'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOL. III.' [‎352r] (708/982)

Small valley, and is surrounded by a small orchard and patches of culti
vation. A shallow pond lies close by, with numerous springs bubbling up
through the gravelly bottom.— (Maunsell, August 1888.)
MUND or HAND or KAKA AGHACH (River)—
The upper course of this river in Fars is s_omewhat imperfectly known.
It is called, by Ross, in its upper part, Kara Aghaeh and is said to rise near
Kudian, north-west of Shiraz, it is supposed at a place called Bun Rud.
It thus would have a course of at least 300 miles. Nothing definite, however,
was known about it for a long time, except at the points where all travellers
from Bushire to Shiraz cross it at Khan-i-Zinian, and at Kavar on the
Shiraz-Firuzabad road where it seems to have the name of the Kahwah
river ; also near Mubarakabad, where it was crossed by Abbott going from
Darab to Kazarun. Below this point and its outlet, the. sea, nothing was
known of the river until the discovery of a map executed by Haji Mirza
Saiyid Hasan, physician to the Governor of Behbehan, who had some know
ledge of surveying, and who compiled the map during 12 years’ travel in
Fars.
The name Kara Aghach has two significations ; “ black wood”, which is
a literal translation of the Turkish word : but, besides this, it is the Turkish
name for the elm tree. No district of precisely this name having been
known by geographers hitherto, the derivation of the name, as applied
to the river, has been in doubt; but in the HajI’s lAap referred t^, there is
a Sahra (pZam)-i-Kara Aghach, south-east of Karzin.
At Khan-i-Zinian,'where the river is 6,100 feet above the sea-level,
it is a clear mountain stream crossed by a stone bridge. From here the
river flows south-east between the Kuh-i-Sabz Pushan on the east, and the
Kuh-i-Karach, Kuh-i-Mureh, and the mountain of Kuh Dalu on the west.
As it enters the Kavar plain by a defile, a stone dam has from time im
memorial diverted some of its waters to supply the canal which irrigates the
plain. This dam is necessary as the level of the water is considerably below
that of the adjoining plain. The Shiraz-Firuzabad road crosses the river
near here by an imposing bridge of several arches, the causeway of which,
although less than 20 years old, was reported in 1889 as already in ruins.
The river probably continues east-south-east along the north flank of
the Kuh-i-Safid to the village of Asmangird where it turns south, and
forming a loop, doubles almost on its track, under the southern side of the
same mountain to Badagan. Here it turns south again and shortly
afterwards receives one of its principal tributaries, a stream which, rising
north-east of Jehrum, flows in a westerly direction and joins the Kara
Aghach between Tadavan and Mubarakabad.
Near Mubarakabad the river is a strong, turbid stream, 60 yards wide,
and flows between high banks. It is crossed by a very curious two-storey
ed bridge, the roadway being in the second storey. The centre of the bridge,
which is called the Pul-i-’Arus or “Bride’s Bridge ” stands 40 feet above
the stream, but the flood mark is halfway up the piers. The Kara Aghach is
probably the river which Abbott crossed 344 miles from Mubarakabad on
the road to Firuzabad. Abbott found this river “flowing north and south
for a short space, about 100 yards in breadth, and in parts nearly up to the •