'Telegraph and travel. A narrative of the formation and development of telegraphic communication between England and India, under the orders of Her Majesty's Government, with incidental notices of the countries traversed by the lines.' [‎185] (220/782)

iv.]
BUHUAHH TO SHIRAZ.
185
narrow pathway, more like the bed of a torrent than a road,
leads up tiie lace of a mountain to a height about 1,200 feet
among huge stones and rocks which render the ascent far from
easy, ImL present no formidable obstacle to the establishment
of a telegraphic line. On reaching the top of the pass the
fertile and well-cultivated plain of Khisht opens out. It boasts
of several villages and plantations of date-trees. For about six
miles the road lies across this plain, then for a mile or two
over broken ground to the left bank of the Khisht river, which
it follows closely for a short distance, and then turns abruptly to
the right, to the loot of the second pass, or Kothal Kamarij. The
path ascends I his by a series of short, abrupt zigzags, and on the
face of the otherwise inaccessible mountain with a deep and
dangerous ravine on the right. These hills are almost all of
limestone, and their formation is most extraordinary. In many
cases the strata are nearly vertical, and the outlines excessively
grand and sublime. This pass, though not so long as the first
perhaps more dangerous, notwithstanding the slight attempts
which have been made to smooth the track, and the small
parapets which have been built here and there on the brink of
the precipices. From the summit of this pass a slight descent
fcads into the plain of Kamarij, which is about six miles in
length by three in breadth, and extends nearly north-west and
v:nth-east. It is beautifully green and level, and well supplied
iJt 1 water ' a,1(1 is surrounded by mountains. Date-groves are
* no longer seen, and timber is very scarce. At the northern
f ruity ol this basin the road passes through a rocky defile
- the hills . and again descends into an angle of the extensive
3l T f ; r valle y of Krizarnn, near its north-western extremity
1 T/u' [T 1 tlie 1>ed 0f the Shabur ri ver, a principal tribu-
^7 of the Khisht. Shabur is also the name of the first village
r i T entering this Plain - It lies close to the extremity
u * most impassable range of mountains, to turn which has
!* ,!l :ne ob J ect of ^e general de/our to the north. From
y'Oiut (which is consequently the most northern of the whole
' Mnaz), the road turns to the south-east and leads over
,ractot well-watered corn-fields to the considerable