مخطوطة لكتاب "بلاد فارس والشأن الفارسي" (تابع) [ظ‎‎٤‎١] (٦٩٠/٨٢)

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.r ** هذه التواريخ تقريبية .LEAYES- PROFq^DLQa-Qjr THE EAIIUJJ l{] v j^k,
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projecting .tongue of soil between the streams of the Sh^teit and
Ab-i-G^rg^r, and on the right bank of the latter. It is entirely
biirrounded, however, by the ruins of a large und important city,
which were for the first time examined by Sir H. Layard in 1842,
an( ^ ^ Dd k e ^ on t 3 t° three periods, Kaianian. Sa^sanian, and
Arab>->being identified by him with the remains of the early Persian
city Rustum-Kowadh and the Arab Askeri-Mukratr/^ At the time
of my visit the old bricks were being utilised, by orders of the
j Nizam^es-Sultaneh, to construct a fort and telegraph station on the
bank of the Sh^teit, the Government having decided to establish
telegi aphic communication between Shuler and Mohammerah.
These ruins, the physical surroundings of Bund-i-Kir, and the
significance of its name, unite in eloquent testimony to a period,
long dead and forgotten, when this wilderness blossomed like a rose,
and when busy peoples, great public works, and a diligent cultiva
tion beautified the now silent banks of the triple stream.
La} ard represented the colour of the three rivers which here con
verge as being conspicuously different, that of the Ab-i-Diz being
very dark, from the rich alluvial mould through w’hich it flows, the
Sh^teit, or Karun proper, being of a dull reddish hue, and the
G^rg^tr canal a milky white. I did not observe this difference,
which is probably more or less noticeable according to the state of
the waters. A.t the point of confluence the first-named river ap
peared to me to be about 80 yards wide, the second 150 yards, and
the third 60 yards, their united volumes occupying a bed about 300
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yards in wid
tUyfnl ri-irQT. ^
^ 1 ^ J0 nfi fnr
■♦Shatoit. which
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mot hero fellaw the ooupqo eithci 1 of
-within fiiv_ railaa.
pimmed by Layavd and Bdb} in Lhu Ami)) m
1) lllf mny fp—Qf
wao also aocendcd by them ia - the same tcsoo! to
irr the aaine
, • limy mm ML-HniMdr My own
J courSG m the Susa^ was to lie up the G$rg£r, or artificial canal,
^wmch, owing to its greater depth and less shifting bed, k-at prooent-
tho ealy available river approach to the capital. How I ended by
steaming dow r n instead of up the G$rg£r, the circumstances which I
shall now narrate will explain.
c It was 0.30 p.mT when we ranup alongside the bank at Bund-i-
Kir; ^ and the Susa having already occupied more than eighteen
hours steaming, exclusive of twelve hours’ stoppage at night, in
reaching the half-way point between Ahwaz and Shuster, 1 ° began
to be doubtful when, if ever, I should arrive at the latter place, the
more so as the Ab-i-G€rg£r has a somewhat precarious channel, and
it was not unlikely that the Susa might ground on a shoal. The
engineer, of course, assured me that if I remained in the boat he would
I 7? G -S'
(1) Journal of the Royal Gwyrapkwtl Somttj, vol. xvi., p. 63.
^ L (2) Early Adventures, vol. ii., p. 28.
The Ab-i-diz descends from a distant sou^oSin the mighty Zagros
range. What is really its parent T1 | M n| j
bwaimuo nu ItTO inupn ^.u it imytliing like-ihe same dm^inw, ouino
taamnpi it tn IfhnreTindvid, otliowi 4io Ktiuiciiislraii .mQ ltul Ihiiimd.ui.
Here, however, I am only concerned with its lower course, when, after
passing the town of Dizful, it meanders through a jungle-grown and
untilled plain until its union with the Karun at Bund-i-kir. This river
has onlyoncc been ascended in a steamer, namely, by Kmitonumt Selby
and ^rft^Layard in the Assyria in the late spring of 1842, after their
successful ascents of the Slittteit and the G^rg^F. Pursuing with some
difficulty an exce&l^ly tortuous channel, they at length came to a spot
called Kaleh Bunder,' about 25 miles in a direct line, and a good deal
moie by water, from Bund-i-kir. There they found the river divided
into two branches by an island, and a natural bund or rocky reef
stretching across both. Penetrating by an opening in the right barrier,
they continued their ascent for a few miles further, and then finding
the stream very shallow and the current strong, turned round and
steamed back to Buud-i-kir. SoTar as I kuqyvtho Diz hasnBVer
since been ascended or explored by an^glMmmm The jungle on its
banks is said to abound in lions, amPTrecommend it to any adventurous
sportsman. ^ JS. ^
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