'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOL. III. PART II: L to Z' [‎91r] (186/988)

MAQ—MAR
710
MAQTO’A (\)—vide KARUN (River).
MAQTU'A (2)-(Village) —vide JARRAHl (River).
MARA— Lat. 30° 40' N.; Long. 54° 46’ E.; Elev.
A ruined fort or; the eastern borders of Ears, 89 miles south of Yazd. The
inhabitants number 12, and own 3 cows, 80 sheep and 160 goats. Plentiful
water is obtained from a stream lined with walnut trees. The place is
occasionally visited by robbers who come and spend a few days in it, and
then leave, taking with them what they want. If the villagers oppose
them, they are killed by the robbers. Such an episode happened in 1887.—
{Vaughan, 1887.)
MARAGH— Lat. Long. Elev.
A village in Laristan, a few miles east of Shahir. It has a population of
about 70.— (Vaughan, 1890■)
MARAVANEH—
A nomadic tribe of Khuzistan, of about 300 families, living in tents on the
Karkheh river and tributary to Hawizeh.— (Ross.)
MARBAGH— Lat. 26° 53' N. (?); Long. 54° 24' E. (?).
A halting-place on the road from Mughu Bay to Shiraz, 18 miles from
the former. Water from spring and wells.— (Jones.)
MARBARA (I)—
A river rising in the Zard Kuh mountains, and flowing into the Karan
river, in a narrow valley below Kar Kunan ($ml). Stack saw this river
about 100 yards above its junction with the Karun, and at this point it
flows with a smooth, silent stream, very swift, hip-deep, and very cold and
clear; the breadth is about 30 yards. The bank is clothed with willows, and
immediately above them rises a steep slope of 100 feet covered with quarried
stones and splinters. At the junction of the rivers stand the remains of
the dam which was to throw the Karun water into the cleft; the Persian
monarchs were hewing for it through Kar Kunan. There is an island midway
between the two streams and this; and at the mouth of the ravine down
which the Karun flows, are the ruins of two piers, built of unhewn stone,
compacted some 30 feet thick, and 8 feet to 10 feet in height. The dam does
not seem to have ever been completed. The meeting of the waters looks
well when viewed from the stone-strewn slope. So deep and narrow is the
channel that even the summits of the Zard Kuh are lost to sight, and the
spectator finds himself alone with three river vistas,—up the Marhara on
his right, up the Karun in the direction he faces, and down the combined
stream on his left. The dark, high sides of the river channels contrast
strongly with the bright blue-green of the waters, and the deep blue of the
sky. The swiftness and silence of the current enhance the strange effect.
The combined stream rushes along unfordable, but the Marbai a can be
crossed 50 yards above the point of junction. It is unfordable in the after
noon, when it has received its day’s contingent of melted snow. It is called
the Marbara because its waters are so cold that a snake dies if plunged in.
them.— (Slack.)
'Pt. 11. 3 k