'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎101r] (206/862)

COASTS OF THE PERSIAN GULF The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. 129
the mud and marsh at the head, and the mountains on the Persian
side: the only motor-roads inland are from Kuwait to Basra, from
Bushire to Shiraz, and from Bandar Abbas to Kerman; also the Anglo-
Iranian Oil Company’s road from Ganaweh to Gach Saran. The
Iranian railway runs from Bandar Shahpur to Tehran and the
Caspian Sea. New termini have been made since 1941 at Tanuma
opposite Basra and at Khorramshahr, which are now joined to the
Iranian line at Ahwaz.
Sea communications in the gulf are maintained by steamers of
the British India Steam Navigation Company, which provides a
weekly fast mail service between Basra,*- Bushire, Karachi, and
Bombay, and a weekly slow mail service between Khorramshahr,
Kuwait, Bushire, Manama (Bahrein), Bandar Abbas, Muscat, and
Karachi, also calling at Lingeh, Dibai, and Sharja when cargo is
available.
The British Overseas Airways Corporation (formerly Imperial
Airways) operates a bi-weekly service with stations at Kuwait,
Bahrein, and Sharja, on the route to Ii\dia and Australia. French
and Dutch air-lines formerly called at Bushire, on their routes to
French Indo-China and the Dutch East Indies.
1. North and West Coasts of the Musandam Peninsula
AND THE Ruus AL JlBAL PROMONTORY (fig. 33)
General
The Musandam peninsula and Ruus al Jibal promontory, at the
south side of the entrance to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , are the northward
termination of the great Archaean backbone of Oman, the Hajar.
They are composed of dissected limestone mountains and are very
steep, rugged, and barren. The Musandam peninsula has been partly
drowned, so that the sea has entered the valleys and in places has
penetrated nearly 10 miles inland, leaving only the ridges and peaks
of the mountains unsubmerged: the name Ruus al Jibal means ‘hill
tops’. Many of the resulting inlets, which have no counterpart else
where in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. or around the Arabian coast, are good
harbours, but owing to the intense heat can hardly be used in summer
even as temporary anchorages.
The coast is everyv/here precipitous, and the cliffs mostly overhang,
with deep caverns in some places, due to wave action. There are
small sandy beaches at the heads of most of the inlets, with hamlets
and date-palms on some of them, but they are backed by steep slopes
and have no communications inland. There are no communications