"دليل بلاد فارس. مجلد III." [ظ‎‎٢‎٤‎٥] (٩٨٢/٤٩٥)

KABINDl—
A tribe of Kurds partly nomad, partly sedentary, living in Kirmanshah.
Their country extends from the Bishaveh plain to Khusrauabad, 12 miles
from the town of Karind ; beyond this is Kalhur country. They are esti
mated at 1,000 families. In the summer they occupy the hills above
Karind ; in the winter the Karind plain. They are supposed to provide a
battalion of infantry. Their chief is generally Sarlip of the battalion and
Governor of the tribe.
The arrangements for cultivation are the same as those obtaining amongst
the Kalhurs (q.v.). They are for the most part ’All Illahls.'— (Curzon —
Preece.)
KABIZ KHAN EH— L at. Long. Elev.
A village, 11| miles north-west of Yarpusht in the Tihran-Karvan district,
a mile to the left of the road from Isfahan to Burujird.-— (Schindler.)
KlB KUNAN or KANUN—
A project for diverting a portion of the head-waters of the Kanin river
to increase those of the Zindeh Bud. Its original initiation is ascribed to
Shah Tahm Asp in the sixteenth century, who began to excavate a tunnel,
but is said to have been repelled by the noxious vapours. ’Abbas the Great
commenced a cutting on an enormous scale, but was vanquished by the
snows and the cold in winter. ’Abbas II tried the experiment of damming
the river and mining the rock under the direction of M. Genest, a French
engineer. Both schemes were failures, and there the matter has rested
till the present time. The main sources of the Zindeh Bud are in the
Shur Ab valley. Separating the bed of the Karun from the Shur Ab valley
is a long, narrow col called Gal Gushak, a spur of the Kuh-i-Bang. At this
point, where the real Karun is augmented by the Sar-i-Chashmeh spring and
the head-waters from the Kuh-i-Bang, this work, known as the Kar-Kunan,
was commenced.
The idea has been described as a grand conception worthy of a mighty
monarch ; in reality it is an illustration of the parable of the man who royal
ly neglected first to count the cost. Though many thousands of workmen
have been working for years, at the most advantageous appraising, but
one-twentieth of the necessary work can as yet have been accomplished.
And if the same cheap manual labour were to be employed to finish this
“ mighty conception,” probably one-fiftieth of the cost only has as yet
been defrayed. The levels are favourable, and in European hands the
task could be accomplished without difficulty, probably by tunnelling.
But as to the expected practical effect of such a contemplated diversion,
it is well possible for divided opinions to exist. The Karun can spare the
amount of water without hurting an inhabitant on its banks, for it may
be safely assumed that such a diversion, if ever accomplished, would not
lower the water level at Shushtar by the thousandth part of an inch. On
the other hand, it is open to doubt whether, i left to itself in the dry bed
of the Zindeh Bud, a drop of the acquired inflow would ever reach Isfahan.
— (Sawyer, 1890 — Curzon, 1892.)