‘Military report on south-west Persia, including the provinces of Khúzistán (Arabistan), Luristán and part of Fars.’ [‎118r] (240/470)

29
Route No. 1— contd.
From Muhammcrah to Tehran, Sfc. —contd.
j Distances in
...
Time.
MILES.
Names of towns, villages, &e.
!"sr-j
Remarks.
The road soon takes to the bed of the stream, and follows it for | a mile, after which it
keeps on its right bank.
Much of the rock is of a blue colour and of a hard cherty natui’e with veins of felspar.
A.M.
j I •■• [ ••• I ••• i A «q«are fort of about 200 ' side, sur-
I l I | | rounded by a small village, is left ^ a
mile to the westward. The valley here is grassy and 4 miles wide. More poplars are now
grown round about the villages than heretofore. They average 3 ' to 6 " in diameter, height
15' to 30', and would provide material for bridging the river in the valley (crib piers). Road
of hard surface and in good order.
Crosses many small streams flowing from the Ab-i-Buruiird.
m /le: i i » i, •
10- 45
11 - 20
WUNAYSUN
soil clay ; valley well-cultivated; wheat 6 " lygh.
NOON.
A small village.
Streams have flooded this section of the
road, and many difficult swamps occur ;
20 I 12
18
393
Arrive Burujird on the left bank of
the Ab-i-Dizful ; barometer 24'7" ; tem-
BujsujfRD (elevation
I I. 5,375').
perature 58° at 4 p.m.
The road merely requires to be ditched in places, and to have the Ab-i-Biirujird conducted
across it to form it into an excellent cart-road.
Burujird is a town of importance, from whence branch caravan roads to all the fertile
agricultural and commercial districts of Persia, viz .:—
I.—-lo Karmanshah, Hamadan, and North-West Persia.
To Sultanabad, Tehran, and North and North-East Persia.
HI* To Isfahan, ^ azd, and East and South-East Persia.
IV.—To Dizful and South-West Persia.
It is distant from Hamadan 4 stages, or 95 miles; from Karmanshah, 6 stages, or 120
to 1G5 miles ; from Tehran, 14 to 16 stages, or 283 miles, via Ramadan, and 11 or 12 stages,
or 230 miles, via Sultanabad ; and from Isfahan, 10 stages, or 230 miles.
In 1883 wheat sold in Karmanshah at 20 and barley at 10 krans per kbarwar (675lbs);
in 1884 the prices were 15 and 10 krans respectively. In its vicinity the cultivation of opium
is largely increasing.
Situated in a fertile valley, extending more or less in a north-west and south-east direc
tion to Karmanshah and Isfahan, and but three marches distant from Khoramabad, at the head
of the only practicable pass leading from Shustar, Dizful, and Muhammerah through the hills of
Luristan (including the Bakhtiari hills extending to Isfahan), its great commercial and military
importance to a naval power is very great. The line Muhammerah-Dizful-Khoramabad-
Burujird-Sultanabad-Kiim-Tehran may be considered to be the natural commercial artery of
Persia.^ A line of railway, when the country is ripe for such, should doubtless approximately
follow it, for the country is more favourable to its construction on this line than on others ; the
physical features of the country also favour the construction of feeders to it from Karmanshah,
Hamadan, Isfahan, Ac. In the latter direction the valley of the Ab-i-Burujird extends to
the Tan g-i-Bah rein, and the valley of the Kemenderab to Ali Gudar. Between AH Gudar
and Mian Dasht is the watershed between the latter, the eastern tributary of the Dizful river
and the A fhus river, the northern branch of the Zaindarud {see pages 263, 27S, 288).
_ The town is said to contain from 15 to 20,000 inhabitants (4,000 houses). It is noted
for its^ manufacture of printed chintzes: the cotton used comes chiefly from the rich district
of Tusurkan to its north-west. It occupies, together with its outskirts, an area of about
4 square miles, filling up more or less the valley between the hills bordering the Dizful river,
which here n&rrows to a width of about 3 to 4 miles. The hills to the east here sink into
comparatively low undulations ; those to the west retain their elevation and are snow-topped.
The latterm for the Alwand range.