi. p. 779), which certainly cause a deep tint on the waters in this part of the world.
The khalifs, Chengiz Khan, Timur, and the Afghans,successively took, plundered,and destroyed Kirman, the last occasion being in 1794, when it was betrayed into the hands of Aga Muhammad Khan, the founder of the Kajar dynasty ; but even yet its manufactures of shawls, matchlocks, and namad or felts are celebrated all over Asia, and arc said to afford employment to upwards of one third of the inhabitants, whether male or female.
The wool of its goats approaches nearer than any other in fineness to that of Kashmir, and, under the commercial name Waliab-Shahi, it is used in adulterating shawl-wool.
A third of the inhabitants of the city are in their shawl manufacture. In texture an delicacy of fabric they rival those of Kashmir, but they are inferior in downy softness and warmth. The sheep are small and short-legged. After shearing, the wool is repeatedly and care fully picked and washed, and for some weeks is steeped in a wash. It is then spun by the women, and worked up by the men. In making carpets, the threads (all of one colour) are of the length of an upright loom, which consists of two hori zontal rollers. The cross coloured threads that form the pattern are worked in by as many small boys as the breadth of the web will permit to squat in front of the loom. As the work pro gresses, the web is gradually rolled up on the lower roller. After every two or three rows have been worked in, wide-teethed combs are inserted over the threads of wool, and hammered down close and firm with a mallet. The master weaver draws and colours the designs on paper ruled to represent the different threads, after which lie teaches the pattern to the pupils, who commit it to memory. The shawls are woven in a similar manner, only on a horizontal loom. The work men work with the reverse side of the web upper most. The fabrics are exported to all parts of Persia and Central Asia, and to Sind, India, and Arabia.
A lead mine is worked near the summit of a hill 32 miles N.W. of Kirman.
Kirman and Mekran are peopled by Persians principally, but contain also Turk, Baluchi, Brahui, and Afghan. Kirman has the shrine of Falun - i - Alain, the father of Nadir Shah. — Pottinger'.s. Tr. ; Kinneir's Memoir ; Maleolds Persia; Chesney's Expedition ; Ts. A. Floyer's Bainchistan; IllacGregor's Gazetteer.