'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎489] (548/714)

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INSTITUTIONS AND EEFORMS
489
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commenced road between Teheran and Shushter, or Ahwaz, on the
Karun, via Kum, Sultanabad, Burujird, and Khorremabad, A
concession for this road for sixty years was granted by the Shah
in 1889 to the Mushir-ed-Dowleh, and was acquired from him by
the Imperial Bank, whose engineers have since prospected the
line, and whose workmen are now engaged upon its construction.
It is not improbable that a syndicate may be formed for the
complete execution of this scheme. Its advantages have long been
realised, and consist in the great reduction of distance effected
between the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. and the principal cities of Western
Persia; in the corn-growing districts of immense but neglected
capacity opened up ; in the increased facilities that will be provided
for the importation of British or Anglo-Indian merchandise into
the interior ; and in the use that is likely to be made of the road
by the human stream of pilgrims who, by the hundred thousand,
annually trudge along the Persian highways in movement towards
the sacred goals of Kum, or Meshed in the east, and of Kerbela,
Nejef, Kazimein, Samara, and, ultimately, Mecca in the south
west. The distances upon this road may roughly be calculated as
follows;—
Miles
100
80
(50
63
Teheran to Kum
Kum to Sultanabad
Sultanabad to Burujird
Burujird to Khorremabad
Khorremabad to Dizful
Dizful to Shushter. .
Shushter to Ahwaz .
Miles
15G
36
Upon this line, or at least upon the more level sections of it, a
wagon service will be organised; the rivers, where necessary, will
be bridged; caravanserais and guardhouses will be built; and
from Burujird a branch road is to be constructed to Isfahan,
a distance of 210 miles, thus bringing the southern capital
into new connection both with the western centres of trade
and population and with a fresh outlet on the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . This
road, as will have been seen, is linked on the south to the water
way of the Karun river; and I must postpone to my chapter
upon that subject any further discussion of its features, which I
have here regarded only in their bearing upon the system of
Persian communications in general; 1 It is calculated that Teheran
1 For a more elaborate discussion of the advantages claimed by the new road,
I may be permitted to refer my readers to Colonel Bell's article in BlachrcoodJs
Magazine, April 1889, and to a paper by myself on ' The Karun River and Com
mercial Geography of South-West Persia,' in the Proceedings of the It. G. S., Sept.
1890.
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