'Military report on Tehran and adjacent Provinces of North-West Persia (including the Caspian Littoral)' [‎55v] (115/610)

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2. Shdhrud which runs for some 100 miles from East to West
to its junction with the Safid Rud at Manjil.
It is formed by the junction of two streams from Alamut
and Talaghan at Shireh Kuh.
The Shahrud valley is a wide sloping basin, through the
bottom of which the river has cut a broad stony watercourse,
but from below Anbuh bridge to within a few miles of Loshati
bridge it contracts into a gorge. It is consequently an indiffer
ent line of communication. The mule tracks in many parts
cannot follow the river bank and wind along the hillsides
with numerous ascents and descents aross side valleys.
It affords very little cultiveable land and, like the Kizil
Uzun in Tarum, its level is too low for irrigation, and the
villages are mostly situated up the side valleys in the hills.
The Shahrud is liable to destructive floods, and is unford-
. able from March to mid-June. In the upper reaches the Alamut
and Talaghan resemble the Nur and are bridged near the tillages.
Below their junction the Shahrud in flood is a formidable torrent
70 to 100 yards wide, constantly shifting its channel and divid
ing into branches in its wide stony watercourse, and difficult
to bridge except at a few narrow points and too swift for boats.
The bridges are Siyahdasht (pole), Dehdushab (pole), Anbuh
(brick), Parudbar (pole), Loshan (brick), which are all men
tioned in Chapter X, paragraph (c), route No. 17.
The Shahrud falls rapidly in July and by November has
dwindled to 35' in width and 1|' in depth.
3, Kizil Uzun which runs for some 50 miles from North West
to South East to Manjil.
A description of this river will be given below under the
heading “ Persian Plateau section,” pages 102-8.
Watershed The boundary between adjacent drainage basins. *. There are therefore through the loftiest part of the Elburz
two watersheds:—
1. A main watershed The boundary between adjacent drainage basins. between streams flowing to the Caspian,
directly or circuitously, and streams flowing to the plateau.
This watershed The boundary between adjacent drainage basins. is situated nearer to the plateau than to the
Caspian, and may be termed “ the Southern watershed The boundary between adjacent drainage basins. .”
2. A secondary watershed The boundary between adjacent drainage basins. to the North of the “ main ” or
“ Southern watershed The boundary between adjacent drainage basins. ” between streams flowing directly North
to the sea, and those flowing South to join the lateral valleys.
This may be termed the “ Northern watershed The boundary between adjacent drainage basins. .”
In the area drained by the Kizil TJzun system, i.e. North
West of the Manjil-Rasht road, between the Kizil Uzun and the