from Sari and 90 m. from Teheran. Pop. about 50,000. Built in a low
and swampy country and approached by deep and almost impassable roads,
Barfurush would not seem at all favourably situated for the seat of an
extensive inland trade; it is, however, peopled entirely by merchants and
tradesmen, and is wholly indebted for its present size and importance to
its commercial prosperity. The principal articles of its trade are rice and
cotton, some sugar cane (_nai shakar_), flax (_Kat[=u]n_) and hemp
(_Kanab_) are also grown. The town is of peculiar structure and aspect,
being placed in the midst of a forest of tall trees, by which the buildings
are so separated from one another, and so concealed, that, except in the
bazars, it has no appearance of a populous town. The streets are broad and
neat, though generally unpaved, and kept in good order. No ruins are to be
seen as in other Persian towns; the houses are comfortable, in good repair,
roofed with tiles and enclosed by substantial walls. There are no public
buildings of any importance, and the only places of interest are the
bazars, which extend fully a mile in length, and consist of substantially
built ranges of shops covered with roofs of wood and tiles, and well stored
with commodities. There are about ten commodious caravanserais and a number
of colleges (_medresseh_), the place being as much celebrated for learning
as for commerce. On an island in a small lake east of the town is a garden,
called Bagh i Shah (garden of the Shah), with ruined palaces and baths. At
Meshed i Sar, the port, or roadstead of Barfurush, the steamers of the
Caucasus and Mercury Company call weekly, and a brisk shipping trade is
carried on between it and other Caspian ports.

Barfurush was formerly called M[=a]mat[=i]r. The present name is from a
settlement called Barfurush-deh, which was added to the old city A.D. 1012.

(A. H.-S.)

BARGAIN[1] AND SALE, in English law, a contract whereby property, real or
personal, is transferred from one person--called the bargainer--to
another--called the bargainee--for a [v.03 p.0399] valuable consideration;
but the term is more particularly used to describe a mode of conveyance of
lands. The disabilities under which a feudal owner very frequently lay gave
rise to the practice of conveying land by other methods than that of
feoffment with livery of seisin, that is, a handing over of the feudal
possession. That of "bargain and sale" was one. Where a man ba