"تقرير عسكري عن جنوب غرب بلاد فارس، بما في ذلك أقاليم خوزستان (عربستان)، لورستان، وجزء من فارس" [ظ‎‎١‎٤‎٦] (٤٧٠/٢٩٧)

264
Route No. 3A— contd.
From Gulpaigdn to the Zarda Kuh, 8fc. —contd.
o
Distances in
miles.
See
Time.
Names of towns, villages, &e.
"&rj t «“-
Remarks.
He stated that the road was difficult, but was used by caravans, and was closed by snow
for 6 months every year. For names of neighbouring bills, see map.
Another traveller (reliable) stated the road was not very difficult, but that it was closed
between the months of November to March, both inclusive.
18th May 1884.
Ijiamzada. Ishmael
84
Two guides had been engaged to con
duct the party via Dima to Baba-Haidar.
When all was ready to start one refus
ed to go, saying that the road was impas
sable on account of snow, swamps, and unfordable torrents. The other stated that he was
willing to risk death in company with a fellow-villager but not alone. Leaving the baggage
5-50
...
6-40
Chahal-Chesmah ...
21
Barometer 23'15"; thermometer 40°.
The road crosses the valley stream 30'
wide, 2 ' deep, and ascends a grassy valley
to gain the Zaindarud valley.
Descends into the river valley.
A shepherd’s enclosure, a few hundred
yards from the left bank of the river ; the
river can be here crossed on a “ kalak ’’or
raft of inflated sheep skins; mules and horses must swim across ; the current is very rapid, and
the bed bouldery ; banks, low (2 1 to 3') and firm ; it is from 50' to 100' wide ; the immediate
river valley is 500 to 600 yards wide, and is backed by the undulations of the main valley
and hills, through and across which it flows.
8-15 | Tang-i-Ghazi ... 7 ... The Zarda Kuh, seen through the Tang-
i-Ghazi, 1^ miles distant, the gorge be
tween the Kuh-i-Chulu and the Kiih-i-
Gurgunachi, bears 220°: river full to
the brim.
Barometer 23T' (7,100'). The soil of the valley is a rich red clay capable of growing
cereals; where growing they are of excellent quality ; the hills on either hand are undulating
and grassy. There is good pasture in the valley. Sudaigan lies on the right bank of the
river on the north side of the Tang.
Dima, a fine grassy plateau, lies 1 1 farsakhs to the right half front after passing the Tang.
Baba-Haidar was said to lie in a direction of 30°.
lo the right, a mule track leads over the high undulations bordering the valley to Bagh-
nazeh. A detachment of cavalry was encamped on the hill side, 3 miles from the river, in
care of cavalry horses sent from Isfahan to graze. The Ab-i-Khursunak, about a mile from
the gorge,^ is a rapid mountain torrent, to cross which without a guide to indicate the ford
was found impossible.
. '^'^ e r° a d to Baba-Haidar, blocked at present by snow, would, it is said, in a months
time be passable; it was described to be a fair mule track passing over good pasture lands,
indeed the hilly country under the Kuh-i-Zard and between it and the Kuh-i-Jehanbin, as
well as that to the north-west under the snows, in the month of June is clothed with
luxuiiant pasture, dotted with the black tents of the Bakhtiari Iliyats and covered with their
flocks. J
, ^ ear Dizak, 1^ and 2 farsakhs from Dima, is the cutting commenced in the rock by Shah
Abbas to cause the waters of the Kanin to flow into the Zaindarud valley with the idea of