'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOL. III.' [‎106r] (216/982)

CHANUSH J AN —Vide Chanar ShahIjan.
CHAPANKARA—
A small sub-section of the tribe of Kalhurs, who inhabit the country
.reaching from Mandali on the Turkish frontier to the borders of Qasr-i-
Shirin in the Kirmanshah Province. The Chapan Kara, together with the
Chilia, number about a hundred families.— (T. C. Plowden.)
CHARA —Lat. Long. Elev.
The fourth stage, 18 farsakhs from Niriz on the road to Deh Bid in
Ears.— (Stotherd, 1893.)
CHARAK (1)— Lat. (Shaikh’s house, centre of town) 26° 43' 34"; Long.
54° 16 ,r 50'; Elev.
One of the Shlbkuh ports of the Persian Coast; its position is 34 miles east
of Chlru and 16 miles west-north-west of Mughfi. It is 10 miles north-west
of Ras Yarid, and in Charak Bay. About a mile to the east of the town
the Gulshan Valley reaches the sea, forming a considerable creek, beyond
which again is swampy land ; the creek is 300 yards wide, and impassable
at high tide and after heavy rain. The village has several tow r ers and there
are date-groves behind it, over which rises a fort on a hillock inland of the
town, nearly 100 feet high : this fort is reckoned the strongest in all the
Shlbkuh ports and enables the Charakis to hold their own against the
Marzuql and Hamadi Shaikhs, their neighbours. The general appearance
of the place is clean and attractive. Water is partly from tanks and part
ly from wells, 15 feet deep. The anchorage is good in easterly winds, but
some swell is experienced in a Shimal. The population consists of 170
houses of the ’Ubaidll Arab tribe, who describe themselves as a branch
of the Mutair tribe of Central Arabia ; by their own account the
A1 ’Ali or Trucial ’Oman (whom they call Bin Mu’alia) and the Bani BQ
’All of Ja’alan in ’Oman (by them styled ’Abdulla-bin-Salim) also belong
to their tribe. The A1 Ali are Sunnis. The people have some cultivation
of dates and other crops, but the majority are mkhudas, sailors and pearl-
divers, and a few are merchants. They own about 8 trading vessels
(baghlahs, ghunchahs and tambuqs) which run as far as Basreh on the
one side and Masqat on the other, occasionally even visiting India ; and
they have also about a dozen regular pearl-boats which cross the Gulf, and
rather more than a dozen smaller craft, which are used for fishing and for
pearl-diving off the neighbouring island of Qais. The revenue of Charak,
with Tavuneh and the island of Qais, amounts to 16,000 tumdns per annum,
and is payable to the Governor of Bastak. The Shaikh of Charak and
its dependencies, viz :—Tavuneh and part of the village of Ruvan in the
district of Lingeh, is Salih-bin-Muhammad Salih, a childless man who has
associated a nephew with him in his government: he is noted for his
greed, and his control over his subjects is insecure. The Imperial Persian
Customs have a post at Charak.— [ Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Gazetteer, 1908.)
CHARAK (2)— Lat. 28° 35' N. Long. 51° 17' E. Elev.
A village in the Dashti District of Ears, 10 miles west-south-west of
Khurmuj town on the western side of the Khtirmuj valley. It contains
40 houses of RufLseh. ^ Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Gazetteer, 1908.)
112 I. B. 2 C