‘Military report on south-west Persia, including the provinces of Khúzistán (Arabistan), Luristán and part of Fars.’ [‎105r] (214/470)

Route No. 1— contd.
From Muhammerah to Tehran, fyc. —contd.
Distances in
miles.
y*
Time.
Names of towns, villages, &e.
Interme
diate.
Total.
Remarks.
miles long with an average width of 500 yards ; no trees or shrubs grow ■, firewood most scarce ;
brambles, reeds, &c., are burnt.
Above the Pul-i-Tang a single arch is thrown across the Karkhah, at a point where it;
Communications. contracts from a general width of 80 to 100 yards, and flows
through a chasm which a bold cragsman can leap. The best road
up the Saimarrah valley runs along its right bank. This road leads to Zohab and Karmanshah,
and, by following the right bank of the Kashgan, to Khoramabad.
From the Ful-i-Tang the direct road over the Kailun pa<s leads across the moun
tains to Khoramabad. It effects a saving of 35 miles, but is nevi r attempted by kafilas or
even by travellers, if accompanied by baggage. It joins the route taken at the lialich Pass
or Tang-i-Dehliz.
Between Kir-Ah, and 5 miles to the west of the Pul-i-Tang, the Dirikwand tribe pasture
their herds ; to their west lie the fields of the Hasanawand.
10th April 1884.
1*3
A.M.
G-15
(5-45
7
J.iokAE
233
Barometer 2S*25^ ; thermometer 50 c .
By path desoi nds the Jaokar valley.
Turns up the Saimariah valley, here 1
mile wide ; good grazing. Stones fewer
and road easier than l.eietofore ; valley
swampy.
Low undulatuns narrow the valley to a
width of 400 yards
Crosses a stream ; its beds sunk 20' ;
mub path good.
Crosses a stream ; descent into and as
cent out of it difficult ; stony.
Crosses a grassy plateau and gradually
regains the foot of the Kheolah Hange.
Crosses a brook and traverses the valley-
Crosses low undulating hills of decom
posed gypsum ; gradients generally easy.
Good pasture valley traversed.
Traverses a long undulating valley-
The hills forming the Saimarrah valley, the
Kubbed and Kheolah Ranges, are here 2
miles apart ; the former, in one long in-
sloping upwards to the south, are much cut up by ravines and marked by striae; the
rise in almost perpendicular slopes ; the tops of the former are still white with
Mi
7- 50
8
8- 30
8- 35
9- 10
9-25
dine
latter
snow in places (see pape 351).
9-45 Tang-i-Lkylum (ele
vation 1,560'}.
10
243
Camp on the banks of the Leylum stream,
a tributary of the Saimarrah. This fine
gently sloping valley, covering 1,000 yards
X 1,000 yards, is surrounded by low un
dulations, and is easy of defence, except from the north, where the Kheolah Range is steep
and accessible only with difficulty by means of the steep ledges of rock formed by denu
dation ; pasture good.
The Leylum stream, here shallow, 20 feet broad, flows in a bed of conglomerate, 50' deep.
By a narrow gorge it here forces its way through the Kheolah Range ; it is possible to get to the
northern side of the range by passing through the gorge. The rocks here are full of nummulites.
The river is forded with difficulty after rain.