'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOL. III.' [‎248v] (501/982)

486
KAR-KAR
the Bakhtiari Khans. Completing its bend in a north-east direction, the
river buckles round the elbow of a range of hills on the right bank and then
makes an acute bend almost due south. It shortly after receives the
brackish waters of the Shur-Labahri, one of its largest tributaries, which
flows into it from the left along the foot of the ridge known as the Kuh-
i-Fidalak (1,200 feet). This range on the left and the lower hills on the
right bank form a defile through which the river passes, until it emerges
into the plain about 3 miles above Shushtar. Some 2J miles beyond
this barrier and about 600 yards above Shushtar it divides into two
streams, the left branch being called the Ab-i-Gargar. The branch to the
right retains its name as the Karun and on the north side of the town
forms a broadsheet of water, and then, turning to the south and passing
an ancient dam and bridge once known as the Band-i-Kaisar, but now
called the Pul-i-Dizful (400 feet), changes its name to the Ab-i-
Shatait.
The Ab-i-Gargar and Ab-i-Shatait are separately described in this
Gazetteer : as also the island enclosed between them, which is called
the Mian-Ab.
At a point 30 miles south in a direct line from Shushtar, or at 453 miles
of the river’s course (reckoning by the Ab-i-Gargar), the two branches re
unite with the village of Band-i-QIr situated at the angle of their conflu
ence. At the point of junction the Ab-i-Diz {q.v.) from the west also adds its
waters to the Karun. There is a ferry established on the Ab-i-Gargar
just opposite the village of Band-i-QIr. From here on to Wais on the left
bank, at 465 miles, the river is almost straight with a due southerly course.
From Wais to Ahwaz (496 miles), on the left bank, its general direction is
south-west by south, the river making a number of bends and nearly doubl
ing the distance between these places, as compared to that by the land
route which is only 14 miles.
Immediately above Ahwaz, where it is now about 600 yards wide, the river
is divided into two streams by the small island of Umm-an-Nakhl. On
re-uniting, it breaks through a ridge of sandstone hills, which here traverses
the river’s course at right angles, and in doing so forms a series of rapids.
These rapids obstruct some If miles of the river’s course and terminate at
the lower end of another small island called Umm-us-Saba’. Just below
them the settlement of Bandar Nasiri Nasirleh has sprung up.
From Nasirieh the general direction of the river is south by south-west.
It makes a series of extraordinary bends as far as the tomb of ’All bin al
Husain, which is some 40 miles in a straight line from Nasirieh, though ap
proximately at 575 miles of the river’s course. From this point onwards its
bends become less frequent and pronounced, eventually reaching the Shatt-
al- Arab at a point situated 25 to 30 miles in a direct line to the south-west of
’Ali bin al Husain. At 593 miles it throws off the Salmanieh or Salmaneh
canal, now almost dry, from its left bank ; and at 3 miles farther down, op
posite the island of Dair, there is another outlet from the left bank, called the
Marid-ul-A’ma, which runs inland for about a mile and forms the mouth of
the Fallahieh-Marid canal, which is supplied with water by the Jarrahi river.
On the south-west bank of this creek, at f of a mile from the entrance, are
some heaps marking the site of the old village of Marid. A dry hollow,