'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME IV.' [‎275v] (555/652)

542
SHA-SHA
the port of Bandar Abbas which, however, is not administratively included
in the district.
The bulk of Shamil lies eastward of Bandar Abbas in the form of a some-
what elongated parallelogram with its south
west corner at that town : the boundaries of
this portion are, on the north, a line running from Kuh-i-Namak to Kuh-i-
Nian in such a manner as to include Khurgu village and thence crossing
the valley of the Shamil river to the Zindan hills; on the east, the
Zindan hills from the Shamil river gap almost to the breach formed by the
exit of the Minab river, and, on the south, an imaginary line running from
the point last mentioned to the coast at the mouth of the Shamil river,
and beyond the Shamil estuary the sea-coast as far as Bandar Abbas. To
the west of Bandar Abbas the district is irregularly bevelled off to the
coast at the mouth of the Kul river ; the northern boundary is first carried
south from Kuh-i-Namak to the eastern shoulder of Kuh Ginau, the crest
of which it follows westwards to the Kul river ; from the point where
the boundary strikes the river to the sea the Kul itself is approximately
the boundary, but a few villages, of which the most important are the two
Kishars, though lying to the west of the river, are included in the Shamil
district.
The district is in fact a maritime plain enclosed between the sea and
Physical characteristics bold moul ‘ tam ranges, of which the elevation
, Physical characte.,sties. ge „ erally exceeds 3j000 feet The dominant
feature of the whole country is Kuh Ginau, the summit of which reaches
7,783 feet at a point 18 miles north-north-west of Bandar Abbas. The
mountains to the north of the district rise very steeply from the plain and
attain 4,481 feet in Kuh-i-Namak at their western end, and 6,057 feet in Kuh
Nian at their eastern extremity ; between these points they are interrupted
by four gaps through which valleys of some size descend to the plain giving
the range a disconnected appearance. The Kuh-i-Zindan range, also
called the Rudbar hills, at the east of the district, appears to have a nearly
constant elevation of over 3,000 feet. A great mountain situated outside
the district but visible from the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. is Kuh-i-Bakhun which is
42 miles north of Bandar Abbas, 10,660 feet high, and covered with snow
in winter.
Besides these considerable mountains the district possesses a generally
low and in places ill-defined sandstone ridge, which subtends the sea-
coast at a distance of from 3 to 10 miles ambdivides the country into
two portions that differ widely in their characteristics; the ordinary
height of this ridge is perhaps 200 feet, but at a point 13 miles west
by north of Bandar Abbas and 6 from the sea it reaches a height of 1,645
feet. On the east, this ridge dies away a little beyond Baghu. Between
this ridge and the mountains the land is a fertile plain, between it and
the coast a sandy plain impregnated with salt and diversified, at intervals
only, by date groves and small patches o f cultivation. From the sandstone
ridge numerous steep-sided ravines, containing no water except during
heavy rain, run down to the coast.
The sea-shore is sandy in its whole extent.
The only valleys of importance are : one without a distinctive name,
which enters the district between Kuh-Ginau and Kuh-i-Namak and that