'Military Report on South-West Persia, Including the Provinces of Khuzistan (Arabistan), Luristan, and Part of Fars' [‎237] (260/466)

237
E oute N o. 1.— contd.
From Muhammerah to Tehran, contd.
o
Distances in-
miles,
® ?
n bC
2
poq
Time.
Names of towns, villi
ages, &c.
Interme
diate.
Total.
Eemarks.
27
27
1-15
1-85
K um , on left bank
of the Ab-i-Khonsar
(elevation 3,470').
Long. 50
Lat. 34 c
0 54'E.
4rN.
18
535
p.m.
12-30 ••• ••• Crosses an undulation of white clay, and
immediately afterwards a narrow canal
spanned by a narrow bridge of one arch (masonry).
The road, stony and wide, is bordered by natural clay mounds 6' to 10 r high. After cross-
ino- another narrow canal sunk 12', with uneven ground on both banks, it skirts the river.
& The country is well irrigated and grows good barley, now 18" to 2' high and yellowing.
Numerous small canals, taken from the river, border the road.
Passes a large walled garden.
Barometer 26'5 7 ; temperature 80°. Op
posite Kum the river is 200' wide ; it is
spanned by a substantial masonry bridge
of 9 arches, the centre arch of 45', the
others of 20' span; its length is about
225' and its width 18.' The river banks
are ot clay, low and steep ; its bed is pebbly. At this season of the year it is unfordable ; a
month or two later it is said to dry up altogether.
The town, noted for its fanaticism, contains about 7,000 inhabitants ; some say 20,000 (?)
its streets are narrow, and along them run watercourses, in which the filth of the town collects,
and in which also the people wash their cooking pots, and from which they draw their conta
minated supply o£ drinking-water; its bazars are arched in and of some extent; trade seemed
active ; provisions are plentiful and tradesmen numerous ; it is said that, besides the mer
chants, trades-people, artisans, and others associated with them, all the other inhabitants are
engaged in offices connected with the burial of the dead. It is counted to be a holy city, its
Imamzada being held in great veneration, it containing the tomb of Fatimeh, the sister of
Imam Rezza.
It is surrounded by a mud wall of no military importance, and is entered by gates,
the chief of which are ornamented with variegated blue and green glazed bricks. The wall is
fronted by a partial ditch, and in places by ponds of stagnant water. The houses of the town
are built some of brick, some of mud; some are two-storied. They are surrounded by high
walls enclosing a courtyard. Most of those fronting the river are two-storied, and provided
with balconies ; roofs, both domed and flat.
The average day temperature (in-doors) in the beginning of May is about 73° [see
Gazetteer of Persia and page 69).
In July the day temperature at Kiim rises to 94° F. The nights are always cool, and the
day temperature less oppressive and exhausting than that of India.
Kum was destroyed by the Afghans, and much of the town still lies in ruins.
The water from the river is said to be unwholesome.
The river Kum, from its sources in the hills about (Jhaman-i-Sultan [see page 252), passes
through a more or less waste district, receiving in its course many brackish streams. It is
liable to freshets after heavy rain in the hills. Northward of Kiim it is lost in the Kawir or
desert waste of sand.
Telegraph station and post office [see pages 110-111).
General 'Remarks. —The road to Sultanabad could readily be made passable to wheels; the
country traversed is of the nature, more or less, of an upland, barren plateau, subject to greater
extremes of climate than are experienced to the south of Sultanabad and north of Kum.
Water is scarce in places; where plentiful, good crops of cereals, grapes, &c., are produced.
Wells are most rare, and the kanats in ruins. If irrigated, the soil would produce excellent
•crops.
Of the villages met with between Khoramabad and Kiim, the small contain under 50
families; the average sized, 50 to 80 families; and the large, 80 to 200 families.