‘Persia – especially Seistan’ [‎226r] (450/949)

[Confidential.]
Diary of Major E. B. Burton, B[is Britannic Majesty’s Acting Vice-
Consul at Mohammerah.
Bam Hormuz to Mohammerah via Mashur and Fellahieh .— I he plain of
Ram Hormuz is irrigated and heavily cultivated: that part adjacent to the
town and skirting the foot of the mountains to. the south-east is intersected by
irrigation canals whose water is drawn from the Rud-i-Zard
One and-a-half miles to the south is the village of Kuhma belonging to the
Sipahdar of the Bakhtiaris, who has a house there and has built rows of stables
and a serai, and is erecting a fort-like enclosure.
As the Mashur road leaves Kuhma, the plain becomes more open and
grassy, and covered with flocks and herds and Arab and Lur camps.
The Rud-i-Zard, here a rapid stream, flows over the plain in several
branches, and about 12 miles south of Ram Hormuz effects a junction with the
Jerrahi River: which then, skirting through tangled ravines, the western spurs
of a rocky range of hills, emerges some 20 miles south of Ram Hormuz into the
alluvial plains which stretch to the Karun and the sea. The watershed The boundary between adjacent drainage basins. of a
stony slope running west from these hills on the right bank of the river forms
at this point, 12 miles south-south-west of Ram Hormuz, the boundary between
the Bakhtiaris and the territory of the Sheikh of Mohammerah.
Both banks of the Jerrahi at its debouchure from the hills at Cham Sabeh
are occupied by the tents of the Bani Khalid Arabs, with whom we camped.
This tribe is well armed: every man appears to carry a Martini rifle or carbine :
their appearance was not prepossessing, and they said we would probably be
robbed and that they w r ould not be responsible for our safety. I referred them
to the Sheikh of Mohamrnerah for any explanation they might wish to give
in the event of that happening, and we were left alone.
At Cham Sabeh are the remains of large canals, and mounds showing signs
of former permanent habitations: from this point the waters of the Jerrahi
River could be directed in canals over the alluvial plains of the district, the
cultivation of which now depends entirely upon the winter rain. From shortly
below this to near Fellahieh the stream cuts deep into the soil and irrigation
from it is not possible.
To some few miles below its exit from the hills at Cham Sabeh the Jerrahi
is a broad and rapid stream, divided by tamarisk covered islands into several
arms, and fordable by horsemen at several points except after recent rain.
At Halfabad it assumes the appearance of a canal: its sluggish stream
winding between deep cut banks 60 to 70 yards apart: to this point boats, 40
feet long with a beam of 6 to 8 feet and drawing 2 to 3 feet of water, ascend
throughout the year.
The villages and camps of the Chaab Arabs stand along the river banks,
and their flocks and herds are pastured in its vicinity. There is no water else
where in this tract of country : the river receives no affluents after leaving the
Ram Hormuz plain and flows in a single diminishing stream tow r ards Mashur,
at 10 miles north of which it turns west to Fellahieh. After a year of good
harvest much grain and forage are available in the villages : some amount of
scrub grows throughout the course of the stream which is said to be fordable
at numerous points during the summer. I took soundings Measurements of the depth of a body of water. at 3 points, which
showed a maximum depth of 12 feet in February, lour days after rain.
Mashur is situated on a mound, on a salt plain w r hich is liable to be
flooded after rain. A spring tide with a south wind brings the sea close to the
town. Water is obtained from many small wells inside the town and some
reservoirs in the vicinity, and, except after rain, is brackish and unhealthy.
From this port is exported the wool, hides, and harvest produce of the
Ram Hormuz and Jerrahi districts: caravans plying mainly during the summer.
The Governor of Mashur is an Arab and a nominee of the Sheikh of
Mohammerah: he was visiting the Bani Khalid Arabs, and rode to Mashur,
35 miles, during the night on hearing of our arrival.