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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [693v] (1403/1814)
The record is made up of 2 volumes with inserts (898 folios). It was created in 1892-1924. It was written in English, Urdu and German. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
342
PERSIA
Should the unfriendly attitude of the Turks lead at any time to
positive collision, it may be of incalculable importance to Persia to
have an alternative and independent way of entry into and exit
from the Karun. Such a channel is provided by the Bahmeshir.
With both its banks and its mouth exclusively Persian, and safely
removed from risk either of Ottoman menace or violence, it may
be that the Bahmeshir will once again be utilised for navigation.
It was ascended by the steamship 4 Euphrates 7 under Major
Estcourt, in connection with the Euphrates expedition of 1836.
In 1841 Lieutenant Selby steamed down it from Mohammerah to
the sea and back, and found a channel of not less than nine feet
at low water. Layard described it as having a good navigable
channel to its junction with the sea of not less than four fathoms
depth, and over half a mile in width, and said that its entrance at
low water, during spring tides, was more than three fathoms deep,
and therefore practicable for ships of large burden. Since then
shoals appear to have formed outside its sea-mouth, pierced only by
a tortuous and shifting channel. There is a rise and fall of tide
of about nine feet, and the water throughout its course is rumoured
to be growing shallower. It would be well if a careful survey were
made of this channel; and it is possible that by dredging or other
artificial means it might again become accessible throughout, and
thus provide an exclusively Persian entry to the Karun. I doubt
if the Persians themselves, who are commercially apathetic, except
m the cause of obstruction, have at all realised the possible value
of this stream. By us, however, it should not be overlooked.
Mohammerah itself is buried in palm-groves that would conse-
ciate any landscape; but at Gisbah, about eight miles up the river,
Landscape edging of green suddenly ceases, and henceforward
as far as Bund-i-Kir the banks are absolutely bare, or are
covered only with low scrub and tamarisk bushes and willows , 1
here and there intersected by creeks or the desiccated beds of
forgotten canals. In this lower part of its course the banks are
everywhere low and hat, but farther on they increase in height till
they attain an altitude above the water, sometimes of from twenty
This tree, half poplar and half willow, called gharab (or ‘tear’) by the Per
sians, is, without doubt, says General Schindler, the true Salix Babylonica, or
willow of scripture (Levit xxiii. 40; Job xl. 22; Psalm cxxxviii. 2 ; Isaiah
xv. 7 xhv. 4). 1 he tree which we know as Salix Babylonica, or weeping willow,
is not found m Chalaiea or Susiana, but is the Persian Bid-i-majnun.
About this item
- Content
These two volumes are George Curzon's own personal annotated copies of both volumes of his book Persia and the Persian Question , which was published in 1892. Alongside the volumes are various loose papers relating to Persia [Iran], consisting of the following: received correspondence; newspaper cuttings; publishers' press releases; cuttings from various booksellers' catalogues; various journal and magazine articles; two items of printed official British correspondence; several prints of photographs and sketches; and a few handwritten notes by Curzon.
In most cases these papers, which range in date from 1892 to 1924, relate to the chapters in the book where they were originally inserted, suggesting that they were kept by Curzon with the intention of using them to inform a revised edition of the book.
Of particular note among the small amount of correspondence are two letters received by Curzon in 1914 and 1915 from retired schoolmaster and Islamic scholar Sayyid Mazhar Hasan Musawi of Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India (ff 5-9 and ff 44-53). These letters, which are written in Urdu and are accompanied by English translations, discuss in detail several inaccuracies found in the Urdu version of Persia and the Persian Question .
The various prints of photographs and sketches, which were originally inserted into volume two, are of different locations in the Gulf region. Several of these appear to have been produced in preparation for the publication of the second volume of John Gordon Lorimer's Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , Oman and Central Arabia (i.e. the 'Geographical and Statistical' section) in 1908, as they are identical to the versions found in that volume.
Also of note among the loose papers are an illustrated article from Country Life dated 5 June 1920, entitled 'The People of Persia' (ff 36-37), and a printed family tree of the Shah of Persia [Aḥmad Shah Qājār], produced in preparation of his visit to Britain in 1919 (f 233).
Volume one of Persia and the Persian Question contains a map of Persia, Afghanistan and Beluchistan [Balochistan], which is folded inside the front cover (f 1).
The German language material consists of a publisher's press release for two books authored by German archaeologist Ernst Emil Herzfeld (ff 29-30).
- Extent and format
- 2 volumes with inserts (898 folios)
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: this shelfmark consists of two physical volumes. The foliation sequence commences at the first folio of volume one (1-463), and terminates at the last folio of volume two (ff 464-898); these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Each volume contains a large number of loose leaves, which have been foliated in the order that they were inserted into the volume; for conservation reasons, these loose folios have been removed from the volume and stored separately. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers of the two volumes.
Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English, Urdu and German in Latin and Arabic script View the complete information for this record
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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [693v] (1403/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213849.0x000004> [accessed 4 June 2026]
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- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/33
- Title
- Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Questionby George Curzon, with Inserted Papers
- Pages
- 54r:135v, 147r:149v, 158r:180v, 183r:221v, 224r:224v, 227r:246v, 248r:257v, 259r:260v, 268r:362v, 364r:364v, 367r:388v, 390r:400v, 402r:416v, 419r:432v, 434r:444v, 448r:462v, 464r:471v, 475r:481v, 483r:513v, 516r:525v, 527r:544v, 546r:563v, 566r:598v, 600r:622v, 624r:656v, 658r:665v, 667r:675v, 678r:684v, 687r:688v, 691r:691v, 693r:693v, 695r:708v, 711r:721v, 724r:726v, 728r:729v, 731r:736v, 742r:742v, 746r:757v, 759r:761v, 763r:763v, 765r:765v, 772r:777v, 780r:789v, 793r:794v, 797r:809v, 811r:821v, 825r:840v, 843r:898v
- Author
- Curzon, George Nathaniel, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston
- Usage terms
- Public Domain