'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOL. III. PART II: L to Z' [‎27v] (59/988)

647
LIN—LIN
Lingeh is a well-built town, better built than Bandar ’Abbas. The to'WTi
extends about a mile along the shore ; behind it are some date-plantations,
and to the north-east is a detached grove about half-way on the road to
Kung. The surroundings are extraordinarily arid, and the back-ground
consists of an absolute desert rising gradually behind the town to a water
shed, of which the somewhat prominent hills form the eastern and western
extremities. There is an eastern suburb on the sea-face called Gharieh
and one of the western quarters of the town is called Lingleh. One of
the chief features of the place is a number of birkehs, or domed cisterns,
which are scattered through the environs; these are circular reservoirs,
20 or 30 feet deep, for the storage of the water which in rainy weather
'comes down from the desert behind.
Roadstead. usually anchor ^ to f miles from the landing-place
and are able to do so in all weathers, no wind being so dangerous as to
necessitate thair clearing out. An unlimited number of steamers of the
British India type could anchor in the roadstead at one time and there
are no fixed moorings for such vessels.
Coast. —The coast is of a shelving nature and the beach sandy and un
backed by cliffs. All ground in the vicinity of the sea is low-lying and
sandy, with a gentle rise inland.
Tides and currents. —The rise and fall of the tide is 10 feet and the dis
tance between high-and low-water mark on the beach at spring-and neap-
tides is 150 and r 90 yards, respectively. The tides do not in any way inter
fere with landing from small boats and there are no dangerous currents.
Entrance to harbour. —Here, as at Bandar ’Abbas, there is no harbour
properly so called, but rather a huge roadstead, the entrance to which is
quite unimpeded.
Rilots. —There are a few Arab pilots who take charge of British India
and Persian steamers proceeding to Bahrain, but they are not diplomaed.
The British India Steamship Company retains for its own use exclusively
the services of four such pilots. The local boatmen are not competent
to act as pilots.
Landing-places for troops. —Should it be deemed to be inexpedient to
land troops opposite the town, they could be landed with almost equal
facility at any point on the coast 5 miles west or 10 miles east of the town,
as the shore is everywhere sandy and shelving and transports could approach
to within 1 mile. Under normal conditions, the surf is a negligible quantity,
and, only when a south-east gale is blowing, is it so heavy as to render
landing from small boats really dangerous. Supplies would have to be
carried from small boats through the surf.
Some 20 and 30 buggalows of from 25 to 35 tons’ burthen are
always available for the landing of cargo, etc., from steamers and there
are also large numbers of smaller craft. Added to these, there are, in the
non-pearling season, some 50 to 66 boats drawn up on the beach and these
could, doubtless, be made available at a month’s notice.
Landing by boats. —The length of shore available for landing troops and
equipment is about 15 miles, and within this limit a sandy, shelving shore