'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOL. III.' [‎255r] (514/982)

tar, there may have been superimposed a bridge, survive in the shape of
big masses of masonry, still held together by an indestructible cement*
There yet remains sufficient of these works to show the effect they must
have had on the prosperity of the country, as compared to the present day ;
when it can only be described as a howling wilderness. Various schemes
have been set in motion to revive these irrigation works : the last so late as
the year 1905, when a Dutch Engineer, M. van Rogen, was deputed by the
Persian Government with this object. Major Morton, R.E., was deputed
by the Indian Government to examine and report upon this scheme,
which he did, condemning it unreservedly on the grounds of its cost and the
impossibility of its ever becoming a paying concern. No further really
serious plans have been devised, nor have matters definitely shaped
themselves in any way.
The same comment applies in regard to schemes put forward for the im
provement of the navigation of the river. As noted above, it is at Nasirleh
that the principal obstacle is encountered, and it is necessary to break bulk
between that place and Ah waz, 2 miles above. Alight horse tramway at
present assists in the transfer of cargo between these two points, which can
not be other than a most laborious process. To overcome this difficulty the
best suggestion is that made in Captain Wells’ report, who visited the spot
in 1881 and carefully examined the obstruction, as well as the river above
it. In his opinion, to merely open a passage through the rapids, which
could be easily effected by blasting, would do more harm than good, owing
to the difference in level between the upper and lower Karun. This fall is
estimated to be between 8 and 10 feet. His suggestion is that locks should
be built, two of which would be required to control the waters properly. It
would not be necessary to excavate more than 25 feet at any pait, to obtain
a canal even 8 feet deep : and as this canal would run for the most part of
its required length (2,350 yards) through the sandstone, the walls of this
formation would be of the greatest benefit to the work and materially lower
the cost of the undertaking. The political value of this work, as well as the
clearing away of the obstacles which are met with in the Ab-i-Gargar and
Ab-i-Shatait, and which prevent them from being made full use of, would
be very great. It signifies the possibility of bringing troops within 200 miles
of some of the most important towns in Persia. From a commercial point of
view it would appear to be the only method of successful competition with
Russian trade from the north.— {Kinneir — Chesney — Layard—Selby — Raw-
linson — Champain — Wells—Ross — Robertson — Thomson — Sawyer — Curzon —
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Gazetteer—Arbuthnot, 1905 — Lorimer.)
KAR0NIS— Lat. Long. . Elev.
A village of Fars on the road between Darab and Fars.— (Stoltze.)
KARtYEH— Lat. 32° 3P N. Long 51° 32 E. Elev.
A village 14 miles south-west of Isfahan on the road thence to Shfishtar.
A paved causeway, raised a few feet above the level of the often inundated
plain, leads from here to Bagh-i-Vahsh, a distance of two miles.— (Schind
ler.)