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Publications, Newspaper Cuttings, Photographs and Correspondence about Persia and the Persian Gulf [60v] (122/879)
The record is made up of 1 file (436 folios). It was created in 14 Oct 1891-Sep 1911. It was written in English, French and German. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
313
Messrs. R. T. Gunther and J. J. Manley.
by its Secretary, 184 years ago. Edmund Halley, in his “Short
Account of the Cause of the Saltness of the Ocean, and of the several
Lakes that emit no Rivers,” expressed himself as follows :—" I recom
mend it therefore to the Society, as opportunity shall offer, to procure
the Experiments to be made of the present degree of Saltness of the
Ocean, and of as many of these Lakes as can be come at, that they may
stand upon Record for the benefit of future Ages.”* At the present
day there are additional reasons for recording the properties and com
position of such salt lakes as are known to be inhabited by life, because
Schmankewitscht and many others of the modern school of Entivickel-
ungsmechanik (Morgan, Loeb, Vernon, &c.) have proved that every
change in the salinity of the waters is accompanied by definite, rapid,
and corresponding changes in the anatomical structure of certain of
their halophilous fauna, and especially of the species of Artemia, one
of which occurs in Lake Urmi. |
The superficial area covered by Lake Urmi is about 1750 square
miles, or about four times that of the Dead Sea. For so large an expanse
of water its depth is inconsiderable ; the greatest
soundings
Measurements of the depth of a body of water.
do not
exceed 40 feet, and since much of the lake is extremely shallow, its
average depth is probably under 20 feet. When viewed from the
commanding heights of one of its islands, its waters show that brilliant
deep blue colour which is so characteristic of salt lakes, but as seen
from a boat, the light which is reflected from the light grey mud at the
bottom is green.
The temperature of so small a volume of water, which is at the same
time so extended as Lake Urmi, must necessarily vary considerably with
the seasonal changes of temperature. During the months of July and
August the temperature of the surface waters varied from 27-8° C. to
25-8° C., and the temperature of the bottom water at a depth of about
25 feet was 25° C. The specific gravity of the water, as measured on
the spot by an ordinary hydrometer, was L11, whether the water was
drawn from near the bottom or from the surface of the lake; it may
therefore be assumed that the waters of the lake remote from the
mouths of the fresh water tributaries were of a fairly uniform density,
a result which was probably due to the thorough mixing of the waters
produced by the strong south-easterly breezes prevalent at the time.
The total quantity of water available for the more detailed examina
tion was brought home in two glass wine bottles, holding about ? litre
a-piece. The samples A and B were collected on September 16, 1898,
near the base of the Bezau Daghi, on the western shore of the lake,
where there is comparatively deep and clear water close in shore. The
bottles were carefully corked, and it is, I think, fair to assume that no
* ‘ Phil. Trans.,’ vol. 29, p. 299, 1715.
+ ‘ Zeitschrift Wiss. Zoologic,’ vol. 25, 1875.
1 Gunther, ‘ Nature,’ vol. 58, p. 435.
About this item
- Content
The file contains miscellaneous papers, mostly printed publications, newspaper cuttings and photographs, relating to Persia and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
It includes a few items of correspondence, including letters to George Nathaniel Curzon relating to the Trans-Persian Railway, and Russian influence in Persia, and handwritten notes by Curzon on topics including arms traffic in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , and the Trans-Persian Railway.
The file also includes copies of printed publications relating to Persia, including: three pamphlets on Lake Urmi [Urmia] in North West Persia, by Robert Theodore Günther (two of which include duplicate copies of a map of the Lake Urmi Basin, Mss Eur F111/356, f 132); a paper entitled ‘Paper to be read before the Indian Section of the Society of Arts, Thursday, May 8th. 1902. The Past and Present Connection of England with the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . By Thomas Jewell Bennett.’; and an article from the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Volume 5, Number 8, August 1909) entitled ‘Some Persian Folk-lore Stories concerning the Ruins of Persepolis.’ by Captain Charles Monk Gibbon, Royal Irish Fusiliers.
It includes in addition: two issues of a French pamphlet entitled Bulletin de l’Union des Associations des Anciens Élèves des Écoles Supérieures de Commerce (Reconnues par l’État) [ Bulletin of the Union of Associations of Former Students of the Higher Schools of Commerce (Recognized by the State) ], dated 20 January and 5 February 1904, which include articles by M E Peschier on the Baghdad Railway; and a German bookseller’s catalogue entitled Indica et Iranica Teilweise aus der Bibliothek von Viggo Fausböll Professor der indischen Sprachen an der Universität Kopenhagen I. Literaturen und Sprachen Indiens und Persiens [ Indica et Iranica Partially from the Library of Viggo Fausboll Professor of Indian Languages at the University of Copenhagen. Literatures and Languages of India and Persia ].
