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‘Military report on south-west Persia, including the provinces of Khúzistán (Arabistan), Luristán and part of Fars.’ [‎35r] (74/470)

The record is made up of 1 volume (231 folios). It was created in 1885. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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47
The Jandhi or Dordk river .—The river Jarralii, konwn to its junction
j arr ^ lii with the Ab-i-Ramuz as the Kurdistan river, rising
in the Kiihgehlu hills at Sadat, issues from them
through the narrow gorge of Tang-i-Tekab (Tang-i-Teka) {see pages 301,
506‘), and, running along the foot of the low hills, receives its waters from
numerous tributary streams flowing from them, viz., the Ab-i-Ramuz, Ab-
i-Ali, Ab-i-Zard, &c. On the banks of its feeders are numerous ruins of
the Kayanian and Sasanian periods, i.e., at Sadat, Mai-Dawud, Abu-l-Abbas,
Manjanik.
iietwcen Jaizoun and Behbahan it is fordable in several places. At
Chahar Asia its breadth from bank to bank is 70 yards ; its stream is in
December swift, 3' deep and 45 yards wide. Its left bank is here covered
with thick brushwood, tamarisk, and oleander.
After receiving the Ab-i-Ram-Hormuz, the Jarrahi becomes a broad
and deep stream, not at any period of the year fordable, and runs between
steep and high mud-banks.
It is navigable for boats of 5 tons to within 1 2 miles of Ram-Hormuz.
The Ab-i-Ram-Hormuz or Alai river is forded near Ram-Hormuz with srreat
o • ®
difficulty after rain.
Eight miles above Fellalnyah it divides into two branches—the Nahr Busi
entering the gulf near Bandar MVshur, the other branch, continuing its course
through the town, is eventually lost in irrigation, except a small artificial
channel, the Dorak canal, which runs 83° E. 27£ miles from the Karun,
which it enters 10 miles above Muhammerah. It passes through a marshy
country, and can be traversed by boat in 15 hours. The river in its narrowest
part above its branches is 55 yards in width and frequently 100 yards.
Minor streams. — Having their sources in the Pusht-i-Kuh to the west of
the Karkhah are several streams which water the plains at their foot occupied
by wandering tribes of Arabs (Bani Lam Arabs). These either fall into the
Tigris or lose themselves in marshes. In this plain several sites of ancient
cities are to be found.
*Khuzistax (Arabistan).
The boundaries of Khuzistan are roughly the Bakhtiarf hills, the river
Karkhah, a line drawn from Hawfzah to Muhammerah, and thence by the
coast line to the Hindiyan river.
From a point above Muhammerah generally to the Hindiyan river,
to the north of Dilam, the inhabitants are of the Bani-
ernmenr,! tantS ^ e ° V " Ka'b Arabs, under the jurisdiction of the Governor of
Arabistan, head-quarters Dizful. Under him are sub
ordinate governors at Muhammerah, Fellalnyah, and Deh Mula. The fron
tier village above Dilam is Shaikh-Abul-Shaikh or Shah-Abul-Shah.
The Government of Behbahan adjoins that of the Ka^b Arabs to the south
and west, and is under that of Ears, the head-quarters of which are at Shiraz
{see 'page 311).
The minor settlements to the southward of the Hindiyan to Bushire
embrace a series of petty tribes, both Persian and Arab, living in their *
* The ancient Susiana, so-called from the name of its capital city Susa, and the still more
ancient Elam, originally peopled by Turanians and the descendants of Shem. It fell to Persia on
the downfall of the Assyrian Empire.

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Content

Report marked strictly confidential, prepared in the Intelligence Branch of the Quarter Master General’s Department in India, by the Assistant Quarter Master General, Major and Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Mark Sever Bell, Royal Engineers. The volume was published by the Government Central Branch Press, Simla, 1885.

The contents of the volume are as follows:

  • part I, a narrative description of a journey from India to Muhammerah [Khorramshahr], through to the Luristán [Lorestān] hills, to Kúm [Qom]; from Kúm to Gulpaigán [Golpāyegān ], Chaman-i-Sultán [Chaman Solţān], Ali-Gúdar [Alīgūdarz], Imámzádá-Ishmail [Emāmzādeh Esmā‘īl], and the Zaindarúd River [Zāyandeh Rūd] to Isfahán; from Isfahán through the Kúhgehlú [Kohgīlūyeh] hills to Behbahán and Bandar-Dilám [Bandar-e Deylam]; from Bandar-Dilám to Bushire
  • part II, a detailed account of southwest Persia, compiled from Sever’s own observations and other available sources
  • part III, commercial considerations. A further section in this chapter on strategic observations, which is mentioned on the contents page and marked as secret, is not present in the volume
  • part IV, detailed road reports
  • appendix A, road reports, Isfahan to Shústar [Shūshtar], Shústar to Shíráz [Shīrāz], compiled in 1881 by Captain Henry Lake Wells, Assistant Director of Persian Telegraphs, with additional annotations by Bell
  • appendix B, a list of plant specimens collected in Luristán during April and May 1884
  • appendix C, extracts of a paper on the geology of the Turko-Persian frontier, written by William Kennett Loftus, June 1854
  • appendix D, meteorological observations at Bushire, from 20 March to 20 June 1885

The volume includes eight maps, two photographic plates, and illustrations throughout (topographical, architectural, anthropological). The two photographic plates and some of the maps are of an earlier date than the volume’s publication date of 1885.

Extent and format
1 volume (231 folios)
Arrangement

A contents page (f 7) and index (ff 222-226) refer to the volume’s original printed pagination.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 233; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.

Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.

Written in
English in Latin script
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‘Military report on south-west Persia, including the provinces of Khúzistán (Arabistan), Luristán and part of Fars.’ [‎35r] (74/470), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/17/15/9, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100048990082.0x00004b> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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