'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎330] (415/748)

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330
PEKSIA
CHAPTER XXV
THE KARUN RIVER
From Atropatia and the neighbouring plains
Of Adiabene, Media, and the South
Of Susiana to Balsara's haven.
Milton, Paradise Regained.
Fardah Inshallah—
Please God, to-morrow!
Persian Saying,
H aving in the previous chapter supplied all the information in my
power about the provinces of Arabistan and Luristan, about their
The Kamn peculiar and warring populations, and about the problems
country 0 f i oca i an (J foreign politics which they bring to light, I
now turn to a description of my own journey up the waters of
the Karun River, as far as the fanatical and crumbling city of
Shushter. There is much in the country, in the river scenery,
and in the character of the people upon its banks, that distinguishes
this from other parts of Persia. Few Englishmen have visited,
and fewer still have described this interesting corner of the Shah's
dominions; and whilst those who have done so have recorded their
experiences in compilations not devoid of romance and familiar to
the student, though not perhaps to the public at large, 1 the local
1 The writers who have dealt with the Karun river, Shushter, and the sur
rounding districts are as follows:—Dean Vincent, The Commerce and Navigation
of the Ancients, 2 vols., 1807. Gen. W. Monteith, Journal of the R.G.S., vol. xxvii.
p. 108. J. M. Kinneir, Geographical Memoir, 1813. Capt. R. Mignan, Travels in
Chaldcea, 1829. J. H. Stocqueler, Fifteen Months' 1 Pilgrimage, 2 vols., 1832. (Sir)
H. Rawlinson, Journal of the R.G.S.,vo\. ix., 1839. Lieut. W. B. Selby, I.N.,
Journal of the R.G.S., vol. xiv., 1844. (Sir) A. H. Layard, Journal of the R.G.S-,
vol. xii., 1842, vol. xvi., 1846; Early Adventures, 2 vols., 1887. Baron C. A. De
Bode, Journal of the R.G.S., vol. xiii., 1843; Travels in Luristan and Ardbistan,
2 vols., 1845. Col. F. R. Chesney, Expeditions for the Survey of the Rivers Euphrates
and Tigris in 1835-7, 2 vols., 1850. W. F. Ainsworth, Researches in Assyria, Ac.,
1838 ; A Personal Narrative of the Euphrates Expedition, 2 vols., 1888 ; The River
Karun, 1890. W. K. Loftus, Travels and Researches in Chaldcua and Susiana, 1857;
Journal of the R. G.S., vol. xxvii. 1857. Capt. G. H. Hunt, Persian Campaign (1857).
Gen. A. H. Schindler, * Travels in S.-W. Persia in 1877-8,' Zeit. d. Gesell.f Erd. 2.