'Military report on Tehran and adjacent Provinces of North-West Persia (including the Caspian Littoral)' [‎68r] (140/610)

Below the bridge these hills close in on both banks and the
river runs for a couple of miles through an impassable gorge as
far as the wide, open and fertile Mianeh basin, where it is joined
by the river Karangu. The hills South and South-East of the
river maintain their precipitous nature, but to the North the
basin is almost flat, very little higher than the river bed and
backed by low sloping hills.
On leaving the Mianeh basin below Chaliyan the Kizil
Uzun cuts a deep winding ravine, 3 to 4 miles in width, and
2,500 / to 3,000' deep, for some 50 miles through Khalkhal. It
appears to end near Miyansarah, where the Shahrud joins the
Kizil Uzun. Villages in this ravine are few and far between,
and it admits of no track as the river runs against numerous
precipitous spurs of cliff thrown down from the plateaus above.
It can only be crossed from North to South at a few points by
stony tracks with gradients of 1 in 5, and 1 in 6.
To North and South above the brink of the gorge, and in
striking contrast to its desolation, stretch fertile rolling uplands,
6,000' to 7,500' in height, the finest unirrigated land for wheat
and barley in this area. On the North they extend Eastwards
to the Aqdagh, a prominent horse-shoe mountain, about 10,000',
forming the Western boundary of the Shahrud. East of the
Shahrud commence the precipitous Talish-Masuleh range and
the country is very broken. Above the right bank, South-
East, they extend a little further, and to the South they reach
the Zinjan Rud basin.
From the junction of the Karangu the Kizil Uzun becomes
a big turbid river, of aft average width of 50 yards, very swift
and unfordable from February to June, when it is crossed on
rafts of inflated hides. At other seasons local horsemen cross
by recognized fords. The Pardalis bridge on the Zinjan-
Ardabil road has been breached.
The QivI Chai and Shahrud are small tributaries affording
lines of approach from Ardabil and Hirabad. Both, however,
contract into ravines before joining the Kizil Uzun causing the
trade routes to make detours.
Section IV.—Shahrud of Khalkhdl—Junction of Shahrud and
Kizil Uzun at Manjil. Districts of Upper Tdrum {Khamseh),
Lower Tdrum (Kazvin).
The Kizil Uzun leaves the ravine and flows through the
broad open valley of Tarum bounded by hills 3,500' to 4,500'
above it, separating it from the plains of Zinjan and Sultanieh,
and from Gilan. The distance from the Kizil Uzun across the