Folios to 250 to 370 of the file mostly consist of cuttings relating to Persia and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. from various newspapers and other publications, including: The Times , The Morning Post , The Spectator , The Civil & Military Gazette , The Times of India , and The Standard . The cuttings concern topics including: British interests in Persia; the Russian influence in Persia, including the Persian Government signing a concession to a Russian company for the construction of a cart-road between Kazvin, Resht and Enzeli, and Anglo-Russian rivalry in trade with Persia; the cholera epidemic in Persia; and the events of the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1905-11.
Folios 386 to 433 of the file consist of black and white photographs, including:
- Three photographs in an envelope entitled ‘Photos of Koweit [Kuwait]’, of Mabarak-bin-Subah [Shaikh Mubārak bin Ṣabāḥ Āl Ṣabāḥ], Shaikh of Kuwait, and his youngest son Naser (f 387), the foreshore of Koweit (f 388), and the residence of the Shaikh of Koweit (f 389)
- Two photographs in an envelope labelled ‘Photos by Parkin (assistant at Brit[ish] Resid[ency] Bushire / of Koweit Muscat. Bushire. Sent to me by Col[onel] Meade. April 1899.’ of Seyed Faisal bin Turki [Sayyid Fayṣal bin Turkī Āl Bū Sa‘īd], Sultan of Muscat (f 392), and Seyed Mohamed bin Turki, half-brother of the Sultan of Muscat (f 391)
- A set of photographs of the following: the South entrance of the Governor’s house, Bushire (f 395); the Political Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. and British Consulate, Muskat [Muscat] (f 396); the watch tower on Samana (f 397); Major and Mrs Leigh in Camp in Samana (f 398); Major and Mrs Leigh and Lieutenant Creagh [possibly George Washington Brazier-Creagh] at Mastar [Māster, Persia] (f 399); entrance of Muskat Harbour (f 400); town of Muskat from the harbour (f 401); Fort Jelali, Muskat (f 402); Fort Mahrani [Fort Al-Mirani], Muscat (f 403); and the British Vice Consulate at Mohamerah [Khorramshahr] (f 404)
- Printed images of the following: the British Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. , Manamah, Bahrain (f 407); Shaikh Khaz’ al of Muhammareh [Shaikh Khaz‘al bin Jābir bin Mirdāw al-Ka‘bī] (f 408); the view at Haz’-adh-Dhabi, Trucial Oman A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. (f 409); salt rocks on Qishm Island near Namakdan (f 410); the Hindiyan River near Zaidan (f 411); a parade of British and Persian troops at Rishehr, 1905 (f 412); two views of Muhammerah Town (f 413); a creek near Basrah [Basra] from the Shatt-al-’Arab (f 414); a crowd at Ras-al-Khaimah (f 415); the Foreshore, Kuwait (f 416); the Hanaini well, Bahrain Island (f 417); ancient tumuli, Bahrain Island (f 418); Kumzar (f 419); Lingeh (f 420); the Tis Valley in Persian Makran (f 421); the West end of Masqat Town [Muscat Town] with the Sultan’s Palace and Fort Mirani (f 422); and the Eastern end of Masqat Town, with the British Consulate on the left, and the Sultan’s palace on the right (f 423).
- Extent and format
- 1 file (436 folios)
- Arrangement
The folios from folio 4 to folio 251 are arranged in rough chronological order. The newspaper cuttings are mostly between folios 249 and 359, and the photographs are at the rear of the file (folios 386 to 433).
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 436; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
- Written in
- English, French and German in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/356
- Title
- Publications, Newspaper Cuttings, Photographs and Correspondence about Persia and the Persian Gulf
- Pages
- 46r:81r, 82r:133v
- Author
- Gunther, Robert William Theodore
- Copyright
- ©Royal Geographical Society
- Usage terms
- Creative Commons Non-Commercial Licence
- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/356
- Title
- Publications, Newspaper Cuttings, Photographs and Correspondence about Persia and the Persian Gulf
- Pages
- 59r:64v
- Author
- Gunther, Robert William Theodore
- Usage terms
- Public Domain
- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/356
- Title
- Publications, Newspaper Cuttings, Photographs and Correspondence about Persia and the Persian Gulf
- Pages
- 59r:64v
- Author
- Manley, John Job
- Usage terms
- Public Domain