'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOL. III.' [‎254r] (512/982)

Steamers and native craft. —It is over sixty years since the immense
latent value oi the Karun trade route, as an avenue of expeditious approach
to the great cities and centres of grain cultivation in the west of Persia, and
as an opening, more especially for British and Anglo-Indian commerce,
was first brought prominently before the notice of the British by the united
labours and writings of Sir H. Bayard and Lieutenant Selby. But it was
not until October 1888, that, by a decree of the Shah, the Karun river as far
as Nasiileh was, subject to certain somewhat vexatious conditions, opened
10 mercantile marine of the world. Immediately this" per
mission was obtained, Messrs. Lynch Brothers, of the Euphrates
and Tigris Steam Navigation Company, detached one of their
steamers from the latter river for the Karun service ; and have continued
to ran a boat at intervals cf a fortnight between Muhammareh and Nasirieh
ever since. The beat first employed was the Blosse Lynch, a fine paddle
steamer : but she was found to be both too long for the abrupt bends and
zigzags cf the river, and of too deep a draught to pass over the shoals in
low water. Accordingly she was rep 1 aced by the Shushan, a smaller stem-
wheel boat; and subsequently in 1890 by the Malamir, a paddle-wheeler,
a good deal larger than the Shushan and somewhat smaller than the Blosse
Lynch. ^ The Shushan was then taken up in the spring flood time above
the rapids and berthed just above Ahwaz. By a free gift of this boat to the
Shah’s Government, Messrs. Lynch Brothers were enabled to override the
difficulty of the embargo against the navigation of the waters of the upper
Karun by fordgn steamers ; and they run the vessel on behalf of the Persian
Government ad the year round as far as Shalaili, a point about 8 miles
below Shushtar on the Ab-i-Gargar. The draught cf this steamer is no
more than 2 feet 6 inches; and even so, she experiences considerable diffi
culty in navigating the Gargar in the dry season.
A considerable number of native craft, mostly of the type locally known
as mahaihlas, and varying from 5 to 70 tons in burden, ply for trade on
the river. They are wedge-shape with a raking prow, flat bottoms and a
raised open door for the accommodation cf the crew. The mast, placed
somewhat forward, has a list ft rwar'ds and carries one expansive lateen sail.
W hen the wind is unfavourable they require to be towed on the journey up
stream. This is an extreme ly laborious process, especially when the current
of the river runs strong, as the banks in most of its reaches are quite
unsuitable for this work. A boat, 90 feet long 20 feet wide, carries 70 tons
and draws 7 feet 3 inches.
Besides these larger crafts a small boat, ballam, worked by paddles, as
well as by towing, is much in evidence, especially in the neighbourhood of
Muhammareh. They run from 16 to 20 feet in length and from 3 to 4 feet
m breadth. A somewhat heavier and deeper type of the same craft is
used for the ferries at the different places, where they exist. At the ferries
m the higher stretches of the river, above Shushtar, boats are not used
owing to the rush of water. In their place Jcililcs, or rafts on air bladders,
are found safer : these rafts will bear some dozen human beings, besides a
fair quantity of baggage.
The Mu’in-ut-Tuj jar’s steamer, the Nasrat, has recently (1907) arrived on
the lower river ; it has been secretly helped by the Haji Rais, and has taken
away, up to the present, the bulk of the passenger traffic from the Malamir.