'Handbook of the Persian Army' [‎14r] (32/150)

the north of Astarabad Bay. Near its mouth it fre
quently overflows its banks, when the country becomes,
a morass. Although its waters are deep, boats of the
lightest draught cannot ascend owing to the extreme
shallowness of the Caspian Sea at its mouth. It
becomes very swollen after the melting of snow and
occasionally after summer rain. At other times it is
shallow, but even then fordable at only a few points
below Ak Kaleh; here there are bands and a fordable
line runs obliquely across the stream. The river bank
is almost invariably a vertical earth clift. Access to
the fords is either by a roughly worn ram gully, or by
a steep ramp worn parallel to the river by the descent
of animals. The stream contains good drinking water
and the ground on both banks is very rich. |n the
upper reaches it runs in a wide deep valley, but at
Gumbad-i-Kabus has a narrow bed, 30 feet do e P,
which is quite invisible at a short distance. Both,
banks here are steep and bare. There are three small
wooden bridges; one at Ak Kaleh; one^at Uba-i-
Areh Khan J’afarbai and one at Oba-i-Nap Muham
mad Khan.
Haraz rises 25 miles north of Tehran and flows
east through the Bar valley where it is known as the
Bar river. From the foot of the Damavand mountain
it bends north and enters the Caspian Sea near Amul
after a course of about 100 miles. In its upper
reaches it is a mountain torrent: further along its
course it runs in deep, narrow channels crossed by a
number of wooden bridges, and finally enteis^ the
plains for the last part of its course. At Amul it is
very broad, but not more than 2 feet deep, unless
swollen by melting snow which in spring makes it
very full and rapid. At Amul it is crossed by a
masonry bridge of 12 arches.
Kizil Uzun rises in Ardalan about 20 miles north
west of Senneh. Near Karagul it is fordable at
times, but difficult and dangerous owing to the
rapidity of the current and the masses of rock which
are brought down the stream and which constantly
change the fords. The water is at its lowest in Nov
ember.
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