Manuscript of Persia and the Persian Question (Continued) [‎46r] (91/690)

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method of fighting it out in the streets^ Finally_±fe=if. Layard may
be quoted for the statement that “ th^ Shusteri ladies are renowned
for their beauty, but not for their Virtue with which concluding
touch I may take literary leave of tne good folks of Shuler.
In the situation of the town there is much that both harmonises
with and accounts for the idiosyncrasies of its people. Unlike most
Persian cities of any size, which are commonly built in plains at no
great distance from the base of mountains whence they derive their
water, Shuler is built upon a rock, and is at once sustained and for
tified by the command of a noble river. Emerging from a'teialc
sandstone ridge at a distance of about three miles to the north of the
town, the Ivarun Itiver, hitherto pent up in narrow gorges, and
foaming over an obstructed bed, expands itself with all the luxury
of new-found ease in the flat alluvial plains that stretch from here
to the sea. By this mountain barrier, which is, so to speak, the
advance-guard of the mighty Zagros range behind, Shuster is shut off
from easy contact with the rest of Persia, and is brought into direct
association both wity the '^g , ats, or nomad tribes of the mountains,
forming the various'branches of the great family of Lurs, and with
the Arabs of the mains. Its position at the outlet of the hills ex
plains both its political and commercial importance; since it is at
once the spot from which these unruly tribesmen can be most
effectively contrc/lled, and the natural channel through which trade
must pass to and fro between the rich inland districts of Burujird,
Kermanshah, jand Ilawadan^ and the Southern ^jeas. To these
advantages ncy inconsiderable strategical strength has been added by
the happy Wtural juxtaposition of rive£ and rock, as well as by
artificial works which I shall now proceed to describe.^It Tias
already been indicated that the town is situated on an eminence at
the northern extremity of an island formed by two branches of the
Karun, the one the original river-bed, the other a canal partly cut
by man, ^hich re-unite some twenty-five miles in a straight line
further ^own at ^mjid-i-Kir. About six hundred- yards above the
town the Ab-i-G^rg^r canal diverges from the left bank of the main
stream,/and pursues a straight southerly course, intersected by two
dams of which I shall speak, through a gorge artificially hewn for
its reqeption in the rock upon which the city stands, thereby consti
tuting an important military defence upon its eastern flank. Mean-
the main body of the river, which from the point of bifurca-
tioiVto that of re-union at Bund-i-Kir is popularly called the Abi-i-
Shateit, after parting with some of its watersfn the manner described,
mpies a broad sweep to the west, leaves the base of the rock upon
lich the kaleh or citadel, and behind it the city, standf, and then
t/irns southwards, its channel being barred at this point by the
celebrated 6und and bridge of Valerian. While skirting the castle
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