It has more than once suffered from conflagrations - for example, in 1719 and 1808.
Conflagrations are frequent, particularly in the months of January and December, when hot, dry winds resembling the Fdhn of the Alps come down from the snow-capped Elburz.
The madrasa libraries, some of which were very rich, have been scattered and lost, or confiscated by the emirs, or have perished in conflagrations.
It was stormed and sacked by the Bohemians in 1450, was two-thirds burned down by the Swedes in 1639 during the Thirty Years' War, and suffered afterwards from great conflagrations in 1686 and 1780, being in the latter year almost completely destroyed.
The forests are extensive and fine, and are now superintended by government officials, called 8avod, XaKEs, in spite or with the connivance of whom the timber is being rapidly destroyed - partly from the merciless way in which it is cut by the proprietors, partly from its being burnt by the shepherds, for the sake of the rich grass that springs up after such conflagrations, and partly owing to the goats, whose bite kills all the young growths.
