'Military Report on S.-W. Persia, Vol. I. Bakhtiari Garmsir' [‎7v] (19/168)

2
The most prominent feature of the orography of the region is the
Hillg existence of large areas of gypsum {gach)
which, worn away by detrition and atmos
pheric erosion, have become a systemless mass of low hills. They
are treeless but grassy, and almost uninhabited, as the water which
drains from them is generally talkh or bitter, being impregnated with
mineral salts. This quality is characteristic of nearly all rivers
draining the water of the district into the Karun, but is not percept
ible in the case of the tributaries of the Ramuz river (Rud-i-Zard).
The west end of the Mangasht Mountains, in the east corner of
this region, is snow-capped until May, and forms th.zyailaq or summer
quarters of someBabmai and a few Chehar Lang families. The Kuh-i-
Asmari deserves mention if only on account of its dominating position,
rising as it does to a height of over 5,000 feet from amongst gach
hills not more than 2,500 feet in elevation. It is, moreover, com
posed of nummulitic limestone, in striking contrast to the gach or red
shales of the immediately surrounding country.
Nine-tenths of the area of the garmsir is drained into the Karun
Riverg river, which in its upper reaches from Pul-i-
Shalu to Gotwand is entirely confined in
narrow valleys between high hills, whose lofty cliffs and steep slopes
run to the water’s edge, and prevent even a foot-path from following
the course of the river for more than a few miles. This absence of
lateral communication along the river would largely neutralize the
value of bridges for military operations, unless at least six were con
structed.
The Karun receives only two tributaries of importance from
the district: one, the Ab-i-Batwand, or Shur-i-Zan-i-Murda, draining
an area extending from Darreh-i-Murdafil to a point east of Sar
Tiyuk: the other, the Ab-i-Halagun, drains the districts of Marghab,
NutargI, and Halagun.
The Ab-i-A^la, known in its lower courses as the Rudkhaneh-
i-Ra muz, rises in the Mangasht Mountains, in Kuhgalu territory, and
is joined, some 15 miles north of Ramuz, by the Rud-i-Zard, an
important stream formed by the confluence in the Bagh-Malik valley
of the Ab-i-A £ ala Khurshid, Ab-i-Gilal, Ab-i-Bulawas, and Ab-i-Mun-
ganun. The 2nd and 3rd named streams take their rise in the Man
gasht, and water a large area of terraced fields. Some 12 miles north
of Ramuz, the Putang or Tazang River adds its oil stained waters*
to the Ab-i-A‘ala.
* Mamatain, the site of experimental borings for oil in 1907, by the Concessions
Syndicate Limited, is situated on the north bank of this river, a mile from it?
function with the main stream.