Manuscript of Persia and the Persian Question (Continued) [‎47r] (93/690)

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TimT'T^rnnM > rir inr rm titii Tfiii , “T tif yiin ~
arch,” 1 although, from his description of the lower part of the dam,
I cannot help thinking that he was mistaken therein. Anyhow, by
1841, when Layard first visited Shu^r, the arch had disappeared,
and the present solid stone barrier had taken its place. This is in
the form of a wall, about-eHtty yards long and 4wettty-ftve feet high,
built right across the artificial cleft in the rock, which is here nearly
uiJiuwdrrd feet in depth ; the masonry of the wall rising on the south
side from a sloping dam, also made of big stones, with an approxi
mate elevation of f<M4y feet; so that the entire height of the bund
from the water to the parapet is about sixty-five feet . 2 A roadway,
supplying the eastern entrance to Shunter, runs along the top; and
from the fact of its having once led to the now deserted village or
suburb of Boleiti on the farther side, caused the dam to be called
Pul-i-Boleiti (*.<?., bridge of Boleiti), a name which also appears to
have passed into disuse. This bund has at no time borne any con
nection with irrigation, but was raised for a distinct and definite
object. At a short distance above it four or five tunnels have been
pierced in the rock on either side of the gorge below the canal level;
and through these the water is diverted from the stream, emerging
with a rush from several openings on the lower side of the bund, and
turning in its passage a large number of wheels for the grinding of
barley. The spectacle below the dam on the town side is indeed a
very curious and interesting one; for there a number of pools are
formed by the water as it gushes from the tunnels, and at different
levels the mills have been placed so as to utilise the force, the grind
stones revolving in small circular towers. The water passing on falls
with a splash and a roar into the canal below, and the entire appear
ance of the place awakens positive though discordant recollections of
the tunnels and cascades of the Horatian Tivoli. Of the farther
progress of the Ab-i-Gfrg|r I shall speak when describing my
return journey. * u-
»Hiow pass to the Karun proper, or Sh^teit, and its co-
^..ate system of dams, bridges, and canals. Immediately after
the point at which it parts with the G^rg^r Canal, the main river
takes a bend to the west, considerably wddens its bed, and forms a
broad sheet of water as it washes the base of the castle rock. This
is the part of the river that was paved with stones by Shapur, and
called, in consequence, Shad^rwan, or “ flooring.” 6 7 Hounding the
western angle of the citadel, the river then turns towards the south,
and at a point about five hundred yards lower down, where it is nearly
mile in width, is spaced by the famous so-called bund
(1) Journal of the (rw»jr<tpk 77.
(2) Loftua {Travels and Researches), though correct in his description of the Pul-i-
Boleiti in other respects, transferred these features, viz., the cutting through the rock
and the solid masonry wall, to the upper dam, o®k Bund-i-Kaisar, of which neither of
them is true.
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