'Lord Curzon's Notes on Persia: About 1889-1890' [‎669v] (1359/1486)

14
THE KARUN RIVER AND THE COMMERCIAL
32 miles from Bund-i-kir, that the traveller approaches the interesting
but unttuerably dilapidated town of Shushter, the capital and seat of
government of Arabistan.
I have, in the ‘Fortnightly Rev iew * for May, given so minute and
its external features, population,
origin; that its trade, which might be grea,
niticant; that its surrounding cultivation, which possesses incomparable
advantages of soil and climate, has lapsed into shocking neglect; and that
at present it only retains its prestige because of its commanding natural
position, its selection as the seat of provincial government, and the
magnificent waterworks which were constructed here by the Sassanian
monarch Shapur, 1600 years ago, to supply the city and its suburbs and
gardens with water, and to economise the superfluous extravagance of
the Karun. For a discussion of the character and object of those
stupendous undertakings may I refer my hearers to the pages of the
1 Review ’ which I have already mentioned ?
6 . Here I will resume the interrupted ascent of the river, and proceed
to a brief resume of the final section of the Karun from above Shushter
to its source in the Zardah Kuh mountains to the west of Ispahan. In
this part of its course I am not concerned on the present occasion to
follow it with minuteness; since, the channel not being navigable in
these regions, its importance as a trade route ceases here, and passes
to the overland mule-tracks by which at present communication is
kept up with Khoremabad, Burujird, and other larger towns further
north.
In its upper course, however, the Karun, which flows alternately
through precipitous gorges and elevated plains, traverses a country that
is interesting both from its inhabitants and from the ancient ruins that
exist upon its banks and in the neighbourhood.
The rugged mountain system here encountered, which presents a
succession of lofty, snow-capped ridges and craggy defiles, extending
eastwards from Shushter to the neighbourhood of Ispahan, is the homo
of the Bakhtiari subdivision of the great tribe of nomad Lurs, occupying
the province of Luri Buzurg or Greater Luristan. Their history in the
first half of the present century, which was one of romantic incident and