‘Gazetteer of Persia, Part III, including Fārs, Lūristān, Arabistān, Khūzistān, Yazd, Karmānshāh, Ardalān, Kurdistān’ [‎101v] (207/686)

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DAL-DAL
cattle in small quantities. It is celebrated for its naphtha springs. On
approaching DalakI from Bushahr, sulphur springs are first met with ;
they well copiously from the base of the hills and flow m streams
across the road. A little further on, the brown naphtha may be seen
floating on the white sulphurous waves. The whole plain on the left
of theroad is converted into a marsh by these streams. The pungent
odour from this swamp is abominable and spreads over the surrounding
country for a great distance. Some mills are erected near the bank
of one of the streams. The marsh is covered by a dense jungle of
reeds which swarm with wild boar. The vilbige is a wretched one,
consisting only of a few mud huts, surrounded by the extensive date
plantations, for which it is famous, which, contrasting with the hills,
of various and strange hues, in the background, give it quite a pic-
turesque appearance. It stands at the foot of a range of salt^hills,
which, rugged and sterile, rise to a considerable height behind it. These
salt hills are remarkable in shape and colour, as is always the case with
salt hills in Persia. They are angular and abrupt, curiously stratified,
and coloured red or brown, green, light blue, grey and white. They
are said to abound with wild goat and ibex. A small fort that once
existed here is now in ruins, having been destroyed some time ago by
the people of Burazjun. There is a clean mosque of white stucco and
a small bath at the extremity of the village. The Rohilla river is one
mile distant. The village pays a revenue of 3,000 tumans. DalakI
is considered one of the hottest places in the country.
The DalakI river rises in a ravine above Masarm, Fars, and runs
past Jarah, where it turns west to Dalakl. It is crossed, just above
DalakI, by a good stone-bridge, with a solitary square tower at
the bridge head. There are the ruins of two older bridges a little
way down stream. {Ouseley — Malcolm — Clark — Monteith — Morier —
Taylor — Telly — -Tone? — Stack — Ussher — Durand.)
Mr. T. F. Odling, M.R.C.S., in a medical report on the part of Persia
adjacent to the telegraph line, writes thus of the country between
DalakI and Bushahr as regards its sanitary conditions:—
“ The district is nowhere many feet above the sea, and for 4 far-
sakhs, reaching to Chahgadak, high-spidng tides sometimes overflow
the plain. Dates, cereals, melons, &c., are extensively cultivated ; the
country around Burazjun is very fertile. From Bushahr to Chahgadak
no water is procurable, beyond this it can be found every one or
two farsakhs, though generally slightly brackish ; one farsakh before
reaching DalakI are numerous naphtha springs, which impreg
nate the water. The drinking supply at Burazjun is from wells,
and is fairly good to the taste, but here, as well as along the road,
it is apt to cause diarrhoea or colic to travellers. Excellent water can
be procured from the hills a few miles to the east of Burazjun, and also
from a spring one mile east of Dalakl. The climate is very hot, damp,
and sultry during the greater part of the year; at times hot winds are
prevalent. From April to September inclusive no travelling can be
done during the heat of the day, and during June, July, and August,
only at night. Near Bushahr and, to a less extent, as far as Burazjun,