'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎118r] (240/862)

COASTS OF THE PERSIAN GULF The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. 155
Ras al Bahrgan to Bushire (fig. 40)
The coast between Ras al Bahrgan and the Bushire peninsula is
low and sandy, except for a swampy bay north of Bushire. The
coastal plain is between 15 and 3 5 miles wide and is sparsely cultivated,
with date-groves near many of the villages. It contains two short
ranges of coastal hills, Band-i-Gilal in the north-west and Kuh-i-Bang
farther south-east (photo. 69). Inland are numerous parallel mountain
ranges. Several small rivers meander across the coastal plain, the
most important being the Hindian river in the north-west and the
Hilleh Rud in the south-east: both are navigable for short distances
by small craft and are crossed by ferries. A dry-weather motor-road
runs along the coast, and there are others farther inland. There are
tracks to the interior from the small ports of Bandar Dilam, Bandar
Rig, and Shif, and a metalled motor-road runs inland from Ganaweh
to the Gach Saran oilfield. The only anchorages are off Bandar Dilam,
Ganaweh, and Bandar Rig, and east of Kharg island.
From Ras al Bahrgan the coast runs straight north-east for 30 miles,
forming the north-west shore of the wide Dilam bay. Close north of
the head of the bay is a sharp peak 900 feet high, the highest point in
the Band-i-Gilal hills. The coastal plain is barren and impregnated
with salt for 11 miles to Bandar Dilam, which has a boat creek and
sheltered anchorage; it was an eighteenth-century Dutch trading-
port, but is now an unimportant fishing-village.
South-east of Bandar Dilam the coast continues low and sandy,
with salt creeks and isolated hillocks. The rugged Kuh-i-Bang range,
which contains veins of gypsum, is 15 miles long; the highest point
(992 ft.) is 3 miles inland about 30 miles south-east of Bandar
Dilam.
Ganaweh is a small port with an Anglo-Iranian Oil Company
depot, 40 miles south-east of Bandar Dilam; it has a jetty in a tidal
creek, an aircraft landing-ground, and a wireless station; the company
has built a motor-road to the Gach Saran oilfield in the mountains
nearly 50 miles north-north-west. The Ganaweh district was formerly
prosperous, and the ruins of an ancient city cover the ground for more
than a mile inland, but the river which irrigated the plain has been
diverted by an earthquake.
Bandar Rig is a small local port with a boat creek, 10 miles south
east of Ganaweh; it was the stronghold of a famous eighteenth-
century pirate, whose fort was razed by British troops. Ten miles
south of Bandar Rig is the mouth of a small perennial stream, and
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