'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOL. III.' [‎82v] (169/982)

154
BAZ—BAZ
BlZUFT— Lat. 32° 8' N. Long. 52° 9 r E. Elev.
A district of Luristan, consisting of a well-wooded plain, abounding in
ruins of Sassanian villages, and divided from the districts of Che ha r
Mahal and Isfahan by the Zardeh Kuh and the Kuh-i-Rang. Pasture
and grain abundant.
The village of the same district, is about 135 miles from Shushtar, on
one of the roads to Isiahhn.—(Mackenzie.)
BAZUFT (AB-I-) or RUDBAR—
In the Bakhtiari country. The most important of the tributaries of the
Karun river into which it flows some 10 miles below the Pul-i-’Amarat.
This river, which, at the point where they meet, has as great a volume as the
Karun itself, rises in close proximity to the sources' of the latter.
The various streams or springs, from which the Bazuft has its origin,
are the Ab-i-Susan, Ab-i-Taraz-Mauri, the several Chashmeh-i-Liiki Khan!
Khan-Kushteh, Haft Tanan and Gilishah : all of these flowing
down the southern or western slopes of the watersheds of the mountains
from which they take their name. These unite in a main stream,
after courses varying from 20 to 40 miles, at a point about 5,500
feet above sea-level. After a run of a further 25 miles, during which
many small streams join it, Kaleh Bazuft (5,300 feet), an old ruined
fort on the right bank, is reached. The river is still fordable here.
Passing then below the Gardan-i-Chari and joined by the waters of the
Ab-i-Masi and Ab-i-Muvarz, it pursues its course past the overhanging
Kuh i-Isbianeh, and receives several additional streams from the Gurab
valley. At 70 miles it makes the only considerable bend of its whole
course, to clear the elbow of the mighty Garreh range, again resuming
its normal and almost straight course south-east, and running through
the deep valley between that range and the abrupt slopes of the
Kuh-i-Balut and Kuh-i-Malvarl. Below the latter it is crossed by the
Pul-i-’Amarat (for description see this Gazetteer, Pul-i- ’Amarat), on the
caravan road between Isfahan and Nasiri, at 120 miles from the former,
and at 3,400 feet elevation. The bridge is a wire suspension bridge, built
in 1900 by Messrs. Lynch Brothers for the Bakhtiari Khans. It is a neat
structure, <0 feet in length, supported by solid masonry piers and a lattice
girder, with steel roadway and concrete flooring, 10 feet in width.
It is laid about 160 feet above the level of the water ; and kept in good
order by regularly applied coats of paint. The caravanserai A roadside inn providing accommodation for caravans (groups of travellers). at Shalil lies
about U miles distant from the bridge and the left bank. Up to this
point the valleys through wh ch the river has run are practically distitute
of villages, though it is said to have contained some 360 in the olden days
^^e^ Afghan incursion. Just below the bridge it is joined by the
Ab-i-k haul, a fair sized stream just fordable in parts. After a further course
of some 12 miles, with a few hamlets on either bank, and a ford just above
the village of Raval, it plunges into the Karun near the village of
Charkak, elevation 3,050 feet. The total length of its course by its
zigzags may be set down at 120 miles.—-{Arbuthnot, 1905.)
B AZVAND RAMIANI—
A tribe of the Tihran group of Luristan (j.®.).
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