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Publications, Newspaper Cuttings, Photographs and Correspondence about Persia and the Persian Gulf [352v] (709/879)
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.
SDAY, NOVEMBER ]
A MAD RIVER.
THE COURSE OF THE OXUS.
An Odessa correspondent gays ;—From time
immemorial the vagaries of the Ama Darya (Oxus)
in changing its course at different points, or in
making new disemboguements, have been chronicled
by ancient and modern geographers and historians,
but for some few generations past, down to the current
year, there has occurred no noteworthy diversion of
the classic river of Central Asia.
From Novi Tchardshui (New Charjai) there now
comes the following official report. Not far from one
of the stations of the Trans-Caspian Railway, and
within a short distance of the great bridge, 5,250 feet
in length, which spans the Amu Darya, there has,
within the last decade or 80, arisen the thriving ana
prosperous town of Novi Tchardshui, thus designated
: in contradistinction to the old town of Tchardshui in
, Bokhara. Some few years ago the latter place was
situated close upon one of the banks of the Amu
Darya ; it is now seven versts distant from that river.
At the beginning of September the Amu Darya rose
" to an abnormal height, its waters washing out a new
course of half a mile long towards Novi Tchardshui,
“ :nd threatening to change their bed altogether in that
" district. Since then a thousand men have been en-
1 gaged day and night on the construction of huge dams
to keep the river to its old bed. This work has already
coat ninety thousand roubles, and, before it is com-
" pleted, will involve a total outlay of at least half a
’ million roubles. in addition to this the Government
7 is to assign an annual sum to Novi Tchardshui to
enable that town to protect itself from engulfmeut by
this new vagary of the Amu Darya. It is scarcely a
matter of surprise to learn that the natives call the
great river" the Deli Darya," or the Mad Darya,
Some eminent geographers are of opinion that the
Amu Darya, or Oxus, has always disembogued into
the Sea if Aral, whilst others of equal authority
assert that the Aral has fluctuated, at d.Corent periods
between the condition of a great inland sea and that
of a reedy ma»sb, according to the varying course of
its two feeders, the Jaxartes and the Oxus. The pesi-
tion and the height of the head of the delta of the
Oxus relatively to the A ial and Caspian Seas are such
that comparasively alight abanges in the relations of
the river to its banks and bed would readily divert its
course from one sea to the other. Kowaja-ili, at the
head of the delta, is 217ft. above the mean sea; the
Aral is 158ft. above and the Caspian 85ft. below, the
mean sea. The length of channel from Khwaja-ili to
the Aral is 110 miler, with a fall of 59ft., or about 6in.
in the mile. The length of channel from the
town of Urganj, near Khwaj-ili, is about 600
miles, with a fah of about 3C01t, or also about 6in.
in the mile. Thus the slope is much the same in
both directions, and, consequently, the blocking of
the channel towards one sea—either naturally by an
accidental deposit of silt, or artificially by the con-
struction of dams for the diversion of the river—
would most probably be scon followed by a flow of
water towards the other gen.
The writings of Strabo, Pliny, and Ptolemy indicate
that from 500 B.C. to 600 A.D. the Ozus flowed into
the Caspian. About 605 a great change is said to
have turned the full stream of the Oxus into the
Aral. In subsequent years dams were constructed for
irrigation purpose?, which prevented the tatresm from
reverting to the Caspian. In 1221, during the siege
of Urganj by the Turke, the dams were broken down,
a- d the stream was allowed to find its way back to
the Uzboi, which had been deserted for several cen-
turits. But in 1643 the Oxus is said to have been
again debouching into the Aral, as it continues to do
to-day.
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
- 273r:274v, 282r:282v, 301r:302v, 308r:315v, 352r:352v
- Author
- Times of India
- Usage terms
- Public Domain