'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME IV.' [‎247r] (498/652)

Name.
Position.
Houses and inhabit
ants.
Remarks.
Tumbanu .
About 3 miles west of
Namakdan.
30 houses
Barley is cultivated and
livestock owned. Water
is from reservoirs: sup
plies are scanty. There
are 400 date trees.
Turian
In the interior, east
of and close to
Kishkuh.
50 houses
Camels and cattle are
kept and lungis and
chddars woven. Water
is from reservoirs and
is good. There are 400
date trees.
Zainubi
On the north side
of Qishm; island, 20
miles west by south
of Qishm town.
100 huts of Arabs .
The people fish, cultivate
dates and barley and own
12 camels and a few other
livestock. There are 120
date palms.
Zirang
In the centre of
the island about 20
miles west of Qishm
town.
50 houses of Arabs .
The inhabitants are graziers,
owning a few cattle, sheep
and goats; they are also
weavers of lungis. Water
is sweet, from reservoirs,
but supplies are scanty.
There are 200 date trees.
(Lord Curzon mentions a Bruktli or Urudtli in the centre of the island
which he says is the Oaracta of Nearchus. Persia, II, 410 ).—(Lorimer )
QISHM TOWN— Lat. 26° 57' 10"; Long. 56° 18' 50".
The chief place and only town in Qishm island, on the easternmost ex
tremity of which it is situated. The town stands on a fairly level sandy
site, close to the water’s edge; it has a small date plantation on either
side and several domed water reservoirs at a short distance to southward.
Behind it and to the south of it the land rises in a gradual .slope from the
sea till it breaks off precipitously to the north and west. Qishmis a well-
built town and formerly contained several high badglrs reaching 50 to 60
feet above sea-level, but they were destroyed by an earthquake in 1898.
There is an old Portuguese fort now in a ruined condition. There are
several wells in and about the town, but only one,.. which is about a mile
from the fort, furnishes good water; 7 birkehs also exist for storing rain
water, and these generally suffice for the needs of the population.
The climate is cooler than that of Bandar Abbas. The population may
amount to 3,000 souls and comprises 100 families of Persians, of whom 8
are ’Awazi and 2 Hindu : the remainder of the people are Arabs of the same
tribes as occupy the rest of the island. The inhabitants are mostly engaged
in fishing, in trade, in boat-building and in the weaving of lungls. The chief
exports are dried fish, shark-fins, lungis, salt, and ghi collected from
the villages of the island ; the leading imports are rice, piece-goods, planks,
and beams, coffee and sugar. Some common pottery is manufactured front
the clay of the island. Date palms number about 900, and the livestoek