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‘Military report on south-west Persia, including the provinces of Khúzistán (Arabistan), Luristán and part of Fars.’ [‎49v] (103/470)

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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70
collected. Cold is felt towards the end of September, and snow falls in Decem
ber, January, and February [^Kcnneif). Snow sometimes falls in April (ISSf) ;
but it is considered most unusual. For eight months the climate of the
districts about Hamadan, Burujird, and Karmanshah is delightful. The cold
of the winter months is severe and firewood is scarce. Hamadan was the
favourite summer residence of the Persian monarchs [sec page* 13, IS, 22h ).
The large towns of Irak are surrounded by mud walls of no thickness,
„ „ . and generally in a bad state of repair, flanked at close
owns, we mgs, c. i n t erva ] s . They are probably not meant for defence, as
banquettes, loopholes, &c., do not exist, but simply as a means of keeping
out Bakhtfan raiders, who, within recent years, carried their forays thus far.
In both towns and villages the streets are narrow and dirty; wood is so
scarce to the south of Kum that the roof of the houses are generally domed
(see pages 15, 239, 246).
The houses are low and are constructed of mud; a few are built of brick
or stone. Stone abounds everywhere, but is not used (see page 15).
To each house is attached a small courtyard surrounded by a blank wall.
A few of the better class of houses are two-storied with handsome recep
tion-rooms, the sides of which, facing the court-yard, are closed in with large
sash windows of painted glass. Their walls and ceilings are adorned with
paintings, rich patterns in plaster, and are inlaid with small looking glasses.
Such a house will cover considerable area, and be divided off into its pub
lic and private apartments, each with its separate court-yard ornamented with
jets d’eau and parterres, generally wanting in flowers.
As this report only touches upon Irak Ajami in so far as it borders South-
West Persia to the north, and in that the roads travelled between Burujfrd and
Kum, Kum and Gulpaigan, Gulpaigan and Burujird and Isfahan traverse it,
no further mention will be made of it.
Luristan.
Details.
The great range, distant thirty miles from the Shustar-Dizful road, the
hills of Luristan, attain an elevation of eight or twelve thousand feet above the
Geology seaj an d bear in a general direction towards the north-west
and south-east. Its rocky masses belong entirely to the
cretaceous and lower tertiary series, rising in huge, elongated saddles of
compact, altered limestone parallel to each other. At intervals, where the
elevating force, which produced the present configuration of this region, has
acted with extreme intensity, the continuity of the beds became broken, and
masses of rock were left standing isolated, with precipitous escarpments,
presenting retreats accessible only to its inhabitants. “ Diz ” is the name
applied to natural fortresses of this kind, which frequently bear on their
j) iz summits acres of rich grass, and springs of delicious
* water, whither a native chief with his adherents can
retire in safety in times of need, and defend their difficult passes with a hand
ful of men against the whole power of the Persian Government itself.
Superimposed on the harder limestone rocks are beds of a softer nature—marls,
rivalling the coloured sands of our own Isle of Wight in their brilliant
and variegated aspect,—vast piles of amorphous gypsum dazzling the eye with
its excessive whiteness,—and successive layers of red sands alternating with
gravel. These formations follow the contortions of the harder crystalline
limestones, lie at extraordinary angles on the slopes of the saddles, and fill
up the hot, feverish valleys between them.

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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.’ [‎49v] (103/470), 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_100048990082.0x000068> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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