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‘Military report on south-west Persia, including the provinces of Khúzistán (Arabistan), Luristán and part of Fars.’ [‎198r] (400/470)

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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357
a few miles below the fjor^e, showing that this bed is very largely developed
somewhere in the neighbourhood, though I was not so fortunate as to discover
the particular locality. The last-named fossil is called by the natives “ Sang-i-
Berinj,” or rice-stone, from its fancied resemblance to grains of rice.
The section (lig. 5) taken from the summit of Chaoum gives a general
idea of the arrangement of the beds of this formation, and of the strange
dislocation which has taken place near Mungerrah by the elevation of the
Be-Ab Mountain. The upper beds of the limestone, which is here white and
saccharoidal, are inverted, and form a high peak, with quantities of angular
debris upon the slope. This peak in the outline of the mountains as seen
from Dizful* is represented by a conical protuberance. Not having had an
opportunity of examining the Be-Ab, I am unable to say positively to what
formation the rocks composing it belong; but I have seen fragments of
ammonites which were said to have been picked up in crossing it. This,
together with the conformable dip of the overlying beds, leads me to the con
clusion that it is cretaceous.
From the great elevation of Chaoum, the order of the Mungerrah section
is seen prevailing throughout the adjoining mountains, for the deep-ied of
the chert conglomerate (bed No. fi) may be distinctly traced, from its contrast
with the other beds, forming a wude band wherever a cliff section is pre-
sentedt {see page 210). See pages 214-, 215, where the red band is noted to
be “red earth” and “red clay.” . ^ i •
The orio-in of the red chert gravel, which is very widely extended, is to
me a complete mystery. It is true that a bed of solid red chert is seen m the
Lur mountains at Harsin, and a thin bed (of the cretaceous age) crops out
in the plains of Karmanshah and Maln'dasht, and at hasley (>ul near Mount
Ararat ; but these are too insignificant to have been the nucleus from whence
such an enormous quantity of gravel was derived. In these two localities
there is no waxy green coloured chert, which is abundantly found mixed with
the red chert grlvel wherever that occurs. These rocks may, however, exist in
mass in some unexplored region of the Lui 01 ui i ountains.
From the summit of Chaouni, the red chert gravel is traceable in a
north-west direction for a distance of 20 or 30 miles, until it is shut out of view
by the intervening mountains. ^ • p / \
^CSt^^Sbout 40mi.es i^
fig. 2.) Here Soothe s„th-west at
cliff of about 800 feet high, wit the stiata uippin
an angle of 40", or thereabouts. To the north-east is a biokcn face
exposing the following section :
f No. 4, a thin bed.
| No. 5.
Mungorrah beds ...-^ No. 6.
N°; 8, containing Aheolma mhmrevaSea in very great abundance,
^ with Nummultiesperforata and A. exponeue.
The author ha, given in the origin.! wan^ col.^ .ketch oftbc outline here
J In the manuscript Memoir the to the
• upper
t In the manuscript Memoir the this pwition, and looking t
sketched by Lieutenant Glascott, R.N., 1 • Loftus adds that “ the irregular
north-east. It shows the wfldcharaeter ° “ nv £i a id bv limestone debris fallen from above. In
outline cf the red gravel is owing to lts bei l «.® ^ a u y ; u the bluff south-eastern extremity
other sections the underlying beds are ^seermWe. esp - v Be-lb, north of Chaoum.
of the Kealun range, and in the lofty mountain called lx us,
-Editor.

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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.’ [‎198r] (400/470), 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_100048990084.0x000001> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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