"تقرير عسكري عن جنوب غرب بلاد فارس، يتضمن أقاليم خوزستان (عربستان)، لورستان، وجزءًا من فارس" [‎٤‎١] (٤٦٦/٧٠)

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have to be constructed along the line of the deepest water to enable steam
launches to lie alongside at all times of the tide, whilst the transports anchored
off shore 2 to 3 miles in water suited to their draught.
The shore line produces hard wood trees in small numbers. About the
coast villages palm trees are occasionally numerous. Inland the country is
practically treeless, and labour to construct piers, &C., not procurable.
At Bushire the anchorage for large shipping (inner roads) is 2^ miles
Busliire from the town, in 3 to 4 fathoms at low water, over a
muddy bottom; its advantages of pier accommodation
over the smaller bandars are not great; the advantages of the house accommo
dation afforded by the town, and those arising from its working population, are
however considerable. Deeper water in shore than that opposite the town is
found 4 or 5 miles to the east of it at Kishahr, and there also are the wells of
sweet water and the telegraph offices and European residences.
It is high tide, full and change, at Abu-Shahr at about 7^ hours; the
Tides. spring, rise and fall, varies from 6' to 8', and the neaps
rise from 4' to 6', their range being 2' to 4', In sum
mer the day tides, and in winter the night tides, are much the greater.
The rise and fall varies little to Muhammerah. At Basra it is 9' [Persian
Gulf Pilot,)
Muhammerah. ^ or description of Muhammerah and its advantages
as a port over the above roadsteads, see pages 178, 185
and Part III,
The Hafar canal, on which it lies, carries 3 to 4 fathoms. The soundings
tt « r , in the Shatt-al-Arab, at the junction of the Hafar, are 5
a ar ana . ^ ^ fathoms. The point opposite the Hafar-Zein is
deep-to, as are both entrance points of that canal.
The Shatt-al-Arab (from its mouth to Basra, the boundary between Turkey
and Persia) is a fine river navigable for vessels of a draught of 18' to 184'
beyond Basra, or to a distance of 80 miles from the bar. Its breadth near its
Shatt-al-Arab. mouth averages three-quarters of a mile, with soundings
of 3 to 4 fathoms at low water. The western channel,
always taken, at the bar carries 12' at low water springs, the rise and fall
varying from 8' to 10'; the winds influence the depth of water on the bar to
a certain extent.
At the west end of Dubbeh island is the shoalest part of the river, and
the most difficult to navigate. There are probably not more than 16' to 18'
at high water, and this only in the deepest part of the channel over this bar.
Opposite the creek leading to Basra the depth mid-channel is 4 to 5
Eathoms.
Small vessels can navigate the river to Kurnah at the junction of the
Tigris and Euphrates.
The strength of the ebb tide in the river varies from 3 to 6 knots; that
of the flood from 2 to 4 knots, the ebb stream being
about double the duration of the flood.
Inland from the low sandy shore, extends to the low hills of sandstone and
#Garm8ir. conglomerate a vast level of variable width (average
35 miles), a barren mud flat for some miles, liable to be
looded by high tides and heavy rains, and beyond a plain growing cereals of
various kinds, melons, &c.; it is sparsely populated, its few villages being
# The garmsir extends to some distance within the hills; see page 24.