'Military Report on S. W. Persia, Vol. III. Bakhtiāri Country North of Kārūn River' [‎11r] (26/144)

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with rest periods varying from two hours to two days. The southern
side of Kuh-i-Parviz contains one such, high up the perpendicular
side, 3,000' above the valley. Owing to such springs, e.g., the
Marburra, 20 miles below Sar-i-Chashmeh, the Karun even in its
upper course becomes almost at once a formidable river, from 50 to
100 yards wide and fordable only from June to December and then
only in its upper reaches. It is said to be fordable, though rarely,
at Bars, and Captain Lorimer mentions having forded it without
difficulty in June 1908, some 14 miles below Sar-i-Chashmeh, and
with difficulty at Birgun lower down. Its banks are deep and steep,
and in places for long reaches it flows between almost perpendicular
banks of 1,000'to 3,000' high. Its waters are therefore useless
for irrigation, but many of its tributaries are fully made use of in
this respect. The velocity of its ceaseless flow, however, makes
its potential water-power very great.
The course of the Kurang is a peculiar one dictated by the
mountain formation. From its source it flows due south-east for
100 miles; then, with a sharp bend, it flows south-west through the
Inner Range, and several lesser ranges parallel to it for 50 miles. It
then bends north-west at Bars, and continues for 50 miles in this
direction, whence it runs through deep gorges, 30 miles or so to
Gudar-i-Landar, and thence north-west to Ziwaru, after which it
runs south-west, and then south past Gotwand to Shushtar.
The Kurang has, in the Bakhtiari country, three important tri
butaries running parallel to the parent stream and no more than 20
miles from it. On the southern slope of the Inner Range flows the
Ab-i-Bazuft in a perfectly straight course for 100 miles. It is, like
the Upper Kurang, a magnificent stream with a kind of green-blue
water, due to the chalk it contains, flowing ever full in deep-set banks
through a long well-wooded valley. It is fed by many springs of
fresh and also of salt water, the latter sometimes so salt that all the
neighbouring trees and vegetation, though green, are encrusted
with a saline deposit. In the centre of its course lies Kaleh Bazuft,
a ruined square serai fort, reputed to be ancient. The present
structure was built by Husain Qull when Ilkhani The paramount chief of certain tribes in south west Iran. .
The next tributary of importance is what may be called the Ab-
i-Chighakhur, as peculiar for its winding course as the Ab-i-Bazuft
is for its straightness. This stream may be said to be the approxi
mate south-eastern boundary of the Bakhtiari country, though
both Ganduman and Lurdagan, 4 miles and 20 miles, respectively
from its northern bank, must be included. Between Kuh-i-Kallar
and Sabza Kuh, whose northern slopes are washed by the Ab-i-
Chighakhur, is a straight, small, but important tributary, watering
a valley which is thickly populated in summer.