'Military Report on S. W. Persia, Volume II, Arabistan' [‎6v] (17/96)

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(ii) Dizful district, including the town of that name, and Kau-
nak, and the country stretching thence across the Diz to the
Karkheh or thereabouts. On the W. of the Diz the district
includes Salihabad to the N. W., and, according to general
report, Qilab,
Nominally the administrative area of this district extends to
- the Turko-Persian boundary, but the intervening country
is occupied by portions of the Bani Lam, Turkish subjects
but practically independent.
(iii) Ramuz district, including Mar Bacheh on the W. Kaleh-i-
Shaikh on the S., .and marching with Behbehan on the
E,: this district is administered for the Persian Government
by the Bakhtiari Khans.
General descriftion of ’Arabistdn .—’Arabistan is divided by its
principal rivers into five main geographical districts. To the N.
W., the Karkheh, Diz, Shatait and Gargar enclose three “ Doab ”
as they would be called in Upper India. To the S. E., the
Karan, Jarrahi and Hindian Rivers enclose two similar tracts.
The whole of ’Arabistan is one vast alluvial plain, broken only by
stony undulations between Dizful and Shushtar, and by the low
hills which run from Nasiri N. W. to the Perso-Turkish boundary
and S. E. towards Behbehan.
Prom the Perso-Turkish boundary to the Karun stretches a flat'
desert, uninterrupted by hills, and broken only by the extensively 1
wrigated tract of Hawizeh. Except for a narrow strip along the
Karun it is uninhabited, save by nomads in the vicinity of-
Hawizeh, whose dependence on the Shaikh is not yet complete.
The Karun, the largest and only really navigable river of
Persia, flows between high mud banks, which gradually decrease
m eig . as the sea is approached, until, near Mavid, they almost
disappear, and the land on either side consequently becomes liable
to flood when the river is high. Its course, though tortuous, is fairly
permanen . xcept for a mile near ’Ali-ibn-al-Husain, and near
U - 1 * ? ee . nis no * ho have deviated from its present
course within historical times. Its current is usually slow, from
sLlL f P er lumr ’ except when in flood.; Its bed is broad and
• ) " r e m 1 0s * P& r h at low water, but it is never fordable as
drawWnP 8 ^ t makes navigation by steamers
drawing about 3 '0" possible all the year round! .
aid hhe banks makes irrigation possible only by the
aid of large dams,, and there is consequently no irrigation now