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‘Military report on south-west Persia, including the provinces of Khúzistán (Arabistan), Luristán and part of Fars.’ [‎180v] (365/470)

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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324
so common in Persia. Mortar was burnt just wherever it was wanted. I n
places the limestones were very close-grained and took a polish like marble
Geology Dupulan were cliffs of conglomerate and of fine grain
limestone like that of Persepolis. After Hillisat more
conglomerate. The rocks almost all have outcrops to the south, though this is
notably not the case at Dupulan and the left bank of the Rudbar. We saw
but one lake, viz., that to the east of the two shown on the map. The other
may be visible after heavy rains, but did not exist in December 1881.
We have here, at Mal-i-Mir, come on the regular Indian fauna, black and
Fauna. kingfishers, francolin, spur-winged plovers, the baft
bhai, &c., &c. Among the Bakhtiarf hills, though birds
were not plentiful, we found choughs, ravens, crows, magpies, jays with more
white in their wings than the English variety, long-tailed tits, and lesser tits,
and cole tits, pied wagtails, and the yellow variety, green woodpeckers, and the
St. Johannis nut-hatches, grey smoky-coloured thrush, larks, chaffinches, and
common buntings. Ibex, markhor, and bears are found on the mountains, as
well as the wild sheep {see page 81).
On the morning of the 16th we went to the south side of the plain to a
Sculptures. break in the mountain somewhat similar to the one I
visited yesterday on the north, except that the bay
ended in a cavern. Above the cavern are some tablets of sculptures in bas
relief; the one to the right or north has three figures in the attitude of
making a petition. They have a turban of peculiar shape; the next panel
contains people in the attitude of attentive servants, and they have hats some
what m shape resembling our English helmets. The people here have remarked
this, and thought we should be able to read the cuneiform inscriptions at
sight, which they call khat-i-faringhi or European writing; they were much
disappointed to find we knew nothing about the writing, and" to hear that
the people who wrote them were the Persians, not our forefathers. The kins
or potentaie, the central figure of the group, has doubtless been washed away,
as his position is now occupied by a water-course spilling over the face of the
rock m time of rain. In the entrance to a sort of cave, not the main cave,
aie wo gures, both much worn and defaced, and over and around one of
them are cuneiform inscriptions in letters of elements, the same size as those
° yeS ., er Af a ^. ? re muc k defaced by age. Leaving the ancient cavern,
we qui a * 1 " 1 11 P^in at its south-east corner by a valley with many tall
i^n & sca erec about, then sharp to the south of the valley between rocky
n s, ju or which rocky hills and the absence of a stream down it it would
be like an English park.
Pall grass, now somewhat dry, surround the stately oaks which are dotted
here and there. Cattle grazing under some of them add to the effect, though
tlie marks of porcupine recall the east to our mind. The road emerges from
ns \a ey on to a barren stony plain, in the centre of which is seen a barrow
or leppe crowned by the fort of KaPa-f-Tul. This is the stronghold of a
cei am i nza * ga Ivhan, who looks on the Ilkhani The paramount chief of certain tribes in south west Iran. as his suzerain, though he
is more or less independent of that chief. This Khan's subjects, on the left
a "'? Ir e .. va * ur b are ca lled Chaharlang, and were formerly at deadly feud
with the Haft-Lang, or those who dwell on the right bank ; but the Ilkhani The paramount chief of certain tribes in south west Iran.
has altered all this [see page 95).
Bricks are made at Kal’a-i'-Tdl. For road to Behbahan (,ee page 329),
It is distant three long or five short stages
From the north at a distance, the fort of KalVf-Tul reminded me of
a ' JU 10111 ^ 10 S(,u th side it looked like an unfinished church. It

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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.’ [‎180v] (365/470), 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_100048990083.0x0000a6> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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