"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٣‎٨‎٢] (١٧٨٢/١٥٣٧)

1382
Turko-
Persian
frontier
under the
Second
Treaty of
Erzeroum,
1848-52.
1849.
1850.
Dervish Pasha, representing Turkey, and Mirza Ja'far Khan, representing
Persia, as principals, with Colonel Williams and Colonel Tcherikoff
British and Kussian Commissioners, as auxiliaries. The British surveyor
was Captain Glascott, K.N., the Russian, M. Agranowitch. Mr. W.
K. Loftus * was appointed geologist to the British Commission, but was
employed largely on detached archaeological duties.
The Commission assembled at Baghdad in 184-9, but the commence
ment of proceedings was delayed by the late arrival of the Turkish
Commissioner, who after indulging in unilateral and high-handed action
on the northern frontier, loitered at Musal until the season was too far
advanced for field work. The summer of 1849 was passed at Baghdad,
and in the autumn the British, Kussian, and Turkish parties made a tour
to Hillah, Najaf and Karbala, entering the courtyard of the shrine at
Najaf to the great indignation of the Shi'ah population, but not
venturing within the actual tomb of 'Ali.
Operations only began in January 1850 at Muhammareh, where,
during the early summer, the four camps composing the Commission
suffered intense discomfort from heat, mosquitoes, and a curious endemic
sickness. To escape these inconveniences the British party undertook a
tour in the Persian hills, but there they lost one of their number, Mr. A.
ood, by death. The Turkish Commissioner, whose attitude had from
the tirst been unpromising, now gave clear proof of the unconciliatoriness
of his spirit by claiming for Turkey a large tract of country to the east
and noith of Muhammareh, including Qubban, between which and the
Tuikish possessions to the west of the Shatt-al-'Arab the town, port and
anchoiage of Muhammareh together with the island of "'Abbadan should,
he contended, form a small enclave. He also undertook separate surveys
and statistical enquiries among the Persian tribes surrounding Muham-
maieh, intrigued with their chiefs, and issued inflammatory proclama
tions. Ihe Persian Commissioner, not to be outdone by his colleague
in the boldness of his pretensions, asserted that the rights of Persia on
the left bank of the Shatt-al-'Arab extended so far up that river as the
confluence with it of the Suwaib—a point many miles above Basrah. The
argument on which the claims of the two plenipotentiaries were founded
may be epitomised in the words ; ancient suzerainty over the occupying
tribes. A boundary intermediate between those claimed by the Turkish
and Persian representatives was eventually suggested by the British and
Russian Commissioners. It was approved by the mediating Govern-
Mi. Loftus was afterwards appointed to the Geological Survey of India and died
in 1858 while returning home from that country.