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‘Military report on south-west Persia, including the provinces of Khúzistán (Arabistan), Luristán and part of Fars.’ [‎198v] (401/470)

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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358
* See foot note, page 352.
9 Thick deposits of reddish sandstone, fine-grained and hard, without
fossils, but containing a few thin bands of darker-coloured hard iron-sand
stone, tolerably heavy (=46 and 4 c of hg. 3).
10 At about mile from the entrance of the pass these sandstones are
succeeded by enormous beds of slate-coloured bituminous shales and marls
1 fio- 31 which till up the entire centre of the valley between Tang-i-Khashow
and the pass of Deh-i-Liz, and afford a rich soil for the forest* of dwarf oaks
which here abound. The water flowing among these marls is scanty, and
hi-hlv impregnated with iron. No traces of fossils were here observed. It
is "highly probable that these marls are a prolongation of the beds which
cropout on the north side of Ghaounifrom under the Mungerrah section, and
rest upon the curve of the Be-Ab (see tig. 5)
It has been previously mentioned that in the centre ot the trough of the
Karkhah Big. 3 ) a slight curve of limestone occurs at Pul-i-Tang, “ the Bridge
of the Cleft/' through which the river fhnvs at a depth of 100 feet. At the
p tint where’the river issues from the gorge, and where the limestone again
dips under the gypsum and marls, upon the right bank, several large blocks
hive been from* some cause or other torn from their places and overturned—
perhaps by the force of the stream when very high. The under-sides of
these blocks are composed of layers of scutella (sp. undesc.) with abundant
casts of turritella pecten, and other shells. The same limestone probably
curves upwards and surmounts the great range of the Kabir-Kuh (fig. 3).
Other sections will be alluded to showing the position of the nummulitic
limestones with regard to the cretaceous equivalents; and it is especially
remarkable that while the former are compact and crystalline, and contain
nummaliteK and allied forms of foraminifera in abundance, the latter are
composed of fawn-coloured fissile layers, which are softer, though sometimes
indurated, or of rotten, blue, bituminous shales.
Although the beds of the two formations are conformable to each other,
the characteristic fossils of each never appear together in any intermediate
bed. Ammonites only exist in the fawn-coloured layers of limestone and in
the blue shales; but, as soon as these rocks cease and the crystalline limestones
succeed in ascending order, the fossil forms are perfectly distinct. How these
changes have occurred it is exceedingly difficult to explain ; but certain it is
that such is the fact, and that the crystalline is perfectly conformable to the
fissile limestone..
Altered nummulitic limestone .—To the eastward of the deposits thus
far described, and extending from Persepolis to near Mount Ararat, are great
mountains of highly crystalline, dark-blue, and foetid limestone, in close pro
ximity to the grand central axis of igneous origin, which causes the paral
lelism of all the exterior ranges. The crystalline and contorted structure of
these deposits is necessarily to be ascribed to the protrusion or concealed
presence of the igneous mass. When stratification is apparent, it is so con
torted and crushed that there is no possibility of tracing the beds. Generally
all traces of stratification are absent, and the mass is of homogeneous texture
throughout. The colour of the stone is usually dark blue, but it sometimes
varies to light grey, and even in some cases to white. It is compact, rough
to the touch, excessively hard and heavy, with a saccharoidal fracture, and a
bituminous or foetid odour when struck with the hammer. It is a good
buildiqg stone, assumes a fine polish, and is equally suitable for internal or
external decoration, as is well shown at the deserted and ruined palaces 01
Persepolis and Susa. __

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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.’ [‎198v] (401/470), 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_100048990084.0x000002> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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