'Military report on Tehran and adjacent Provinces of North-West Persia (including the Caspian Littoral)' [‎64v] (133/610)

See Chapter III, paragraph (c) page 152.
102
transport through the plains, except between Khurramabad
and Ab-i-garm in Tunakabun, are abominable.
They are paths through forest, thorns, mud, and 1 malarial
rice swamps rendered almost intolerable to Europeans by
mosquitoes in summer, and they make the manoeuvring of a
force of any size impossible. The beach route, which is free
from obstacles except the rivers mentioned above, is therefore
the only lateral line of communication of any consequence.
This would be rendered impassable for a defending force on
land by an enemy with command of the sea, who himself enjoy
ing unimpeded lateral communication by sea, would be able to
land anywhere along the coast and strike quickly at any centre,
such as Barfarush or Sari.
The possession, however, of the country districts, as distinct
from particular centres, depends largely on the goodwill of the
inhabitants. The history of the Jangali movement in Gllan,
a less inaccessible country than Mazandaran, has demonstrated
the extreme difficulty of subjugation of such districts and oper
ations against the local inhabitants, and that they could be
carried out successfully only by numerous, well trained, mobile,
detached forces at the expense of much time and labour.
Description of Persian Plateau Section.
The hills of this section are more rounded and less acute,
as though formed by a uniform upward pressure in contrast to
the lateral pressure which forced up the precipitous Elburz,
Masuleh, and Talish mountains, the change between the two
formations being very noticeable where the Kizil Uzun bends
from East to South-East on leaving Khalkhal.
Khalkhal and Khamseh constitute a wide expanse of high
land plateaus traversed by the Kizil Uzun and a detailed des
cription of this river area will include the chief geographical
features. The districts traversed by the Tehran-Saveh-
Hamadan road are very similar, but the hills although less
elevated, are rather more broken and hills and valleys alike
are very sterile and barren.
The w«t.» u«un The Kizil Uzun valley can be divided #into 6 distinct sec-
Area - tions :—
Section I.—Yangikand to Yangijeh {Province of Khamseh).
Erpm Yangikand, where the Kizil Uzun bends South on
..entering this area from Garrus, to Yangijeh, near the point