"تقرير عسكري حول عربستان (المنطقة رقم ١٣)." [و‎‎٣‎٤] (٣٦٦/٧٢)

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(d) Produce. —The town land produces abundant d^tes and
rice, but trade is slack.
(e) Movement. —Movement is chiefly by water and the town
possesses many bellams. Mahilahs also come up from Muham-
marah by the canal, and there is a good water way leading to
Buzieh.
(10) BANDAR MA’SHUR. Lat. 30° 34' 28". Long. 49° 11 ' 28".
General description. —The village of Ma’shur, generally called
Bandar, is situated about a mile north of the inland termina
tion of the Hor Ma’shur branch of the Hor Musa. Accord
ing to local tradition, the original village of Ma’shur, was situat
ed at a place called Tall Kafiran, which seems to be on the south
east bank of the Hor Ma’shur, about 3 miles from its head.
Ma’shur village stands upon a mound, which has the appear
ance of being artificial but in all probability consists merely
of the debris of a long inhabited site. A ruined c burj ’ domi
nates the place; and there are three mosques, of which the best
was built in the present generation by one Haji Nasir, a mer
chant of the place. The houses are of the type usual in this
part of Persia ; they are of mud with mud roofs and each of them
encloses its own courtyard. Around the village outside are
scattered the roofless mud walls of diminutive huts, which are
occupied during the wheat harvest when the grain is heaped
up outside the village. Sanitation is disregarded.
( 6 ) Water. —Drinking water is largely drawn from a stag
nant pool, the same as that in which clothes are washed. Rain
water is collected on the east side of the town by an embank- •
ment faced with brick, built about 20 years ago by Haji Nasir ;
on the open tank thus formed the inhabitants depend for 8
months of the year for all purposes; during the remaining 4
months they drink from wells, of which there are many small
ones in the town. There is also to the west of the town an
underground cistern, which holds excellent water : the entrance
is kept locked during the winter. The fact that the live-stock
of Ma’shur is not sent elsewhere in the hot weather points to the
fact that the water supply is in no way deficient, but the well-
water at least is brackish and unhealthy.
(c) Inhabitants. —The population of Ma’shur village is about
1,500 souls ; as a whole the people are healthy and well-favoured
, MC164CGS * a