'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎68r] (140/862)

DESCRIPTION OF THE LAND
8 7
ktedand
mdstone,
fsintlie
't cliffs in
narrows
the Kifri
but well
in winter
l Soil in
'streams
ere are a
g every-
i to the
irhi
200 feet
t above
h con-
tere is
of oil.
lopled
lain is
ieyards
groves,
from a
u, the
rvatt a\
letween
i ranges
ih-west,
rn half of
2,ooo feet
st or more
L q Su and
urn of the
hiefhead-
stream flowing south-east for 8 miles in an open valley before bending
south and then south-west past the southern end of Aj Dagh. It
collects water from numerous streams fed by small springs which are
generally marked by clumps of oleander. The plateau soil is a rich
clay and there is plentiful grass in the hollows. The bed of the main
river as well as those of many of its tributaries are deeply cut and
cliffed. Two miles above Khan Zur (Ibrahim Khanji) the width is
between ioo and 200 yards in May, but it is said to be fordable even
in winter. It narrows to 80 yards just above Khan Zur with 150-foot
earthen cliffs on the left bank. There are patches of cultivation in
some of the small valleys, but the whole area is much intersected by
ravines.
About 9 miles below. Khan Zur the Aq Su passes through the
southern end of Jabal Tasak, a marked fold which extends for
20 miles north-westwards to the Tauq Chai and is mainly built of con
glomerates and sandstone. There is some limestone and gypsum on
the north-east flank in which are oil seepages at Farhad Beg, Nuqta
Sadiya, Bahram Beg (Gil), and Nuqta Sairapa. The Jabal Tasak is
easily crossed at many places.
South of the Jabal Tasak the Aq Su cuts its bed into the brown clay
of a rolling plain and breaks through the north-western end of the
Kifri hills between the ridges known as Ali Dagh and Naft Dagh.
Tuz Khurmatli stands close to the river’s exit, a prosperous little town
surrounded by a few palm-trees and orchards of lemon, fig, pome
granate, apricot, and olive. Much rice is grown in the neighbourhood
and some barley in the open plain to the west and north-west; but
this plain is covered elsewhere with wormwood, origanum, and other
bushes. There are sulphur springs and oil seepages in the Naft Dagh
and Jabal Kharach, a small naphtha pit on the north bank of the river
in the Tuz Khurmatli defile, and salt is obtained from a spring south
of the town.
From Tuz Khurmatli the Aq Su flows south-west in a wide shingle
flood-bed across an open plain. Near Tuz Khurmatli its banks are
15 feet high. It is usually fordable with ease, but is dangerous and
impassable when swollen by rain or melted snow. Water is drawn off
near the town for cultivation and lower down the stream normally
carries little water. Twelve miles to the south-west it gradually
curves south and then south-east and after being joined by the Tauq
Chai breaks through the Jabal Hamrin.
The Tauq Chai rises in the Bazian trough and breaks through the
Bazian ranges (Kani Shaitan Hasan Dagh, Sagirama Dagh) at the