'Lord Curzon's Notes on Persia: About 1889-1890' [‎668v] (1357/1486)

THE karun river and the commercial
be continued as far as Moharamerah, so as to prevent any break of bulk
at all in transhipment at that port. In such a case, the navigation of
the Karun would cease to be remunerative. But the railway scheme,
though feasible, is still so much in nubibus that for the present we may
discuss far less ambitious proposals, and even regard a tramway less
than two miles in length as a covetable desideratum.
4. I now pass to the upper river and to the stretch, about 45 miles
in length, that intervenes between Ahwaz and Bund-i-kir. Of this
there is little to be said except that the Karun is here narrower in
width, averaging from 200 to 350 yards; that it flows between loftier
banks, rising from 10 to 20 and even 30 feet in height; that these
sustain a thicker growth of scrub than on the lower river; and that the
course of the stream is as sinuous as an impaled worm. Only one village
of the slightest importance is passed, and this, whose name is Wais.ls
worthy of mention only as marking the northern limit of Sheikh Mizal’s
jurisdiction, which henceforward is' succeeded by that of the Governor
of Arabistan. Above Wais for about 12 miles the river is as straight as
it was previously serpentine, until we come to Bund-i-kir (i. e. the dyko
of bitumen, a dam so cemented having doubtless once existed at this
spot), where three smaller streams converge to form the largo river, of
which we now take leave.
5. These streams are the Ab-i-diz, or river of Dizful, that runs from
Dizful on the west; the Ab-i-shateit, or Karun proper, that runs from
iShushter, in the centre; and the Ab-i-gargar, originally an artificial
canal, that runs also from Shushter, on the east, and constitutes the
eastern boundary of the island so formed. I will add a few words about
each of these tributaries.